Monty Bojangles Bon Bonanza

Am I the only person who seems to get addicted, for want of a better word, to certain things? I'm on a bit of a Bon Bon binge at the moment - next week it will probably be all chocolate!

After the two J20 Bon Bons (which are advertised and sold by Monty Bojangles) I didn't have high hopes for the Bon Bonanza box, this coupled with the fact I had some truffles from Monty Bojangles last year that I never got try try as they melted into a lovely messy puddle meant I wasnt very excited. 

An assortment of Salted Caramel, Clotted Cream and Strawberry flavoured traditional toffee centred Bon Bons. 

Well they look much nicer than the J20 ones! 

There was an uneven mix of the three in my bag, about 15 Strawberry, half that of the Clotted Cream and one lonely Salted Caramel. They smelt mainly of strawberry but despite the smaller numbers, I could still smell the other two flavours too and all three smelt delicious. 

Minus one or two baby Bon Bons, these were very large - much bigger than I'm used to and they had a brilliant texture. There is an 'outer shell' of a thick powdered sugar that crumbles away and leaves a hard, chewy toffee center. I loved this, I know I've said before that I want Bon Bons to just be hard and chewy but that's all changed after trying these. 

The Strawberry is beautiful. A lovely, natural, fruity strawberry that tastes real. It's obviously still a sweet flavouring so there is still that sugary taste but nothing like the crazy, artificial, sickly sweet or sour strawberry Bon Bons I've had previously. High praise here - probably the nicest strawberry Bon Bon I've ever had. 

The Clotted Cream were new to me and more a flavour I associate with fudge or proper toffee than a Bon Bon. After tasting these, that shouldn't be the case! They have a lovely sweet, creamy flavour that at times was almost milky. Again the taste was real and to my untrained tongue could probably pass for homemade rather than mass produced. They're quite mild while I was waiting for the sugary coating to melt away and have a strong clotted cream aftertaste. This isn't a bad thing at all, the lack of overpowering, fake flavours made this feel like a more grown up sweet and a bit of a luxury. Very, very nice and if the strawberry wasn't included, would have jumped straight to the top of my all time leader board. 

Last but not least I tried my one lonely Salted Caramel. I thought that only having one to try would mean I wouldn't get much to go on for the review but I couldn't have been more wrong. The flavour is spot on. It was a little strange having such a concentrated salted caramel flavour in a hard chewy sweet - it tasted like it should have been a liquid center in the middle of a chocolate bar. Rich, slightly salty but still sweet, beautiful caramel. I was absolutely gutted I only had one.   

I didnt expect much from these three and it just shows I should never listen to myself as they now occupy first, second and third place in my Bon Bon rankings. 

I ate these 10 hours ago and I've already ordered another bag. 

9/10 

Sorry Monty, you'd be 10/10 if I didn't only get one Salted Caramel... If the next bag has more you'll get a revised rating!

Edit - the next bag had plenty of salted caramel so up you go Monty!

Mr Kipling Salted Caramel Swirls

Delicious shortcake swirls filled with salted caramel flavour buttercream 

This evenings review comes to you courtesy of Mr.1 Treat.. Kind of. The furthest he gets with computers are YouTube videos and FIFA so the thoughts and opinions are his - I've just typed them up.

We found these in Morrisons in the bakery aisle, I can't remember the exact price but I think they were around £1.90. I thought they seemed overpriced for four but Mr.1T was suckered in by the fancy packaging. I couldn't work out why they were in with the cakes but the filling of each whirl is made with buttercream and caramel sauce so only has a shelf life of about a month - nothing long like biscuits. Even though the description just says a salted caramel flavour buttercream there is actually a separate caramel sauce too. 

The biscuit was very soft and buttery, both biscuits are the same just the top/bottom one has the milk chocolate coating which I preferred as if both were chocolate coated it would have been far too much.

The two different fillings were intersting, I could feel the difference between the cream and the sauce but the normal caramel flavour overpowered most of the salted caramel buttercream. There were parts that didn't have the sauce and just cream though and I could taste the salted caramel there. Either way the flavour is delicious. 

I soon understood why there are only four, they're very rich and sweet and are just bordering on maybe a bit too much. They're lovely but I could manage 2 in one go - at most (he didn't he only had one, lightweight)

7/10 

Nakd fruit and nut nibbles

Nakd are a company that make healthy food, up until now I've only tried their versions of cereal bars and despite the fact they actually are a 'proper' healthy version (not just low fat high sugar) I find them to be delicious and a lot more filling than other brands. 

I noticed these little bags of fruit and nut nibbles on the same shelf as the bars, I say little but they weigh 40 grams so more than most bags of crisps. All three bags are also wheat, dairy and gluten free if any of those are an issue, 100% vegan, 1 of your 5 a day and have no added sugar or syrups. 

Toffee Treat 

I've included in my nakd reviews in the past the ingredients list as they're so tiny and it's the same here - 50% dates, 23% cashews, 18% raisins, 5% cocoa, rice flour and natural flavourings.  

There was a definite cocoa scent when I opened Toffee Treat and at first I thought my bag smelt more chocolatey than toffee. The nibbles aren't very pretty, they look like the bars chopped up into little chunks and half way through I noticed mine looked like tiny black puddings! They're soft and chewy - it was a very moreish texture I could happily sit chewing these for ages. I could taste the toffee despite not really smelling it, it's a nice toffee flavour - it's not strong and you can tell its natural but it's very enjoyable and they're sweet without being overly so. 

The only negative I could find with these is that they got a little boring when I was eating in review mode - literally one at a time, once I started eating them properly (aka shoving them in) that soon stopped. The back of the packet suggests different ways of eating them, how I did sweetie style or sprinkled over things and I can imagine these would be lovely with a yoghurt or porridge. 

Rating 

compared to normal bags of sweets 6/10 

As a healthy snack 8/10

Salted caramel 

The ingredients are even smaller here - 54% dates, 24% cashews, 18% raisins, rice flour, salt and natural flavourings. 

The caramel scent is strongest here, but this packet disappointed me slightly. Up until the point where I stopped reviewing and started scoffing (when will I learn?) the caramel flavour and salt seemed to be missing, when eaten one at a time I couldn't taste the salt at all and the caramel was very mild so I'm not sure this is one I would sprinkle over anything else. When I ate a few together the salted caramel did arrive and while tasty it's the first Nakd flavour that didn't wow me and is the only one so far to me that you can tell its a healthy treat. That's not a bad thing in itself, but for pure tastiness I'd choose the others over this. Don't get me wrong they did get nice and caramel-y and salty but by the time this happened I'd finished the packet. Maybe this is a flavour that would do well in a larger sharing sized bag. 

Rating 6/10 

Strawberries & cream 

 Ingredients wise it's the same as the salted caramel bag except for 1% more raisins and no salt. 

I'd unknowingly left the best till last with this bag - the smell of strawberry was overwhelming and I had to leave the room half way through, when I came back in it was literally all I could smell. Thankfully the taste more than meets the scent. Its a delicious, natural tasting strawberry - very sweet and flavourful. There's not just strawberry though and I could taste the 'cream' (although being dairy free I'm not sure what flavourings they use) but it was mild and the strawberry did overpower it at times. And for the first time it didn't matter wether I ate one or five each they were seriously strawberry.  

This version seemed chewier to me, I'm not sure why as they were stored exactly the same and the ingredients are near identical so maybe I imagined that. 

I found these incredibly moreish to the point I was a bit gutted when I finished them and despite the suggestion on the pack, when not if, I buy these again I won't waste them by sprinkling these are delicious on their own. 

Rating 8/10 

Oppo salted caramel with lucuma ice cream

I've been using Ocado for a while now, I keep telling everyone it's because I'm saving money and it's easier to buy just what I need but really it's because they have all the goodies nowhere else does, like this Oppo ice cream.

There are three versions available at the moment - this salted caramel, a vanilla and a chocolate and mint one. All three are marketed as a healthier version of ice cream made with whole milk, coconut oil and natural sweeteners rather than added sugar, so they aren't an ice cream alternative they actually are real ice cream. 

The salted caramel flavour I chose is sweetened with Lucuma and natural fruit extracts. Lucuma fruit according to the tub is Peruvian, known as 'gold of the Incas', has a golden flesh and a naturally rich and creamy caramel taste. See! Not only is this better for you than the normal stuff you learn something too! 

Being that it's a health food - if ice cream could ever be called that, it was more expensive. I paid £4.39 on a special offer, normal price is £5.49 which does seem steep but it's only been recently I've noticed luxury ice cream being under £5 in the supermarkets anyway. 

The ice cream is plain looking, slightly creamy coloured and didn't look as if it had been in the freezer at all. Sometimes frozen yogurts/low fat/sugar filled stuff gets that horrible frost all over it but  not here. 

The ice cream is extremely thick, I thought maybe after a while out of the freezer it would thin out a little but it didn't at all. It's still very scoop-able but it stayed thick and creamy till the last bite. 

I really liked the flavour, it's a subtle caramel which is to be expected as it's only natural flavourings used but it is there. The taste couldn't be mistaken for vanilla but it's not an instant caramel as soon as it hits your tounge, it kind of appeared slowly, halfway through each mouthful and hung around for a while making me want more! I couldn't taste any salt but the caramel didn't need it anyway it was nice enough alone.

As for the sweeteners used and the other health stuff, I couldn't taste any coconut at all which I was pleased about, I don't mind the stuff but I'd have bought a coconut flavour if that's what I was after. It didn't taste sugar free at all, if anything it was thicker and creamier than most other ice creams I've tried recently and I wonder if that is to do with the sweeteners chosen. This felt in texture, like a luxurious, top end ice cream but I suppose it is for the prices charged! 

Rating 8/10 

I've already put one of the other versions in my shopping basket (while they're still on offer), and I suprised myself with the rating I gave it. It's not one of my favourites, I like my additions like chocolate, cookie dough and other weird things too much, but considering this is a healthier version - and let's be honest they're usually complete crap, I thought this was really nice. 

Galaxy salted caramel

Forget higher quality chocolate exists for a moment, in this country in terms of standard everyday chocolate, most people either are either Team Cadbury Dairy Milk or Team Galaxy. In this house I'm a Cadbury girl and my fiancée is camp Galaxy, I watched him demolish the big sharing sized bar of this last week and it looked good but I waited till I found it in a smaller size to try it myself as Galaxy is a bit too smooth for me normally. 

The smaller bars come in two long tubes each split into 3 squares, the squares seem thicker and squarer than in the larger. Each square is stuffed with the caramel but still has a decent amount of chocolate to give a satisfying crunch when you bite into it. 

The salted caramel is absolutely delicious, it's thick and gooey and literally oozes out of each block as you can see in the photo. Caramel is definitely the dominant flavour, the salt mainly appears towards the end of each mouthful and adds a nice twist to the already lovely tastes. The further I got into this the more noticable the salt became but caramel is still number one here. 

While normally I'm not a great lover of the smoothness in Galaxy, here it's a perfect accompaniment for the richness of the caramel and it all ends up a creamy, smooth, gooey, perfect mess. 

By far the best Galaxy bar I've ever tried. 

Rating 8/10 

Green & Black's THIN Bars

 

Today's reviews are two of the three new available Green& Black's THIN bars, dark chocolate and salted caramel milk chocolate. A milk chocolate version is available aswell but that didn't really appeal to me as much as these two. 

Both bars come in a card packet that opens like an envelope and sealed in gold foil inside which, although Green & Black's isn't at the higher end of the price scale certainly gives it a luxurious feel.

I'll start in the order I ate them in, and so that means the dark bar is up first. 

The flash is on in the photo above but it isn't as dark of a bar as some 70% chocolate, and they got the name right it's a lot thinner than a standard Green & Black's. Looking online at the ingredients list it doesn't seem to be a recipe change from the ordinary 70% so taste wise it's the same. I wasn't too excited about the change in thickness as I've said time and time again I like a crunch. This is still there though and it has a decent bite to it but the biggest change I noticed is that the new thinness of the bar means it melts on the tounge much easier even after a stay in the fridge. 

Rating 8/10 

After reading this Review on Kevs Snack Reviews I was in two minds about which to try first, and I can honestly say I made the wrong choice, if I'd eaten the salted caramel first I doubt the dark would have got a look in though so maybe it's not such a bad thing. 

This is a milk chocolate with caramel pieces with flakes of Anglesey sea salt, the blog I've linked to goes over the basics pretty well so I'll just give my opinion now. 

I would actually go as far as saying this is probably the nicest bar of chocolate I've had in a while. The caramel I expected to be flavouring or a filling but it's actual solid, crunchy pieces that were visible when I broke it in half. It's a lovely rich caramel taste that paired with the salt reminded me why this has become the 'it' flavour. 

This bar just got better the more I ate and I was genuinely sad when I looked down and realised I'd polished the lot off! 

Rating 9/10 

New Cadbury Fingers Salted Caramel Crunch

Salted caramel seems to be a fashion in the food world at the moment and has been for a while now, Cadbury are actually pretty late on the bandwagon here with a Salted Caramel Crunch version of their fingers. 

There are actually two new versions out, the other is Salted Peanut but if you've  read my previous posts you'll know I'm not a peanut fan so I decided not to waste my money. Sadly if the salted caramel crunch is anything to go by it was a wise decision! 

The box weighs in at 93g, so one of the smaller offerings Cadbury has and you can see there aren't many fingers inside. It would be very easy to eat these all in one go. 

 I originally planned on putting the last two pictures up separately but there's no point really as these fingers look identical to the original milk chocolate fingers. Those are scratches in the chocolate by the way not visible salt crystals which I did expect! Taste wise is the same story, honestly I really couldn't taste the caramel! They are supposedly caramel flavoured biscuits but they were overpowered by the milk chocolate for me. I did get the faintest 'salty crunch' at the end of 2 of my fingers but that was it. My other half said he got some in the middle of his but it was in no way evenly distributed throughout the finger. Considering how small these biscuits are you really would think the flavours would be more noticable but to me these were no better (or worse, or different!) to the original Cadbury Fingers. Pretty disappointing. 

Rating 5/10