Chocolate Review Megapost: Gnaw Peanut Butter, Deluxe Banana Milk Chocolates & More!

A massive thank you to the wonderful +BringBack Banjo who recently sent me a massive box full of delicious chocolates and treats. Running the Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar takes a lot of time of effort but somehow BBBC manages to also keep her eye on spotting interesting new products. I always love her selections and this time was no different! 

Inside the parcel I found an awesome banana spread called I'm Bananas from The Wild Peanut, a Gnaw Peanut Butter chocolate, Snyder's Pretzel Pieces in Honey Mustard & Onion, a Twix Cappuccino, Chewits, Oh So Good Chocolate (no added sugar or dairy and with a boost of friendly bacteria), Tago Chocolate Muse (from Poland), Deluxe Banana Coated in Milk Chocolate, and Maui & Sons Dark Chocolate Coconut Chips.

Maui & Sons Dark Chocolate Coated Coconut Chips: Even though I love coconut, this isn't the sort of product I would usually go for. I think I would assume that the flavour would be a bit dry and boring, but I was happy to find that that's not the case!

Each dark chocolate coconut chip has a lovely crunchy texture that gives them an almost caramelised taste. The dark chocolate coating is really sweet but still has a strong chocolate flavour. Of course, the best part is the coconut flavour that comes through with each crunchy mouthful - it's sweet and just delicious. Even my kids couldn't get enough of this snack and they don't usually like coconut. I would definitely buy these in the future. Rating: 9 out of 10.

GNAW Peanut Butter Milk Chocolate: Gnaw is a range of handcrafted chocolates made in Norfolk. I love just how extensive the range is in terms of different flavours. As a fan of peanut butter I was excited to give this particular one a try. 

The Gnaw Peanut Butter is described as a milk chocolate with ground and chopped peanuts. There isn't any peanut butter as such in this bar, just little pieces of peanuts. The milk chocolate itself is very tasty, with a creamy flavour, but the little peanut pieces just provide a salty, peanut flavour rather than a 'peanut butter' one. It's still a tasty enough chocolate bar, especially for any peanut fans. Rating: 7 out of 10.

  

Lidl Deluxe Banana Coated in Milk Chocolate: I've often been tempted by the range of chocolate covered fruits in Lidl (such as the Deluxe Cherries Coated in Dark Chocolate) but I've never tried them before. I don't think I've ever seen this banana version or I would have snapped them up!

I'll be honest, I was quite shocked that these chunky chocolates were so dark inside - I was expecting a yellow coloured centre! Thankfully, the flavour is much tastier than I was expecting from appearances. The centre has a softly chewy texture and the whole thing has a deliciously sweet and ripe banana flavour. I really did enjoy these! They taste quite rich and satisfying, and the chocolate is very sweet, so I only eat one or two at a time, but I'll still be stocking up if I ever see these instore. Rating: 8 out of 10.

If you've tried any of the snacks in this post (or any of the products in the first photo) then I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. Look out for the rest of the reviews from this parcel soon.

Another big THANK YOU to the wonderful @BringBack_Banjo 

Don't forget to take a look at the Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Facebook Page and please sign the petition here. There seems to be a trend for bring back retro snacks and chocolates so let's make it happen for Banjo Chocolate Bar too!

New Instore: New Christmas Desserts at Lidl

                      

A big thank you to Sarah W. who spotted lots of new Christmas themed deserts in Lidl. There are plenty of treat to choose from, including: 

Lidl Spiced Chocolate Orange Pudding

Lidl White Berry Cheesecake

Lidl Dark Chocolate Cheesecake

Lidl Brioche Rum & Raisin Bread and Butter Pudding

Lidl Ginger & Chocolate Melt in the Middle Pudding.

                                   

I can also spy something called a 'Gingerbread Pudding' in the top right corner of the photo. I'll have to track that one down!

Many thanks again to Sarah for the great photo and list! 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.

Snack Haul & Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Bar!

A while ago I was sent a gorgeous parcel of goodies from the lovely @BanjoChocolate who's running a great campaign to get Mars to bring back the much missed Banjo Chocolate Bar. More support is always needed so please take a look at the dedicated Facebook page and sign the petition HERE. Retro comebacks are growing in popularity all the time and I really do hope that the Banjo can have a new release too!

Here's a closer look at the amazingly tasty selection of snacks:

Eridanous Soft Nougat Selection: This was available during Lidl's "Taste of Greece" week. There are three flavours of soft nougat included; Cranberry, Strawberry & Hazelnut.

I've never really tried flavoured nougat before so this whole product was a real revelation to me. The nougat has a lovely soft and melt in the mouth texture without being too sticky. 

The different varieties were all incredibly good too, with plenty of added fruits and nuts providing plenty of flavour and crunch. My favourite was the super sweet strawberry!

Flipz White Fudge: If you read this blog regularly then you might assume that I've tried most the big-name confectionery from the US, but the truth is that there are plenty of popular snacks from both sides of the Atlantic that I haven't tried yet. One of those is the Flipz range of pretzels - it's one of those products that I keep meaning to try but just hadn't got around to yet.

And I'm so glad I finally tried them because they're just my type of sweet and salty treat. The white fudge coating on each snack is quite thin but still provides a super sweet contrast to the inner salted pretzel. These are just too good, I could easily have eaten the whole bag by myself.

Walker's Banana Split Eclairs: @BanjoChocolate described these as being similar to the long gone banana flavoured Toffo sweets. If you were a fan of the Banana Toffos then you really need to find these Walkers Banana Split Eclairs. They're soft buttery toffees with a delicious sweet banana flavoured filling - so delicious and perfect for any banana fans.

Tesco Crispy Seedy Nutty Bites: These are deliciously crunchy biscuits made with sunflower seeds, peanuts, sesame seeds, hazelnuts, oat flakes, honey and currants. I was expecting these to be quite hard in texture but the crunch is very satisfying without being too dense. The flavour is very sweet and sugary but so good at the same time. They're a bit like Sesame Snaps but with added nuts and currants - dangerously moreish!

Thank you so much to the wonderful @BanjoChocolate for sending me such an awesome selection (and I still have the Polish Limited Edition Lindt to try!). All these products were incredibly tasty and I thoroughly recommend giving them a try if you spot them.

Once again please take a look at the Bring Back Banjo Chocolate Facebook page - all Likes, Comments, and Shares are greatly appreciated!

Lidl Churros - Ready Made Spanish Dough Pastry

I bought these frozen Lidl Sol & Mar Churros quite a while ago and they've been sitting in the freezer ever since. Even though they look awesome, they do need to be deep or shallow fried, which is not something I do very often. However, I finally decided to give them a go during the Easter weekend. 

The frozen churros look a little strange when taken straight out of the packet. Each one is a good size but they are quite thin.

Once fried the churros look very appetising. We covered them with cinnamon sugar and also served a melted dark 70% chocolate as a dipping sauce. What can I say - they were delicious! A few of them ended up a bit hard and too crispy (because they are so thin) rather than having a soft dough inside, but the majority were fine and very indulgent!

Grocery Gems Review: Lidl Churros

RATING: 7 out of 10.

Buy it again?: Probably.
Purchased: Lidl.
Price: £0.99p.

Review: Lidl Bellarom Milk Chocolate with Neo

Lidl always has a very tempting selection of chocolates, with many interesting flavours compared to other supermarkets, but it was the Bellarom Milk Chocolate with Neo that caught my eye on my last visit. If you've never heard of Neo biscuits before, they're basically the Lidl equivalent of Oreo cookies. It's a fun idea for Lidl to offer a chocolate bar with their own brand of cookies inside.

The packaging has a fantastic appearance, with a classic foil and paper wrapping, within a cardboard sleeve. The chocolate bar itself is very thick and chunky and weighs in at a hefty 200g - all great considering it only costs £0.99p.

Everything about the flavour is exactly as I had hoped. The chocolate has a great cocoa flavour with a creamy, smooth melt. There are plenty of large cookie pieces in each segment, providing lots of extra sweetness and crunch. It's nice to have the cookie pieces within the chocolate itself rather than within a "creme" or softer centre. Of course the Bellarom Milk Chocolate with Neo is quite a sweet bar overall, and a few pieces go a long way to satisfying a chocolate craving, but it's definitely one I would buy again. 

Grocery Gems Review: Lidl Bellarom Milk Chocolate with Neo

RATING: 8 out of 10.

Buy it again?: Yes.
Purchased: Lidl.
Price: £0.99p (200g bar).

New Instore: Ben & Jerry's Speculoos Ice Cream, Easter Cakes & More!

A round up of new products spotted instore - let me know in the comments if you've tried any of these!

Ben & Jerry's Speculoos? Specu-love Cookie Core: Any regular readers will know how much I love Speculoos as a flavour. I'm barely over the excitement of the Krispy Kreme Biscoff doughnut and along comes another awesome speculoos biscuit inspired product. There are two other new varieties available in this Cookie Core range; What-a-Lotta Chocolate Cookie Core and Utter Peanut Butter Clutter Cookie Core. I'm sure I'll try those last two eventually but look out for my review of the Speculoos variety soon! £3.00p at Sainsbury's.

Limited Edition Fab Tropical: I didn't get the best picture of the box - it shows lots of tropical fruits along the bottom. I'm a fan of the Fab range, especially during the summer, as it's a relatively low calorie choice for an ice cream/lolly and I'm looking forward to trying this new Tropical variety.  Review coming soon! £2.00p at Sainsbury's.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Ice Creams: For some reason I'm not that excited about these ice creams from Cadbury, and I wasn't really tempted to buy them at £4.00p a tub. The flavours above are; Zingy Raspberry Choc Brownie and Jelly Popping Candy. The first one doesn't sound too bad but I think I'll pass on the second one. £4.00p each at Sainsbury's.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Marvellous Ice Creams: There was also this yellow tub which is a bizarre Salted Caramel & Sour Cherry concoction. I was disappointed that this wasn't a banana ice cream instead! If you try any of these varieties then I'd love to hear from you in the comments below. £4.00p at Sainsbury's.

Magnum Pink Raspberry: I've posted about the new Magnum Pink and Magnum Black before. I had heard that they were available at Tesco but I haven't been able to find them in a Tesco near me. I finally spotted them today in Sainsbury's at £3.40p.

Magnum Mini Pink & Black: I was hoping that the new Magnum Pink & Black would be available as Mini version but I didn't expect to find them both in a Multipack too. I much prefer the mini sized Magnums, as I find the large ones a bit too much to eat in one go, but the smaller sizes are perfect. I picked up a pack of these too - my freezer is now well stocked with ice creams! £2.00p at Sainsbury's.

Walls After School Family Favourites: Not new, but an interesting new rebranding as "after school" snacks for this selection of classic Walls ice creams. £3.00p at Sainsbury's.

Walls Push Up with Haribo Gold Bears; I think these have been available individually in freezer cabinets and from ice cream vans but I don't remember seeing them for sale in a multipack before. I wonder if they are replacing the Walls Haribo Dino Candy Ice Lollies? £2.50p at Sainsbury's.

Walker's Limited Edition Linda's Chicken & Chorizo: I can't find any information about these but they don't seem to be part of any new Walker's flavour competition. I tried these today and they're very tasty with a distinctive smoky chorizo flavour, I'll have a full review soon. £1.50 at Sainsbury's.

Bahlsen Choco Leibniz White: These are white chocolate covered cocoa biscuits. I've tried the Choco Liebniz Milk Chocolate and Caramel varieties before but never this White chocolate version. I picked up a pack while they're on special offer. £1.00p at Sainsbury's.

McVities Marie Biscuits: I was quite surprised to see McVities branded Marie biscuits in the UK. Marie Biscuits (also known as Maria in Spain/Portugal) are the European version of Rich  Tea biscuits. They have a slightly different taste and I always used to pick up a few packs on holiday. At least McVities didn't release their Finger Marie version here in the UK! £1.20 at Sainsbury's.

Mr Kipling Lemon Fancies: Once again there are lots of lemon and orange flavoured cakes for Easter. I'll refer you my post last year "New Instore: Easter Cakes" as I spotted most of the same products - just with different packaging. Also back are the Mr. Kipling Lemon Whirls and Mr Kipling St. Clements Slices. £1.00p at Sainsbury's.

Shape Pineapple & Coconut Special Edition: A tropical inspired 0% fat yogurt with 63 calories per pot. £1.00p at Sainsbury's. 

Müller Light Inspired by Barbados Piña Coloda: This is quite similar to the Müller Light Inspired by Bali yogurt from last year, except with added Rum flavour! £0.70p each at Sainsbury's.

Lidl Jolly Choc Spreads: I'm not sure if these are exactly new but it's certainly the first time I've seen them. These are chocolate spreads with added chocolate drops - basically mini Smarties - in either Chocolate Spread or Milk Spread. They're available this week as part of the Lidl "Taste of the USA" promotion. £1.29 at Lidl. £0.99p each at Lidl.

Don't forget if you spot any new products in store please let me know via email - grocerygems@gmail.com. Thank you!

New Instore: Lidl Halloween Range & Lidl Nespresso Compatible Coffee Capsules

A few interesting Halloween items that I spotted in Lidl today. I haven't tried any of their Halloween range before and I was really impressed with the products available. I ended up buying quite a few different Halloween treats, much more than I have from any of the main supermarkets, and they were all great value too!

Lidl Halloween Snacks: This was the first product to catch my eye. It's a large sized bag of sour cream flavoured corn snacks - in spooky spider and cobweb shapes. I can't wait to serve these up on Halloween! Great value at £0.89p for a 100g bag.

Lidl Halloween Iced Cake Bites: This looked like a biscuit decorating kit with the icing mix and pumpkin decorations included. £1.49 each.

Lidl Halloween Cupcakes - Bubble Gum Flavour: This was the one my kids were most excited about so I had to buy a set. It's a mix for chocolate flavour cupcakes with bubblegum flavour icing and includes sugar coated cereal balls to decorate. I'm not sure how tasty these will actually be, but it will certainly be a fun activity to do during the half-term in the run up to Halloween. £1.49 - makes approx. 12 cupcakes.

Cake Angels Halloween Sprinkles: If you prefer to do your own baking then these decorative sprinkles are great value. Each tub has four different Halloween themed sprinkles; green sugar pieces, orange sugar pearls, bat and ghost sugar shapes, and black and orange sprinkles. £1.49p for 81g tub.

Lidl Halloween Milk Chocolate Balls: Large nets filled with Halloween foil wrapped solid milk chocolates. There is a generous 200g in each net (over 20 balls) so these would be good for kids Halloween parties. It's hard to tell from the photo but the wrappings look really good - either scary pumpkins or a dark blue sky with a witch on her broomstick. £0.99p for 200g.

Trolli Magic Horror: Apologies I forgot to make a note of the price for this (if anyone know please leave a comment below!). It's a large 1000g tub of Halloween shaped sweets. The individual sweets in this tub looked really big - there are some massive shapes in there! It even had full Frankenstein figures and large spiders. I've never heard of the Trolli brand but I really regret not buying one of these tubs! £2.99 for 1000g.

Lidl Halloween Tricolore Pasta: If you'd prefer to keep things a little bit healthier this Halloween, then these Halloween Tricolore Pasta shapes are ideal. I love the mix of black and orange pasta with all the different Halloween shapes; bats, spiders and pumpkins. I did buy these! £0.99p for 500g.

Lidl Espresso Coffee Capsules (Nespresso Compatible): Also a quick heads up about the Lidl Nespresso pods which are half price this weekend - only £0.89p for a box of 10 capsules. I bought these a few weeks ago and honestly, I didn't expect them to be any good. Well, they are fantastic (the Ristretto ones at least), making a smooth strong cup with a lovely robust flavour. My husband couldn't believe they were from Lidl. Stock up! 

Chocolate Reviews: E.Wedel Whole Hazelnuts & Fin Carré Dark Chocolate Ginger

My lovely online friend +BringBack Banjo Chocolate (shortened to BBBC from now on!) sent me a gorgeous selection of chocolates and wafers. Please check out her campaign to bring back the much missed Banjo Chocolate Bar that was discontinued by Mars in the 1980s. Check out the campaign Facebook page HERE for more details. 

E.Wedel Mleczna Z Calymi Orzechami - Translates as Luxury Milk Chocolate with Whole Hazelnuts. This chocolate bar was just sensational, it was so simple but extremely delicious. 

The milk chocolate is definitely of the sweet and mainstream variety, but it has a lovely creamy flavour. However, the whole hazelnuts are the real star here - they are just so crunchy and fresh tasting. I haven't had a Cadbury Whole Nut in many years but I don't remember them tasting as lovely as this one by E.Wedel. Definitely one to look out for if you have a local Polish shop.

Fin Carré Dark Chocolate Ginger: Some of you may recognise the Fin Carré name as being part of the Lidl brand. I've tried a few chocolates from their ranges before and they've always been surprisingly good, especially considering the low prices.

With this Dark Chocolate Ginger, the lovely BBBC, has sent me another stunner of a chocolate. The flavours are all excellent, from the smooth dark chocolate without any bitter edge, to the gorgeously indulgent pieces of ginger. The combination here is just heavenly and just a few pieces are enough to satisfy a chocolate craving. Definitely worth a try if you like ginger!

Mamba: BBBC also sent me a little pack of Mamba sweets. I've never heard of this brand before but they're apparently a German creation that were originally launched in 1953. The packaging shows an apple inter spliced with watermelon - definitely an interesting flavour combination. These taste really sweet and fruity, especially from the apple flavour, and have a softly chewy texture.

Many thanks to Bring Back Banjo Chocolate for sending me these wonderful treats. Please don't forget to check out the Facebook page here and sign the petition here! Thank you :)