Review: Aldi Chocolate Bars - Racer, Titan, Dreemy & Wacko

I recently stepped into Aldi to buy a few fruit and veggies and ended up adding at least five different packs of chocolate bars to my basket. In my defense they're all chocolates that are obviously based on popular chocolate bars - it's only fair that I buy them for a comparison review right? The DairyFine Dreemy is basically a Milky Way, the DairyFine Racer is Snickers, the DairyFine Titan is a Mars Bar and the Belmont Caramel Wacko is a bit like Twix (although not really - see below). These all come in multipacks of various sizes and value but they were all fairly cheap.

DairyFine Dreemy: These are described as lightly whipped nougat covered in milk chocolate. The nougat centre has a darker, more caramel type colour compared to a MilkyWay, but the flavour is very similar. It fact the Dreemy even has the same sweet malty aftertaste that Milky Way chocolate bars have. The outer chocolate is quite thick and has a good cocoa flavour to it as well. Overall these compare very favourable to a Milky Way and I would definitely buy them again. 

RATING: 8 out of 10.

INFO: £0.42p for a six pack. 100 calories per 22g bar.

DairyFine Titan: The Titan is described as a milk chocolate with soft nougat and caramel centre. It looks and tastes very similar to a Mars bar. The caramel especially has a good flavour and the chocolate outer is generously portioned with a very thick layer and has a lovely creamy flavour. The only slight negative is that I did find the nougat a little bland and the whole thing is a bit too sweet for me. However, I would probably say the same thing about Mars bars so they're a decent enough replacement!

RATING: 7 out 10.

INFO: £0.59p for a six pack. 172 calories per 38g bar.

DairyFine Racer: This is a soft nougat with roasted peanuts and caramel coated in milk chocolate. I  much prefer a Snickers bar over a Mars bar any day - the slightly salty edge from the peanuts makes all the difference for me. I was happy to find that the Racer really does capture that delicious roasted peanut and caramel flavour of a Snickers. The nougat layer is quite thin here and there seems to be more caramel which I enjoyed. The chocolate is again very thick and creamy. Mr. Grocery Gems is a Snickers fan and he gave the Racer a thumbs up too.

RATING: 9 out of 10.

INFO: £0.59p for a six pack. 185 calories per 38g bar.

Belmont Wacko: I actually meant to include the DairyFine Jive at this point as it's pretty much an exact match for Twix bars from Aldi (just a bit smaller). However, the Jive bars were all eaten before I could take a photo, which should probably tell you just how good they are. Instead, here are the Wacko chocolate biscuit bars with caramel. They're also delicious with a crunchy shortcake biscuit, thick caramel and creamy chocolate. It's obviously not as Twix-y as the Jive bar so I'll have to update this review at some point.

Rating: 8 out of 10.

INFO: £0.89p for 9 biscuit bars. 102 calories per 21g biscuit bar.

Let me know if you've tried any of these bars in the comments below. I'd also love to hear from you if you've tried any of the other copycat Aldi bars such as the DairyFine Romeo (coconut bars that look similar to Bounty).

New Instore: Easter at Aldi

A quick round up of the new Easter selection at Aldi. 

Dairy Fine Super Minis Easter Egg: If your looking for something a bit different from the same old Cadbury or Mars selection egg then this Super Minis Easter Egg might just be a fun replacement. It contains mini versions of Aldi chocolates such as Jive, Titan, Dreamy (which are very similar to Twis, Mars and Milky Way). £2.79p at Aldi for 347g.

Choceur Eggjoyables: These look so cute, I had to buy both packs (let's see if they last until Easter!). The Aldi Eggjoyables consist of egg carton boxes containing four cream filled eggs (and two spoons) in two varieties; Chocolate or Vanilla. They look similar to the Cadbury Egg N' Spoon, but of course, a little cheaper. £1.49p per box at Aldi.

Dairy Fine Mini Beanie Eggs: Apologies for the terrible photo but these also looked interesting. Each 100g bag is filled with 8 quite big chocolate bean filled eggs. They remind me of those little Smarties filled chicks that usually cost something like 2 for £1.00p. I picked up a few bags of the Dairy Fine Mini Beanie Eggs instead - very useful for Easter egg hunts. £0.99p each bag at Aldi.

Dairy Fine Choccies Medium Egg: On the subject of chocolate beans I was also tempted by this colourful Choccies filled egg at the bargain price of 79p. If you've tried it then let me know in the comments below - thanks! £0.79p at Aldi.

Moser Roth Easter Eggs: They had quite a few impressive looking Easter Eggs in the more upmarket Moser Roth range. I saw four varieties: Banoffee Pie, Dark Fudge Brownie, Pink Delight or Chocolate Wonder. Not sure on the price but I think they were around the £3.49p mark. Will update.

Easter Marshmallows: I'm a sucker for a novelty shaped marshmallow and I couldn't resist picking up these Bunny & Chick Shaped Marshmallows. £0.99p for 225g at Aldi.

Star Wars Sweet Popcorn: And lastly, I couldn't resist including this non-Easter item. Perhaps stretching the boundaries of acceptable merchandising, but this multipack of popcorn is actually quite impressive looking. Each of the bags features a solid R2-D2 design on the front which looks really cool. Also available in a Disney Frozen version. £1.49p at Aldi.

As always if you've spotted any new products instore then I'd love to hear from you - email grocerygems@gmail.com or tweet me @grocerygems.

Aldi Swiss Chocolate Bar Review

It's not new and it's not limited edition but this Aldi Choceur Swiss Chocolate Bar caught my eye on a recent visit to the discount supermarket. In the past I've overlooked this bar as being the same as a Toblerone. I'm sure most of us in the UK would associate a Swiss mountain bar with the famous pyramid shaped chocolate.  However since reading The Snack Review's Frey Chocobloc reviews, I could see that this Aldi Swiss Chocolate Bar is much more similar to the Frey Chocobloc.

Rather than having a peaked shape, the Aldi Choceur Swiss Chocolate Bar is flat and rectangular from the top with triangle shaped pieces. It looks just like the Frey Chocobloc and I just love this appearance and shape.

The Aldi Choceur Swiss Chocolate Bar is described as "Premium Swiss Milk Chocolate with Honey & Almond Nougat". The milk chocolate is made with 34% minimum cocoa solids. It certainly has a lovely rich chocolate smell with honey undertones as soon as I unwrapped it. I wasn't sure what to expect from Aldi chocolate but I'm glad to say this was just as good as any Swiss chocolate I have tried, it has a rich nutty flavour and creamy texture which is delicious but quite sweet.

There are lots of nougat pieces, especially along the bottom of the bar. They have a lovely chewy but melt in the mouth texture. It doesn't stick to your teeth or give your jaw a workout. It adds an instant honey flavour and a sweet chewiness but then melts away, leaving the smooth chocolate notes to linger in your mouth.

The Choceur Swiss Chocolate Bar weighs in at 100g which is larger than most single bars of chocolate but smaller than a traditional Toblerone bar. It only costs 89p which I think is an absolute bargain. If you're a fan of Swiss chocolate then you have to give it a try. Seeing as the Frey Chocobloc is not available in the UK yet then this is a great alternative.

A few comparative photos of the Aldi Choceur Swiss Chocolate Bar next to the Frey Chocobloc Air (which is much smaller than the standard Chocobloc's and has extra holes!):

Aldi                                       Frey

As an aside, this is part of the Choceur range from Aldi. They also have a more "upmarket" range called Moser Roth and a kids range called Dairy Fine. What do you think of the chocolate ranges from Aldi? Let me know if you have any recommendations!