Review: Cornetto Caramel - Limited Edition Retro Pack

In the summer months I usually keep a box or two of Cornetto ice creams (or the supermarket own brand equivalents) in my freezer and I always look out for any new flavours. The Cornetto Caramel Limited Edition Retro Pack caught my eye on a recent trip to Asda. From the "retro" inspired packaging I assume it's not a new variety but it's still not one that I've tried before. I know there is a Cornetto Enigma Caramel and also a Caramel flavour in the Mini Cornetto packs, but they are both quite different to this one. 

The Cornetto Caramel is a combination of vanilla and caramel ice creams, with a caramel core centre, topped with a chocolate coating and decorated with caramel flavour white chocolate curls. The flavours are all fairly simple but I immediately liked the caramel curls on top alongside the vanilla ice cream and solid chocolate coating.

However, it was only when the inner caramel core and caramel ice cream were revealed that the Cornetto Caramel became more interesting. I really enjoyed the thick and gooey caramel centre with it's sweet and buttery flavour. It doesn't run all the way through but there's enough of the caramel sauce to make an impact. When it comes to the ice cream, I was pleased to find that the caramel ice cream actually has a distinctive caramel flavour that contrasts nicely with the vanilla ice cream. Overall, it's still a simple flavour combination but one that provides a satisfying caramel hit. 

Grocery Gems Review: Cornetto Caramel

RATING: 7 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition: 215 calories.
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £1.89p (box of 6).

Review: Cornetto Vanilla Shake Ice Cream Cone

The Cornetto Vanilla Shake ice cream cone is part of the Enigma range and I believe this one was first released last year alongside the Cornetto Cheesecake Glory. Despite that, yesterday was the first time I've ever spotted one instore (in a local newsagent) and I've still never seen them available as multipacks. Let me know if you've spotted them!

The ice cream itself has a classic Cornetto appearance - with it's swirled chocolate coating and nut pieces on top. The flavour is also quite similar to a regular vanilla and chocolate Cornetto Classico, but with a few changes (and an extra tall peak too). There are caramelised almond pieces on top, instead of the usual hazelnut pieces, which add a flavourful initial crunch. The ice cream is described as "Madagascan vanilla" and it does have a much sweeter and richer vanilla flavour than the Classico version.

As with the rest of the Cornetto Enigma range, there is a core of chocolate sauce that runs all the way through the cone. I was quite surprised to find that the core in this Cornetto Vanilla Shake is a dark chocolate, but it's still rich and sweet enough to complement the vanilla ice cream. Overall, it's definitely an ice cream that's worth a try - if you can find it!

Grocery Gems Review: Cornetto Vanilla Shake

Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition: 160 calories per cone.
Purchased: Local newsagent.
Price: £1.60 (for one cone!).

Review: Cornetto Cookies 'n' Dream Ice Cream Cones

In the review for the new Cornetto Peanut Butter Love I mentioned that there were also two other flavours available: Cookies 'n' Dream and Cornetto Caramel. I have a weakness for ice cream and cookie combinations so I couldn't wait to try the new Cornetto Cookies 'n' Dream.

Each cone is filled with a cookie flavoured ice cream with chocolate chips and a chocolate sauce core, which is topped off with a chocolate disc filled with cookie pieces. The appearance has the same unique look as the Cornetto Peanut Butter Love, with the solid circle of chocolate on top. This chocolate disc is very tasty, with a lots of lovely crunch from the cookie pieces, but can be a bit challenging to bite into!

The ice cream has a strong vanilla flavour with little flecks of chocolate. As expected the core was very chocolaty and complimented the ice cream well. It's quite a rich, dark tasting chocolate, and with the addition of a chocolate wafer too, this is definitely an ice cream cone for chocoholics! I would have liked to have a bit more of a cookie element within the ice cream itself, perhaps with cookie pieces instead of the chocolate chips. However, this is still a very delicious ice cream cone and it's miles better than the Cornetto Enigma Cookie. 

Grocery Gems Review: Cornetto Cookies 'n' Dream

RATING: 7 out of 10.

Buy them again?: Yes.
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £3.00p (box of four).

Reader Review: Cornetto Peanut Butter Love

Welcome to the first ever reader review on Grocery Gems! Today's review is courtesy of Aaron R. who has sent me some great photos in the past. He spotted the new Cornetto Peanut Butter Love Ice Cream Cones in Asda and shared his photos and thoughts of this fab find. Over to Aaron R...

I love peanut butter products (but surprisingly I don't actually like or buy actual Peanut Butter Spread!.. EVER!). However, I do enjoy the array of Reese's Peanut Butter items that have popped up in the UK over the last few years so when I saw this new product by Cornetto I had to give it a try! 

On first glance at the actual Cornetto itself, I wasn't surprised by the small size (most Cornetto lovers would be in agreement that the size has diminished to what they once were way back when!). 

The top layer of the actual Cornetto was great, the chocolate was thick and the crunch was lovely, really enjoyable and tasty. The actual ice cream itself was creamy but also had those slight bitter taste notes that come with Peanut Butter products.

Underneath the ice cream was a lovely caramel flavoured sauce mixed in with the ice cream, that was actually just under half of the actual wafer... no complaints about this part of this treat! And Cornetto still has that faithful chocolate block at the end of the wafer!

All in all, a great ice cream treat that breaks away from the norm regarding Cornetto flavours - nice to see them branching out! 

Grocery Gems Reader Review (Aaron R): Cornetto Peanut Butter Love

RATING: 8 out of 10 only thing letting it down really was the size, taste though was great!

Buy them again?: Yes.
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £1.86p for a box of 4.

Thanks so much to Aaron for the great review. I really need to find the Cornetto Peanut Butter Love myself now! Looking at the Asda website they also have two other new Cornetto varieties; Cornetto Caramel and Cornetto Cookies 'n' Dream Ice Cream Cones. If you've tried any of those then I'd love to hear from you in the comments below.

New Cornetto Cheesecake Glory

A few weeks ago I reviewed the new Cornetto Chocolate Intense (see review here) which I rated very highly. I noticed quite a few half price offers on ice cream in Tesco yesterday so couldn't resist picking up another new flavour, Cornetto Cheesecake Glory. These were on offer for £1.49 for a box of 4 cones.

They're described as cheesecake flavour ice cream and strawberry flavour ice cream with a raspberry sauce and "muffin and chocolate" pieces on top. I'm not sure about the description (and the picture on the box) because my cones had zero chocolate pieces on top.

The ice cream itself has a very soft and fluffy consistency and comes complete with a peaked top, hence the need for a protective plastic dome (in second photo above). The flavour of the ice cream is sweet and creamy with a subtle tanginess that successfully recreates the cheesecake theme. The "muffin" pieces on top have a soft texture and biscuity flavour that is pleasant enough, but I think it would have worked better if these tasted more like the digestive biscuit base of a cheesecake. The raspberry sauce which appears through the centre of the Cornetto, was especially good as it adds a real kick of fruitiness and sweetness to the cone. Overall, I did enjoy the Cornetto Cheesecake Glory but it doesn't replace the new Chocolate Intense as my favourite.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cornetto Cheesecake Glory

Rating: 7.5 out of 10
Nutrition: 160 calories per cone.
Purchased: Tesco.
Price: £1.49 for a box of 4.

New Cornetto Chocolate Intense

The frozen aisles in the supermarkets are full of new ice cream products at the moment. The latest flavours from Cornetto caught my eye, and as I'm a complete chocoholic I was especially interested in the Chocolate Intense flavour. It's described as a dark chocolate ice cream, with a cocoa wafer cone and white chocolate curls to decorate. 

And these Chocolate Intense cones really were delicious, definitely the best Cornetto cone I've tried in a long time. The chocolate ice cream has such a gorgeously intense and rich chocolate flavour, whilst still being sweet and creamy. It's chocolatey heaven! The cone itself has a light flavour in comparison, but it's still tasty enough for this chocolate treat. I even loved the little white chocolate curls on top as they added a little extra sweetness to the initial experience. My husband and two kids also absolutely loved these so I doubt I will get a look in for the rest of the box!

I also spotted another new flavour, the Cornetto Cheesecake Glory, instore. My family were not so interested in trying this one but it looks really good to me! I'm sure I'll pick up a box at some point but if you've tried them I'd love to know what you thought in the comments below :)

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cornetto Chocolate Intense

Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition: 200 calories per cone.
Purchased: Asda.
Price: £1.99 for a box of 5.

Quick Review: Cornetto Mint Multipacks

Not exactly a new product but it's good to see the Cornetto Mint back on the supermarket shelves again. Mint is a very popular flavour for ice cream cones and I've often wondered why there was no Cornetto branded mint cone available anymore. In fact the Cornetto Mint cones made a return in order to coincide with the  release of the last so-called  "Cornetto Trilogy" of  films -The World's End.

Mint ice cream cones are my youngest sons favourite type of ice cream. We usually buy the supermarket own brand mint cones, which are generally very good, but he really did enjoy this Cornetto version. The ice cream has a lovely minty taste with a sweet freshness that is not overpowering. It's flavoured with a dark chocolate coating which compliments the mint flavours well. Definitely worth a try for any fan of mint cones.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cornetto Mint
RATING: 8 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Yes.
Nutrition: 160 calories.
Purchased: Tesco. 
Price: £2.00 for a four pack. 

New! Walls Chocolate Range - Cornetto, Magnum & Mini Milk (not real ice cream!) Review

I was so excited to hear about this range of ice cream inspired chocolates. They may look like regular ice creams in the photo above but these are all chocolate mini versions that do NOT contain any ice cream! In fact you'll find these little cuties in the chocolate aisle of Asda (or next to the checkouts). Don't go looking in the freezer section! There are three varieties available; Cornetto Vanilla & Chocolate Cones, Magnum Chocolates, and Mini Milk Chocolate Lollipops.

I'm going to start with my favourite of the bunch - these Cornetto Vanilla Chocolate Cones. The detail on these is fantastic, from the wrapper to the chocolate itself. The packaging is almost identical and it unwraps in the same way as the ice cream version!

Just for size comparison here is the new Cornetto chocolate next to a standard supermarket ice cream cone. See just how cute and diddly it is??

Under the wrapper it looks like a perfect mini Cornetto and it's hard to believe that it's not really an ice cream! It's a familiar Cornetto cone filled with a vanilla flavour white chocolate truffle topped with caramelised hazelnuts pieces. The nuts were really delicious because unlike nuts on an ice cream which tend to go soft, these were crunchy and full of hazelnut flavour. 

The white chocolate truffle centre is soft and smooth, with a very sweet vanilla flavour. It compliments the crunchy outer wafer very well. As a Cornetto made into a chocolate goes, you can't get any closer to perfection than this! 

The Magnum Chocolates are also fantastically well presented, and very similar to it's big brother - the Magnum Ice Cream. Of course, in reality it's much smaller than a Magnum Ice cream, the wrapper is about the size of a regular Dairy Milk chocolate bar. 

Inside there are three Magnum chocolates which look just like miniature Magnum Ice Creams - but without the sticks! 

This is filled with a vanilla flavoured white chocolate truffle. It's not like a regular white chocolate truffle, it's much softer and so creamy that it's hard to believe that it isn't ice cream. The outer milk chocolate is standard Magnum chocolate which contains 38% minimum cocoa solids and has a lovely rich quality.

Overall these Magnum chocolates are quite simple in terms of flavour, but they're also a very successful reproduction of the ice cream that they're based on. I'd love to see other flavours from the Magnum range made into miniature chocolates too! Kev's Snack Review has also reviewed these Magnum Chocolates here.

Lastly it's the kids' chocolate of the bunch - chocolate lollipops based on Mini Milks! These were available in both a white chocolate and a milk chocolate version. As far as my children are concerned, Mini Milks have to be vanilla so I only bought the white ones!

Inside is a fantastic chocolate replica of a Mini Milk ice cream. Making this a lollipop on a stick is very fitting for a Mini Milk chocolate and one that I'm sure kids will love - mine certainly did.

The white chocolate lollipop is described as having a "soft milky centre".The inner chocolate is indeed slightly softer than the outer layer but it all has the same flavour. It's a VERY sweet white chocolate, even sweeter than a kids white chocolate like Milky Bar. It has a strong vanilla flavour alongside the white chocolate, that for me was slightly cloying. However this chocolate is quite clearly aimed at kids and it was very popular with my taste testers! Each lollipop contains 30% of recommended daily calcium, with no artificial colours, flavours or hydrogenated fat. 

What do you think of this new range of chocolates inspired by ice creams? 

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cornetto Vanilla Chocolate Cone, Magnum Chocolates & Mini Milk Chocolate Lollipops:

Rating: Cornetto - 8.5/10, Magnum - 8/10, Mini Milk Lollipop - 7/10

Buy Again: Yes - superb fun range, and I love the Cornetto chocolates!

Nutrition: Cornetto - 110 cals, Magnum (each choc) - 66 cals, Mini Milk - 90 cals.

Purchased: Asda.

Price: Cornetto - £0.50p, Magnum - £0.65p, Mini Milk Lollipop- £0.40p.

Cornetto Mix Mini Review (Fruity)

The range of Cornetto's and the Cornetto Enigma's in my local supermarket is quite limited. If I want something more exciting than Classic, Chocolate or Strawberry, then I usually look to the supermarket own brands of cones - mint choc chip for example. Tesco even has a fab new Peanut Butter cone and a Cookies and Cream cone in their range! It's a shame because I know that Cornetto does awesome flavours in other (hotter) European countries. Like the new Cornetto Enigma Popcorn available in Portugal. Me wanty!

So I was pleased to see these new Mix Mini Cornetto selections. I went for the new Fruity selection (there is also a Warm Mix Mini selection with has Caramel, Chocolate & Classic cones) because two of the Cornettos were new to me. Despite the "fruity" name, only the Strawberry Cornetto is fruit based. I was more interested in trying the other two flavours in the pack: Stracciatella and Hazelnut.

The box has six mini cones inside. Two of each of the three flavours. I love the turquoise colouring on the packaging and the small size of the ice creams. It definitely has the cuteness factor all sewn up.

Stracciatella usually refers to a vanilla ice cream with chocolate shavings, so it's no surprise that the English translation given to this cone is "vanilla choc chips". The cone is filled with vanilla ice cream with chocolate pieces and chocolate swirls on top.

The chocolate pieces are actually dark chocolate covered biscuit pieces, which taste similar to an Oreo type cookie - making this more of a cookies and cream type cone. Indeed I think it's much nicer than last years Cornetto Enigma Cookies which didn't actually have much cookie flavour.

Next up is the mini Hazelnut Cornetto and this was probably my favourite. I love idea of chocolate and hazelnut together and it usually works very well in an ice cream format. Here, the actual ice cream is hazelnut flavoured, certainly not something I have seen in a Cornetto before.

There are also little hazelnut pieces and chocolate swirls on the top of the cone to add an extra nutty flavour. It's all quite simple but it all works very well indeed to create a very tasty ice cream cone.

Last up is the Strawberry. This is certainly not the most exciting flavour in the world but I was glad to see that it is slightly different from the standard Strawberry Cornettos that are already available. This mini version has strawberry ice cream all the way through, rather than just vanilla ice cream, aswell as a very thick syrupy strawberry sauce on top.

This one also has white chocolate flakes on top, which adds to the sweetness. The strawberry sauce seemed to be a bit thick for such a small ice cream, there almost wasn't enough ice cream to hold the sauce together which led to it falling apart a little. But it does have a lovely strawberry flavour and I'm sure anyone who like strawberry cones will enjoy this one.

I know these are called Mini but I think it's worth stating that they are very small. Probably not more than a handful of bites for an adult, but obviously a great size for young children, anyone who finds a whole cone too sickly or if you want to save a few calories compared to the full size.

Grocery Gems Verdict: Cornetto Max Mini

RATING: 7.5 out of 10.
Buy them again?: I'll definitely try the Warm Mix Mini too.
Nutrition (Stracciatella): 120 calories, 1g protein, 14g Carb, 9g sugars, 6g fat.
Nutrition (Hazelnut): 120 calories, 1.5g protein, 13g Carb, 10g sugars, 6g fat.
Nutrition (Strawberry): 100 calories, 0.6g protein, 14g Carb, 11g sugars, 4g fat.
Purchased: Sainsburys.
Price: £2.75 (currently on offer for £2.00).

NEW INSTORE! Ice Creams & Ice Lollies

Magnum Mini: Fruit Meringue Loving Kiss (the red box) or Creme Brulee First Kiss (the orange box). Quite unsual packaging for Magnum, they look like should be a Valentine's release. I'm sure I will try the Fruit Meringue variety at some point.

Magnum Yoghurt Fresh - a combination of frozen yogurt swirled with raspberry sauce. Review coming soon.

Star Wars Lightsaber Lollies: Strawberry and Lemon & Lime flavours. I wish I could send a pack of these to Food Junk in the US just so I could see the awesome photos!

Angry Birds Ice Lollies: Strawberry, Lemon and Cola flavoured. Last year when I reviewed these Angry Birds ice lollies (that I purchased in Portugal), I had a mini rant about why these weren't available in the UK. I'm so glad that they are available this year!

Milkybar Minis Ice lollies - a Milkybar ice cream topped with Milkybar chocolate. I'm sure these will be popular with young children. There are 10 mini ice lollies in a pack.

Fab Minis - Packs of 12 mini lollies that have only 50 calories each. Each pack has 6 Strawberry and 6 Blackcurrant & Apple ice lollies. It's the first time I've seen these sharing a pack and also in a mini format.

Oreo cones - Vanilla ice cream with Oreo biscuit pieces. Kev's review here.

Sainsbury's Taste The Difference - Apologies for the terrible photo but I was interested to see what flavours Sainsbury's would release for the summer. I spotted a new Banoffee (on the right) and Greek Yogurt & Honey (on the left).

Walls Cornetto Mix Mini - I love the look of these bright boxes, which contain mini versions of some classic Cornetto flavours, aswell as a few I have never seen before. The Mix Mini Fruity selection (blue box) contains Strawberry, Hazelnut and Stracciatella varieties. The Mix Mini Warm selection (orange box) has Caramel, Chocolate and Classico varieties. Review coming soon.

What's your top pick from this new batch? Let me know if you spot any new ice creams instore!

All products spotted at a large branch of Sainsbury's.