Maltesers Teasers

Product name: Maltesers Teasers
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of three bars (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 187 per 35g bar

For someone who was really excited when it was announced that the Teasers chocolate from Celebrations was being made into a chocolate bar, it’s taken me a long time to try one! This Mars product has been out for a while, now, although the packaging did still state that it was new.

 

These ‘crunchy little Maltesers pieces floating in creamy milk chocolate’ were described as ‘an ingenious way to stop those cheeky Maltesers from rolling away’ and came in the expected red branding.

Each bar was divided into five rows of two bubble-like pieces which featured smaller bubbles in the middle that seemed a little unnecessary. The bar I photographed was also inexplicably damaged, although it was nothing compared to the one I had last night – one half of it was actually flat as it had melted so much prior to purchase! Thankfully, this didn’t take away from the overall idea of chocolate (containing a minimum of 14% milk solids and 25% cocoa solids) being packed full of ‘crisp honeycombed pieces’ (11%) – the base of the bar essentially looked like solidified Teasers spread.

The milky scent, inner appearance and flavour were just as I’d hoped from the delights of the Celebrations' Teasers. The texture was pretty much the same, too, but I did appreciate the nice shape which was easy to bite into and, whilst still chunky, thin enough to provide a greater crisp within the chocolate.

What a delicious treat!

 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Maltesers Teasers (chocolate spread)

Product name: Maltesers Teasers (chocolate spread)
Purchase details: Tesco
Calories: 108 per 20g serving
Country of origin: UK

Last week, I learned of a new product that had the potential to change my life: Maltesers Teasers (chocolate spread). I was so excited about this concept that I ended up having various conversations with colleagues about how amazing it sounded. To my surprise and delight, one of them came into work after the bank holiday weekend and handed me a jar she’d found in a Tesco in Anglesey. Apparently it was worth it for my reaction alone...

The ‘chocolate spread with crisp honeycombed pieces’ came in a 200g jar which was meant to provide ten servings. We’ve decided it’s an early housewarming present (for the house I haven’t even bought yet!) since, once it’s empty, it’s the kind of jar that can be re-used as a drinking glass once the red Maltesers-branded label has been removed – bonus!

The spread looked amazing. It was thick, chocolatey (containing 5.2% reduced fat cocoa powder), and full of little bits. Only 12% of the product was the honeycomb, but these little balls (the same kind used in products like the Teasers chocolate found in Celebrations) were still abundant. They made the product a bit weird to spread, actually, as they were understandably bumpy and I had to be careful not to press too hard as I didn’t want to crush them. The aroma wasn’t the strongest but it did have the rich, milky scent of standard chocolate spreads.

When we first discussed this spread, the colleague who bought me the jar made an inexplicable comment: ‘I don’t know what I’d eat it with.’. Me and another colleague looked at each other and responded: ‘Er...a SPOON?!’...so it would have been rude for me not to have tried it in this way! It was really thick, sweet and so chocolatey. There was nothing about the flavour, though, that made me think of Maltesers, but the texture was great, with the ‘malty crunchy pieces’ providing some excitement.

The good thing about chocolate spreads is that they’re versatile. It’s perfectly possible to enjoy them as a low-calorie evening treat, as I obviously did! My trick is to use a bread that is also low in calories – the lowest I’ve found is Warburtons Milk Roll which is only 47 calories per slice. I then weigh the bread on its own, add the spread, and weigh it again to work out how many grams of product I’ve actually used. On my first sampling of this spread, I didn’t have many points spare, so I only used 7g of this Teasers goodness. However, despite being a relatively thin scraping, I thought it still went a long way and I didn’t feel hard-done-by at all. Even with this small portion, it was immediately obvious just how unusual the small honeycomb pieces made the texture – I felt like I’d merged two breakfast foods together and put Rice Krispies in a chocolate spread sandwich! However, there was a slight difference in that these malty pieces were a little bit firmer than rice cereal.

I’ve also had a couple of non-diet days since I’ve had this jar so I’ve been able to have fun with much more generous portions. I’ve tried the spread on toast which made the textures less prominent due to the bread already being crispy. Eaten this way, I also found that, due to the way the spread melted slightly, the flavour was even more chocolatey and tasty. However, I still didn’t think it tasted any different to normal chocolate spread.

I also tried a larger portion on bread where I did my favourite ‘trick’ of folding the bread in two and squishing it together to form extra chocolate goo. In this case, this caused the crispy texture to be more of a feature, and I was pleased that it also provided the occasional hint of Maltesers in the taste too. On the whole, it did mainly provide general chocolate spread flavours, but I did quite enjoy the slight stickiness left behind in the teeth which was very much like a normal Maltesers experience.

Then I decided to have some real fun...

I once had a brainwave and decided to mix a bag of Maltesers into a bowl of peanut butter. I think it was simultaneously one of the best and worst things I’ve ever done. ‘Wouldn’t it be amazing’, I thought ‘if I made a Teasers and peanut butter sandwich?’. So I did...

Oh. My. Actual. Days! I tried it on bread and toast, in both cases applying the peanut butter first, and found the Teasers was a little bit harder to spread on top of the toast due to the meltage. They both tasted incredible, though – unbelievably good! The saltiness of the peanut butter lessened the Teasers’ sweetness and, if you’re a fan of chocolate and peanut butter anyway, this is a combination you’ve just got to try. I probably preferred it on bread as the thickness was maintained but, in both cases, the highlight for me was that I’d used crunchy peanut butter even though I usually opt for smooth. The contrast of the crunchy nuts and crispy honeycomb was just heavenly.

Hats off to Mars for this product. It was a shame that the honeycomb didn’t provide any additional flavour but, despite not tasting unique, this was still an excellent product. It was the texture that made it particularly special and, having tried the spread with peanut butter, I’ve found one of the few products that, so far, has made me genuinely concerned about putting back on all the weight back I lost several years ago. For that reason, I couldn’t make this a regular purchase, but it will certainly be an occasional treat.

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8/10

Maltesers Malteaster

Product name: Maltesers Malteaster
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 29g bar or three for £1.20 (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 156 per bar

My willpower must be better than I thought since I bought this Maltesers Malteaster bunny as soon as they were available (months before Easter) but it’s only now we’re in August that I’ve eaten it! You’ll just have to believe me when I say I was genuinely excited that they were back on sale.

As a big fan of Maltesers, as well as the Teasers bars and Celebrations, it’s only right that I’d be a fan of this milk chocolate treat filled with a ‘crunchy’ and ‘creamy Maltesers centre’.

The snack was made for the UK and Ireland by Mars and came in a glossy red wrapper that featured a picture of a chocolate bunny poking out of a hole with part of its ear bitten off. I thought this was a bit cruel but it did say it was suitable for vegetarians, and it even stated that ‘no actual Maltesers were hurt during the making of this bunny’ – thank goodness for that!

The shape of the actual chocolate gave the bunny quite an active pose but, apart from that, it wasn’t very detailed. I must also confess that I cut the ears off, myself, to reveal the pale brown ‘creamy malt filling’ (31%) that almost looked like nougat but without the squidgy or airy texture. Within this were ‘crisp, light honeycombed pieces’ (5.5%) that were presented as lots of tiny balls.

The cleverly-named Malteaster had a sweet, malted chocolate scent, although I would have liked it to be stronger. Taste-wise, it was very sweet with a creamy, Galaxy-like chocolate, and I thoroughly enjoyed the soft, thick texture with added crisp too.

Hurry up, please, Easter 2015!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.75/10

Celebrations

Product name: Celebrations
Calories: 344 per 70g box

This mini box of Celebrations was the other food item in the goody bag I recently received.

Made by Mars for the Netherlands, Great Britain and Ireland, this ‘assortment of milk chocolates and a milk chocolate covered biscuit’ is my favourite mainstream variety box to receive as a gift since I think the combination of eight brands inside is the best one!

Despite being a small box, this pack still featured the usual red design and the great logo that incorporates the fonts used on the wrappers within – images of these were also printed on the cardboard.

The milk chocolate used for the bite-sized treats contained a minimum of 14% milk solids and 25% cocoa solids and each variety had a pretty thick and chunky outer shell which made me a happy bunny.

Galaxy

I’ve made no secret of the fact that Galaxy milk chocolate is my favourite kind. This glossy ‘G’-imprinted chunk came in the usual brown wrapper and was the basic kind that, when sold alone, is now called ‘Smooth Milk’.

The Galaxy website described the chocolate as ‘smooth and creamy’ that had been ‘lovingly created to melt in your mouth’. I couldn’t disagree with this since it featured the same scent and strong flavour I experienced with the Bubbles (milk chocolate egg) and a good melt that was slow, thick but smooth. It reminded me of the old adverts that me and my brother used to imitate! 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8/10 

Mars

I’ve always seen the Mars bar as being manly and basic but, at the same time, I’ve always enjoyed it. However, I’ve previously found that it doesn’t work quite as well on a smaller scale as the proportions aren’t quite right.

This miniature Mars came in its distinctive black and red wrapper but something seemed to have gone slightly wrong with the bumpy design on the chocolate shell! The Mars website described the product as ‘a delicious fusion of chocolate, caramel and nougat’ and I was pleased to see that the layer of nougat was far thicker than the caramel and its mid-brown shade suggested it would have a chocolatey flavour.

The Mars’ scent was not dissimilar to the Galaxy’s and it tasted very sweet and chocolatey. I didn’t think its flavour was of the highest quality but it was very tasty and I did enjoy the soft nougat and overall chewy but melting texture. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.25/10 

Bounty

As a big coconut fan, I do like Bounty bars, so I was pleased to see that the tropical desert island-themed white, green and pale blue wrapper was included in this selection. I did think the Mars website was being a bit overdramatic in claiming ‘the moist, tender coconut tempts your senses with the taste of paradise’ but I enjoyed this sweet nevertheless!

Unlike the Peter Paul Almond Joy, the coconut in this chocolate shell had a fresh white appearance, although it did still have a deep coconutty aroma.

The Bounty also had a strong, milky coconut flavour and I was pleased that the chocolate’s taste was also evident. The coconut’s texture lived up to the expectations raised by its moist and bitty appearance too. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.5/10 

Galaxy Caramel

The Galaxy Caramel had the same outer appearance as the standard Galaxy chunk but, this time, it contained a fantastic-looking thick, amber caramel centre. The wrapper was also similar but it featured the colour yellow to distinguish it from the basic chocolate. (Thankfully there was no Honeycomb Crisp variety included here to confuse this with!)

Galaxy's website claimed the inner caramel was ‘luscious’ and I certainly did enjoy this treat more than Cadbury’s equivalent of Dairy Milk: Caramel – I found it to be more silky and less stodgy.

The caramel didn’t really add anything to the aroma (in fact, the scent didn’t seem as strong here) but I loved how it burst into the mouth with its smooth texture reflecting the chocolate’s. It was very sweet and quite sugary compared to other caramels, and I did prefer the flavour of the chocolate on its own, but this was still very tasty. 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10 

Snickers

I’m not actually a massive fan of the standard Snickers bar as I find it a bit too bitty and chewy and, whilst there are actual peanuts, there’s not peanut butter! Like the Mars, I also think of this brand as male-orientated, and this was reflected with the chocolate-brown wrapper.

According to Mars' website, I was surprised to see that the Snickers is actually the world’s best-selling bar, whilst the Snickers site gave the product description of being ‘packed with roasted peanuts, nougat, caramel and milk chocolate’.

I was impressed by the neat inner appearance of this bite-sized piece. The caramel was the main feature and was full of chopped peanuts. The nougat was pale in colour and, on sampling it, there appeared to be nuts in there too. The nougat itself was slightly sticky but added a sweetness to the otherwise strong peanut flavour.

The chocolate tasted nice and creamy and I noticed that the toasted aspect of the peanuts was also evident. The caramel provided a chewy texture and I actually found I preferred this product in miniature form since the nuts were a lot smaller and, for me, more manageable.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10 

Maltesers Teasers

This has always been my first choice in a box of Celebrations since, for so many years, it was the only Maltesers product like it – I was delighted when Mars released the separate Malteaster products and, now, the Teasers bars!

The red wrapper continued the theme of standard Maltesers and, whilst still long and narrow, this was the only miniature with a particularly curved appearance that featured a wave design. Inside, there were lots of tiny, crispy honeycomb balls to reflect the centre of normal Maltesers.

The scent, again, was similar to Galaxy chocolate – it was stronger than Maltesers but weaker than Galaxy chocolate itself.

Having eaten this variety after a Galaxy, I could tell that the chocolate tasted a bit less creamy than Galaxy but, in turn, it was more chocolatey.

The texture was very crispy and, despite the small size of the honeycomb pieces, I loved that it still managed to stick to the teeth and it also provided a mild honey flavour.

As expected, I enjoyed having a higher ratio of chocolate to honeycomb here since, whilst the flavour remained unchanged, the less rough texture was preferable.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10 

Twix

I’ve reviewed the full-size Twix previously so I have nothing more to add here!

I’ve marked down its aroma score slightly since it wasn’t quite as strong but, other than that, everything else remained the same. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10 

Milky Way

The Milk Way featured its usual blue and Space-themed wrapper design and was described on Mars' website as ‘a light whipped centre covered in tasty milk chocolate’.

Its outer appearance was the same as the Snickers and its very pale beige nougat appeared to have the same texture as the Mars.

The Milky Way had a milky scent and I enjoyed the quite mild but nice and sweet flavour that its really soft nougat provided. I also liked how the chocolate shell tasted creamy against this sugariness. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Overall, this was the enjoyable selection that I expected – I was just sorry I only had one of each variety to enjoy on this occasion!

Appearance: 7.44/10
Aroma: 7.31/10
Taste: 7.63/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.6/10