Chocolate is a complicated and confusing thing. Take these Peanut M&Ms for instance. M&M’s are quintessentially American, of course. In fact, they were only introduced into the UK in the 1990s. Yet they’re a thoroughly British invention.
During the Spanish Civil War, Forrest Mars saw soldiers eating Smarties, a colourful, flat, spheroid chocolate with a sugar coating to stop it melting in in your hand. Mr. Mars thought this was a great idea and together with Bruce Murrie, they bought the American rights to Smarties.
Only one minor problem – in the US, there was already a candy called Smarties. So Forrest and Bruce did what anyone would do in a similar position – they named the chocolates after themselves. Thus, M&M’s were born.
To complicate things further, in the UK, these Peanut M&M’s were known as Peanut Treets until 1990. We also had Toffee Treets, but I’m fairly sure there have never been “Toffee M&M’s” anywhere.
Fast forward to the present day, and Dom goes into his local shop and buys a small bag of Peanut M&M’s. The main reason for this is that he has reviewed everything else in the shop already. Dom also enjoys talking about himself in the third person, but this has little to do with M&M’s – peanut or otherwise.
Ah yes, nearly forgot. This was meant to be a review, wasn’t it?
To be honest, there’s very little to say about Peanut M&M’s. They’re chocolate coated peanuts with a brightly coloured sugar shell. Simple.
I found the peanuts to be decidedly average in quality. They weren’t bad, but they didn’t have a great deal of flavour and were a little dry. I’ve definitely tasted better nuts.
The chocolate was OK, but there’s so little of it, it’s difficult to make a judgement either way. The sugar coating was crispy. And the colouring came off in my hand, somewhat annoyingly.
Average. That’s the best description I can come up with for these. They’re not bad, but they’re hardly spectacular either.
This recent UK heatwave is not only melting my chocolate but it’s forcing me to look at alternative ways to get my chocafix. Don’t get me wrong, even on the hottest days, when my choc du jour has melted beyond anything vaguely resembling a bar, I still can never be persuaded from my chocaholic ways.
I took a left turn in the supermarket from the chocolate aisle and entered the frozen food section. Quickly bypassing the the oven chips and chicken nuggets my eyes soon fell upon the shiny cabinet of all things chocolate-ice cream. Bliss.
I chose a box of four Galaxy – Vanilla Heaven. Maybe it was the fact it was Galaxy that prompted this choice ( I do like Galaxy it has to be said. Have we reviewed Galaxy yet? No? Ohh…must buy Galaxy tomorrow) Maybe it was the name, Vanilla Heaven? My mind does tend to go off at tangents and as my favourite photo site is Fotonomy – photography Heaven …. well, you can see where my mind was at can’t you? Or maybe it was the wrapper? It has to be said the wrapper is rather pleasing on eye, for such an affordable ice-cream bar.
Described as Creamy Vanilla Dairy Ice-Cream with a smooth GALAXY chocolate heart this ice cream appears to be two fingers of choc-ice cream, although trust me, there is no need or reason to separate them. It is just the right size to be able to take a bite without disgracing yourself in public.
When it comes to turning your traditional chocolate bar into an ice-cream version, I reckon Galaxy already have an advantage. Galaxy is softer, meltier than other chocolate, which is perfect for accompanying ice cream. The vanilla ice cream is indeed as the wrapper states, creamy, and all in all I can not fault this bar in any way.
I recommend leaving the bar for maybe a minute, after taking from the freezer – just enough the allow the initial chill to subside. This way the melt in your mouth chocolate and ice-cream ratio works perfectly. This said, should you leave it too long, the chocolate is thick enough to hold the ice-cream although the creaminess turns more to runniness; still good, but not the perfection we chocabloggers insist upon.
I’m assuming that the chocolate heart the wrapper refers to is the
solid piece of Galaxy chocolate that runs between the two fingers. This bit is kinda fun; you get to chomp on chocolate after the cool ‘n’ creamy meltyness. Good, but not necessarily essential.
I was so pleased when Dom drew the short straw and got to review the KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter. Like Dom, I’ve never been a lover of KitKats, despite the fact I am the daughter of the original KitKat Kid. OK, maybe not the original, but my Mum, born the same month and year as the launch of KitKat; September 1935, was known as the KitKat Kid in her younger days.
Nothing to do with the coincidental timing of her launch or the chocolate bar’s birth, but the fact that she was forever eating them. Infact, nothing has changed. She still eats them all the time, claiming it’s the only chocolate she can eat that doesn’t give her a migraine. Yeah Yeah Mum, we believe you. I reckon she just doesn’t want to have to waste time, politely munching on on pesky boxes on non-kitkat chocs, prefering to get stuck into her beloved whilst watching Coronation street. No…not my dad, KitKats are her the beloved, remember? (Although it has been known for her to get stuck into my Dad verbally on the occasions he has either A. rustled the newspaper whilst Corrie is on or B. eaten the last KitKat – a mistake one doesn’t make twice) did I say last KitKat? How that can happen in Mum’s house is beyond me.
Just open the the chocolate cupboard in her kitchen, if you dare, and allow the multi-packs to fall on your head, then you will know what I mean. Luckily, for the sake of any unsuspecting heads, KitKats are quite light so i’ve never suffered more than a few minor grazes. Also, it’s worth mentioning that Mum, now 70+ is still rather trim, which goes to prove that chocolate isn’t to blame for weight gain. Personally I blame lettuce. (I can hear the dieticians shouting at me already)
Before I start my intended review of this KitKat Editions, I’d like to say i found this little fact rather interesting – If you laid out a year’s production of KitKat Chunky, it would stretch from Land’s End to John O’Groats a total of five and a half times! From Nestle.co.uk
I guess it was the feeling of guilt I had with regard to Dom’s terrible experience with the KitKat Chunky Peanut Butter that I felt compelled to purchase a Chunky KitKat (That and the fact that Woolworths were selling them for 25p – so i bought two)
KitKat editions – tiramisu is one of the editions launched in 2004. Described as smooth milk chocolate and crisp praline wafer, filled with a generous layer Tiramisu flavoured filling it sounds quite promising doesn’t it? Apart from the wording ‘Tiramisu flavoured’ that is.
I realised almost at once that the main problem is the fact that the filling is tiramisu flavoured, and this was before I read the description. I was hungry and in the mood for chocolate and so wiping all images of tiramisu from my mind, you know what? I actually quite enjoyed this bar.
It was a hot day and so the bar was slighty melty. I do believe this is the best way to enjoy it. The proportions of chocolate, praline crisp and tiramisu flavour are just about right. Any more flavouring and it would be too sickly. The best bit was the way the tiramisu kind of sneaked out and dripped onto the tongue. Not quite the same as the way a chocolate liqueur plays with the taste buds, but maybe little league version…
The bar itself is, as its design dictates, chunky. Just one reason why this should be enjoyed in the melty side of temperatures. I really wouldn’t want to eat this if it was chilled. Tiramisu is indulgance, luxury, fine, worthy and well, flipping gorgeous, so you wouldn’t want to bite into a few centimeters of brick-like chocolate and end up visiting the dentist and paying for a crown instead of experiencing that Tiramisu feeling now would you? Just remember though, you don’t get the real Tiramisu feeling, just a 50p version of it.
The wrapper is rather misleading. A lovely picture of Tiramisu leads you believe that that is what you going to get, but you have to remember, as Dom said, KitKats are rather bland no matter what they add to them, but if you ignor the wrapper and disregard any tiramisu expectations then this chocolate bar is good. It is what it says in the small print – flavoured. Accept that and you will enjoy.
Another plus point with this chunky bar is my 10 year took one look and said “yuk”. Saves me hiding them in the secret cupboard.
‘A bit of a mouthful’. That’s the best way to describe this. Both in terms of the name and the contents of the bar.
KitKat may be one of the best selling chocolate bars in the world, but I’m quite sure that this particular bar isn’t contributing a great deal to the sales figures.
Why? Because it’s awful.
I’ve never been a particular fan of KitKat, finding them a little bland, but this takes blandness to new levels.
The bar consists of a single, very large ‘finger’ of chocolate (which is more like a brick than a finger) with a thick wafer and a layer of peanut flavoured ‘stuff’. I’m not sure what the stuff is, but it’s certainly not like any peanut butter I know. It has a vague peanutty flavour, but it’s really just a thick, slightly dry, artificial tasting paste.
The chocolate is bland, the wafer is dry and the peanut stuff is icky. And all this is made worse by the design of the bar. You can’t just take a small chunk, and when you bite it, bits of wafer go everywhere.
I really don’t understand how or why they came up with this. But they did – and I feel it my duty to warn you away from it.
This is the first time I can remember that I’ve actually thrown a half-eaten chocolate bar away. Ick.
