Day two of the Doughnut week brings you a review of the NY Cheesecake inspired Krispy Kreme. Now if you've been reading this blog for a while you'll know just how much I love a good cheesecake, but NY cheesecake? Not so much. Give me lemon, chocolate, chocolate orange, dulce de leche, strawberry donut, or speculoos cheesecakes (to name just a few) any day; but vanilla and sour cream? Nah, you're alright. That said, I'd heard good things about this new doughnut from the American chain, so looked forward to trying it.
'Filled with Kreme Cheese, hand-dipped in vanilla icing and sprinkled with biscuit crumb and white choc flavoured drizzle.'
Now the white chocolate topping didn't taste of white chocolate, and taking a look at the ingredients (Sugar, Palm Oil, Whey Powder (Milk), Emulsifer: Soya Lecithin) that's unsurprising. Why don't you use real white chocolate Krispy Kreme? Especially when you're charging a small fortune for each doughnut?
Krispy Kreme's are renowned for being unpredictable when it comes to the amount of filling they contain, but this particular doughnut contained a respectable amount of 'Kreme Cheese'.
There was a slight tang to the flavour, and it was certainly different to their standard Kreme, but it wasn't 'shut-the-front-door' amazing. I did however enjoy it, and the sour edge helped to combat the resounding sweetness.
As usual, the dough was beautifully soft and fluffy. The biscuit crumbs were also a welcome touch, helping to deliver the cheesecake element, however I have a bone to pick with Krispy Kreme.
That, ladies and gents, is the American Krispy Kreme NY cheesecake doughnut! Why can't ours look like that? Even the PR photo of the British version doesn't look as promising, although at least my doughnut did pose similarities to the picture below!
7/10
Chocolate orange and carrot cake are the flavours of the season it seems. Every man and his basket have got on the choc orange hot cross buns bandwagon this year (stay tuned for the last in that series very shortly!) and all of a sudden the carrot cake craze is popping up. Hoorah! The humble carrot cake has been vastly under appreciated until now, and it's lovely to see such a summery flavour appearing on a shelves - it certainly makes a welcome change from dulce de leche/salted caramel everything. What's even better is that these companies are filling these products with cream cheese. I always find that cupcakes are a bit lopsided on their ratios. Yes buttercream is tasty (when done right) but the cake should always be the star of the show, and somehow it gets lost under showy icing when part of a cupcake. That's why I think filling cake is a better concept. Anyway, as soon as @productsinstore alerted me to the new Tesco muffins the hunt began.
The first store I visited wouldn't sell me any because they were "waiting for a manager to set them up" (your guess is as good as mine) but fortunately the nice manager that I found in the bakery department of Hereford's smaller Tesco retrieved me some from the freezer. Thank you kind sir! The four pack cost £1, and I just prayed that they were better than their Christmas Red Velvet muffins.
"Spiced carrot cake with a tangy cream cheese centre."
The muffins were a decent size and colour, speckled with sugar crystals on their tops.
I sliced through and discovered how close crumb it was. Was that all of the filling? I thought M&S were stingy, but this was ridiculous, there could only be a teaspoonful of cream cheese at the bottom there.
The cake was well spiced with a strong cinnamon flavour and a slight warmth from the ginger. There were hints of carrot throughout, but it wasn't as prominent as one would expect in a home made version. The texture was soft, but it was so moist that it was claggy and almost raw in places.
It wasn't just the cream cheese that was missing either. Where were the raisins at? Surely a carrot cake has to have dried fruit in too? Humf. One of the qualities I love most about carrot cake is the plump raisins that break up the texture and burst in your mouth as you munch.
I did enjoy the sugar crystal topping however, which reminded me of country cake (albeit without the raisins).
As for the cream cheese at the bottom, it was fairly good, but its location and meagreness meant that it was impossible to enjoy some with every mouthful of cake.
Tesco' Carrot Cake muffins are kind of the anti-cupcake I suppose. Let's hope M&S carrot cake muffins are better, and if not I'll be sticking to their buns.
6/10
It's an extremely rare occasion when I lose my appetite. Yesterday was one of those days though, a chest infection took full force and I was grumpy and feverish. Eating became a chore (yes, even the pink pancakes I made for lunch) and I just wanted to curl up. After almost 9 years together, I'm fortunate that my other half knows how to cheer me up, and he did so by coming home with a tub of Tesco's new Red Velvet ice cream. Last May Tesco asked its Orchard members to vote for a new flavour of ice cream, but I wasn't expecting them to bring out four!
"Pink and white cream cheese flavoured ice creams swirled with a cream cheese sauce and red velvet sponge pieces."
What's pink cream cheese flavour? I wasn't sure, but I guess I'd find out.
The ice creams were attractively swirled and dotted with cake pieces. There was a gelatinous blob at one edge, which I assumed to be the cream cheese sauce - at least that's what I hoped it was because it didn't look very appetising. My scoop delved easily into the tub, uncovering bright red cake chunks throughout.
Now cream cheese is known for having a resonant tang, so that's exactly what I was hoping for. Sadly though it was more reminiscent of the cheaper ice cream normally labelled as vanilla (really meaning devoid of flavour). I asked Bert what flavour he thought the ice cream was, and he replied "raspberry, because it's pink" -which I hope says it all. It lacked the creaminess of more luxurious brands, and instead had the kind of consistency that makes me think of Carte D'Or (of which I'm not a huge fan).
I couldn't taste the cream cheese sauce either. It was completely lost against the sweet ice cream, and I wouldn't have known it existed had I not have seen it. Fortunately the cake bits were good, breaking up the texture with little fluffy morsels. Again, they weren't very flavourful, but at least they were pretty.
All in all, it's not a bad tub, but it's nowhere near Ben & Jerry's standards either. At £2 per 480ml it's worth a go if it takes your fancy though! Meanwhile I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the jammy dodger inspired "jammy ring" ice cream is better, stay tuned for the full review...
6/10
Happy New Year guys and gals! Have you woken up aiming to turn over a new leaf? Whilst I think that everyone can and should set themselves goals at any point during the year, January the 1st does present itself as somewhat of an opportunity to kick those dreams into motion. Sometimes it's the smaller goals that can bring us joy; for example one of my 2016 resolutions was to have peanut butter and chocolate every single day -simply because I love it- and yesterday I completed my little challenge (admittedly sometimes that meant sneaking Reese's peanut butter cups into my suitcase).
Other goals have been more significant -2016 was the first year since 2012 that I have completely avoided hospital admissions- and for that I raised a glass (or two) last night. I feel very fortunate for my life right now, and I'm super excited for what 2017 has to offer. Sure there's a mixture of resolutions and goals that'll be challenging, but that's what makes life interesting!
For many people New Years diets will be coming into force from today. It's something that grates on me a little bit, but only because I think that healthy lifestyles should be a way of life and something that includes balance. As a snack reviewer it may look like I live on a diet of pure junk food, but most of the time (70% ish) I eat relatively healthily (certainly not clean though!), and I'm pretty active. One of my daily food staples is LIDL's Milbona Skyr pots -they're cheap, a brilliant source of protein and fat free. I flavour them using sugar free syrups to make them more interesting (Salted Chocolate Espresso, Tiramisu and banoffee are personal favourites) but I'm still always on the look out for new brands to try.
Cue Lindh's, which isn't Skyr at all, but Quark. Both Skyr and Quark are technically soft cheeses, although quite often they sit amongst the yogurt section in the supermarket. I buy Skyr because it's cheaper (at Lidl anyway), and the only sweet flavoured Quark pots widely available are the ARLA protein pots -which I don't particularly rate. So when I spotted these new Lindahl's Raspberry & Vanilla pots on offer at Waitrose for 70p (per 150g pot) I just had to give them a go!
Lindahl's is the number 1 Quark brand in Sweden, and a quick glance at their website made me very envious of the selection that the Swede's get to choose from!The pots contain no added sugar and are suitable for vegetarians.
Raspberry
First up was the raspberry, and when I peeled back the lid I uncovered a pale pink substance so thick that the individual peaks had remained intact.
Delving my spoon into the Quark revealed a dense mousse like appearance, which simply melted away in the mouth. Instantly I was reminded of the Petit Filous fromage frais pots I enjoyed as a child. Despite the lack of sugar the Quark was sweet enough (more so than the ARLA pots), and I enjoyed every last morsel. Delicious.
9/10
Vanilla
When it comes to Skyr, nothing beats Icelandic Skyr's Vanilla pots. I only wish I had more money so that I could buy them on a regular basis. My love of the vanilla Skyr made me all the more excited to try this Lindahl's Quark version.
The pot had the same consistency and creaminess of the raspberry, although it wasn't as flavourful. The vanilla was less pronounced, and sat delicately in the background. Still delicious, but just not quite as good as my beloved Skyr I'm afraid.
9/10
Summary
These are the perfect snack or light dessert for those looking to up their protein intake and/or eat healthily this January. At only 90Kcal per 150g pot* they're filling and delicious. They're also only on an introductory offer -so if you also like them then stock up pronto like I plan to! Also, if we all buy enough then maybe *just maybe* Waitrose will start selling Lindahl's white chocolate Quark. Please Waitrose?
*Macros P:16.5/C:5.3/F:0.3
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
- Melt the butter in the microwave (10-20 secs should do it)
- Blitz the biscuits into fine crumbs using a blender/food processor, and mix in the melted butter. Press into 8 ramekins.
- Whip together the cream cheese, caramel flavouring, icing sugar and Biscoff until smooth using an electric whisk.
- Add the cream and whisk slowly until thick enough to stay on an upturned spoon.
- Spread the mixture over the bases and chill in the fridge until you can't resist their call!
- When serving, pop 1/2 a Lotus biscuit on top
Et voila! Simples...
I doubt you're as sad as me. I've been patiently waiting for November to begin and for Tesco to release their Christmas lines. For the past two years the supermarket has sold Mince Pie Cookies and white snowman cookies, but this year they've gone down a decidedly less traditional route with the three new additions in their fresh bakery: Black Forest Cookies, Salted Caramel Filled Muffins and Red Velvet Filled Muffins. Now I'd wonder what on earth red velvet has to do with Christmas (and it's only the red hollies on the packaging that give the theme away) but I really can't talk as I often make a red velvet -gluten free- yule log for the big day. Plus, it's red velvet, I'm always game for red velvet.
At £1 for 4 sizeable muffins, the price can't be complained about either. I couldn't actually find them on Friday in my home town when I found the Merry Mince Pie Flapjacks, but did find them in another store yesterday-so keep looking if you don't have any joy at first.
"4 Red sponge chocolate muffins with cream cheese flavoured filling."
Their sugar dusting did little to conceal the poor flat tops (something I couldn't compute as the packaging didn't appear squashed) although I have to congratulate Tesco on the redness of the cake. The colour doesn't really show up very much in the photos, but I can promise you they had a red hue, and I appreciate how much more difficult the colour is to achieve now that it's so much harder to get hold of the super-artificial red food dyes. I noticed both the softness and the substantial weight of the muffin as soon as I picked one out of the pack; it was easy to slice in two, with a very close crumb and a fair amount of cream cheese filling. So far so good.
The trouble was, red velvet can be so hit and miss. Sometimes it's bone dry, other times it's flavourless -and unfortunately these muffins fell into the latter camp. Had I blind taste-tasted the cake I'm sure I would've told you I was eating a dense Victoria Sponge. I mean, it tasted good, but it just wasn't red velvet and certainly lacked the chocolatey kick that I hoped for.
The filling in the middle was super sweet and tasted almost like buttercream. The lack of characteristic tartness was evident, although unsurprising considering it actually doesn't contain any cream cheese (only cheese powder)! Say what?
I'm gutted, These are perfectly tasty little (albeit very sweet) muffins, but they miss the mark on two crucial factors:
1) For a festive muffin they're not very Christmassy
2) They're not red velvet!
Here's hoping the salted caramel fairs better...
6/10
