New York Bakery Co Maple Mini Bagels & Easy Halloween Bagel Ideas!

The new Maple Mini Bagels from the New York Bakery Co. are perfect for this time of year. These mini sized bagels can be popped into the toaster whole and used to 'rip and dip'! I could honestly get through a whole bag of these by myself because they're just so delicious.

I was delighted to be sent these bagels by New York Bakery Co. and asked to create some fun  (and in  my case easy!) Halloween treats with them. More about that after a quick review!

Firstly I have to review the actual bagel itself and show you the lovely golden colouring. There are actually little pockets of maple syrup but the flavour is surprisingly not too sweet. These bagels could definitely be used for sweet or savoury meals. My kids enjoyed them with peanut butter or chocolate fillings but I loved them just lightly toasted and buttered or for dipping in a pumpkin soup.

Anyway, onto my super easy peasy fun Halloween ideas!

Spooky Critters Halloween Bagel Ideas:

Cute Monster Bagel - okay so this one is more smiley than spooky. Simply cut out jagged teeth shapes into an apple slice and prop open a peanut butter filled Maple Mini Bagel. You could also cut out two fangs on the apple slice to make it a vampire bagel! I used Wilton candy eyes which look great (I got these on Ebay) but dark chocolate chips or simple white icing are also good. 

Spooky Spider Bagel - our spider bagel is simply made with chocolate spread and Matchmaker legs (you could also use chocolate dipped pretzel sticks). This one was my kids' favourite!

Petrified Mummy Bagel - I used cream cheese frosting (just cream cheese with icing sugar and a little vanilla) to pipe on a simple mummy design. Then I just added two dark chocolate chips for eyes. 

Gruesome Toothsome Duo - my son had the idea to use mini marshmallows for teeth and it's such a simple and cute idea. These two are definitely the goofballs of the bunch. We also had some teeth shaped sweets (which you can just see in the background) which would also be fun to use.

Batty Bagel - a bat bagel (or is it an owl?) made with chocolate spread and Oreo cookie wings - just separate the biscuit and cut each side in half to make the wings. Couldn't be easier! 

We had lots of fun creating these easy Halloween bagel ideas - imagine what you could do for Bonfire Night too!

Grocery Gems Review: New York Bakery Co Maple Mini Bagels

RATING: 10 out of 10.
Buy It again?: Yes - I'll be stocking up.
Nutrition (per mini bagel): 96 calories.
Vegetarian: Suitable for vegetarians.
Price: £1.30p


PR Samples.

New Instore: Cadbury Snowy Fingers, Fibre One Salted Caramel Bars & More

Cadbury Snowy Fingers: The first of many limited editions in this post. Cadbury Snowy Fingers are covered in half milk and half white chocolate for a 'snowy' look. It's a simple concept but I'm sure these will be very popular whilst they're available. Spotted At: Asda - £1.00p.

Alpro Dessert Moments Hazelnut Chocolate: Thank you to FlipM for this photo. According to the Alpro website there are three flavours of Alpro Dessert Moments; Hazelnut Chocolate, Almond and also a Coconut flavour. They all sound really good so I hope all three flavours have made it to the UK. Spotted At: Morrisons.

Monin Limited Edition Chocolate Cookie Syrup: I don't think I have ever seen a limited edition Monin syrup to buy in the supermarket before. This one looks good for making a mocha! Spotted At: Sainsbury's - £2.00p.

Pip & Nut Crunchy Maple Peanut Butter: This limited edition has been out for a few months now. I tried it for the first time last week and really enjoyed the natural flavour. It has a slight runny consistency so I recommend keeping it in the fridge. I've stocked up on a few more jars! Spotted At: Sainsbury's - £2.00p.

Walkers Stax: I believe these were available a few years ago and are now back for a limited time. There are three flavours available: Original, Paprika or Sour Cream. Spotted At: Asda - £1.00p.

Scarestrings: Of course, these Scarestrings are exactly the same Cheese Strings but just in a Halloween themed pack. Spotted At: Co-Op - half price offer £1.29p.

Cadbury Screme Egg Pots of Joy: With added Wooooo Green Goooo. Their description not mine. Spotted At: Co-Op - £1.00p.

Cadbury Pumpkin Patch Cakes; I love the packaging of this one! I'll probably pick up a pack nearer to Halloween. Spotted At: Waitrose - £2.49p.

Fibre One Salted Caramel Squares: I buy these 90 calorie bars every once in a while and it seems that the Lemon Drizzle flavour has been replaced with this Salted Caramel (at least in my local store). I think I'll wait for an offer before buying these as they are quite pricey for such a small pack. Spotted At: Waitrose - £2.89p.

Candy Kittens: This funky candy range is gluten free and made with natural flavours and ingredients. Spotted At: Waitrose - £2.49p.

Mary Berry Belgian Chocolate Brownie Pudding: There is also a Bread & Butter Pudding Available too. Spotted At: Waitrose.

Collective Dairy Honeyed Plum Gourmet Yogurt: A limited edition flavour from the Collective Dairy (which was released in September). This one is made with stem ginger, plum compote and honey. Spotted At: Waitrose £1.50p. 

As always, if you spot anything new instore and fancy sending me a photo then let me know via email: grocerygems@gmail.com or Twitter: @grocerygems.

Review: New Haribo Scaremix with Spooky Flavours including Toffee Apple & Bubblegum!

Haribo has released a few updates of it's popular Starmix sweets featuring new flavours and themes recently, such as the Haribo Starmix Frenzy Carnival with tropical flavours. The latest is the Haribo Scaremix which features the usual selection of bears, fried eggs, rings and hearts from the classic Starmix but with new 'Spooky Flavours' and fun scary names. For example the fried egg shapes are now 'Monster Eyeballs' and the rings are 'Dracula Rings'!

There are 9 different sweets in total. The first four are; Blackcurrant & Bubblegum Vampire Hearts, Apple & Blackcurrant Dracula Rings, Toffee Apple Monster Eyeballs and Blood Orange Witches Brew. 

Blackcurrant & Bubblegum Vampire Heart: This is a dark purple jelly on top and a bright blue soft foam underside. The bubblegum flavour comes through with a sweet and fruity flavour that is not too overpowering. 

Toffee Apple Monster Eyeballs: I really enjoyed this unusual flavour but my kids were not so keen. They have a caramel type sweetness with a hint of fruity apple.

Apple & Blackcurrant Dracula Rings: The classic combination of apple and blackcurrant flavours is delicious here and was my kids favourite overall. It reminded them of a popular apple and blackcurrant flavoured drink!

Blood Orange Witches Brew: These are essentially just orange flavoured soda bottles - it's like a Fanta bottle instead of a cola bottle.  

The final five are all fruity flavours: Blackcurrant & Blueberry Dracula Rings, Blood Orange & Apple Dracula Rings, Blood Orange Boo Bear, Lime Boo Bear, and Cherry Boo Bear. Unfortunately I didn't have any of the Blood Orange & Apple Rings in my pack so I can't review that flavour.

Blackcurrant & Blueberry Dracula Rings. This one was the most flavourful in the pack. It has a strong, and surprisingly tart, berry flavour. 

Blood Orange, Lime & Cherry Boo Bears: The bears have all been rebranded 'Boo Bears' - as if that makes them more scary. Anyway, the flavours here are all very fruity, especially the Blood Orange which has the strongest flavour of the bunch. The Lime Boo Bear has a distinctive citrus flavour but the sweet Cherry Boo Bear was my favourite overall.

Grocery Gems Review: Haribo Scaremix

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes - I'll have to buy another pack for Halloween.
Purchased: Local corner shop.
Price: £1.00p.

Check out my previous Haribo Halloween Reviews:

Haribo Spooky Ghosts Review

Haribo Minions Gone Batty

Review: Limited Edition Haribo Minions Gone Batty

After looking for these Haribo Minions Gone Batty for the past few weeks, I finally found them today. They're a fun looking Halloween edition of the popular Haribo Minions sweets. 

The back of the packaging lists three 'new spooky flavours'; Slimey Lime & Orange, Creepy Cherry & Apple and finally a Boo Blueberry & Lemon. Unfortunately the sweets are all the same colour so it's quite hard to differentiate all the flavours. Honestly, I think I have a dud packet with only Cherry & Apple flavour as that's all I can really taste in these. It's a nice flavour, with clearly flavoured cherry and apple sides but it's nothing special by itself. I have yet to find any that taste of lime, orange, blueberry or lemon and I don't really want to eat the whole packet by myself just to be able to try all three flavours! Ultimately these are disappointing and I wouldn't recommend them.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Haribo Minions Gone Batty

RATING: 4 out of 10.
Buy them again?: No.
Vegetarian: Not Suitable for Vegetarians.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £1.00p.

Review: The Co-Operative Trick or Treat Mallow Bones

A quick review for these Halloween themed marshmallows from The Co-Operative supermarket. The Trick or Treat Mallow Bones are strawberry jelly filled marshmallow sweets. 

Even though these are fairly simple marshmallows, they do look effective as spooky treats. The combination of the white marshmallow and red filling really does make me think of bloody bones. Thankfully they're not gruesome in terms of taste. I've had jelly filled marshmallows before and they tend to be a bit bland but that's not the case with these Mallow Bones. The strawberry filling is quite delicious and has a strong and fruity flavour, with a sweet and thick texture. It perks up the fairly standard fare of the light and fluffy outer marshmallow. Overall I really enjoyed these and I hope they're brought back next year.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Co-Op Mallow Bones

RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition: 65 calories (per 20g serving).
Vegetarian: Not Suitable for Vegetarians.
Purchased: Co-Op.
Price: £1.00p.

Cadbury Craveyard - Vote to resurrect a Cadbury favourite!

Cadbury recently contacted me about their new Halloween campaign and competition #CadburyCraveyard. It looks like great fun and you can even be in with a chance of winning one of 100 special edition bars.

This Halloween choose between two delicious Cadbury bars from the past. Cadbury Marble and Cadbury Fuse bars are ready to claw their way back to life after a peaceful rest - but only one can return and that's up to you!

In what promises to be the most exclusive, supernatural and spook-tacular treat this Halloween, Cadbury is brewing its magical cauldron ready to conjure one of the delicious bars from the mix. Your vote will be thrown into the potion, and count towards which bar comes back and can be won for a limited time only. Voting closes on Halloween, the most ghoulish night of the year and the bar which receives the highest number of votes will then be given away to select winners. 

They won't be available in shops, so voting is the only way you get the chance to win one of the 100 special edition bars. Remember only one delicious treat can be resurrected, so put on your witchy hate and pick wisely!

Which bar do you mourn the return of most...

Cadbury Fuse packed with raisins, nuts and fudge for a texture sensation.

Cadbury Marble which is a perfect blend of praline, milk and white chocolate.

Even though I wish this was actually a vote to bring one of these bars back for good, rather than just a competition, I'm still voting for Cadbury Fuse! 

Click HERE to vote and choose whether to vote FUSE or MARBLE using the hashtag #CadburyCraveyard or visit the Cadbury UK Facebook page and leave a comment under one of the dedicated Craveyard posts. The winning bar will be revealed on the CadburyUK social media channels on All Hallows Eve. To view full terms and conditions visit http://bit.ly/1i0MVmN.         

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Halloween Recipes with Betty Crocker

Betty Crocker recently shared three super simple and cute recipes for Halloween. These bakes are all really easy to make using Betty Crocker ready made cake and icing mixes. It's fun to get creative in the kitchen with the kids by baking some spooky Halloween treats like these!

TWEET OWL CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

Cake:

1 box Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cupcake Mix 60ml 

60ml water (4tbsp)

30ml vegetable oil (2 tbsp)

2 medium free range eggs

Topping:

1 tub Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Icing

9 large milk chocolate buttons

White Fondant Icing, cut into 1½cm rounds

Black Fondant Icing made into ½cm dots

9 yellow or orange chocolate beans.

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted ovens) Gas Mark 4. Place the cake cases into your muffin tin. 
2. Mix the cupcake mix, oil, water and eggs gently together and then whisk (by hand or electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until completely blended. S
3. Spoon the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases. 
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 16 minutes or until a rounded knife inserted into the centre of a cupcake comes out clean. Leave to cool on a wire rack. 
5. Ice the Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge icing over the top of the cupcakes when cool. Place the chocolate button halves on top of the cupcakes to make the ears. Pipe over the chocolate fudge icing to make the feathers and tufts. 
6. Create by rolling out the white icing and cutting large circles for the eyes to place on the cupcake. Then add the milk chocolate button by putting a small dot of icing on one side of the button to stick it to the white icing for the pupils. Add the chocolate beans for the beaks under the eyes. Wonderful! 

CREEPY CAULDRON CAKE

INGREDIENTS

Cake:

1 box Betty Crocker Red Velvet Cake Mix 

65 ml vegetable oil (4 ½ tbsp) 

205 ml water 

3 medium free range eggs 

Topping:

1 tub Betty Crocker Chocolate Fudge Icing 

½ tub Betty Crocker Vanilla Icing 

Green, Orange and Red Food Colouring 

1 packet milk chocolate fingers, halved (125g) 

Handful of jelly snakes cut in half 

Handful white chocolate balls.

METHOD:

1. Preheat your oven to 180C (160 C for fan assisted)/Gas Mark 4. Grease two 20cm cake tins. 
2. Mix the cake mix, oil, water and eggs gently together and whisk (by hand or electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. 
3. Pour the cake mix evenly into your two greased cake tins. 
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 23-28 minutes or until a rounded knife inserted into the centre of the cake comes out clean, then allow to cool on a cooling rack. 
5. Ice by sandwiching the cake together with half of the chocolate fudge icing and spread the rest around the top and sides, reserving a little for the rim of the cauldron. Put this into a piping bag with a large nozzle and pipe around the top edge of the cake. Any leftover icing you can use to make the pupils of the eyeballs. 
6. Decorate by colouring ⅔ of the vanilla icing with green and pipe loosely over the top of the cake, using a large nozzle to form the bubbling potion. Colour the rest of the icing with orange, reserving a little to colour red. Decorate the bottom of the cake with the chocolate finger halves for logs. Pipe orange flames around the bottom of the cauldron and then add red centres to the flames. Push the jelly snakes into the top of the cake so that they give the effect that they are crawling out of the bubbling potion. Add chocolate balls as eyes and 'Hey Presto' a Halloween Cauldron to spook your friends.

SPOOKY SPIDER CUPCAKES

INGREDIENTS

Cupcakes:

1 box Betty Crocker Devil's Food Cake Mix 

90 ml vegetable oil (6 tbsp) 

250 ml water 

3 medium free range eggs 

Decoration:

 1 tub Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Vanilla Icing 

Red food colouring & Yellow food colouring 

Decoration Tube of black decorating icing 

48 black fruit pastilles

METHOD

1. Preheat your oven to 180°C (160°C for fan assisted ovens) / Gas Mark 4. 
2. Mix the eggs, oil, water and cake mix gently together and whisk (by hand or electric mixer) for 2-3 minutes until smooth and creamy. 
3. Pour the mixture evenly into the cupcake cases. 
4. Bake in the centre of the oven for 16 minutes or until a rounded knife inserted into the deepest part of a cupcake comes out clean. Leave to cool on your cooling rack. 
5. Stir 3 drops of red colouring and 4 drops of yellow food colouring into Betty’s Vanilla Rich and Creamy Icing in a small bowl, and mix to create orange icing. Spread this over the cooled cupcakes.
6.  Create four black circles on each cupcake using the black decorating icing. Use a knife to draw through the circles from the centre of each cupcake to create the web effect. 
7. Roll out one fruit pastille and cut out eight strips for legs and then place a whole fruit pastille in the middle to create your spider. Do this for each cupcake to create your beastly batch…Scarily splendid!

There are lots more Halloween recipes on the Betty Crocker website including the adorable Halloween Cat Cake above! Check them out here: www.bettycrocker.co.uk.

New Instore: Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns, M&S Christmas & More

A round up of new products spotted instore.

Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns: I finally found the new Ben & Jerry's Cinnamon Buns ice cream. It's described as a caramel ice cream with cinnamon swirl and chunks of cinnamon bun dough. I've been waiting for a decent cinnamon themed ice cream for ages so I can't wait to try this one. Review coming soon. £4.49p at Tesco.

Ben & Jerry's Save Our Swirled: Also pictured in the photo above is the new Save Our Swirled ice cream. This one features a raspberry ice cream with marshmallows, raspberry and blackberry swirls, and chocolatey cone pieces. £4.49p at Tesco.

Carte D'Or Chocolate Hazelnut Winter Collection: This is a large celebration ice cream dessert that looks absolutely gorgeous. I enjoyed the similar Carte D'Or Raspberry celebration ice cream last year (we had it as a Christmas dessert and everyone loved it). This Chocolate & Hazelnut version will be at the top of my Christmas dinner shopping list for sure. £3.00p at Tesco.

Minion Cookies: The Minions invasion continues with these bakery fresh cookies featuring 'chocolate bean' decorations. £1.00p at Co-Op.

M&S Petrifying Pumpkins: M&S has it's usual impressive range of Halloween foodie products instore. I liked the look of these new Petrifying Pumpkins. These cheese flavoured puffed crisps are all pumpkin shaped which looks really unique. £2.00p at M&S (3 for 2 offer across the Halloween range).

M&S Christmas Whip: Of course there is also a wide range of Christmas products available at M&S already too. This giant Christmas Whip looks fun and would make a really cute gift. It doesn't seem to be Christmas flavoured in any way which is a shame, but it is well decorated, with holly and white icing to look like a Christmas pud. £4.00p at M&S.

M&S Katsu Curry Sticky Rice Chips: Japanese katsu curry is my ultimate favourite meal so I was pretty delighted to find these intriguing sounding chips in M&S. I'll have a review soon. £1.50p at M&S. 

M&S Dark Chocolate & Cherry Jaffa Cakes: I was disappointed in last years seasonal edition Cranberry & Chocolate Jaffa Cakes from M&S. I'm hoping this year's Dark Chocolate & Cherry Jaffa Cakes will be tastier. £1.50p at M&S.

M&S Red Velvet Teacakes: A modern twist on classic teacakes. These feature a cream cheese flavoured mallow with a chocolate base and decorated with red sprinkles. £1.00p at M&S. 

M&S Billionaire Bullion Bar: This layered dessert just looks so M&S. It's an extravagant combination of salted caramel sauce, caramel flavoured mousse, chocolate ganache. shortbread biscuit and a golden chocolate shell. £4.00p (for two fairly small desserts) at M&S.

Hula Hoops Stars: There honestly aren't enough star shaped crisps in the world. Welcome back Hula Hoops Stars. Spotted at 99p Stores. 

Pom-Bear Snowmen: Probably the only thing cuter than star shaped crisps would be these Snowmen shaped crisps. Spotted at 99p Stores.

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

Review: Mr. Kipling Witches Hat Fancies

Mr. Kipling have plenty of Halloween themed cakes out at the moment, from Terror Whirls to Chocolate & Slime Slices, but I was especially drawn to their new new Witches Hat Fancies. They're designed to play a trick on your taste buds as the green sponge is actually orange flavoured. Each cake is also topped with a vanilla flavoured cream and is decorated with black icing. 

I'm not actually the biggest fan of the original Mr. Kipling French Fancies, and I'm not usually tempted by their limited edition flavours either, but I just thought these ones looked extra special. The black icing gives the cakes a very unique appearance and they're certainly great looking little cakes for Halloween.

The flavour is just as sugary sweet as I remember these being (the last time I had Mr. Kipling French Fancies was this British version back in 2012!), but they do have a lovely soft cake texture and melt in the mouth topping. The orange flavour does come through strongly but it's funny how the green colouring does trick your brain into thinking they have a bit of a lime flavour in there too! Orange is not really one of my favourite flavours so I didn't enjoy the taste here as much as the rest of my family did. I would prefer to see a more interesting autumnal flavour used for these but I still appreciate Mr. Kipling giving us such innovative and fun themes for their seasonal cakes.

Grocery Gems Review: Mr Kipling Witches Hat Fancies

RATING: 7 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes but nearer to Halloween!
Nutrition:  98 calories per cake (27g).
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £1.00p.