Arnott’s Wagon Wheels
Mostly, the ‘tone’ of chocolates sampled here at Chocablog reside proudly at the upper end of the quality/quirky ingredients/boutique brand spectrum, but even we critics like to downscale when we’re off duty.
As such, I thought it was high time the faithful Aussie classic, the Wagon Wheel, got its turn in the spotlight. During my childhood (before CDs, fax machines and microwaves were available), Wagon Wheels were sold at every school tuck shop, every petrol station and corner store and were always one of the cheapest snack lines available. Even today it’s good to know that, thirty years later, they still are – only 99c from my local Foodland supermarket. Television advertisements from a few years ago featured a nervous Lobster hiding in a fishtank at the local Chinese restaurant, urging us to ‘Pick the Wagon Wheel, Please, pick the Wagon Wheel!’
Essentially the Wagon Wheel is just two biscuits sandwiched together by a thin layer of strawberry jam and marshmallow coated in chocolate and yet the overall result is delicious. The original size is 48g, but Arnotts Biscuit Company also have ‘minis’ weighing 25g each. I’m sure they are just as yummy, but as a great chocoholic once wrote, “Why call a one inch Mars Bar ‘fun’ when a foot long one would be much funner?”
I thought it was appropriate to take a photo of the 48g packet on a magazine that ‘our (clearly air-brushed and tightened) Kylie’ is on, celebrating her fortieth birthday. And yes, there is a ‘shop for your shape’ article in the publication that probably doesn’t include any suggestions for proud chocaholics. I doubt that Kylie ate as many of these choccy circles as I did, yet when I mention them to other grown-ups they all remember them fondly and then decide to go off in search of one to have with their morning tea.
Being an old Aussie standby that hasn’t altered over the years, taking a peek at the ingredients list doesn’t make inspiring reading because it contains the dreaded C-word – compounded chocolate. All is forgiven however because they are a long-standing favourite and the chocolate is but one part of the entire snack. On the plus side, at 7.9 grams of fat per pack they’re not too much of a threat to the waistline and they do go a long way towards making the clock-watching until lunchtime a little more bearable. Even more so if you eat two.
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- Filed under arnotts, australia, biscuit, jam, marshmallow, milk chocolate.
Of course, we have both Wagon Wheels and Kylie in the UK too. Maybe I’ll do a review.
You should! And yes, I think Kylie’s lived more of her (adult) life in the UK than Australia, so she’s pretty much a Pom these days.
I like the name but I’ve never seen anything like it. What is compounded chocolate?? It certainly doesn’t sound like it’s even worth eating to me if it’s not straight up real chocolate!
– The Peanut Butter Boy
Reminds me of “MRM”…
Two biscuits held together by a lawyer? Is that covered by Legal Aid?
Well spotted Simon, and only fitting seeing as I pedantically found your ‘god’ one the other day!
If only it *was* made of a thin lawyer – the world would be rid of a fair few more pests….
Wagon Wheels are not so easy to find now but a person dedicated to the task can indeed do so. I got hooked on them when I was younger when I was standing at a vending machine, looking at the weight of each item and its cost. I got the most “food” per “buck” from a Wagon Wheel – i.e. they’re cheaper than a Mars Bar, et al, but weigh more.
Everytime I’m in Australia, I make an effort to imbid=be a few, along with Picnic, Violet Crumble and Crunchie.
The “Mini Wagon Wheels” are not worth the time even to look at: they don’t have the layer of jam in the middle. My advice: forget that you ever saw them and pretend they don’t exist. They’re an insult to Wagon Wheels.