Snickers Bar: More choc

Product name: Snickers Bar: More choc
Purchase details: £1.00 for a multipack of four bars (Poundworld)
Calories: 240 for a 48g bar

  

I wasn’t intending to bother with this limited edition Snickers Bar from Mars, but the lure of the blue wrapper eventually won me over, and the ‘chocolatey nougat and chocolatey caramel’ did sound nice, even though I knew I’d probably find it too similar to the standard bars.

The image on the packaging looked really good but I somehow didn’t expect the reality of the caramel (27%) and nougat (15%) to look so much darker than the original. Unlike with the miniature Snickers found in Celebrations, the peanuts (23%) weren’t chopped, suggesting its texture would be on the chunky rather than bitty spectrum. Unfortunately for me, though, this wasn’t the case and I found the texture too gritty for my liking – the same issue I have with full-sized Snickers Bars.

The Bar had a salty peanut scent, as well as a strong peanut flavour, with an occasional toasted aspect still coming through as it had done with the Celebrations. I can’t say this UK and Ireland offering sounded quite as exciting as America’s Rockin' nut road, but the additional chocolate did seem to make a bit of a difference. The outer milk chocolate coating (containing a minimum of 14% milk solids) contributed to 35% of the product, so it was already pretty chocolatey, but I think this More choc variety was a bit less sweet and had a slightly stronger chocolate flavour than a standard Snickers – it certainly seemed to burn the throat more! What I’m not convinced about, though, is that I would have been able to identify what the difference was if I didn’t already know.

Whilst I did enjoy the flavour, I did miss the squidginess of the Rockin' nut road – the More choc was more chewy and quite stiff in places. As a result, it was the texture that stopped me liking this more than I did, but then that was an outcome that I’d expected due to my existing opinion of the Snickers Bar.

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 6.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse (orange & choc)

Product name: Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse (orange & choc)
Purchase details: £0.50 for a pack of four mousses (Asda)
Calories: 84 per 58g mousse
Country of origin: UK

I tried the white chocolate and mint versions of Nestlé Aero: Bubbly mousse a couple of years ago so, when I saw a limited edition orange version was available, I couldn’t wait to try it. My relatively recent enjoyment of the orange bar helped too, as did the great price!

The packaging’s design was very much linked with the wrappers found on the chocolate bars. There was also an image of a spoonful of the mousse and, although I liked the look of the chocolate swirl, I did think the combination of the consistency and orange colour was a bit unnerving! However, the colours weren’t artificial, and I knew that the orange flavour was also natural. In addition, the mousse part of this ‘orange flavoured bubbly dessert with chocolate sauce’ made up 88% of the product and, within that, 68% was whole milk – not exactly a scary prospect!

In the end, the actual mousse did have a generally attractive appearance, but it really reminded me of Hallowe’en because the chocolate ripple looked a bit like a spider’s web on an orange backdrop. Unfortunately, I hate Hallowe’en with a passion, so this wasn’t a good thing for me!

In better news, the mousse had a nice orange aroma, although it was more subtle than the chocolate bar's scent. I also really enjoyed the way the soft, foamy texture melted in the mouth.

 

Initially, the flavour didn’t grab me. Rather than tasting like orange chocolate, it was like milk with a hint of orange and stronger cocoa hints. I also felt that it was a bit artificial, despite the evidence to the contrary. Thankfully, though, the flavour improved as I went on, and I particularly enjoyed the bits which contained more of the chocolate sauce – I’d never really appreciated before just how important the chocolate is in orange-flavoured chocolate!

On the whole, I thought this was a great product for the calories. The serving size was decent, both in appearance and, despite the air, in weight. I would have preferred a stronger orange flavour with more of a kick but this was still great as an everyday kind of snack.

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

Frijj Supreme: White choc raspberry swirl

Product name: Frijj Supreme: White choc raspberry swirl

Purchase details: £1.00 for a 375ml bottle (tesco.com)
Calories: 266 per bottle
Country of origin: UK

Yesterday I reviewed a white chocolate and strawberry combo which tasted like milkshake (Lindt Lindor: Strawberries & cream), and today I’m reviewing an actual white chocolate and berry milkshake – Frijj Supreme: White choc raspberry swirl.

I love this kind of flavour combination and I’ve been wanting to try this particular product for a while but I was waiting for it to be on offer as I’m watching the pennies. I quickly snapped it up when I saw it for £1.00 online but, when it arrived, I realised its cheaper price was down to a smaller bottle than normal (by nearly 100ml). I actually saw this as a good thing, though, as I’ve previously found other Frijj milkshakes a little too large, and this made the treat less calorific whilst still allowing me to save money despite it not being as good value as I’d originally thought.

As part of the Supreme range of milkshakes, this bottle had the same overall design as the Sticky toffee pudding variety, but with purple and white splodges instead of brown ones – I thought it looked gorgeous. It carried the same general promises and was described as ‘fresh milk combined with indulgent flavours – a source of calcium and vitamin B12’. It contained no artificial colours or flavours and no gluten, and I was surprised to see that the ‘high temperature pasteurised’ drink was also low in fat – it contained 1.3g of fat per 100ml, with 0.8g being of saturates.

I was a bit confused by this shake on the basis that it contained 70% skimmed milk and 22% whole milk which was almost the same as the standard Fudge Brownie and Cookie Dough varieties. Since this was marketed as being more indulgent, I didn’t understand why it didn’t have the higher whole milk content that the Supreme: Sticky toffee pudding had.

Despite my concerns, I carried on, shaking my chilled bottle well before opening. The liquid’s appearance looked exactly like milk but it was visibly thicker and heavier to pour. It had a fantastic, gentle scent of Mr Whippy ice cream with raspberry sauce, and the base flavour was essentially sweetened milk with a bit of vanilla. However, the main taste element was the raspberry which was bang on what the aforementioned ice cream sauce is like. My brain actually found it hard to process because it tasted so much like ice cream but there was no raspberry ripple to look at!

As delicious as these flavours were, I found it a shame that I couldn’t taste the white chocolate at all, despite it being an actual ingredient rather than just a flavouring. However,  I wasn’t all that surprised by this as I remember once getting a Nestlé Milkybar milkshake from Sblended Milkshakes and finding I couldn’t taste the white chocolate there either, despite there physically being bits of it throughout! I guess it’s a flavour that’s easily overpowered...

Not to end on a downer, the drink’s texture was nice and thick and smooth. I had been feeling a bit dehydrated but it was wonderfully refreshing and, as I said, it did taste fantastic despite the absence of a noticeable white chocolate flavour. A very enjoyable treat.

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 7.88/10

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