Leonidas Dark Chocolate Assortment Part 4

Oh no!! Very sadly (for me) it's the final four chocolates from the Leonidas Dark Chocolate Assortment Box. Part One, Two and Three have to be some of the tastiest chocolates I've eaten and this is certainly the best box of chocolates I've had in a very long time.

I know my normal modus operandi is to eat worst to best but I couldn't help myself with the chocolates in part three so I was left with four that while I knew they'd be good, if I had to share some, would probably have been the four I'd give up. 

I Love You

Awww, I love you too Leonidas! I'm not sure what lemon, a normally quite sharp and bitter taste has to do with love but what do I know? If you're up to date with my Leonidas posts you'll know citrus flavours aren't usually my cup of tea but Leonidas aren't playing by my rules so far.

It seems I might not have left the worst, in fact this could be one of the best! I did not expect to taste a delicious sweet lemon, I'd assumed a sharp tart flavour but it wasn't at all. The sweet fruity flavour was the perfect accompaniment to the rich dark chocolate.  

Tosca

As well as citrus flavours, I usually eat around the alcoholic ones too. Way back in part one there was a rum filled chocolate which I loved although there have been a few since then with the familiar harsh alcohol flavour I'm not too keen on. 

The chocolate casing seemed thicker than of late and was just as good as ever, a nice strong flavour until the Brandy kicked in. Wow, it's strong although maybe a little too authentic for me. It's very tasty and it's not that I disliked it, its just so... 'real' tasting that I think it'd need a proper Brandy fan to truly appreciate it. 

Mosaique

Cranberry is a fruit I shy away from, not because of a dislike but because it makes me think of things that do not need to be written about on a food blog thank you very much! 

The crispy praline is wonderful, a soft thick filling with crisp crunchy pieces dotted throughout. The flavours were good too, it tasted a lot sweeter overall than the vast majority of the other chocolates. One negative (or positive depending on where you stand) is that the flavour all came from the sweetened praline, not due to any cranberry. To tell you the truth I couldn't see, let alone taste any cranberry pieces but regardless it was good. 

Cerise Emballee

The very last chocolate in my whole box is the only wrapped one. 

I usually prefer my cherry to be of the sour variety, covered in sugar and in gummy form but I'll eat it in chocolate, if I have to... The attention to detail in the whole box has been lovely, from chocolates shaped like coffee beans to Greek characters embossed on top, they've thought of it all and the very last is the cherry on top...

..Literally! I can't go any further without saying, just look at that! If you read the description on the menu you might be thinking "that doesn't look like cherry liqueur cream?" And you'd be right, because I ate it. It was nice but nothing compared to what you can see above. 

The runny, sweet juices came from the whole Morello Cherry sitting nicely inside. Its large, juicy, a little chewy and sweet with the most vibrant cherry flavour. The liqueur cream left a very boozey aftertaste behind, but the good kind and I'll admit - I literally licked the plate clean afterwards. Incredible. 

Rating:

What a box of chocolates! There were lots of flavours I assumed I'd hate and some I thought I'd love. Some I was on the money and others surprised me but what I can say about every single chocolate is that what really shines through is the quality of the ingredients. Even if it was a flavour I normally hate, there was no denying the stuff's good.

 It's my birthday in a few months Mr.1T - I'll try the milk next time please!!

9/10

Carte D'or Sicilian Lemon Sorbet

Last week I reviewed the delicious Sweet Strawberry Sorbet from Carte D'or. I also grabbed the Sicilian Lemon Sorbet at the time and I was quite looking forward to it, figuring the quality previously meant surely this had to be as good. 

Normally this is the bit where I put a description of whatever I'm reviewing, but I no longer have the tub - for reasons I'll explain! 

It's not as yellow as other lemon sorbets, more of a pale lemonade colour with bright yellow patches dotted about. The Sweet Strawberry had large real strawberry pieces and I didn't think they'd do the same with lemon - I mean I don't know too many people who sit and eat actual lemons. 

The sorbet was as soft, scoopable and somewhat creamy feeling as its compadre and and again felt more like a restaurant quality dessert than the frozen ice of supermarket brands. 

And there, my friends, are where the positives end. 

I'm telling you, I've sucked lemons (post Tequila, naturally) that have less of a lemon flavour than this sorbet. It's ridiculously strong, tart to the point of actually being bitter, much more towards the sour end of the scale than sweet and isn't very pleasant at all. And that's just the sorbet! The small, hard pieces of lemon add no pleasurable texture - just yet more lemon flavour. OK, I thought, maybe it's just me? I'm not a great fan of lemon anyway and so I thought 4 would be a fair rating. 

Sticking to my "waste not, want not" rule I tried to ride it out, halfway through though I'd had enough and declared it inedible, to which Mr.1T - self proclaimed lemon sorbet lover - replied "Thank God you said it first, it's disgusting". I don't always force him to clear his plate...Honestly! 

We had a lovely posh meal before where a blend of a sort of Limoncello Sorbet was served as a palette cleanser, so we considered the Carte D'or could be used for that purpose. But afterwards I really think it's too strong even for that. A palette cleanser is supposed to be just that - a nice clean mouth, free of flavour and refreshed for the next course. Not a lingering lip puckering, bitter aftertaste on your tongue.

Rating:

Pretty awful to be honest. And we just emptied the bin and discovered it hasn't melted so who knows how they've achieved that consistency I was previously praising... 

1/10

Cadbury Biscuit Assortment

It's the 8th of October and I have my first Christmas related review! The worst part about it is all the Christmas sweets and chocolates have been in the shops for a good month now as well.

Normally I wait until it's actually Christmas to start on the big boxes of chocolates and biscuits as I think the prices in relation to number of pieces is a complete rip off and I'll wait for someone else to buy them. This box however is a good portion size for one person with one of each biscuit rather than three or four and was a bit of a bargain (for Cadbury Christmas biccies) in Poundland.

I did read online that Cadbury have released some new biscuits into their assortment boxes, I'm unsure if any of these are new as by the time I get my turn with the biscuit barrel at Christmas, the plain ones are the only ones left!!

An assortment of biscuits covered in Cadbury milk chocolate and dark chocolate. 

Before I get any further into the post, let me just say the only dark chocolate in the box are the thin squiggles across three of the biscuits - I think - I didn't taste any dark chocolate so there won't be any mention. As is usual for a box of biscuits, they were in a plastic tray sealed inside a plastic bag and ripping it open revealed the deceptive Cadbury smell. It smells like the good stuff, but wether it still tastes like it is debatable! 

The assortment includes one of each biscuit, except for the Crunchy Ring, bottom left and top centre. The chocolate coating is nice and thick and tastes like Cadbury (not Dairy Milk). These are actually made by Burtons Biscuits rather than Cadbury and I think it shows as the actual biscuits are good quality rather than just an afterthought to the chocolate. The Crunchy Ring has a shortcake/shortbread like biscuit inside, it has a lovely, very buttery flavour but is crunchier and crisper than an ordinary shortcake or bread. It's a round, crunchier version of one of my favourite old school Cadbury bars, the Cadbury Snack. 

The biscuit inside probably stood out the least in the Lemon Crisp, bottom centre. It had a nice enough taste and texture but the thick, stronger flavoured chocolate was what I noticed most. The lemon is nice and quite sweet but I found it a little weird. It was like the opposite of a mint chocolate if that makes sense and I wasn't that keen on it paired with the milk. Like a lot of mint chocolates it would probably have suited a dark chocolate better. 

The chocolate that I was kind of dissapointed in was the Chocolate Pillow, top right. I thought pillow = soft, maybe creamy but it was just a plain milk chocolate coating a biscuit. The chocolate seemed slightly thicker, and the biscuit was softer than the two previously but it didn't have much flavour to it. Certainly not the lovely buttery flavour like in the first. A little boring really. 

Milk Triangle, middle right, was one that surprised me. I expected what I got with the Chocolate Pillow, a plain boring biscuit and while it was plainer it wasn't boring. The biscuit used here was my favourite amongst them all, it had the lovely buttery flavour of the Crunchy Ring but was nice and soft (without feeling stale) too. It's very sweet, especially with the sweet Cadbury chocolate on top but as there was only one it was no problem. Very nice. 

The Raspberry Oat Crunch, top left, was intriguing. The biscuit was very, very crunchy and crisp and at first all I could taste were the oats. The raspberry flavour was soon noticable though and was good, concentrated raspberry pieces made from purée are used so it has quite a strong, realer (than some chocolate bars) flavour too. This biscuit was a bit like a harder, crisper Flapjack. 

I didn't know (and still don't) what the Hazelnut Flavour Crispette, bottom right, was. What is a Crispette? It wasn't that much crisper than the Lemon Crisp or Raspberry Oat Crunch, whatever it was. It had a slight hazelnut flavour but it was pretty overwhelmed by the Cadbury milk chocolate. 

I left the Simply Shortcake, centre, for last as I thought it would be most like a Cadbury Snack bar. It fell short though, it had a soft shortcake biscuit which wasn't as buttery as the first but still did have a little flavour. It was tasty but another slightly boring biscuit. 

This assortment box was OK, as I've always been recently I was slightly dissapointed with the Cadbury chocolate. I know it's the typical Christmas chocolate they use and not Dairy Milk but it was very sweet and had a waxy, sticky feel. The biscuits used are nice and the redeeming feature. I think if I came across these at Christmas and hadn't tried them before I'd have been happy with just one - they aren't a box you can't help yourself from keep dipping into but they're tasty enough. 

7/10 

Robinsons Squash Gums

Confession time. I have what you might call OCD but I prefer to call quirks.. Food has to be sorted - whatever I have most of gets eaten first (chips or the cherry flavoured sweet in a bag for example) and then in order of preference. So if I'm eating a fry up, I'll have a mouthful of everything until I'm left with a little of each and the last two mouthfuls will be sausage and bacon because they're the best. Obviously! There are little exceptions to my rules but I'll be here for hours explaining them so let's leave that there. Why am I telling you this? Because my bag of Robinsons Squash Gums were my worst nightmare. 

A range of Vegetarian gummies made with fruit juices, natural colours and natural flavours that recreate the classic family favourite Robinson squashes, including apple & blackcurrant, lemon, apple & pear, tropical, orange and summer fruits. 

Ok great that sounds like a bit of me, I opened the bag and they smelt generally fruity, took the obligatory  photo of all the sweets together then got to sorting them. 

The back of the bag shows which colour sweet corresponds to which flavour but mine were wrong! It wasn't even just the reddy pinky sweets that had the wrong names on them, they all did! I tried to sort my sweets into some sort of groups by how they were labelled but I gave up and hoped they tasted right. 

All the sweets have your usual wine gum like consistency, nothing amazing but nice enough.

Firstly I tried the white bottle which was supposed to be lemon. There is supposed to be a white Robinson logo shaped sweet but I didn't have any of those. The white bottle didn't have any discernible flavour at all, it was fruity but lemon it wasn't. So I tried the pinky red sweet which had lemon printed on it, and that didn't taste of lemon either!? It was supposed to be summer fruits which I suppose I could taste, it was nice enough anyway. 

Next I tried the orange bottle which, suprise suprise are supposed to be orange. The bottle has a definite orange flavour - Wahey! It's not very strong but is noticable and quite tasty. My yellow logo sweet (supposed to be tropical) had orange printed on it so I tried that next, it tasted vaguely orangey but could easily have passed for tropical too, it certainly wasn't as orange tasting as the bottle. 

  I tried the green bottle next, apple & pear apparently, and pleasingly for my OCD it was! At first all I could taste was apple but the pear appeared halfway through the sweet and it was very tasty, eventually ended up as my favourite flavour in the bag. 

I had three dark red sweets that were supposed to be apple & blackcurrant but two were printed apple & pear so I tried those next. Well it turns out they were another correctly coloured sweet but while the apple is nice, I wasn't a fan of the blackcurrant flavour. 

I then had the rest of the pinky red bottles and sweets - the ones that were actually marked summer fruits. They tasted the same as the one printed lemon, mildly fruity, a bit berryish but no stand out flavour. An OK flavour. 

Lastly was the orange shape marked tropical. It tasted the same as the first yellow shape I'd tried that was printed orange. Another mixed vaguely orangey but not completely orange flavour that could get away with being called tropical. 

These sweets were OK. A little on the mild side for strength of flavours but my freak out over the wrong flavours could well have clouded my judgement. Mr.1T had a bag and really enjoyed them but he eats like a normal person. 

6/10 

Sunkist Bon Bons

Mr.1Treat (as named by @R4Rreviews) found these Sunkist Bon Bons for me as he knows I'm a sucker for a good chewy Bon Bon! I'd even be hard pushed to choose between a good one and chocolate!! I haven't had Sunkist the drink in years so I based my review purely on the taste of these rather than how they compare to that. 

These are a mix of orange, strawberry and lemon flavoured Bon Bons, I don't think I've ever had an orange one but lemon and strawberry are two of my top three so they had a tough job ahead of them to meet my expectations. 

They weren't as vibrant as the bag would have you believe - and that was with the flash on - but they smelt quite strong. The strawberry was the standout scent but it had a nice overall fruity smell. 

They had the texture I love in Bon Bons - hard and chewy, not quite jaw ache but enough to take a while mindlessly eating infront of the telly! 

Orange - this had quite a strong orange flavour. It wasn't sour as quite a lot of fruit flavoured sweets are but it didn't matter, the juicy orange flavour was enough. Some were a lot stronger in flavour but even the mildest were delicious. 

Lemon - I'm used to a more sour lemon Bon Bon, this was somewhat sour but more of a tart lemon. They were again nice and strong and all were evenly flavoured. Nice!

Strawberry - very, very, very strong! Don't get me wrong it's a very artificial strawberry too, and kind of sour but that's what these type of sweets are supposed to taste like! Extremely addictive. 

I really enjoyed these, they're the first Bon Bon I've had in ages that met (and maybe exceeded my expectations). All three flavours were good and I'd happily eat a single bag of each. Don't try these looking for natural flavours though, they're what I call kiddie sweets - crazy, loud flavours that you'd expect kids to end up running round in circles for half an hour after they've eaten them. 

Just what I wanted!

Rating 8/10 

If anyone knows where I can find a good banana Bon Bon please let me know, I've got some but they're so mild! 

Otis Spunkmeyer Lemon & White Chocolate Muffin

Onto the third of the four flavours of Otis Spunkmeyer muffins taking up the top half of my freezer - Lemon & White Chocolate. 

I normally avoid fruity muffins, they sound too much like something that's good for you - if I'm going to eat one I'm after a big, sugary, probably give me diabetes, more chocolate than cake muffin. I know the reality probably couldn't be any further from the truth but the naughtier it seems the better! 

So the Lemon & White Chocolate is another I've always passed on. It's hard to see in the photo (I had to use the flash on my camera, I had a late night muffin craving and the whole house was pitch black!) but there is a scattering of sugar crystals all over the top of the muffin and although they don't stand out against the light muffin a number of large white chocolate chunks too. 

The muffin was lovely and soft, firm but still squidgy and smelt buttery almost like a monster fairy cake. I wasn't looking forward to an overwhelming lemon but it's not too strong at all. The muffins themselves are made with buttermilk and lemon zest so they have that lovely thick, creamy flavour with a delicious subtle lemon that crept up with each mouthful. It made for a good pairing with the white chocolate chunks, again they are nice and big and I really enjoyed the texture change between the soft dough and the smooth chocolate, the large chunks were literally melting on my tounge.  Of the three chocolates used the white is the sweetest by far so while this muffin had less amount wise than the others, it's the right choice combined with the sweet lemon and sugar crystals. The sugar crystals (called Sugar Pearls on the ingredients ooer!) don't add much flavour wise, they're just sugar after all, but add another layer to the texture. A nice, sweet, satisfying crunch on top of everything else and I was pretty impressed. 

I didn't expect myself to rate this too highly but in truth it was very good. It was very moreish and seemed almost light to eat. In my head this is the muffin I'd have for breakfast or a sweet treat during the day whereas Triple Chocolate will always be my filthy, chocolatey, woops I've eaten four, not so guilty pleasure. They're both delicious in their own rights but really can't be compared. 

Rating 8/10 

Swizzels Refreshers Bon Bons

Swizzels are really pumping out new products lately. I reviewed the Drumstick Bon Bons here and they've also released a few new Squashies too, I don't get a chance to try those as they are my husbands favourite! 

The Refreshers version are a little different from the Drumstick, rather than both flavours being blended into one Bon Bon the lemon and strawberry flavours are seperate and promise to give way to a fizzy centre. 

My expectations of Bon Bons aren't massively high, after all my favourite ones actually come from Candy King, the pick'n'mix sweet makers. I don't expect high quality sweets as a proper Bon Bon to me, is one that comes from the sweet shop, only costs a few pennies (once upon a time) and is a more of an old school, nostalgic sweet. I think they should be sugary sweet, intensely flavoured and give you a jaw ache. 

These didn't smell of too much at all opening the packet, no lemon or strawberry and no sickly sweet sugary scent I was looking for. 

I tried a few lemon flavoured first, they all started off quite mild and as I chewed and got through to the centre developed into the stronger lemon I was looking for. I'm going through a sour lemon Bon Bon phase at the moment but these were more of a sweeter, less bitter and more fruity lemon. I was waiting for a fizzy centre, it did appear but more in the flavour than texture. It's not actually fizzy like the sweet I used to have as a kid, that when you got to the middle actually started fizzing on your toungue (if anyone remembers what that was called please comment I'm having a mind blank!) or fizzy cola bottles but it tastes fizzier if that makes sense. Around half of the lemon flavoured in my bag were a lot stronger and fizzier than the other, I'm not sure if the size contributed to that or if there's a little problem with the flavour distribution, but the stronger ones were much more my cup of tea. 

The strawberry flavoured ones were much stronger from the start compared to the lemon and had a good solid strawberry flavour. They were nice and sweet but there wasn't as noticable different centre as there was with the lemon and they were lacking a bit with the fizzy middle. Even though by my standards it wasn't as much as I'd hoped, the lemon seems to be the sour/crazy half of the bag and the strawberry the sweet and fruity. 

I love the Bon Bon texture normally but these weren't chewy, good chewy, they were just tough. Some were softer and easier to chew and the consistency of those were perfect but the majority weren't easy to eat.

The Refreshers Bon Bons aren't bad, I personally prefer stronger flavours than the more natural ones but I get that I might be in the minority there. The lemon ones with stronger and slightly more sour flavouring were perfect for me but the strawberry overall was just too mild.  

Rating 6/10 

Mike and Ike Original Fruits

My husband picked today's review and as it turns out I should just let him pick in future! I've not had much joy in the American stuff I've tried this week and so once again I went into the imported Mike and Ike Original Fruits with low expectations. 

I wasn't sure what they would be before opening them, on the packet they look like longer, rounder Tooty Fruitys but they're actually jelly beans. The packaging proudly States "Now with real fruit juice!" (Aswell as a quite a few scientifically named ingredients with a nice warning). The flavours in the Original Fruits were what intrigued me, Cherry, Lemon, Strawberry, Lime and Orange. Fruit flavours that I think (apart from strawberry) aren't used enough normally in English sweets - it's always a super sour version. 

They smelt fruity and you get quite a few in each bag with each flavour there pretty evenly - no hundreds of strawberries and one lemon for instance. Each bean is very juicy and chewy, the texture is spot on. 

Cherry - I wondered before trying these which was which out of strawberry and cherry as they are both a very similar shade of pinky red, one just a little darker. I needn't have though as there was no mistaking the cherry flavour. They are probably the strongest cherry flavoured sweets I've ever tried! It's quite an artificial cherry flavour though and this was the only flavour in the bag that had a weird almost chalky aftertaste to it. 

Strawberry - I actually tried strawberry first as it turns out. I was unsure for the first few as the flavour was quite mild and didn't immediately scream strawberry like the Cherry did. The strawberry jelly beans seemed a mixed bag in terms of the strength of flavour and I did get one that had huge amounts of flavour in it and it was very tasty. Just a shame they weren't all as strong. 

Lime - I fully expected this to be my least favourite in the bag and I couldn't have been more wrong. It was absolutely delicious, not sour at all just a very fruity, bright lime flavour. Some were more slightly more tart than others but all were equal in the lime flavour. By far my favourite flavour. 

Lemon - Another tasty flavour, it was strange having more of a sweet lemon sweet but still very enjoyable! They are quite citrusy and some were so tart they gave me a screwed up face and were verging on sour but the lemon flavour was delicious. 

Orange - One I expected to be near the top but actually ended up being my least favourite. To be honest it wasn't a very nice flavour, I just didn't like it and it was quite dull all round too especially compared with the vast majority of the rest of the bag. 

I really enjoyed the Mike and Ike sweets, and they're one I'll be buying again 100%, it was refreshing to have a mix of flavours we don't see that much over here.

Rating 8/10