Megaload Caramel Crunch

Product name: Megaload Caramel Crunch
Purchase details: £1.39 for a pack of three cups (cycbercandy.co.uk)
Calories: 110 per cup (330 per pack)
Country of origin: USA

A couple of days ago I reviewed the creative Megaload Original which was a twist on the peanut butter cup. Well, tonight, I bring you a further twist in the form of Megaload Caramel Crunch.

I purchased this packet from Cybercandy and it contained three chocolate cups, filled with caramel rather than peanut butter, each with a different topping (almond buttercrunch, candy coated chocolate pieces, and peanut butter crunch). I can’t say I was quite as excited about this packet due to the lack of peanut butter, but I was genuinely intrigued to try a caramel product in a cup format. (The knowledge of the peanut butter topping also helped!)

These cups were presented in the same way as Megaload Original (although with a golden yellow wrapper to reflect the caramel variety) and they had a strong cocoa aroma. Interestingly, the overall smells emanating from the cups really reminded me of the scents that drift out of selection boxes. I can only assume that what my nose was experiencing was a combination of the chocolate, caramel and nuts, rather than a specific ingredient, since all three tend to be consistently present in such boxes of chocolate.

Each cup was made from a solid, chunky milk chocolate which, whilst not the best quality in the world, was still very enjoyable, especially when combined with the amber caramel inside. This caramel had felt stiff to cut through, but it was actually really soft and runny which is just what I like in a caramel. Whilst the cups didn’t seem as deeply filled as their peanut butter sister products, the consistency of the caramel meant that this wasn’t an issue as a little went a long way. It also had a lovely buttery element to it.

The almond buttercrunch cup was attractively decorated with tiny pieces of almonds (far smaller than the picture on the packet!) that I could easily have mistaken for walnuts, along with slightly larger, toffee-like pieces (the buttercrunch). These provided a nice, caramelised flavour, but I have to say that I couldn’t taste the actual nuts over the inner caramel. I also found that they didn’t seem to add a crunch at all.

The candy coated chocolate pieces cup was exactly the same idea as the peanut butter version so, again, added a splash of colour and a great crispy texture. This was my favourite of the three cups as a creaminess could be detected from the cup’s chocolate and caramel, as well as the different chocolate within the candy pieces.

The peanut butter crunch cup had a similar appearance to the almond buttercrunch one, albeit with nuts that were more golden in colour. Sadly, I couldn’t smell the nuts, but there was a slight saltiness in the taste which hinted at peanut butter – this certainly wasn’t obvious though. Again, I found that despite the apparently abundant nutty topping, this cup did not have a crunchy texture. However, the buttercrunch pieces did give a slight chewiness. Whilst not what I was expecting, this was still pleasant.

I thought it was a nice change having Megaload Caramel Crunch – they were certainly satisfying and I did enjoy them. I don’t think the toppings on offer here were as exciting as the other Megaload variants, but I think this is fine as, ultimately, the idea of a cup filled with caramel rather than peanut butter is the unique selling point here. Personally, I’d always prefer the peanut butter varieties, but I’m sure caramel lovers would get more satisfaction from this version.  

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.38/10

Kellogg's Pop Tarts: Frosted s'mores

Product name: Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted s’mores
Purchase details: £1.65 for a pack of two tarts (cybercandy.co.uk)
Calories: 400 per pack
Country of origin: USA

I first heard of s’mores a couple of months ago when watching an episode of 19 Kids and Counting. Having discovered they were toasted graham cracker ‘sandwiches’ filled with marshmallow and chocolate, I was intrigued to try them, so I happily added this packet of Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted s’mores to my Cybercandy basket when taking up a free delivery offer, recently.

On opening my packet, I was hit with a very sweet scent and a pastry that was slightly darker in colour than the other Pop Tarts I’ve tried recently – the shade resembled that of a digestive biscuit which, arguably, is the UK equivalent of a graham cracker. These tarts were then topped with an icing that was a pale chocolate brown.

Since proper s’mores are supposed to be toasted, I thought the concept of eating these Pop Tarts cold, was a strange one. However, the packet stated that, as usual, the pastries could be eaten cold, microwaved or toasted, so I proceeded to try them in all three ways.

When cutting into the cold Pop Tart, the knife was immediately met with resistance from the marshmallow within and, on examining the inside, I realised that the alternating chocolate and marshmallow filling was already in a molten form. I won’t go into too much detail over the pastry as I found it to be the same in taste and texture to the pastry used for Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted chocolate chip cookie dough (see here). However, I was surprised at just how flavoursome the filling was – there was quite a strong chocolate taste, and the chewy marshmallow also added a bit of flavour, although not a lot. Topped with the sweet, crispy icing, I enjoyed the cold version of this s’more tart more than I expected.

As previously, I tried half of one of these tarts microwaved for 10 seconds. This didn’t do much to the smell of the product, but it did make the pastry softer and caused it to fall away with the weight of the filling, which I thought was a good thing. The nature of the filling meant that it did heat well and so the sweet, gooey marshmallow, combined with the cocoa flavour, resulted in a taste similar to chocolate pudding. I was pleased, though, that the icing remained crispy as this provided a bit of variety to the otherwise soft texture.

In order to honour the whole point of s’mores, I decided to toast my remaining whole tart. This resulted in an appearance that was most similar to the picture on the front of the packet. The pastry edges became slightly crunchy, but the hot filling caused the base to be generally soft which was pleasantly offset, once again, by the crunchy frosting.

For me, the best thing about these Kellogg’s Pop Tarts: Frosted s’mores, was the texture. They were far more chocolatey than I expected, which I didn’t consider to be a bad thing, but I was slightly disappointed that the marshmallow flavour was so mild. Since I’ve not yet tried an actual s’more, I don’t know how this product compared to the real thing, however, I would have expected them to be a little creamier. Even so, this is definitely one of my preferred varieties of Pop Tarts. 

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

Megaload Original

Product name: Megaload Original
Purchase details: £2.50 for a pack of three cups (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 120 per cup (360 per pack)
Country of origin: USA

I’ve made no secret of the fact I love peanut butter and, until recently, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups have been at the top of my leader board. Today, though, I bring you Megaload – peanut butter cups covered in real chocolate (rather than a chocolatey coating) and finished with different toppings. (According to the paper cases within this pack, this brand was previously called ‘Overload’.)

Prior to starting this blog, I tried Megaload Sweet & Salty which were topped with different pretzels, and were delicious. This post, though, is reviewing Megaload Original, which I finally managed to track down in A Quarter of Sweets where the friendly man behind the till took the time to comment on how good they were.

This pack contained three peanut butter cups which were smaller in size than their Reese’s competitor, and were served in a plastic tray rather than on a piece of cardboard. It was clear from their appearance that the chocolate was indeed the real deal due to its glossy nature and the way it had set around the three different finishing touches on offer: a chocolate chip cookie, candy coated chocolate pieces, and a chocolate sandwich cookie. The cups emitted a faint scent of peanut butter, but ultimately, this was overpowered by the smell of chocolate.

These cups certainly looked interesting, with the candy coated chocolate variety looking particularly attractive due to the bright, shiny colours. (These appeared to be genuine M&M’s Minis as they were decorated with the familiar letter ‘M’, but I’ll refrain from referring to them as such in case they were just good imitations!) The chocolate sandwich cookie was Oreo-like in appearance, albeit with a different pattern on the shallower biscuit, whilst the cookie appeared standard with three large chocolate chips lopsidedly on show.

Inside, the peanut butter filling did not appear to be very deep, although I should add that my picture is misleading as the centre of the cup collapsed slightly! The depth of the peanut butter towards the edges of the cup is a true representation of the quantity throughout. 

The peanut butter in these cups was very smooth, although its flavour wasn’t as strongly nutty as I’d hoped. However, I did find that its taste built during the consumption of each cup, and the creamy cocoa of the chocolate coating provided plenty of alternative flavour.

I don’t think I can choose a favourite out of the three available toppings – they all offered different things but were equally yummy. As expected, the cookie had a standard flavour, although with more chocolate chips hidden inside, and I was surprised at how well its dry, crunchy texture worked with the softer, moister cup beneath. The Oreo-like biscuit didn’t have the strong cocoa taste I was expecting, but its centre was a creamy vanilla flavour. Again, the contrasting textures were a nice touch here, particularly as it had the layered effect of soft cup, crunchy biscuit, soft cream biscuit filling and another crunchy biscuit. As for the candy coated chocolate pieces, these added a lovely sweetness, in addition to a nice crunch.

I have to say that I think this is a genius concept, made even better by the inclusion of real chocolate. Once again, the combination of sweet and salty is a winner, and I just loved mixing the soft and crunchy textures. The only reason these haven’t scored more highly is that I think they could do with either a nuttier peanut butter, or a deeper peanut butter filling, in order to better counteract the extra sweetness provided by the toppings. Other than that...brilliant!

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

Ritter Sport Weisse Cocos

Product name: Ritter Sport Weisse Cocos
Purchase details: £1.55 for a 100g bar (monstersweets.co.uk)
Calories: 139 per four square portion (554 per bar)
Country of origin: Germany

Well, this is a sad review for me, since it marks the end of my Ritter Sport chocolate stash, as well as my first Monster Sweets order. Thankfully, though, my experience has ended very happily with Ritter Sport Weisse Cocos.

I adore white chocolate, and despite my recent bad experience with Vita Coco, I maintain that I also love coconut. What better, then, than a ‘white coconut’ chocolate bar?

I initially thought this product would simply be a block of white chocolate with artificial coconut flavouring mixed in there somewhere, but Ritter Sport's website soon taught me that the chocolate actually contained ‘delicate coconut flakes’ as well as flakes of rice.

The white chocolate itself was described as ‘creamy whipped cocoa butter with a strong milk and vanilla flavour’ and it was certainly a deep cream in colour. Divided into 16 squares, the rice flakes were visible throughout the bar, and were particularly noticeable on the base, which, I thought, resembled a differently-proportioned Kellogg’s Rice Krispies Squares bar.

The bar snapped softly, suggesting there was more filling than chocolate, and I was surprised to see that the inside almost looked aerated, although this turned out to be an illusion caused by the abundant and beautifully-smelling coconut flakes. (I would have awarded full marks for this divine aroma if it weren’t for the fact it could only be fully enjoyed when held right next to the nose!)

As promised, the chocolate itself was deliciously creamy with hints of vanilla (and not sickly!), but it was the coconut flakes that really made this bar what it was. The coconut was effectively the desiccated kind that is often used in baking, and it was evenly distributed throughout the bar, creating a bitty texture. Combined with the rice pieces for added crisp, this chocolate felt more like a white chocolate tray bake than a slab of chocolate. That’s not to say that the chocolate itself didn’t melt – it did, although this took place around the rough coconut. It really was fantastic.

I can’t actually put it into words just how much I enjoyed Ritter Sport Weisse Cocos. I usually like to take my time and savour my evening snacks as I see them as rewards for being good the rest of the day, but this bar didn’t last long at all. If you like white chocolate, you’ll like this. If you like coconut, you’ll like this. If you like them both? You just have to try it! 

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 9.5/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 9/10
Overall score: 8.88/10

Vita Coco

Product name: Vita Coco
Purchase details: Sainsbury’s Local
Calories: 59 per 330ml container
Country of origin: Brazil

I picked up this bottle of Vita Coco for free from Sainsbury’s Local with a voucher I won as part of my Higgidy picnic.

This drink is simply described as ‘natural coconut water’ so, at this point, I shall make a confession: I don’t actually like water. However, I do love coconut (although, granted, I never have it in its natural form), so I hoped this would be enough to make this beverage enjoyable.
I was slightly miffed that this bottle contained 59 calories but, on the plus side, the drink contained no fat or cholesterol and boasts more potassium than is found in a banana – good for hydration, apparently!

The container this Vita Coco came in was attractive and fresh-looking, with a handy screw cap which is why I can’t quite decide whether to class it as a bottle or a carton! The liquid inside, understandably, was more boring in appearance – it was basically cloudy water.

One of my favourite things about coconut is the smell but it soon became apparent that the smell I’ve come to know and love is not the pure variety! This drink did have a scent which I could identify as coconut (although it wasn’t quite as special as what I’m used to) and there was also a slight juicy element to it.

Texturally, this chilled Vita Coca was a simple, smooth liquid which was slightly thicker than water. On hitting the tastebuds, it was extremely sweet, but it did then make way for a more nutty flavour which was more coconut-like. However, again, it just didn’t compare to other foodstuffs that contain coconut, and quite frankly, I just didn’t like it.

Although I was unaware of a ‘normal’ water flavour, I did wonder if there was an element of this somewhere which caused me to dislike this product. I tried to persevere with the drink but, ultimately, only managed to drink half of it. However, I wanted to know if it was just me who had issues with it so offered the remainder to two of my relatives. They each took a sip, pulled faces and declared it to be ‘not very nice’.

I can see that this is a natural product and, for that reason, I feel bad about criticising it. However, this just wasn’t for me (or my relatives). If I was desperate for hydration, I’d definitely reach for tap water over this.  

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 3/10
Texture: 6/10
Overall score: 5.75/10