Today's Review: Chocologic No Added Sugar Chocolate Bars

Chocolate is great, but sugar is not. So wouldn't it be nice to get hold of a chocolate bar with less sugar? There have been a couple of no added sugar bars around in the past, but now there's a whole range being launched under the Chocologic brand, and I was sent a few bars to try out. This chocolate is sweetened with Stevia, the wonder sweetener that has been popping up over the past few years.

I'm all for less sugar, I cut out carbs for several months a couple of years ago and lost a hell of a lot of weight. There were chocolate cravings though, and these bars would certainly have come in handy. The milk chocolate contains only 33.7g of carbs per 100g, of which 20.9g are sugars. That's compared to 56g of carbs in Dairy Milk, all of which is sugar. The dark chocolate is even better, boasting 18.7g of carbs in 100g, of which only 3.2g are sugars. So the numbers add up, but I guess it doesn't matter much if the taste isn't up to scratch, right?

Let's start out with the milk chocolate. It's certainly not bad. It taste like chocolate, albeit slightly cheap chocolate. It reminds me of the stuff you'd find in your average advent calendar, certainly edible, but not really a match for the big shot chocolate guys. Still, for the amount of sugars that have been replaced with Stevia, it tastes pretty decent. 

The dark chocolate is a lot better in my opinion, which is strange as I don't normally like dark chocolate, it's often a little too bitter for me. This dark chocolate bar is certainly dark, but it has an undeniable sweetness that certainly doesn't ruin the flavour. Sure, the Stevia makes it quite a bit sweeter than most dark chocolate is, but it still makes for a good bar. This is definitely a bar that would help you out during your no carb diet cravings, a tasty bar that has a very small amount of sugar in it.

Finally, I tried the milk chocolate with hazelnut, and that is definitely a winner. While I wasn't too much of a fan of the milk chocolate on its own, the combination with hazelnut really seems to bring the quality up. It's a nice, sweet bar with a lovely nutty texture. The nut pieces are nice and small, so it really all blends in to give a uniform overall flavour, without adding in a load more carbs.

Chocologic is a brand that shows a lot of promise. These bars are pretty good efforts at delivering treats that are low in carbs. Some are better than others, but if I were to go the low carb route again I'd certainly stock up on these for when the cravings kick in. These bars will be hitting the shelves this month, as well as some Belgian chocolate seashells, and a Neopolitan assortment featuring a white chocolate. I'll definitely be looking out for those.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Hostess Chocolate Twinkies

Everyone loves a Twinkie. Oh no, wait, everyone loves a Slinky. Well, apparently everyone loves a Twinkie too, Americans seem to go crazy for them. I've tried the regular Twinkies before, and I can't say I enjoy them all that much. The sponge tastes a bit funny and the cream leaves a lot to be desired. I figured the chocolate variety would fare better though, so I snapped up this box for a mere £3. Lucky me.

Well, I was right, to an extent. The cream inside is a marked improvement on the original in my opinion. It's nice and smooth, with a light chocolate taste. As for the sponge, I still can't quite get along with it. It's soft enough, but it does have a funny taste to it, almost acidic like in places. Perhaps my taste buds are a little out of whack, but for something the Amerixans go crazy for, they're pretty average to me. But hey, they like Hershey's too and that tastes like sick to me. Maybe America and I don't get along so well after all. 

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Arizona Cowboy Cocktail: Mucho Mango

I tried out the lemon Arizona Iced Tea the other day, and found it to be pretty darn nice. I also managed to pick up a couple more flavour, this being one of them. This isn't an Arizona Iced Tea, but an Arizona Cowboy Cocktail, and a mango one at that. I've become a bit of a sucker for mango lately, so I was definitely looking forward to this.

This is basically a mango juice drink, which doesn't sound too bad, but in reality it falls a little bit flat. It tastes like mango, sure, the purée is in there to prove that. But it's fairly watered down, the fruitiness is somewhat weak. While the Iced Tea may have a few problems balancing out the fruit and tea flavours, it turns out that without a tea that drink is just pretty average. It's nice enough, but there are far better mango drinks out there.

My rating: 3/5

Today's Review: Tesco Gingerbread Cupcakes

December is drawing ever closer, so bring on the Christmas treats. I'll be scouring the seasonal sections over the next couple of months to find anything I haven't yet tried, and these cupcakes seemed like a pretty good start. These consist of ginger sponge cakes filled with toffee sauce, topped off with a ginger icing and a cute little gingerbread man decoration.

Looking over the ingredients, all the ginger stuff actually contains ginger powder, and it shows. The cake is a nice, moist sponge with a nice spicy kick, and the frosting is smooth and creamy with the same full flavour. It's not overly gingery, but the spice lingers for a while after eating, the perfect amount of warmth for the winter. The toffee sauce is a lovely little touch, adding a gooey texture and an extra sweet kick. All in all these cupcakes are great, a lovely festive treat that will warm you up on a cold winter's day. I'll certainly be picking some more up while they're still around. 

My rating: 5/5

Today's Review: Sensations Roast Beef And Fiery Horseradish

After reviewing the new seasonal thicker cut cheese and cranberry Sensations last week, I figured I might as well go back and pick up the other flavour. I'm not quite sure why I did, I'm not a big fan of meaty crisps, and I certainly don't get along well with horseradish. But hey, this could perhaps be my gateway into the spicy stuff, and every flavour deserves a chance, so I tucked right in.

They say horseradish, and they mean horseradish. That's the first thing I tasted when I popped one of these in my mouth, a very bold, and pretty damn spicy horseradish flavour that didn't quite burn through my nose as much as the real stuff, but it certainly threatened to. I can firmly still say I'm not a horseradish fan, but these crisps sure do taste like the real thing, so good on Walkers for that one. For the beef side of things, it's certainly noticeable, a nice meatiness that lies underneath the fiery stuff. But it's a little imbalanced, and the horseradish wins out. So this is actually a pretty decent bag of crisps that delivers what's promised. It may be a little lacking on the meaty side, but even I went back for a few more after the horseradish got a little too much for me.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Arizona Iced Tea With Lemon

Arizona Iced Tea is one of those products I've heard Americans casually mention on TV, like it's some well established, tasty tradition. Well, I've finally found some bottles on our shores, and I figured I'd start off with a nice simple lemon one. I'm a sucker for iced tea, so I was definitely looking forward to this one. What I got was a pretty damn good lemon iced tea. There's not much to it exactly, it's tea with lemon, but it does it well. The tea is refreshing, and doesn't dry out the mouth as much as other iced teas I've tried, while the lemon flavour is quite authentic, although it's a little imbalanced, I found myself tasting quite a bit more tea than lemon. I can't hold that against it too much, perhaps it's just my personal tastes hoping for more citrus, this is still a pretty good drink, and one I picked up for under a pound. This is well worth seeking out.

My rating: 4/5

Today's Review: Peanut Hottie Peanut Butter & Chocolate

I reviewed Peanut Hottie way back last year, and it certainly appealed to the peanut butter fanatic within me. So I was pretty delighted to find there's another variety on the shelves, in the form of peanut butter and chocolate. We all know how well those two go together, so surely it's the same in drink form? Well, I was convinced, so I snatched this up.

This is pretty much the same deal as the original Peanut Hottie, a nice, smooth, warm drink that certainly packs a great peanut butter flavour. As for the chocolate? Well, it's certainly not as pronounced. Sure, there's a hint of it in there, but it's kind of drowned out by the peanut butter part, and in fact I think it hurts the flavour overall. The peanut butter doesn't have the same chance to shine through, and it ends up tasting more like a peanut drink with a hint of chocolate, the buttery part is slightly lost. Don't get me wrong, this is still a tasty drink, but where I imagined the addition of chocolate would improve the recipe, I still prefer the original. Still worth a try for the peanut butter chocolate nuts though.

My rating: 4/5