Lotus Biscoff: Spread (crunchy)

Product name: Lotus Biscoff: Spread (crunchy)
Purchase details: £1.79 for a 380g jar (tesco.com)
Calories: 572 per 100g
Country of origin: Belgium

Although I’m not generally familiar with the brand of Lotus Biscoff biscuits, I’ve been wanting to try their spreads for a while and have even seen positive comments from my non-blogger Facebook friends about them. I’m not surprised, though...they’re essentially liquidised biscuits!

Due to the usual high store prices, I’d always assumed that these Lotus Bakeries jars had been imported from America, but they were actually from Belgium. Either way, I’d been waiting for an offer to come along and I immediately snapped up a jar of this crunchy spread, as well as a smooth one, as soon as that happened. As it turned out, I wasn’t the only one who was keen try these spreads – I’d fully intended to review the smooth one first but, when I took off the lid, I discovered that some nasty shopper had stuck their finger through the foil layer in-store and helped themselves to some – thanks to Tesco for refunding me for this...I’ve been able to pick up another jar before the offer runs out!

Anyway, this crunchy variety of ‘the original caramelised biscuit spread’ was represented by a yellow lid and I loved the visualisation of a Lotus biscuit being turned into the spread. Although not relevant to me, I was impressed to see that it was both vegetarian and vegan, and the spread also contained no added flavours or colours, and no hydrogenated fat. What it did contain was 65% biscuits which resulted in a product that looked like a slightly darker-than-normal peanut butter.

Whilst nutritional information was provided, there was no suggested serving size, so how calorific or not a snack it was fully depended on how much was used and what it was served with! So far, I’ve only consumed it on ‘naughty’ days, and I think I might have to keep it that way because it was just so good – who needs bread when you’ve got a spoon?!

The spread was pretty thick and, whilst the crunchy bits weren’t really visible, they could be felt easily with the knife. The deep scent incorporated both caramel and biscuits but also hinted at ginger snaps – although it was very good, it was also on the verge of being a bit much.

On trying the spread on its own, it was very crispy but with the fabulous thick texture I’ve come to associate with peanut butter. In terms of flavour, it was quite like digestives but with a sweeter yet darker caramel element.

On bread, this crispy texture remained really noticeable and the flavour was still good too. The best bit, though, was the way the gloopy texture combined with the dough of the bread, making the roof of my mouth very happy indeed.

Finally, I sampled some of the spread on toast. The heat caused the spread to melt pretty quickly and the flavour and texture remained really good (although it wasn’t really possible to differentiate between the ‘crunchy’ aspect of the spread and the toast). Despite forgetting to check the toaster’s settings and subsequently cooking it for longer than I would have liked, the sweetness of the spread really helped disguise the slightly burnt bits, so I still enjoyed every mouthful...praise indeed.

This really was an excellent product and I can’t wait to eat the rest of it! There are quite a few biscuit spreads on my wish list right now and, if they’re all this good, I’m going to have to be keeping an extra-close eye on my waistline in the coming months.

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

Cadbury Dairy Milk: Oreo

Product name: Cadbury Dairy Milk: Oreo
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 41g bar or three for £1.20 (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 225 per bar
Country of origin: UK

As much as I love Oreo cookies, I’ve only ever had Cadbury Dairy Milk: Oreo once before as it was originally only available in a large bar format which wasn’t convenient on my diet. As a result, I was delighted when Mondelez released this new individual portion size, although it’s taken me until now to eat one!

The ‘milk chocolate with a vanilla flavour filling (36%) and biscuit pieces (17%)’ came in the expected purple wrapper which also featured an Oreo logo and image. The bar was divided into six pieces which, unusually, didn’t feature the Cadbury logo, although the simple decoration it did have bore a striking resemblance to the Milka Leo. The cookie pieces gave a speckled effect to the chocolate (containing 23% milk solids) and, inside, the bar was full of the creme and biscuit pieces.

The Dairy Milk had the familiar scent but with a slight element of vanilla mixed in. The taste wasn’t quite as I remembered in that it wasn’t noticeably of Oreo at all – the filling wasn’t quite sugary enough and the biscuit didn’t have the hint of bitterness I’ve come to expect. However, it was still sweet and creamy with an added biscuit flavour, so a general cookies and cream theme was present within the chocolate.

Texturally, the bar was very crispy but soft too. As usual, the chocolate had a nice melt, although this was combined with the bitty biscuits. I found the size of these cookie pieces to be perfect as it provided a great crunch and the feel of eating proper biscuits, without losing the cushioned feel of the vanilla filling.

This bar was nothing short of delicious. I did struggle to connect its flavour with the Oreo brand but, nevertheless, it was a very enjoyable product which I’ll definitely be buying more often now it’s available in single servings!

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.13/10

Nestlé Munchies

Product name: Nestlé Munchies
Purchase details: £0.60 for a 52g packet or three for £1.20 (Tesco)
Calories: 135 per six sweet serving (256 per pack)
Country of origin: UK

It’s been years since my last packet of Nestlé Munchies but I do remember loving them as a kid as they seemed to last forever (yep, I was a greedy-guts!). I don’t feel the wrapper has changed much since then, with the 12 chocolates still coming wrapped in a gold foil and red wrapper, on one side of which was an image of a biscuit and caramel centre within a chocolate shell.

 

The sweets contained no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and the milk chocolate contained a minimum of 14% milk solids. Shaped into cubes with a simple decoration, I did find their dusty appearance made them look less appealing than they could have done. However, the ‘crisp biscuit’ (6%) and ‘soft caramel’ (30%) inside did look more promising, although the colour of these barely contrasted with the outer chocolate which I thought was unusual (that said, the difference is more noticeable on the photo!). 

The product had a scent of overly sweet and not great quality chocolate but it still had a nice enough flavour. It had the taste of general Nestlé chocolate, as well as quite a buttery biscuit. Mainly, though, it was very sweet and this seemed to be down to the caramel and chocolate combination.

The standout feature of the chocolates, for me, was the texture. The chocolate’s melt was ok but was improved by the way the caramel seeped out. As an added bonus, the biscuit didn’t feel uncomfortable when doing this. However, it would have been wrong not to munch on these Munchies and I’m pleased to report that this provided a lovely mix of chunky, crispy and soft, gooey textures – wonderful.

Although I didn’t feel that this was the type of product that was worth raving about, it did provide a nice change in my evening routine. I’m sure I’ll buy them again at some point but they won’t be a regular item on my shopping list.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Cadbury Layers Of Joy: Caramellionaire

Product name: Cadbury Layers Of Joy: Caramellionaire
Purchase details: £1.00 for a pack of two desserts (Tesco)
Calories: 205 per 90g dessert
Country of origin: UK

I’ve tried a few Pots of joy from Cadbury in my time but this is the first time I’ve tried a new Layers Of Joy, with this brilliantly named ‘Caramellionaire’ being the variety I couldn’t wait to get stuck into.

The purple packaging featured an image of the product that looked like a trifle in style and that was the name it was given in the small print too. Made by Müller Dairy for Mondelez, the full description sounded mouth-watering: ‘shortcake biscuit at heart surrounded by delicious layers of Cadbury milk chocolate mousse, rich caramel dessert and white chocolate mousse’. You probably won’t be surprised to know that it was the white chocolate that particularly caught my eye!

The clear pot made it nice and easy to see three distinct layers of white chocolate (1% of the product was white chocolate powder), caramel, and milk chocolate (another 1% was milk chocolate but the pot also contained cocoa powder). However, despite accounting for 11% of the dessert, the shortbread wasn’t visible.

The dessert smelt of chocolate mousse (possibly as it was at the top!) and the latter aspect was also the key texture throughout. The chocolate layer was deep and provided quite a rich cocoa flavour and this went nicely with the caramel which was the same as my memory of Cadbury Dairy Milk: Pots of joy (caramel) and had quite a butterscotchy flavour to it.

Despite appearances, there was a definite biscuit layer next, with a buttery shortcake taste which was delicious. Rather than being hard and crumbly, this was soft and soggy, but very enjoyable!

I initially struggled to sample some of the white chocolate on its own, and it was hard to notice it against the other flavours, but it was possible to try it in larger quantities at the end of each pot. It was beautifully sweet and tasted a little like vanilla ice cream.

All in all, this was a really good dessert and, although I’d prefer a real piece of millionaire’s shortbread, the combination of layers did produce a satisfyingly authentic experience. To my surprise, it was the biscuit that made it, but every layer made its own unique and tasty contribution.

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