Recipe: Jammie Dodger, Biscoff & Reese's Blondies

Sunday was a grizzly day. It was pouring with rain, I was feeling pants and it was a rest day. Humf, I could sit and stew in my misery, or do something about it. Baking has always been one of my favourite ways to relax,  once upon a time I'd spend my days pestering my gran until she'd pour over her ancient cookbooks with me and help me perfect the art of shortcrust pastry (always roll onto a slab of marble, and make sure your hands are cold) or light sponge cakes (always fold with a large metal spoon). Oh dear, I'm rambling again aren't I? Anyway, I knew the best way to cheer myself up was to pop on some Jazz music and bake something... but what to bake? 

Then, I had a brainwave. I recalled seeing Ellie's incredible looking Jammie Dodger blondies last year. The ones I promised I'd get around to making. No time like the present. I couldn't find Ellie's picture anymore, but I remembered that she'd found the recipe online, and a quick google search revealed Katie Cake's recipe. That's the badger!

What you may or may not know about me though is that I'm terribly indecisive. Like awfully so. So I actually made a smaller amount of her brownie batter and used it to make three variations on her recipe: Reese's, Biscoff, and Jammie Dodger. 

So here's my amended version Katie's recipe for the blondie mix (which makes 6 blondies).

Ingredients:

60g butter

85g caster sugar

1 large egg

100g plain flour

85g white chocolate

Toppings:

Mini Jammie Dodgers & Jam

Biscoff Spread & Biscoff Biscuits

Reese's mini peanut butter cups & peanut butter. 

Method:

1)  Preheat the oven to 175C

2) Slowly melt the butter and white chocolate together in a saucepan on a low heat, being careful to stir constantly and avoid the chocolate catching. Once melted, remove from the heat and set aside.

3) Using an electric mixer, whisk the egg and sugar until light and fluffy (approximately 2 minutes on a high setting). Then pour the chocolate mixture in, and stir until combined. 

4) Gently fold in the flour, being careful not to knock too much air out of the brownie mix

5) Pour the blondie mix into a greased, suitably sized receptacle (I used an individual brownie pan, which I bought from ASDA for £5). 

6) Now for the fun part - the toppings! For the Jammie dodger ones I dolloped about a tsp of jam in each brownie, and swirled with a toothpick before adorning with mini Jammie Dodgers. For the Biscoff I swirled in some Biscoff spread and placed a Biscoff biscuit on top*. The Reese's one? Well that was just a tsp of peanut butter swirled in, and then I broke up some mini Peanut Butter cups and topped them with that! 

7) Bake for 20 mins! 

8) Enjoy - warm, cold & with or without ice cream. They also freeze well too! 

*In hindsight, I wish I had added cinnamon to the mixture too. 

Nellienoo Fudge Review: Biscoff, Chocolate Peanut Butter, Zesty Lime, & Lemon Meringue (Online)

The lovely Nic of Nellienoo fudge gave me the most wonderful surprise a couple of weeks ago when I came home to a packet containing not just one, but FOUR of her fabulous fudge packets. You can imagine how excited I was by this delivery, especially given how much I loved both her Caramac and Malteser Fudge....

Even better, Nic had included two of my absolute favourite flavours (biscoff and chocolate peanut butter) as well as two summery flavours: lemon meringue and zesty lime. 

Zesty Lime

"This white chocolate fudge combined with zesty fresh lime juice has such a wonderful flavour, subtle and fresh."

Here's where I admit that I'm not overly fussed on lime. It's not something I crave -mostly thanks to my grandmother's obsession with feeding us lime jelly. Put it this way, I never want to suffer three day old Banana Chartreuse* ever again. Anyway, I tried to forget the memories of Hartley's florescent jelly whilst taking a bite into Nellienoo's fudge.

Jeeeeeeesus, that's good. Nic you are a genius! The white chocolate base was as creamy as all of her other fudges -honestly, I've never known anything like it. Cutting through the sweetness, the lime offered a perfect zing that was utterly delicious. My only possible suggestion for improvement would be for the fudge to include some ginger biscuits within the mix, but then it wouldn't be gluten free. 

Lemon Meringue

"Fresh zesty lemon fudge with sweet crushed meringue pieces throughout."

This was another refreshing flavour. I thought that perhaps the meringue might make it either too sweet, or perhaps make the unbelievably smooth fudge feel a little grainy. Silly me. Of course Nic had mastered both the flavour and the texture. It was absolutely scrummy and a must buy for all lemon lovers!

Chocolate Peanut Butter

"This white chocolate fudge combined with peanut butter is delicious, it has milk chocolate chips stirred through at the end to give a marbled effect and a milk chocolate drizzle finish."

I'm sure Nic is a wizard. She certainly works magic on her concoctions. I was pleased to see that she hadn't watered down the flavour with any caramel. This fudge reminded me of white chocolate Reese's cups (still one of my all-time favourite treats) and it was a struggle to not gobble it down in one sitting!

Biscoff

"This delicious biscoff fudge is packed full of flavour. Smooth creamy texture with chunks of biscoff biscuit throughout. Perfect treat to have with a coffee."

You might think it was the chocolate peanut butter that had me most excited, but you would be wrong. Biscoff fudge? I was all over it. 

I had every right to be excited too. I mean it was everything I hoped for - and more. The sweet cinnamon spice came through in each soft, chewy nibble. The biscuit pieces hadn't gone soggy and added that beautiful caramelised crunch into the mix to really exalt the eating experience. It was sheer heaven. 

You know it's love when I was enjoying my fudge this much and offer a bite to my biscoff loving, but fudge hating other half. Bert seriously detests fudge. I mean he won't go near the stuff at all. Normally. But... Nellienoo fudge apparently doesn't count. It's that tasty that not only has it won him over - but I found myself hiding the rest of the pack from him. What have you done to us Nic?

I'd like to say another huge thank you to Nic for sending me some more of her magnificent fudge. Please do pop on over to her website where you can buy all of her super-duper treats for £3.50 per pack -it might just be the best money you've ever spent.


*An odd dessert made with banana, lime jelly and cream. It was meant to look something like this (photo courtesy of the Food History Journals) but hers never quite did...

NEW! Tiramisu Con Biscotti Speziatti *Biscoff Tiramisu* (LIDL)

Last week I popped into Lidl for my regular restock of Skyr and picked up their weekly deal brochure on the way out. Ooh Italian week! That sounded good. Normally there's a couple of items that sound rather scrummy, but this time I was positively drooling at the sight of some of the items on offer for the week. That's it, I'd have to go back on Thursday (aka special buy day) to fill up on Italian style treats. The one item that sounded especially good was the speculoos tiramisus. The regular readers amongst you will know that tiramisu is one of my favourite desserts, and that I'm currently obsessed with anything biscoff. At £1.29 for two packs they were slightly dearer than your average supermarket cheesecake, but they still sounded like a reasonably good deal to me. 

"Spiced Biscuit Base Topped with Vanilla Flavour Mousse, Sprinkled with Chocolate Flavoured Powder."

I'm not sure how Lidl have got away with calling them tiramisus really, seeing as they were devoid of Savoiardi or coffee-although they do include a minute amount of alcohol (1.5%) and mascarpone cheese (which comes even lower down the ingredients list). In fact the cocoa dusting and the pots they came in were the only real nods to the classic Italian dessert. Still, they'd reeled me in with the title and I was still looking forward to trying them.

I wasn't expecting the mousse to be marshmallowy. It was still light and airy, but it also had a gooey-ness to it that I haven't experienced with a mousse before. I could faintly taste the liqueur, but it's so mild that I wouldn't be able to tell you what it was.

At the bottom was the 'spiced biscuit' base, which also heralded further surprise. I was expecting it to taste like crushed Lotus biscuits, but instead it had a soft crumb -which was utterly delicious. The cake style base actually worked very well, especially because it had such a fantastic cinnamon flavour. I ended up googling 'speculoos cake recipes' as soon as I'd finished it. 

Now I took a punt and sent Bert to his Night shift with the other pot the same night I had mine. It was a risk because he claims to hate tiramisu, but seeing as it didn't contain coffee I thought it was worth the risk. He loved it. I'm glad he did too, otherwise I'd have been gutted that I'd wasted the other delicious pot. We'll be heading back to Lidl before Thursday (when The Middle Eastern week starts) to stock up and might even pick up a pack of the strawberry tiramisu -which is even less tiramisu-esque! 

8/10

Recipe: Lotus Biscoff (Caramelised Biscuit) Flapjacks

Now I don't normally make a habit of writing recipes, but given the amount of people asking for one since I posted a picture of my homemade flapjacks on Instagram yesterday I thought I'd make an exception.

I must look like a Biscoff addict, considering the only other (non-protein) recipe I've posted on here was the no-bake Biscoff cheesecakes I made for Christmas Day. I've been experimenting with the spread actually, and also made Biscoff cupcakes* for Bert's Birthday using She Who Bakes' recipe.

Anyway, I'd been craving gooey homemade flapjacks for a while and wondered whether Biscoff flapjacks would work. It just turns out that they were the best damn flapjacks I've ever made! If you're a fellow Biscoff addict then please do give this easy-peasy recipe a go. 

Ingredients (makes 8)

• 125g  Biscoff (I used smooth but I imagine crunchy would work just as well
• 125g  Butter
• 125g Golden Syrup
• 50g Soft brown sugar
• 250g  Porridge oats

Method

Heat the oven to Gas Mark 4 (180°C/ fan 160°C). I lined two loaf tins with baking paper, but I imagine a 20cm square cake tin would also work. 

Gently heat the butter, Biscoff, syrup and sugar together in a saucepan over a low heat, stirring until the better has melted and the sugar has dissolved. Pour in the oats and stir once more until the oats are fully coated. Turn off the heat. 

Pour the mixture into your tins and press down with the back of the spoon/spatula, making sure it's packed together. 

Bake in the oven for 25ish minutes -my oven is temperamental so I always have to guess- I suggest that you keep checking after 20 minutes. You want the mixture to be slightly firm to the touch, but not completely solid, as it will set further as it cools and we're aiming for a soft, chewy flapjack here. 

Remove from the oven and cut into squares/rectangles (or triangles if you fancy) with a sharp knife. Leave to cool in the tin. 

Enjoy!

*Here's how the cupcakes turned out...

NEW! Limited Edition Caramel Cookie Doughnut (Greggs)

It's doughnut change week at Greggs and whilst I was sad to say goodbye to their fabulous chocolate orange doughnut, the bakery chain more than made up for the loss with their new creation. Well, actually there's two new doughnuts which Greggs kings @macrodad & @notyouraveragejoe_89 kindly alerted me to via their morning food porn over the past couple of days.

The first new doughnut was a lemon sherbert ring which appeared on Wednesday. It sounded tasty but I wasn't desperate to have it. Then yesterday morning Joe discovered the caramel cookie doughnut. Now that I had to have, quick smart!

It just so happened that I was in Hereford city centre at the time, so popped into Greggs on the way home. Alas! No cookie doughnuts in sight. Do I continue back home or detour back to the other Greggs? Silly question really.

"Sweet biscuit flavoured filling, topped with caramel flavour fondant with spiced biscuit crumb and white decoration."

Remind you of anything? Krispy Kreme's Biscoff doughnut perhaps? Talking of which, I don't believe that the 're-branding' to Krispy Cream is real, I think it's a publicity stunt (remember the 'leaked email'?) otherwise they're effectively declaring the U.K as stupid.

Anyway, let's not take the limelight away from Greggs here. The doughnut was lighter than expected and looked every part the luxury doughnut. At £1 (also part of a £2 deal with a hot drink) it's not badly priced either.

The dough itself was what I've come to expect from Greggs: less sweet, more bready. This was easily the freshest doughnut I'd had from the chain though, and despite the fact it had been bought at 10am and not eaten until 9pm (yes, my self restraint is commendable) it was still perfectly soft, even at the edges.

Slicing it in half revealed a pale whipped centre. It was a sight for sore eyes given that it was much more generously filled than any high street doughnut I've ever had*. Flavour wise the creme was super sweet with a mild cookie flavour. Perhaps it could've done with more spiced biscuit, but it was still absolutely delicious.

The Caramel fondant was thick and gooey, adding yet more sweetness. This is where Greggs have gained the upper hand with their less sugary doughnut however; the flavours balanced out, managing to stop my teeth from jarring.

Atop the icing was the biscuit crumbs, which miraculously had remained crisp and crunchy, adding in extra crunch. I often wonder why the chains don't include crunchy biscuit pieces in the filling itself though -after all crunchy Biscoff is better than smooth.

If you've managed to read this far without stopping what you're doing and immediately making your way to Greggs I both applaud you and wonder what on earth you're playing at. Don't miss out any longer, go and get yourself a Caramel Cookie Doughnut straightaway!

9/10

*Just check out this shockingly filled Greggsnut I bought recently...

...and it certainly doesn't beat the filling ratio in the Black Forest doughnut I had a couple of weeks ago from The Tandem Bakery (which is well worth a visit if you're in Hereford)!

NEW! Häagen-Dazs Speculoos Caramel Biscuit & Cream Ice Cream (Tesco)

Recently I admitted something embarrassing on Instagram. I bought a tub of the Häagen-Dazs Cookie Dough Chip ice cream and acknowledged that I hadn't tried the brand before -or if I had I certainly couldn't remember it. Indeed the reason why I bought the tub was because Sainsbury's were advertising it as new and had it on offer (a combination as a food blogger that is near-on impossible to refrain). I apologise HD fans, but I really wasn't bowled over by it. Ben & Jerry's still got my vote. In came the suggestions of other, better flavours that I needed to try - many of which were caramel based.

Fortunately HD have listened to their customers and have recently brought out a four pack of mixed mini tubs called their 'caramel collection', which launched in Tesco for a princely £4. 

Whilst the idea of trying a selection of the HD caramel flavours was appealing, it was the inclusion of a new-to-the-UK flavourthat really made the pack tempting. When the new HD collection packs* came on offer this week my restraint buckled and I headed straight to Tesco to hand over my £2.50.

"Caramel & Speculoos (11%) ice cream."

HD suggest waiting 10 minutes after retrieving your tub from the freezer before consumption. Ha! I haven't got that kind of patience I'm afraid. Instead I tried to scoop the rock solid ice cream straight away. Badly.

The cinnamon biscuit was immediately evident both from the sweet scent and golden speckles rage permeated the ice cream. I couldn't see a huge amount of biscuit pieces but hoped they were just playing a game of hide and seek.

One thing I do really like about HD is the indulgent creaminess that somehow tastes more refreshing than other brands. The caramel was relinquished to the back of the flavour queue but lingered in the background to allow the gentle spice to shine through. The cinnamon wasn't as punchy as it is in Ben & Jerry's 'Speculoos? Specu-Love', but admittedly the HD version is smoother and more refined.

I loved the little biscuit pieces which -despite my initial reservations- were in abundance and crunchy. To me they tasted more like shortbread, but the ingredients list gives little away as to the reality of my supposition.

If you're a HD/caramel ice cream fan I suggest you head to Tesco and buy the collection whilst it's still on offer. I would buy the Speculoos Caramel Biscuit & Cream as a full pint if HD launched one, but only on offer... otherwise it's back to Ben & Jerry for me!

8/10

*there's also fruit, sorbet and vanilla collections available, all currently £2.50.

Easy Peasy Speculoos No-Bake Cheesecake Recipe

Happy Boxing Day you lovely lot! Fingers crossed you had a somewhat enjoyable Christmas day, and I hope at least some of you woke up with a stinking hangover but a big smile on your face like I did. Admittedly our day was almost a disaster when I forgot to serve up the pigs-in-blankets, but fortunately I remembered them whilst we were all still eating and they hadn't turned to charcoal in the process. 

Of course every family have their own traditions, and in the (almost) 9 years that Bert and I have been together we've formed our own little rituals: there's the Christmas Eve PJs (passed down from my family), the no presents until after lunch rule (his family -that one took some getting used to) and the homemade Christmas cheesecake (my own tradition). For the past 6-7 years I've religiously made said cheesecake on Christmas Eve as an alternative to the Christmas pud, and every year it changes, but it always ticks two boxes: very chocolatey & very boozy. 

Poor Bert isn't the biggest chocoholic (hence why we're such a good team, he never raids my chocolate stash) and is tee-total.  He also hates Xmas pud, but has obligingly munched his way through years of cheesecakes including white chocolate & Baileys, dark chocolate & Cointreau and milk chocolate & Amaretto. This year though I decided to make a cheesecake based on what he loves (especially after the Mince Pie Danish debacle) so opted for a Biscoff inspired cheesecake. I popped a pic of it up on Christmas Day and received so many requests for the extremely simple recipe that I thought I'd make a change from my normal review posts to pop it up... 

N.B I can't take credit for this recipe as it's a very slight amendment from Jane's Pattiserie's, which can be found here.

Makes 8 individual Gu ramekins- but can be easily amended to suit.

Ingredients: 

Biscuit Base

•  110g Digestive Biscuits
•  110g Lotus Caramelised Biscuits
•  110g Butter

Cheesecake Filling

• 360g Philadelphia Cream Cheese
• 2 tsp Caramel flavouring (I used Dr Oetker's)
• 70g Icing sugar
•  200ml Double Cream
• 190g Crunchy Biscoff Spread/ Favorina Spiced Biscuit Spread

To Decorate

• Lotus Caramelised Biscuits

Method

1. Melt the butter in the microwave (10-20 secs should do it)
2. Blitz the biscuits into fine crumbs using a blender/food processor, and mix in the melted butter. Press into 8 ramekins.
3. Whip together the cream cheese, caramel flavouring, icing sugar and Biscoff until smooth using an electric whisk.
4. Add the cream and whisk slowly until thick enough to stay on an upturned spoon. 
5. Spread the mixture over the bases and chill in the fridge until you can't resist their call!
6. When serving, pop 1/2 a Lotus biscuit on top

Et voila! Simples... 

NEW! Santa Belly & Melting Snowman Doughnuts (Krispy Kreme)

Apologies for the lack of Sunday review, I was just too busy having lots of fun in London with my best friends*. The journey back yesterday however was less than enjoyable, and yet another example of the British rail network at it's best. My Virgin train from Euston was cancelled, as were the three previous services, which meant that I missed my connection and had to wait for two hours in Birmingham for my last leg back to Hereford (making the journey 6 hours in total).

Still, I found a silver lining -which strangely didn't include being in the Bullring exactly a week before Christmas Day. My close proximity to a Krispy Kreme certainly made me happier though. If you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know from my many previous moans that I have no access to the iconic doughnut chain's goodies; the nearest store is over an hour away, and none of the Tesco's stock it within that radii. This means that I normally make the most of trips to Birmingham and come home with a doughnut or two. My other half almost jumped for joy when I rang and asked him if he'd like a KK collected. 

Even better, the hold-up had given me the time to visit the actual store and make use of my 20% student discount -which I imagine is rather dangerous if you're at a university city with local Krispy Kreme. I opted for the filled Christmas doughnuts of course, and asked the friendly assistant to find me some pretty ones. The trouble was, my bags were pretty full and very heavy, so by the time they arrived in my kitchen the doughnuts looked decidedly less attractive than they had in Birmingham, oops.


Melting Snowman
"Hand dipped in white chocolate flavour coating, filled with caramelised biscuit kreme hand decorated with chocolate iced buttons and a scarf."

I've seen plenty of complaints online about the lack of ingenuity when it comes to the fillings of Krispy Kreme's doughnuts this Christmas. For my birthday back in March -in lieu of a traditional cake- I tried their Lotus Caramelised Biscoff doughnut, so I imagined the Melting Snowman to taste rather similar (and therefore delicious). 

I sliced it in two and found the pocket of biscoff flavoured filling in the middle, which was slightly off centre and not particularly generous. I also noted how dense the doughnut felt. 

The situation didn't improve when I bit into it either, for the biscoff and white chocolate topping didn't impart much flavour other than a resounding sweetness. Where had the spice that speculoos (aka Biscoff) is known for? The icing didn't even hint towards tasting of white chocolate either. Now, you must know by now just how sweet-toothed I am, but just one half was enough for me. If I'd have paid the full £1.90 I'd have been even more royally resentful towards the doughnut chain. Gah. 

5/10

Santa Belly
"Hand dipped in raspberry flavoured red icing, filled with chocolate truffle Kreme, hand decorated with chocolate iced buttons and belt, then finished with a buckle."

Picking up this doughnut felt a damn site more promising because the dough felt so much lighter. I also thought that the design was rather clever too. I've not had the opportunity to try any of the previous raspberry and chocolate Krispy Kremes before, so I cut into Santa with fresh (albeit slightly squinty) eyes -cutting Father Christmas open is never going to feel right. sorry Santa.

The dichotomized doughnut looked even more delicious, because it was packed full of a light chocolate mousse. This was what I was hoping for Krispy Kreme! Flavour-wise it was drastically better too. The sweet raspberry icing worked wonderfully well with the fluffy chocolate innards and soft dough surround. Chocolate and raspberry is a heaven-made match, and this only improves when combined with one of Krispy Kreme's fresh doughnuts. Mmm.

9/10.

Conclusion
Of the two, Santa is the surprising winner! I definitely thought that the Biscoff Krispy Kreme would be my firm favourite, but my doughnut was too sweet, underfilled and lacking in flavour. I do wish that KK had thought to include a traditional Christmas flavour though such as a filled mince pie doughnut (yep, STILL obsessed even after all of the ones I've reviewed this year) or a filled gingerbread with chocolate coating (lebkuchen-style). Fingers crossed for next year!

*On a side note: The family Carol Service in St Paul's Cathedral is one of the most beautiful festive activities I've ever had the privilege of experiencing (but get there early to ensure seats) whilst Dirty Dancing at the Pheonix Theatre is incredible fun. On a food point the Maitre'D in Prezzo on New Oxford St is one of the rudest men I have ever met, but the little family run Italian run restaurant Giotto (just a few doors down) serves excellent pasta and pizza at reasonable prices. 

NEW! Favorina Spiced Biscuit Spread (LIDL)

I don't know about you but I definitely go through phases. Biscoff is often subject to such phases; I become addicted to the stuff and then don't have it for a few days and before I know it it's relegated to the back of the spread cupboard (yes I have three shelves and an entire cupboard solely dedicated to toast toppings). Then when I rediscover it, I fall back in love and the cycle begins once more. Honestly, if you've never bought it and have addictive tendancies stay clear of Biscoff, the stuff is ridiculously hard to put down.

Anyway the subject of today's review is LIDL's Spiced Biscuit Spread, which I presumed to be their knock-off version of Biscoff. They've released it as part of their Christmas range, something I found strange because Biscoff doesn't even enter my mind as being a seasonal product. However Speculoos biscuits do tend to make an appearance at this time of year, so I guess from that point of view it is. 

LIDL are selling two versions just as Biscoff do: Crunchy and Smooth. Whilst I'm almost always a smooth peanut butter kind of gal, crunchy Biscoff always gets my vote -so that's what I went for. The 350g jars are on a 2 for £2 deal though (I think they were £1.29 each) so if you can't make up your mind then you could always pick up both.

"Spiced biscuit spread with biscuit pieces." 

I had a jar of Biscoff Crunchy at home, so I'll directly compare the two for those of you who are also obsessed with the spread.

The colour of both was identical, and even the keenest eye would be hard pressed to tell them apart. There was a noticeable difference in consistency though, with the LIDL version appearing slightly shinier and a lot smoother. 

I first tried the spread on M&S' Gingerbread Teacakes -which I now realise is the perfect topping for said treat. Whilst the spread complimented the bread perfectly, the warming flavours from the teacake prevented me from really being able to tell the difference between LIDL and Biscoff. The following evening I tried both on the same *Christmas Tree* crumpet for optimum comparison, and found that there was very little difference in the flavour between them -both delivered on the extreme cinnamon biscuit yummy scrummy-ness. The singular difference came from the texture: Biscoff's spread was grainier and stayed put whereas LIDL's spread melted wonderfully, oozing into the crumpet's pockets and still provided a little crunch from the biscuit pieces. Delicious. 

Top 1/2 of the tree is LIDL, bottom 1/2 is Biscoff.

There's slight variations between the ingredients, more than I expected given the similarity of the flavours. Nutritionally the LIDL is slightly higher in calories and fat, but is lower in sugars (see below for the breakdown). Really there's not a lot in it though, and I love that the consistency of LIDL's crunchy Spiced Biscuit Spread is more like a mixture of Biscoff's smooth and crunchy. The price is also a bonus -at 36.8p per 100g it's a lot cheaper than the branded version (currently on offer at Tesco and still 46.1g per 100g). I'll certainly be stocking up before Christmas anyway, and I suggest you do too!

9/10

Nutritional Info Per 100g
LIDL: 594Kcal/ P:3.2/ C52.0/ F41.2
Biscoff: 571 Kcal/ P:32.3/C58.8/ F: 35.7

Graze Megapost: Sticky Toffee Pudding, Summer Berry Flapjack, Banana Bread, Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack, Belgian Speculoos and Banoffee Dippers

I was always one of those girls in the office who sniggered at the suckers who'd been duped into subscribing to Graze. The trouble is, I wasn't aware of what I was missing out on, and as they say "ignorance is bliss." I would have quite happily remained in my naïve state if it wasn't for Graze's recent-ish inclusion as part of the Boots Meal Deal. The lemon drizzle flapjack called to me, followed by the newer Cocoa & Vanilla protein flapjack. By the time I was nabbing my sister's peanut butter pretzel punnet from her I realised that I needed to sign up.

I was savvy though, and made full use of Graze's selection process to 'bin' all the healthy and/or savoury treats in favour of the naughtier punnets that I've jealously spotted popping up on Instagram. My first Graze box was a winner! Six heavenly looking treats that begged to me munched -or Grazed- upon pronto.

In normal weirdo Amy fashion I opted for the punnet that I thought I'd enjoy the least first, saving the best pack until last.

Banana Bread

I knew how good my Graze box was when the first box open contained one of my favourite flavours of cake. The miniature square was not much more than a mouthful, but at only 55cals would be the perfect solution for cake deprived slimmers.

I can't pretend that this was the best banana cake I've ever had, after all nothing beats fresh banana bread still warm from the oven. As a mass-manufactured treat it was pretty good however, and the inclusion of chopped hazelnuts and dates did ensure enough moistness.

7/10

Apple & Cinnamon Flapjack

I had actually meant to retrieve the summer berry flapjack instead, but in my dozy late evening state I opened this flavour before I realised what I was doing.

This treat didn't disappoint. As with the lemon drizzle flapjack the texture was perfect -soft, squidgy and sticky enough to hold it together without leaving a mess on my fingers. The cinnamon and apple came through in equal measures, mimicking the taste of my mum-in-laws homemade apple crumble. Oaty perfection.

9/10

Sticky Toffee Pudding

As suggested I warmed this up in the microwave, and as un-suggested I enjoyed it for dessert drowned in a giant pool of Ambrosia's new Deluxe Salted Caramel Custard. Just like the banana bread it was a dieter's portion, and it tasted like a 'light' version too. The gooey cake texture was lacking, but the toffee sauce was delicious. A so-so punnet, one that'll probably be 'binned' from future Graze boxes.

6/10

Summer Berry Flapjack

I don't think you can beat Graze's flapjacks. My fourth flapjack from them to date, and a lovely flavour too. The berry infused cranberries were packed with flavour, injecting fruity bursts into every mouthful. As I've come to expect the texture was on point too.

8/10

Banoffee Dippers

I've gone on and on about my love for all things banoffee, so it is perhaps unsurprising that I'd saved this punnet until almost last. It was worth the wait too: the shortbread was beautifully buttery and crumbly, but it held together enough to survive a good dunking in the toffee side. The dip was in fact so good that I ended up scooping out every last ml with my finger. Very unladylike I know.

9/10

Belgian Speculoos

I had to hoard this one, partly because I'd heard such great things about it, and also because Nibs (Nibbles 'N' Scribbles) didn't think I'd be able to resist it. I must admit that it was trying at times, ignoring my urges to rip open the pack of cinnamon pretzels and cookie dip, but I did it! Do I get a medal? No? Oh well. There was ample supply of dippers, which I excitedly stuck into the dip. I was welcomed with a beautifully crisp pretzel and naughtily scrummy speculoos. If you've ever tried Biscoff spread you'll get the gist... and if you haven't, why on earth not? It's incredible stuff.

The only trouble I found was that the ration of dip:dippers was way off. Normally with these style pots I run out of the former before the latter, but by the time I was finishing the punnet I was having to put up with meagre spread scrapings on the pretzels. More sir. Please sir.

8/10

Summary

Well, if you're even considering signing up to Graze I suggest you do so to avoid missing out for any longer -just make sure you edit your likes to ensure you end up with punnets you're likely to enjoy! If you're still not sure whether you want to commit, then you simply must try their Lemon Drizzle Flapjack (which is now available in most major supermarkets) I think it's still my favourite.

Biscoff Belgian Chocolate (Tesco)

There seems to be lots of bright blue signs in our local Tesco, pinpointing the way to new (or in this case not-so-new) products. It was one of them that called me to these Belgian chocolate coated Biscoff biscuits. I regularly buy the Biscoff crunchy spread -delicious on hot crumpets I've you've never had the pleasure of tasting it- but for some reason I tend to forget that Lotus make the biscuits themselves too. 

I'm a firm believer that if there's any way to enhance a biscuit, it has to  be by smothering it in chocolate. Fortunately Lotus didn't stop there, deeming standard chocolate not good enough for their product, and upped the game to a layer of the more superior Belgian variety. 

The biscuits came in seven handy, individually wrapped, three biscuit packs. The biscuits themselves weren't very large, and by comparison I would say that they were about a third smaller than a rich tea finger. The chocolate coating covered one side with a pretty even layer, and of course they had the characteristic Lotus crunch.

With one nibble I was transferred into chocolate-caramel heaven; the caramelised flavour was still prominent, but it was enhanced further by the silky smooth chocolate topping. These biscuits were made for dunking -although you need to be quick as they don't hold their rigidity for very long. 

The Biscoff Belgian Chocolate biscuits have got to be up there with the best (chocolate digestives and hobnobs of course!). They are a lovely indulgent treat but, I warn you, they are so good that I was left craving more after I finished my triple pack of mini biscuits... So, pass me the Biscoff spread and the crumpets please?

9/10