Krispy Kreme Strawberry Gloss

Product name: Krispy Kreme Strawberry Gloss
Purchase details: £1.50 for a 62g doughnut (Krispy Kreme Doughnuts)
Calories: 253 per doughnut
Country of origin: UK

I had a lovely e-mail from Krispy Kreme Rewards this week to say that they missed me, and offering me a free doughnut if I went back. Well, I didn’t need any convincing, so I thought I’d try a variety I’d not had for a while: the Strawberry Gloss. (For the record, my recent lack of visits has been down to having a stupidly large existing snack stash and a house to buy, rather than anything against Krispy Kreme!)

If memory serves me right, when this doughnut was first launched, it was part of a promotion with a women’s magazine, since the shimmery appearance of the topping looked like lip gloss. Unfortunately, my pictures just don’t do the original elegance of the treat justice, so you’re best looking at the website image to see what it looked like prior to me taking it home! The man who served me was lovely and warned me to careful as the gloss was ‘very sticky’, and advised me not to swing the bag around my head. I can honestly say I held it flat all the way home but it was no use...the majority of the topping stuck to the bag, as you can see!

I won’t say too much about the doughnut itself as it was basically an Original Glazed that had been ‘hand-dipped in a sparkling red berry glaze’.

The bonus of a lot of topping sticking to the bag was that it gave me an excuse to eat it with a spoon and get a proper idea of what it tasted like. Its consistency was like a gloopy gel and it had a deliciously sweet flavour with a hint of berry. It contained ‘strawberry compound’ which was mainly sugar but also had 27% strawberry listed on the ingredients. It really reminded me of ice cream sauce and, in terms of its sweetness levels, I felt it was on a par with fruity lollipops. The bloke who served me wasn’t lying either...even with a spoon, my hands ended up sticky!

Combined with the Original Glazed base, the topping added no additional aroma, and it didn’t have a huge impact on the flavour either. There was a slightly tangy element but it was the sugary doughnut itself that remained prominent. The smooth, gooey texture was a more noticeable extra but, to be honest, I preferred the purity of the plain doughnut as it felt less artificial.

On the basis that the Krispy Kreme Strawberry Gloss had all the qualities of the classic Original Glazed, this was another beautiful offering from the doughnut experts. The added berry flavour was a nice touch but I would have liked it to have played a bigger part.

Krispy Kreme, you may have missed me, but I missed you more...

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 9.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.75/10

Nestlé Lion: White

Product name: Nestlé Lion: White
Purchase details: £0.29 for a 42g bar (Home Bargains)
Calories: 200 per bar
Country of origin: Poland

I’ve not had a Nestlé Lion: White for a while but it is a bar I love. Featuring the usual Lion branding, the creamy wrapper looked appetising, and it stated that that the ‘caramel filled wafer (35.7%)’ was now ‘more crunchy’.

Interestingly and, perhaps worryingly, the coating that made up 39.5% of the product wasn’t white chocolate but a ‘white glaze’. Remembering that the Peanut version was covered in a ‘cocoa icing’ rather than chocolate, but still tasted ok, I decided not to be put off by this.

The bar was a really, really pale white colour – closer to snow than ordinary white chocolate! Some brown from the filling was visible through this but I wouldn’t have described it as a thin coating. Inside, the bar had the same brilliant appearance as the Peanut, although the cereal didn’t look as prominent against the white backdrop as it had done against the darker one.

I really liked the deep, sweet milky scent that came from the bar. It didn’t smell like white chocolate but it reminded me of vanilla candles instead – I could have sniffed it all day long!

Once again, the bar was very crispy, but it was hard to differentiate between the wafer and the cereal. There was no added crunch here, due to the absence of peanuts, but the caramel remained chewy and provided a delicious juicy flavour. The different elements of the bar combined to provide a thick texture in every mouthful and I enjoyed the extremely sweet flavour from the glaze. I don’t know if it was the white chocolate and wafer combination that reminded me of the Nestlé Princessa: Kokosowa, but I could have sworn there was a coconut flavour in there too! There was no mention of this on the ingredients list though...

As much as I enjoyed this tasty Lion: White, I think I would have preferred it if it had been coated in proper white chocolate. However, it was still a very good product, even with the fakery!

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 8/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 8/10