Marks & Spencer Hot Cross Buns

Hot Cross Buns are one of the few cakes (buns to be specific) I enjoy. The word enjoy doesn't do justice to my love of the sweet, sticky balls of dough - adore, covet, obsess - these are all more appropriate words. Of course they're sold all year round unlike other Easter treats but the special ones are saved for the few months between Christmas and whenever Easter falls. 

You can't beat a normal Hot Cross Bun, I don't think there is a bad way to eat one - plain, with butter, toasted, untoasted, for breakfast, lunch or a snack they are pretty much a perfect food! 

Last year I tried (though I dont think I reviewed) the Tesco fresh bakery Double Chocolate Hot Cross Buns but I had vouchers to use up this year and so Marks & Sparks it was! I picked up two different flavours as a 2 for £2.50 promotion and got 8 decent sized buns for my troubles. 

Toffee Fudge & Belgian Chocolate

First up had to be these. If I had to pick 5 of my favourite confectioneries , toffee, fudge and chocolate would be three of them (that would be purely confectionery - junk food in general I wouldn't know where to start!)

My excitement to eat these only grew once I'd got a look at them out of the wrapper, they're quite large and had that glistening sticky look which meant I knew before I'd even tried that these weren't going to be a stodgy dry bun. 

They mainly smelt of normal Hot Cross Buns, though once I'd actually got up close and personal I could smell some deliciously chocolate undertones. 

 Sometimes appearances aren't deceiving and you should judge a book by its cover.. It was just as moist (shudder) as I expected, with a thick, quite dense mouth feel but it was far from stodgy. My first bun didn't have that many additional pieces to be fair, so around half of it was just a plain hot cross bun - the toffee, chocolate and fudge are in chips and pieces - and to be truthful, I'd have been perfectly satisfied with just this! It's sweet with the usual spices that aren't so strong to be overwhelming but enough to have that unmistakable Easter taste. 

I'll be straight, in the first I was seriously lacking on the toffee front to the point I didn't taste it at all, but I didn't miss it in the slightest. The first and stronger flavour was the Belgian chocolate, dark and rich with a delicious flavour it complimented the spices of the bun and the sweetness of the fudge perfectly. The fudge pieces were an odd one, they provided the sweetness to wrap the overall flavour up neatly and while I could taste a milkiness to them that the Belgian chocolate chips didn't have, I'm not sure I'd have known they were Fudge had that not been in the name, I'd have probably guessed a milk chocolate. They were very tasty either way! Mr.1T's buns and the second one I had were chocked full of Toffee though, so I think its luck of the draw.

Speaking of the second bun, my God I should have tried it this way first!! I toasted it literally for seconds, just so it was warm but still soft and squidgy and it was even better. The extra toffee and fudge pieces were delicious, sweet and both had the appropriate flavour but the dark Belgian chocolate stole the show. It melted immediately into pools of gooey rich chocolate, its going to be a pain in the backside to clean my toaster but it was oh so worth it. Amazing. 

Rating:

Delicious!! I have another M&S gift card left, would it be wrong to spend it all on chocolate buns??

8/10 

Berries & Cherries 

We'd have both been quite happy with just the chocolate buns but pushed the boat out as we weren't paying and decided to take M&S up on their 2 for £2.50 offer. There were a few other choices, but the idea of apple or orange in my Hot Cross Buns didn't seem to appealing and we went with the fairly safe Berries & Cherries option - raspberries, cranberries, blackberries and cherries. 

They don't look as tempting as the previous pack, but stick some chocolate on top of nearly anything and I'll want to eat it! That said, the actual bun looked drier and I pinched the juiciest looking ones for myself before Mr.1T noticed. The berries and cherries stood out, except for the blackberries which looked a lot like raisins, and a lot of the dough had been stained various shades of red. 

They were the complete opposite to the Toffee, Fudge & Chocolate flavour - whereas that smelt like a Hot Cross Bun with a little chocolate this had a much fruitier scent and the spices of the bun seemed like an afterthought. 

As before I tried each flavour twice, the first was un-toasted and I was a little surprised. Considering these should be the same base bun just with different ingredients (the chocolate/fruits) it had a completely different feel. I did eat the chocolatey bun the day before the fruity but there are still 4 days before the use by date. Where the bun was beautifully moist before it had a stodgier, chewier feel in the berries and cherries. It seemed a lot more work eating it if that makes sense, it probably wouldn't have seemed inferior if I'd eaten these first but the quality seemed poorer and I'm not sure 24 hours would make that much difference - and I picked the juiciest looking! 

Texture aside, it seemed to have less of a Hot Cross Bun flavour to it too, the traditional spices were a lot duller and the dough tasted less sweet too. 

The fruits were good though, very vibrant, juicy and fresh tasting. Happily there were four clear individual flavours and it didn't all mesh into one big vaguely 'red berry' flavour - they are the star of the show for sure. 

Unlike the previous buns, the Berries & Cherries didn't taste very different toasted, the only real change was in the texture. Toasting it seemed to make it feel less doughy or stodgy so it was a slight improvement but not enough that if there were any more left I'd move my lazy arse off the sofa to the toaster! 

Rating:

It sounds like I'm really slating these but they weren't that bad, sadly they'd just suffered the fate of being eaten after the delicious Toffee, Fudge & Belgian Chocolate Buns! 

7/10

KP Grazing Mix - Red Berry & Nut Crunch

A mix of roasted unsalted nuts, dried fruits & oat clusters

I wasn't going to review the KP grazing mix as they're not new but my last nut posts have gone down ever so well on Twitter.... I knew you all had filthy minds.

 I had a quick Google and didn't see this particular bag from the range reviewed before so why not! 

The mix is mostly unsalted roasted peanuts with a few unsalted roasted almonds chucked in for good measure, dried sweetened cranberry pieces, oat clusters and golden raisins.

Although there are double the amount of peanuts all I could smell was oats. If I shut my eyes I'd swear I'd opened my big bag of Tesco everyday value (they taste just the same and they're 75p for 1Kg!) oats.

As always I tried one of each first, the dried cranberry pieces were nice and big, not very dry and were quite chewy but still somewhat firm; they almost felt like raisins. The front of the bag says this is a red berry mix with dried fruits but the back says sweetened cranberry and there are only cranberry pieces inside. Even more confusingly the ingredients list the cranberry as red berry flavoured sweetened cranberry pieces!? These don't taste exclusively of cranberry, they have a mixed berry flavour and while they do taste lovely (although very sweet) I don't understand why KP didn't just put a variety of dried berries in Cranberries must be cheaper.. 

Both the peanuts and almonds tasted as expected, the almonds were very crunchy and the peanuts slightly softer. The same with the taste of the large oat clusters but they were surprisingly crunchy, more so than the almonds. Finally the golden raisins were pretty small and chewy, they had a nice flavour and were sweet but not as sweet as the cranberry. 

None were great alone, the raisins are probably the best of the bunch and all mixed together they aren't much better. The fruit and raisins add some much needed sweetness to the dry, plain oats and nuts but this mix is seriously missing the salt. It was so dry and plain to eat, I know it sounds stupid - salt would make it drier surely, but it was just so boring. Plain nuts and plain oats, it was just too much plain. The sweeter pieces broke it up a little but the dry boring-ness was overpowering. 

They'd be OK I suppose if you were on a health kick - full of protein and fibre and less salt than other similar bags but I won't be buying these again. 

5/10 

Nakd Fruit & Nut Bits

Last week when I blogged about the Nakd nibbles I wrote that I wished they were in a bigger bag, well it turns out they exist and I was just oblivious! There are three versions available, Berry Delight, Cocoa Delight and Cocoa Orange, I grabbed myself the first two in sainsburys. 

I wanted to try the Cocoa Delight first but once I got home I found the berry bag had split, I stuck it in a Tupperware box for the time being but figured I should probably eat the open one. 

Berry Delight is made up of 49% dates, 31% cashews, 17% raisins, 3% raspberries, rice flour and a hint of berry flavouring. The whole reason I realised the bag had split was because as soon as I opened the boot of my car to get the shopping out I could smell the berries!! The scent is seriously strong and doesn't smell artificial. 

Once I got round to trying these the first thing I noticed was the texture, they're soft, chewy but my favourite part is that they are a bit gritty if that makes sense - what must be the cashews add a lovely little crunch to each little block.

At first the berry  wasn't very strong which surprised me considering the smell and the fact you can actually see chunks of raspberries, with the first few mouthfuls it was more of an aftertaste but I'm putting that down to the fact my bag split as there is no reason and going by past experiences with Nakd that these few lacked flavour. They are addictive though and I'm glad I finished the bag in one go as they definitely became stronger in taste and beautifully fruity the more I ate. I had such high hopes for a strong flavour with this bag and I'm annoyed I picked up a faulty pack. Going by this one I don't think I can rate it properly. If I had to I'd give it a 6 but I'm going to buy another packet and update this review.  

Next up was Cocoa Delight - 48% dates, 29% cashews, 17% raisins, 6% cocoa and again rice flour and a hint of natural flavouring. 

If I thought Berry Delight smelt strong I was wrong - the cocoa scent is overwhelming and they smell delicious, I defy anyone to open these and manage to not eat some straight away! The texture is a little firmer than the Berry, and from working out the percentage in the ingredients I'm wondering if there's slightly more rice flour used. They're not hard by any means though, just slightly less chewy and gritty and have a bit more resistance to each bite. 

Thankfully (and this means I really have to retry the Berry Delight) the cocoa taste is just as present as the smell. It's a really lovely flavour and incredibly moreish, as I worked my way through them they started to remind me of soft Bourbon biscuits except the taste is a definite cocoa and not chocolate. These didn't feel like a 'healthy treat' in any way, shape or form and even though they're one of your five a day they seem like a naughty treat. 

I need another bag now and I'd even go as far as saying these are the nicest Nakd product I've had and I'm a die hard Banana Bread addict. 

Rating 8/10 

Fruit Pastilles Berries & Cream

I loooove Fruit Pastilles and I couldn't wait to try the new Berries & Cream flavour, the berry ones are always my favourite anyway! I was a bit dissapointed to see that, despite the name, they're not cream flavoured but half fruit, half vanilla and has in large capital letters on the back "THESE SWEETS DO NOT CONTAIN DAIRY CREAM".

There are 3 colours in the pack, the front has little pictures of strawberries, raspberries and blackberries but the ingredients are Grape, Apple, Strawberry and Blackberry. I'm guessing the Raspberry comes from the added flavourings. 

I really enjoyed these, the slightly redder ones were my favourite - I think they're the raspberry ones, but all three were nice. Although they aren't cream flavoured the vanilla mixed with the fruit definitely makes them taste creamy. I liked that they aren't as sharp as the usual Fruit Pastilles, while its not a complaint on the originals this did make a nice change. 

I'll buy these again.

Rating 7/10