McVitie's Digestives: Slices (caramels)

Product name: McVitie’s Digestives: Slices (caramels)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a pack of six slices (tesco.com)
Calories: 130 per 24.7g slice
Country of origin: UK

 

My snack stash seems to be full of mini cake and biscuit bars at the moment so I thought I’d do a review of McVitie’s Digestives: Slices (caramels) tonight. This new product was described as ‘Digestives slices topped with caramel and delicious milk chocolate’ and was a similar concept to the Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble) I reviewed a couple of weeks ago.

The individually wrapped slices came in an eye-catching yellow wrapper that featured the usual McVitie’s Digestives branding, along with an image of one of the bars, but it was the promise of the caramel layer (accounting for 19% of the product), that tempted me to buy this packet – I figured it would prevent dryness.

The slices weren’t exactly oozing with caramel but the golden layer was clearly visible – the only downside was it meant a thinner smooth chocolate topping (only 13% of the overall bar in contrast with the Galaxy's 23%!). However, I thought the ‘crushed Digestives’ (38%) base was more attractive than the cookie crumble alternative and it actually reminded me a little of the Subway White Chip Macadamia Nut Cookie.

These Digestives: Slices had quite a mild biscuit scent but, on eating, I associated the experience more with flapjacks than biscuits. I didn’t find the caramel or chocolate were noticeable as separate entities but the caramel, at least, seemed to make a difference to the overall flavour and texture.

I had expected a slight chewiness from this layer but this wasn’t the case. Instead, the whole base was moister and softer than the Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble), contributing to the flapjack feel, but with tiny pieces of crunchy biscuits to remind of the crushed Digestives.

If I really thought about it, I could associate the product’s flavour with Digestives but I don’t think I would have necessarily made the connection in a blind taste test. However, I loved the syrupy taste that was on offer and the way this combined with a slight salty element too. It’s just a shame there wasn’t more chocolate...

Once again, I was pleasantly surprised by this McVitie’s product – a great-tasting, low calorie snack at a great price! 

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

McVitie's Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble)

Product name: McVitie’s Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble)
Purchase details: £1.00 for a pack of six slices (tesco.com)
Calories: 150 per slice
Country of origin: UK

I recently spotted these McVitie’s Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble) online and I just had to give them a go as Galaxy is my favourite chocolate. I’d not seen or heard of these before and the image on the website had the word ‘new’ on the packaging. However, this pack didn’t, so I don’t know if these have been around for a while or not!

These individually wrapped slices were baked for Mars UK and came in a packet that featured the usual Galaxy branding with purple features. It contained mouth-watering photographs of moist-looking biscuit bases topped with a smooth and thick milk chocolate topping. 

Pleasingly, the reality was exactly the same – always a bonus! The deep brown ‘crumbly cookie base’ looked a bit like tiffin, and I couldn’t help but agree with the description of ‘a generous layer of Galaxy milk chocolate’. It contributed to 23% of each 27.5g bar, in fact!

I’ve had the Galaxy Cookie Crumble chocolate bar before but I was interested to see how the combination worked with the biscuit being the dominant feature (46% of the product was simply ‘crushed cookies’). 

The slices had a really buttery scent with a hint of creamy Galaxy, and the texture was soft with a crunchy resistance. There was a lovely sweet and syrupy biscuit taste which mixed well with the cooling chocolate. I was particularly pleased that the creaminess of Galaxy’s unique flavour, whilst not overpowering, was still very noticeable.

I thoroughly enjoyed these McVitie’s Galaxy: Slices (cookie crumble) – much more so than similar products I’ve tried!

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