ASDA: Christmas In Store Round-UP!

I was walking round ASDA today doing the usual weekly shop and spontaneously decided to do a bit of a 'round up' of the new Christmas products ASDA have already started displaying on it's shelves!

Festive Flying Saucers:

'Festive Flying Sauces £3'

Firstly, ASDA have introduced for this year these tubs of your typical pick 'n' mix sweets for the very affordable price of £3! I think these are a fantastic idea for Christmas, as many children (and adults!) have intolerances to chocolate......so these tubs serve as a fantastic alternative to the classic tubs of Celebrations or Heroes! There is a wide variety of choice with these tubs ranging from jelly sweets to marshmallows and these flying saucers!

Munchies Roll:

'Munchies £3'

Next on the list is this HUGE roll of Munchies! Now i'm a huge fan of Munchies so I can see this being added to the shopping trolley in the near future for Christmas! These rolls contain 3x100mg bags of munchies.....which is more than enough to satisfy any chocolate/caramel cravings you have this Christmas! Currently £3.

Quality Street Large Tin:

'Quality Street 1.28kg tin £8'

Next we have the 'large'(or should I say previously normal!) sized tins from Quality Street! These tins weigh in at a hefty 1.28 kg and cost £8, which is considerably different from the 'tubs' that ASDA are selling for £5 which weigh in at 780 kg. I personally have to say every year I get so disappointed at how much smaller, and smaller our tins are becoming! These tins do solve that problem, however be prepared to pay practically double the price for them!

Toblerone Triangle:

'Toblerone Triangle £2'

Toblerone have also revamped their style for Christmas with this fab looking stocking filler that anyone would be pleased to find on Christmas morning! Set in a triangle shape, with a little 'Merry Christmas' note on the packaging, I myself will be paying the very reasonable £2 price for a couple of these as little 'add on' presents for friends and family!

Quality Street Large Strawberry Delight:

Now this Christmas product is one of the ones that i'm most excited about! It's no secret that I love the 'creme' sweets from the Quality Street tins.....so when Quality Street brought out the large versions of 'The Purple One', Fudge and Toffee ones I was eagerly awaiting,with my fingers crossed, for the day that they finally brought out the Strawberry Dream ones. This is something that will definitely be making at least one appearance in my household this Christmas! Currently priced at £5.


Frozen Christmas Chocolates:

'Chocolate Snowies £1'

'Milk & White Chocolate Pieces £1'

I couldn't resist adding these to the list! These are completely adorable and would surely brighten up any little girls Christmas day if she's a Frozen fan! These two are just a small variety of the 'Frozen' chocolate options that ASDA have in for Christmas, but for the price of £1 you can't really go wrong!

Quality Street/Guylian/Heroes etc... Pouches:

For those that have no desire for the tub version of these chocolates or would just rather a smaller amount, then these pouches are ideal for you! These bags do contain around 200 kg less than the normal size tubs, but they are cheaper at £4!

Extra Special Father Christmas:

I couldn't resist adding this beauty to the round up either! Made from extra special Chocolate with a higher than average cocoa content this giant Father Christmas would be the creme de la creme of the Christmas table! Currently £15.

ASDA Christmas Baking:

I LOVE baking at Christmas time....so when I passed the baking aisle and saw that ASDA had a new 'Christmas' range of products, I had to restrain myself from doing a little jig in store!!
First up we have the 'Cake-Pop Kit'. Priced at £2....I've never made any Cake Pops before, so I may have to give these a try closer to Christmas! They look like a fun activity for the family to partake in at Christmas time!

'Cake Decorations £1-2'

ASDA have also introduced a wide range of new cake decoration products for Christmas! These are right up my street! I love baking during Christmas time....when it's freezing cold outside, but the house is filled with the warmth and the homely smell of baking! ....And what makes things even better is the exceptional price of these products! All coming in at under £3! There are a variety of products that would look and taste perfect atop a cake or a lovely yule log! These include Shimmer Snowballs (£1) Milk & White Chocolate decorations (£2), Sugar Sparkle Dust (£2) and many more!

......And it's only October! I'm pretty sure there will be another follow up post closer to Christmas with an even wider range of Christmas products! If you happen to spot anything new and exciting for Christmas then feel free to let me know!

xo

NEW! *Limited Edition* Cadbury Dairy Milk 'Winter Wonderland' bar

Hi Guys!

Now if you follow me on twitter you'd know just how excited I've been to taste and review this new limited edition Cadbury bar!
After weeks of scouring the shelves in numerous local supermarkets I've FINALLY found the bar in my local Co-Op for the introductory price of £1.
Onto the pictures!

"Tree-shaped milk & white chocolate bar"

This new chocolate creation from Cadbury is a fantastic combination of both milk and white chocolate, and comes in adorable Christmas tree segments!

133 kcal per 1/4 of the bar

How amazing does that picture look?
I think this is a fantastic creation from Cadbury for Christmas this year, and I'm positive that this bar is going to do extremely well!

I will admit that at first I was apprehensive as to how the bar would be broken up and shared, as Cadbury's other new 'Marvellous Creations' bars are shaped in an assortment of different chunks and therefore are not particularly easy to divide up! However, thankfully this bar easily breaks off into nice little diagonal rows!

In terms of taste....the bar is wonderful! The chocolate tastes like the typical Cadbury Dairy Milk that we all know and love, so it's definitely got that classic creamy taste......and is very moreish!
 If I had to be critical, I would have liked a thicker layer of white chocolate on the 'white chocolate tree segments' just so there would have been a stronger taste of the creamy white chocolate...as at times it was overpowered by the milk chocolate.

Overall, this new limited edition bar from Cadbury for Christmas is a fantastic novelty product! The taste is the classic Dairy Milk chocolate that we already love so we know that it's going to taste good! The unique aspect of this bar is the shape! The concept of having these alternate chocolate Christmas tree segments is a wonderful idea for the Christmas market and is incredibly appealing to customers!
I would definitely recommend this bar to everyone...just for the simple fact that my pictures don't do this bar justice! It's an amazing Christmas treat....and even if it's out a little early for Christmas it's fantastic to share with the family!

Would I buy this again? 100% YES

Cadbury Wishes: 'Little Wishes'

 Today's review is another Christmas themed product brought out by Cadbury to target the Christmas market!
This time it's miniature versions of the 'Cadbury Wishes Chocolate Star' that we saw last year at Christmas time!

128g packet...contains 175kcal per 1/4 bag

I've got to say before even opening the packet, the fact that Cadbury have teamed up with the 'Make a Wish' foundation and 10% of all profits from this brand of their chocolate goes to the foundation pretty much sold me on this chocolate! Especially at Christmas time, I think this partnership is amazing and hopefully the profits will go a long way in making seriously ill children's wishes come true!

These 'Little Wishes' are essentially mini versions of the larger Cadbury Wish except that there are two kinds of mini stars. Pure Milk Chocolate or Milk Chocolate with a truffle centre....sounds intriguing!

Inside the bag there is definitely a fair amount of chocolate, so well worth my money! Each bag weighs in at 128g and contains 175 calories per quarter of the bag...so a perfect evening treat! Currently these chocolates are reasonably priced at £1 and can be found in all major supermarkets.

First appearances, these little stars look very cute....and dangerously tempting! As mentioned above, there are two separate fillings and these can be recognised by the two different designs on the front of the stars. The 'Pure milk chocolate' star can be recognised by another star bordering the inside edges (shown on the left above), and the 'Milk chocolate with truffle filling' star can be recognised by three smaller stars in the centre (shown on the right above).
 Whilst I found the Large 'Cadbury Wishes Star' from last year very enjoyable, this bag of mini 'Little Wishes' is much more my style as these last longer and can be shared with family and friends...which I think is nice especially around Christmas!
Truthfully, there isn't much difference between the two different fillings apart from the 'truffle filled' star tasting softer and smoother than the 'pure milk chocolate' star.

Overall, these 'Little Wishes' taste like the Cadbury chocolate we know and love (very soft and creamy) and are extremely moreish...one handful turns into two, then three...and so on till they're gone! The best part of these 'Christmas themed chocolates' for me is that 10% goes to the Make-a-Wish foundation...this partnership with Cadbury shows fantastic Christmas spirit...so I urge you all to treat yourself to some Cadbury chocolate...and to take the guilt away by knowing that you're donating to the Make-a-Wish foundation!

Furthermore, if you feel like doing some baking and incorporating these fabulous Little Wishes here's a fantastic little recipe from the Make-a-Wish website:

The following recipe serves approximately 12 people. Preparation take around 20 minutes, and cooking time should be about 15 minutes.

Ingredients:

• 100g unsalter butter, softened
• 100g caster sugar
• 2 medium eggs
• 100g self-raising flour, sieved
• 12 Cadbury Little Wishes, chopped
• 12 cupcake cases
• 200g Dairy Milk, melted
• 12 Cadbury Little Wishes

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to Gas Mark 5, 190°C and place 12 paper cases into a 12 hold tray.
2. In a bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until light and creamy, add the eggs one at a time and beat well after each addition. Fold in the sieved flour and the chopped  Little Wishes and divide the mixture between the cases. Bake in the oven for 15 minutes, until well risen and golden brown. 
3. Leave to cool.
4. Prepare the topping by melting the Cadbury Dairy Milk and then spreading the mixture on each cake.
5. Decorate the tops with the individual Cadbury Little Wishes, one on top of each cake when the topping is still warm.
6. Serve to guests at a Bake-a-Wish event.

-Above recipe & picture attributed to the Make-a-Wish foundation and can be found here.

'Merryteaser' Reindeer

It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas......

......And I can't believe all the stores are starting to stock up with Christmas items when we haven't even hit Halloween yet! The shelves in all major supermarkets are being filled with tins of Quality Streets and Celebrations and we're being introduced to a whole new range of Christmas products such as; 'Popping Candy' Freddo's, Dairy Milk's 'Mousse Snowman', Galaxy's white chocolate version of the 'a gift you to you' range and now Malteser's 'Merryteaser Reindeer'...

29g per Reindeer....contains 156Kcal

This new Christmas creation from Maltesers called the 'Merryteaser' comes in the shape of a cute little reindeer and is described as a 'Milk chocolate reindeer with a crunchy & creamy Maltesers centre'.
Weighing in at 29g this adorable chocolate creation contains only 156 calories, and is the perfect treat to get you in that Christmass-y mood! Especially since they are only 70p each or 2 for £1 in the Co-Op!

First appearances......WHERE ARE MY POOR REINDEER'S EYES?? Truthfully, the shape and presentation of my reindeer is slightly poor! I mean other than the antlers and huge nose (and the fact that this is coming out at Christmas) I probably wouldn't be able to guess straight away this is a reindeer!

Apart from the slightly dodgy appearance....It tasted amazing! As you can see in the picture above the crunchy & creamy Malteser centre is covered in a nice thick layer of milk chocolate that melts straight away in the mouth and is as nice and smooth as you would hope it to be!
The Malteser centre isn't really 'crunchy' as it's described on the label....but is most definitely creamy! The centre tastes exactly like a regular Malteser but without the hard crunch, and instead tastes like smooth and creamy honeycomb....perfect!

Overall, I think this little 'Merryteaser Reindeer' is adorable and perfect for Christmas as either a stocking filler or a cheeky treat here and there! The presentation of the Reindeer is lacking a bit, but the taste more than certainly makes up for that! So I would definitely recommend everyone buying at least one to taste!

Would I buy this again? YES!

'Freddo Faces'

Just a quick review today!
Cadbury have been rolling out some new products for a while on the run up to Christmas, one of which includes the new take on 'Freddo' bars called 'Freddo Faces'.

"A 72g tube, made up of three small 24g packets of faces"

On a recent trip to Morrisons, I noticed that they had started stocking in the Christmas items (already you ask? yep I thought the same!).
And I came across this Christmas tube of Freddo Faces for £1.
For Christmas this year Cadbury have announced they will be 'putting on it's Christmas jumper', by creating this new 'knitted' style packaging across it's seasonal range....which I do find adorable and a nice seasonal touch!

"Delicious Cadbury Dairy Milk Chocolate in a range of cheeky Freddo Faces"

Inside the tube was three small packets containing a small amount of Freddo Faces which seemed like a reasonable amount for the £1 paid!
I know that Freddo Faces are available in smaller 35g bags (at a price of 50p each), if you're not fond of the tube version! If you'd like a review of the small 'Freddo Faces' bag, a friend of mine has done a great review of them here!

125Kcal per small packet

Each small bag contained exactly seven 'faces'...so although that isn't much they are consistent! Each 24g packet contains 125 calories...which isn't too unhealthy for a nice afternoon or evening snack!
Or a quick treat for the children! Especially due to the funny facial expressions engraved on the chocolate including confused, happy, grumpy etc...

Onto the taste......to be honest, these chocolates aren't anything special! They are made of the delicious Dairy Milk chocolate that we all know and love so they do taste very good (and are quite moreish!) but apart from that they are just a different take on the 'Freddo' out to target the Christmas market.

Overall, these Freddo faces taste like the usual Dairy Milk chocolate range so are very enjoyable and are a perfect stocking filler for Christmas! Especially at the reasonable price of  £1 ....I would however, like to see a caramel version of the Freddo faces soon!

Would I buy this product again? YES.