New Instore: Christmas Treats & Gingerbread Swirls

Another quick round up of new and returning products spotted instore.

Asda Snowman Cake-Pop Kit: This looks really cute and a fun activity for the kids over the Christmas holidays. £2.00 at Asda. They also had an awesome Make Your Own Rocky Road House Kit (see below) which is an interesting twist on the classic Christmas gingerbread house.

Hartley's Jolly Jelly Strawberry and Raspberry: Hartley's jelly packs have been given a cute festive makeover. There is Santa on the Strawberry packs and a reindeer on the raspberry packs. The idea is similar to the Halloween packs they had last month but it's just a shame that there isn't a new flavour to go along with the festive designs. £0.49p each at Asda.

Hartley's Jolly Jelly Orange: The orange jelly also had a festive new look with a snowman design on the front. The Lime and Lemon jellies were both in standard packaging - if you spot the new ones please do let me know! £0.49p each at Asda.

Asda Chocolate Sprouts: I know Marks & Spencer had a similar product last year. These Asda Chocolate Sprouts are quite large so there are only about 6 or 7 chocolates per net. £1.00 for 90g at Asda.

Asda Extra Special All-Butter Palmiers & Cinnamon Straws: There were plenty of new Christmas themed biscuits and cakes in the Asda Extra Special range. This box stood out to me in particular because of the cinnamon straws. I'll probably pick them up at some point, although I might just use the idea and make these at home myself! £2.00 at Asda.

Cadbury Turkish Cake Bars: I don't think these are new, they've certainly been around before in previous years at least. However, I think this "Special Edition" is a seasonal product. £1.00 at Asda.

Mr Kipling Frosty Fancies: These are also back from last year. £1.00 at Asda.

Warburtons Winter Fruit Loaf: I reviewed this a few years ago HERE. It has a lovely spiced flavour that is perfect on a winters morning. £1.30p at Asda.

Activia Intensely Creamy Duo: I mentioned these yogurts before in my post HERE but this is the first time I've seen them instore. I spotted two varieties; Apricot & Nectarine and Pear & Apple. There is also a Blood Orange & Passionfruit available. £2.38p for a 4-pack at Asda.

McVities Batman Justice League Biscuits: Each box comes with four packs of six biscuits. The biscuits are chocolate flavoured sandwich biscuits with a Batman image printed on each one. Spotted in 99p Stores.

Sun-Pat Hazelnut Spread: Not a new product, I reviewed it HERE previously. I thought it was interesting that it's now in 99p Stores. I wonder if the fact that it's really a peanut butter in disguise has something to do with that? Very misleading packaging. It's made of 62% peanuts and only 12% hazelnuts. Spotted in 99p Stores. 

Sun-Pat Cashew Spread: My brother sent me this photo of Sun-Pat Cashew, which happily does actually have cashew nuts as the main ingredient. This one has 67% cashews and 8% peanuts. I still think the labelling is misleading as some shoppers may think this is a pure cashew nut spread. £2.40p at Sainsbury's.

M&S Gingerbread Swirls: I didn't hesitate in buying one of these! What a brilliant idea from M&S. Cinnamon swirls are my favourite pastries and this Gingerbread version is just as appealing. Review coming soon but here's a spoiler - it was DELICIOUS. £1.00p at Marks & Spencer (in the fresh bakery section).

M&S Apple, Pear & Brussel Sprout Juice: I didn't get a chance to look at the bottle properly but I'm guessing this juice probably contains less than 5% sprouts. £2.29p at M&S.

Tesco Gingerbread Smoothie: And if sprout juice isn't your thing then look at this beauty. A Gingerbread inspired smooth with orange, apple, ginger and cinnamon from Tesco. Thanks so much to Lucy for the photo - I'm off to try to find this today! Apparently there was also a pudding inspired smoothie too! Will update with price.

M&S We Whip You A Merry Christmas: You know how at Christmas you can get those metre long tubes of Jaffa Cakes or Wispa bars? Well, M&S has decided to make a metre long tube of their Walnut & Assorted Whips and... wait for it... have called it a WHIP STICK. My Christmas spirit just died a little inside. Can't remember the price, I'm too traumatised.

M&S Chocolate Coins: These are not new but I'm just posting this just to show that I don't understand the fuss about #ChocCoinGate and the fact that Cadbury are no longer making chocolate coins. Chocolate coins are available to buy in just about EVERY single supermarket at Christmastime so what's the big deal? Honestly I'd be sorrier to see the Lidl chocolate coins disappear - they do them with £50 notes in the pack!

A couple of items that I spotted but couldn't take photos of:

Photo: Asda

After Eight Finest Mint Selection: I don't think I've ever had an After Eight chocolate that wasn't the classic mint thins. This selection consists of dark, white and milk chocolates with a peppermint fondant filling. £2.00 at Asda.

Image: Asda

Asda Rocky Road House Kit: This is basically a chocolate version of a gingerbread house. It's a great value kit and I'm regretting not getting one when I saw it today! £3.00 at Asda.

I'd love to hear from you if you spot any new Christmas food products instore - email me any photos to: grocerygems@gmail.com. Thanks!

McVitie's Jaffa Cake Mini Rolls Tropicool and Berry Burst

Following on from yesterday's post about the new Neapolitan Cadbury cakes, is another review about freezable Mini Rolls. This time it's McVities who have released their own version, under the Jaffa Cake brand. The new Jaffa Cake Mini Rolls are fruity rather than ice cream inspired and come in two flavours, Berry Burst and Tropicool.

Just like original Jaffa Cakes, these Mini Rolls are covered in dark chocolate rather than milk and feature a fruity jam filling. Each cake has only 99 calories which is great for such a sweet chocolate treat. 

The Berry Bust is swirled with a strawberry and raspberry jam filling. Once frozen the jam solidifies slightly and gives a lovely cold burst to this snack. The cake itself retains it's soft texture, but holds it's shape better. The thin dark chocolate coating also becomes firmer and doesn't crack or crumble like it does when it's at room temperature. The flavours are all fairly simple but I still enjoyed these.

The Tropicool variety is swirled with an apple and mango jam filling. Texture wise these are exactly the same as the Berry Burst above once frozen. The inner jam has a vague mango flavour but it's not as tropical tasting as I was expecting (before I had seen on the packaging that it's actually apple!). However, they are still tasty and I liked the sweet and slightly tart filling here. 

Overall, we all enjoyed these Mini Rolls and it's good to see some new flavours from Jaffa Cake rather than the usual orange centre. 

Grocery Gems Verdict: Jaffa Cake Mini Rolls:

Rating: 8 out of 10 (extra point for having 6 in a pack!). 

Buy Again: Yes.

Nutrition: 99 calories.

Vegetarian: Yes.

Purchased: Available at most supermarkets. I received them in the latest Degustabox (see here).

McVities Mini Vanilla Milkshake Biscuits

At the moment I'm still living in a building site and waiting for our kitchen, and other general house, renovations to be finished. What I've missed the most about not having a kitchen this half term is baking with my kids, especially anything sweet like biscuits and cakes. And when it comes to biscuits, although we can be quite adventurous, I can't escape the fact that simple vanilla cookies are the most requested by the kids! For that reason these new Mini Vanilla Milkshakes Biscuits easily caught my eye on a recent visit to the supermarket.

There are six bags of mini biscuits in each pack, and each individual bag contains 124 calories. The packaging has quite a quirky retro look to it and there are little milkshake facts on each bag. 

The biscuits look cute too and gave a lovely vanilla aroma as soon as I opened the bag. They have a delicious buttery flavour, almost like a shortcake, with a nicely rounded vanilla edge to them that is not too strong or artificial tasting. My kids loved these biscuits and they've already been asking me to buy them again! I hope they will do some other flavours in this milkshake range too, especially a banana version!

Grocery Gems Verdict: McVities Mini Vanilla Milkshake Biscuits

RATING: 9 out of 10
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (25g): 124 calories.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £1.59.

Round Up: New Instore

A few more new products spotted instore, starting with this fabulous looking Red Velvet Cake! (Tesco).

Followed by this awesome Mighty Cheeseburger shaped cake! (Tesco).

It looks like Tesco aren't the only ones with Christmas Tree Shaped tortillas this year (see my previous Round Up). These Lightly Salted Christmas Tree Tortillas are available at Sainsbury's...

 alongside some Cheese flavoured Mini Festive Shaped Pretzels! (Sainsbury's).

However Tesco may be the only ones with the Cool Flavour Snowman shaped Tortillas. These look fantastic! (Tesco).

New to my local store is this range of Manomasa Tortillas, in Sea Salt & Cracked Black Pepper or Chipotle & Lime flavours. (Sainsbury's).

A new range of hot chocolate is always good news, but this one comes with added "tasty things". Choc + Chocolate Mallow Drinking Chocolate, Chocolate Fudge Drinking Chocolate and 100% Chocolate Drinking Chocolate. (Sainsbury's)

And next to the hot chocolate is the rather delicious sounding peanut butter flavour hot drink from Peanut Hottie.(Sainsbury's).

Hate the fruit creams in a Quality Street selection? Try the new Quality Street Toffee & Fudge carton. Loathe the toffees in the Quality Street selection? Go for the new Quality Street Fruit Cremes carton!

A slightly more grown up version of the Cadbury Festive Friends range, are these Cadbury Festive Biscuit Shapes. (Sainsbury's).

I loved the McVities Mini Digestives Creepy Shapes for Halloween so I'm sure I will pick up a few boxes of their Festive Shapes. (Co-Op).

Also available are the McVities Mini Gingerbread Men in a small carton decorated with wintery scene. (Co-Op).

If you're looking for some extra energy to keep you going through the festive period, Tropicana have it covered. (Tesco).

Thinking about that post-January health kick yet? Rude Health have some Brown Rice Drink to get you in the mood. (Sainsbury's).

Review: New McVitie's Mini Digestives Creepy Shapes

It seems that Halloween is finally making it's presence known on the shelves of most supermarkets, offeing a brief respite before the Christmas products take over completely. Amongst the new Halloween snacks are these McVitie's Mini Digestives Creepy Shapes, which are spookily similar to the Cadbury Mini Animals Halloweenies that I reviewed earlier in the week.

There are six individual bags in each multipack. The packaging is mainly black with an interesting Halloween "Did You Know" fact printed on the front.

Each Mini Digestive has a spooky creature or image pictured on one side, whilst the other side is covered in milk chocolate. The biscuits have the same flavour as the regular sized McVitie's milk chocolate digestives, which I find very moreish, with their slightly crumbly texture and wheaty flavour. The individual biscuits are larger in size than the Cadbury Mini Animals Halloweenies, and feel more substantial to eat. Even though I preferred the brighter Halloween theme of the Cadbury Halloweenies, I also enjoyed the look and flavour, of the McVities Mini Digestives Creepy Shapes. It's quite hard to choose between them, but I think there is enough room in my cupboards for both!

Grocery Gems Verdict: McVitie's Mini Digestives Creepy Shapes

RATING: 8 out of 10
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition (25g): 126 calories.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £1.00.

McVities Breakfast Porridge Oats: Oat & Honey Review

It seems that breakfast biscuits are the new cereal bar. Some of the big cereal manufactures, notably Kellogg’s Nutri-Grain and Kraft’s Belvita have already released popular breakfast biscuits. Now it's the turn of a biscuit maker to get in on the action. McVities are probably best known for their digestive biscuits but have now released a new range of biscuits simply called "Breakfast". There are three varieties to choose from; Oat & Honey, Apple, Sultana & Cinnamon, and Red Berries.

I decided on the Oat & Honey variety as a safe choice that everyone in my family could enjoy. Inside the box there are six individually sealed packs each containing four biscuits.

The biscuits have a rectangular shape with curved edges and are slightly larger than the Belvita breakfast biscuits. These biscuits are quite robust but not too hard. The texture is smooth, even though it is an oat biscuit it doesn't have too many "bits" in it. I was half expecting these to taste like a digestive, it must be the effect of the name "McVities" on me, but they don't at all. They are very much a breakfast biscuit, lots of cereals packed into a dense biscuit. Great for if you are enjoying these with a hot drink.

This Oat & Honey variety had a very strong honey flavour. The taste of honey is quite overpowering compared to the taste of the oats and leaves a strong aftertaste. Even though I like honey I don't think the overall flavour is for me. I think honey works best when it adds a subtle sweetness but in these biscuits the flavour is excessive. I would still give the other varieties a try though especially the Apple, Sultana & Cinnamon, which sounds delicious.

Included in the ingredients are rolled oats (19%) and oatmeal (16%) which makes them quite filling. Each biscuit contains 57 calories so I'm not sure why there are four biscuits in each individual pack, I would prefer that they were packaged in twos.

Nutritional Information (per biscuit): 57 calories, 1.2g protein, 8.8g carbohydrates (of which sugars 3.0g), 1.8g fat, 0.6g fibre, 0.1g sodium.