Fox's Party Rings: Raspberry ripple

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings: Raspberry ripple
Purchase details: £0.50 for a 125g packet (Asda)
Calories: 27 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

I was really excited when I first heard about the ice cream-inspired limited editions of some of Fox’s classic biscuits but it took me ages to track them down. Thankfully, I managed to find them all at an amazing £0.50 a packet in Asda, and the first variety I’m reviewing is the Party Rings: Raspberry ripple.

These excitingly-flavoured ‘iced shortcake rings’ came in colourful raspberry and baby pink packaging which was less ‘busy’ than the standard version but also contained Vinnie the panda. I’ve mentioned before that I found his image a bit unappetising (see here) but he’d had a bit of a makeover, here, and actually looked quite cute with a drop of melted ice cream on his ear!

The packet contained around 20 biscuits that were free of artificial colours, flavours and preservatives. There was no specific mention of raspberries on the ingredients so, what the flavourings contained, I’m not sure.

The rings looked almost identical to one of the standard Party Rings but seemed a tiny bit smaller – I’m not sure if I’m going mad?! To my delight, they genuinely smelt of Mr Whippy ice cream with raspberry sauce, and I couldn’t wait to tuck in.

I was impressed that the flavour was pretty realistic and did taste like raspberry ripple ice cream, although it was so sweet that there was a slight sherbet element too. They were absolutely full of flavour but also pretty sugary so, unusually for me, I would have liked a little bit more focus on the cream rather than the sugar.

Texturally, these biscuits were as standard for Party Rings, but the icing’s surface was a bit rougher on the tongue, and it seemed to add a juiciness to the flavour too.

This was such an interesting twist on a classic and it’s such a shame that it’s only intended to be a limited edition!

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

Fox's Party Rings

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings
Purchase details: £0.59 for a 125g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 29 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK 

The day of reviewing the original Fox’s Party Rings is finally upon us! I think I’ve posted about every other variety going but tonight it’s back to basics. I’ve mentioned before that I use these as a ‘filler’ snack due to their low calorie content but I can’t pretend that a little part of me doesn’t still get excited by them. My parents never bought them when I was growing up so they always felt such a treat when I got to have them at other kids’ parties and at my godmother’s house. It’s the little things...

Anyway, these biscuits cam in fun, child-friendly packaging – I loved the shade of blue and the colourful logo that reflected the biscuits within. There were also little doodles of objects to appeal to both genders, such as cars and flowers, so I was a bit confused when all of the ‘colourful, crunchy, iced ring biscuits’ were such girly shades of pink and yellow. I’d never appreciated that before, although I still thought the variety of hues was attractive and provided a bit more interest than the Blueberry muffin version, despite the overall appearance being the same.

Once more, the Party Rings contained no artificial colours, flavours or preservatives and, to my mild dismay, I found that they didn’t have the fairly strong and sugary scent I remember – I’d been hoping that was just a characteristic of the Footballs!

Thankfully, the other aspects of these shortcake biscuits remained as I had hoped. They had the exact same taste as the Party Footballs and the same texture as the Blueberry muffin Party Rings – all good stuff.

 

I don’t care how old I get, I’ll be buying these for years to come!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 5.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7/10

Fox's Party Rings: Blueberry muffin

Product name: Fox’s Party Rings: Blueberry muffin
Purchase details: £1.00 for a 125g packet or two for £1.00 (Poundworld)
Calories: 28 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK 

These Fox’s Party Rings: Blueberry muffin ‘iced shortcake rings’, like the Crunch Creams: Key lime pie, were part of the Vinnie’s Tastes of America range. As a result, the packaging again featured a background of the American flag, as well as the unappetising picture of Vinnie the panda! However, I did love the mid-blue colour that reflected the flavour.

I was really keen to try these biscuits as blueberry is a flavour I’ve never even heard of before in this kind of format. The biscuits were the same type of purple shade as some of the ordinary Party Rings, although the decorative ripple on this variety was white rather than yellow.

These Blueberry muffin Party Rings had an unusual aroma in that they maintained the sugary sweet scent I associate with the original product but this was combined with a deeper blueberry scent which was just as evident.

Texturally, these biscuits were the same as both standard Party Rings and the Party: Choc rings that I’ve previously reviewed. The crunchiness of the biscuit combined well with the crispy sugary shell and, for the first time, I tried sucking a biscuit too. I don’t know if this works as well with the other varieties but it was certainly a pleasant alternative here. Whilst the overall effect was a dissolving one, the icing itself felt and tasted lovely and juicy and helped release more of the blueberry flavour.

When chewing the biscuits, I did find they tasted quite similar to standard Party Rings as they remained pretty sugary, but there was a mellow hint of blueberry that did do a pretty good job of reflecting a blueberry muffin’s flavour. As the biscuit crumbled in the mouth, it also reminded me of a slightly down-market pie!

These were definitely a vast improvement on the Party: Choc rings and, whilst not hugely different from the original Party Rings, they were enough of a novelty to make me want to choose this variety in future!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Fox's Party: Choc rings

Product name: Fox’s Party: Choc rings
Purchase details: £0.59 for a 125g packet (Home Bargains)
Calories: 28 per biscuit
Country of origin: UK

Fox’s Party Rings have been a staple part of my diet since I started trying to lose weight several years ago because they contain so few calories. I know they’re designed for kids but I never find that an issue. Plus, I only had them at parties when I was little so I find it a novelty to now have them in the home! That said, I’ve had so many other items in my stash recently that it’s actually been months since I last had one. As for these Choc rings, it was a variety I’d never seen or tried before so I bought them as soon as I saw them, and they’ve been waiting for me to eat them ever since.

These ‘chocolate flavour, iced ring biscuits’ were not as colourful as the original variety due to the chocolate theme, but they were certainly a noticeable continuation of the brand, and I also thought they looked like mini doughnuts due to the presentation of the brown icing with white stripes.

It hadn’t occurred to me that the shortcake biscuits would also be chocolate flavoured so, combined with the icing, the product emitted a surprisingly strong chocolate biscuit scent. Understandably, this was quite a childlike one.

The texture of these Choc rings was the same as the original Party Rings – bumpy, crunchy biscuits with a thin, crispy sugar shell. On the downside, though, they had a really strange flavour. The icing retained its usual sugariness but the chocolatey flavour was mild and, I thought, not very accurate.

I really wanted to like these biscuits, especially since, whilst not the most natural product in the world, they didn’t contain any artificial colours, flavours or preservatives. However, the concept just didn’t seem to work with a chocolate flavour. Fair play to Fox’s for trying something a bit different, but I’ll be sticking to the original variety in future.

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 5.5/10
Texture: 6/10
Overall score: 6.5/10