McVitie's Digestives: Strawberry cheesecake creams

Product name: McVitie’s Digestives: Strawberry cheesecake creams
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 168g packet (Asda)
Calories: 67 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I really wanted to try these McVitie’s Digestives: Strawberry cheesecake creams as soon as they were released as they seemed more exciting than the vanilla version. However, although I bought them straight away, it’s taken me until now to open them!

Made by United Biscuits, there were around 13 ‘wheatmeal biscuits with strawberry and cream cheese flavour filling’ in each packet. The wrapper and sandwich biscuits were designed in exactly the same way as the vanilla variety but featured baby pink colouring, instead, which I really liked. I did also think the firm filling looked a bit thinner and more widely spread out but that may have just been the unlucky biscuit I attempted to dissect. (As you can see from my photo, the McVitie’s Digestives remained soft and crumbly which made the finished product practically impossible to pull apart in one piece!)

There was no mention of strawberries of any kind on the ingredients (just ‘natural flavouring’) but the biscuits did have a subtle yet noticeable strawberry scent – very much like flavoured milk. The ‘cheesecake inspired strawberry flavour cream filling’ also had a good strawberry flavour but without the sugar hit that I noticed in the Hill Biscuits Snack Packs: Strawberry creams. I was also pleased to find that the cheesecake concept was better executed, here, since there was a cheesy tang from the ‘dried cream cheese’ (2.5%) mixed in with the strawberry.

The biscuit itself was the usual, slightly sweetened kind, with a soft crunch and, even on its own, it had picked up hints of the berry taste. The nature of the sandwich design did mean that the proportions still weren’t right for an authentic cheesecake feel but I did think these Strawberry cheesecake creams were much more enjoyable than the vanilla ones.

I’d definitely buy them again!

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

McVitie's Digestives: Milk chocolate & orange

Product name: McVitie’s Digestives: Milk chocolate & orange
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 300g packet (tesco.com)
Calories: 84 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I vaguely remember these McVitie’s Digestives: Milk chocolate & orange biscuits being released previously but I know I never got around to sampling them. Thankfully, they’re now back, so I was looking forward to trying another incarnation of one of my favourite flavour combinations.

Made by United Biscuits, the pack contained an average of 18 Digestives, and they came in a ginger wrapper which reminded me of an old cat of ours! The product image looked like standard chocolate digestive biscuits, and I noticed that these particular ones contained 30% chocolate, had no artificial flavours, colours or hydrogenated vegetable oil in them, and they also supported British farmers and rural communities.

The biscuit bases were quite pale in colour and the chocolate toppings looked quite milky in appearance. The latter also had a tendency to look and feel a bit melted in the heat we’ve been having! The biscuits had an ingrained orange scent too although, unfortunately, one that didn’t waft.

Texturally, this snack was as you’d expect: the biscuit itself was really crispy, if a little dry, but the chocolate really lifted it. They were particularly good dipped in tea as the orange-flavoured chocolate melted and was just lovely.

Speaking of which, the orange taste was delicious and stronger than I’d dare hope for. I have nothing against the flavour of plain digestives but the orange on offer here completely masked that much blander element and produced a very tasty treat.

I hope these will stick around this time!

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

McVitie's Hobnobs: Flapjacks (nobbly)

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (nobbly)
Purchase details: £0.65 for a 170g packet of five flapjacks (tesco.com)
Calories: 151 per 35g flapjack
Country of origin: UK

Tonight’s review will only be short as these nobbly McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks were almost identical to the milk choc ones – they just came in an orange wrapper and without a topping!

Despite the overall product description being the same, the quantities were slightly adjusted in this recipe to fill the gap the chocolate had previously filled: the rolled oats took up 45% of each bar rather than 41%, there was 13% golden syrup instead of 12%, 10% butter over 9%, and 28% ‘Hobnob biscuit pieces’ in place of the milk choc's 25%.

The lack of chocolate (and slightly higher biscuit content) meant the plain flapjack looked a bit crumbier. However, its scent was unchanged.

Although the taste was basically the same, the lack of chocolate actually allowed me to appreciate the base flavour more, and the syrupy kick it had. I wasn’t expecting this outcome since I hadn’t found the chocolate to be very noticeable on the milk choc version but it obviously did make some difference, no matter how small!

I also found that this nobbly flapjack felt a bit moister whilst still allowing an added crisp from the biscuit pieces to break through.

Another enjoyable little treat!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

McVitie's Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc)

Product name: McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc)
Purchase details: £0.65 for a 170g packet of five flapjacks (tesco.com)
Calories: 154 per 35g flapjack

Country of origin: UK

As a lover of Hobnobs, chocolate and flapjacks, I couldn’t resist buying these McVitie’s Hobnobs: Flapjacks (milk choc) when I spotted them on offer. The appetising photo on the front of the eye-catching pale blue and orange wrapper helped too!

The individually wrapped bars were made by United Biscuits and contained no artificial flavours or colours. They contained 41% ‘rolled oats baked with Hobnob biscuit pieces’ (25%), 12% golden syrup, 9% butter, and were ‘topped with milk chocolate’ (8%). Apparently they were ‘even more hobnobbly’ but I wasn’t sure if this was compared to the standard biscuits or a previous version of this Flapjack recipe!

The flapjacks were a nice golden colour but did look a little dry – I would have liked to see a thicker layer of chocolate too. However, they still looked delicious, and they also had a lovely deep and buttery flapjack scent.

Biting into a slightly stiff, chewy and bitty bar, I loved the buttery and oaty flavour which had an ever-present juicy, syrupy undertone. It was certainly drier than homemade flapjacks, too, but it was still extremely pleasant.

Unfortunately, the chocolate didn’t really add anything, but then this product was tasty enough by itself – money well spent!

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