New Marks & Spencer Chouxnuts & Coconut Pots

Today's post is another Spotted In Shops (soooooo much new stuff lately!) and again it's for M&S who have been busy not just adding a new British Isles range (complete with the weird Salt & Vinegar Caramels) to their confectionery offerings, but a rather decadent looking range of pastries to their desserts. One special addition in particular is this hybrid of choux pastry and a doughnut...the chouxnut!

Available in Salted Caramel (of course), as well as...

Rhubarb and Custard Chouxnuts:

Plus there's some Strawberries and Cream Choux Buns:

And the new Ultimate Chocolate Eclairs, filled with chocolate mousse and with white chocolate icing!

Plus there's the fruity Blackcurrant Eclairs..

As well as these fancy looking White Chocolate & Blackcurrant Spheres:

Plus they're doing some new vegan dairy free vanilla Coconut Yogurt Pots...

As well as Blueberry Coconut Pots...

Plus Mango & Passionfruit Coconut Pots...

There's also been more additions to their confectionery and snacks range, which I'll do a post on shortly! If you've tried any of these desserts please do let me know your thoughts in the comments!

New M&S British Isles Range...and Salt & Vinegar Caramels?!

Usually it's random companies that go balls to the wall with weird and wacky new flavours, but this time it's good old "British" institution M&S that have brought out a range of not just any new treats, but a "Taste of the British Isles" range, sure to make any Brexiteer dance with joy. It includes products like the Sea Salt and Vinegar Caramels shown above. Wrong, just wrong! What next, fish and chip truffles? (they probably do exist somewhere!)

In more weirdness, they're also selling not just any nuts but British Beer Coated Peanuts!

Plus they're doing a variety of alcoholic sweets, such as Milk Chocolate Truffles made with Somerset Matured Vintage Cider.

Plus a Gin Chocolate Collection for the gin lovers...

As well as Craft Beer Fudge!

Plus, Fruity Summer Punch Mallows...

And Rum and Raisin Toffees. Now these sound more up my street!

There's also Mocktail Jellies...

And the non-alcoholic and pure Unicorns Jellies...

Plus jelly Watermelons!

A new variety of Whip - Summer Fruits Whips!

Ooh - these look nice, Neapolitan Inspired Popcorn Bites!

As do these Sticky Toffee Pudding Bites!

You can't go wrong with Sea Salt Fudge Bites.

They're even getting in on the Speculoos train with these Speculoos Biscuit Truffles.

These sound lovely - Cornish White Chocolate Clotted Cream Truffles with a Cornish clotted cream ganache.

There's also this Sticky Toffee Pudding Bar, if you don't fancy sharing the bites!

Plus a Nostalgic British Fudge collection, with flavours like Eton Mess and Raspberry Fool.

Plus Ice Cream Inspired Toffees with raspberry ripple, mint chocolate and banana split flavours. Woo!

And plain Mint Toffees, made in York.

Gourmet Caramels, with strawberry, blackberry, mango & passionfruit flavours.

A Chocolate Maltball Selection - aka Maltesers - with salted caramel, dark chocolate and milk chocolate flavours.

Handmade Toffee Nut Brittle - made to a classic recipe with almond and pecan pieces.

Taste of The British Isles box - featuring Scottish Raspberry, English spring honey, Welsh sea salted caramel, and Irish cream liquer.

English toffee and milk chocolate drizzle cookies. Yum!

Last, but not least - Milk Chocolate Emotions. Because M&S are too posh for emojis...

Well, that's all for today's post - there were a few other new things in at M&S but I've included the most interesting here. If you try any of these treats, as always do let me know in the comments!

New M&S Ice Creams! (Spotted In Shops)

Yet another ice cream-filled Spotted In Shops today...this time featuring not just any ice creams, but new M&S ice creams!

First up - a new Rhubarb & Custard flavour, made with West Country milk and cream. Sounds fab!

Blackcurrant Cheesecake:

Next, an uncommon flavour - Blackcurrant Cheesecake. This one is made with mascarpone and biscuit ice cream made from West Country milk and cream, with blackcurrant sorbet on the side.

Raspberry Pavlova:

With Scottish Raspberry and mini meringue ice cream and a hidden centre of clotted cream ice cream, both made from West Country milk and cream.

Chocolate & Caramel Sundae:

Made with Belgian chocolate and vanilla choc chip ice creams made from West Country milk and cream, with a sea salt caramel sauce.

Dessert Menu Raspberry & Belgian White Chocolate Ice Creams:

Moving onto stick ice creams, these raspberry ice creams dipped in white chocolate sound delightful!

Dessert Menu Blood Orange & Belgium Milk Chocolate Ice Creams:

I don't know why M&S have called these Belgium Milk Chocolate rather than Belgian, but with blood orange flavour ice cream dipped in milk chocolate they sure sound tasty!

Dessert Menu Alphonso Mango & Heritage Raspberry Semidreddo Celebration Cake:

Wow, what a wordy title! This Semifreddo ice cream cake sure does sound pretty special!

Well, that's all for today...seems like all the supermarkets are gearing up for Summer with their latest new ice cream releases! Stay tuned for more Spotted In Shops including an Easter Special soon...

Marks & Spencer Italian Dark Gianduja Bar with Whole Hazelnuts

I've been itching to try this Dark Chocolate Italian Gianduja bar since it appeared in the new M&S Chocolate range recently. As much as I loved the Swiss Blond Chocolate Bar from the range, I do prefer to avoid dairy so this dairy free, vegan bar sounded right up my street. It also reminded me of the lovely (but not so fortunately named) Vego Hazelnut Bar I once tried which was LOVELY, so I had high hopes!

Described simply as a "Gianduja dark chocolate bar with whole hazelnuts" this costs £1.50 and contains 65g per pack. Although it's dairy free, don't eat it if you're super lactose sensitive as it's made in a factory that uses milk ingredients.

Like the Vego Bar, it comes in two thick chunks with an eerily identical symbol that I think is supposed to be cocoa pods? I wonder if this is made by the same company..

On the underside of the bar the whole hazelnuts looked very plentiful indeed - I do love chocolate bars that don't skimp on the nuts!

Taking a bite, it was every bit as delicious as I had anticipated - like the Vego Bar it's pretty much "Nutella in bar form"! The hazelnut paste mixed with the chocolate gives it a super smooth, melt in the mouth luxurious texture, so it feels like you're eating praline rather than chocolate. In fact it didn't taste like dark chocolate at all - the taste and texture of the nuts makes it feel like a milk chocolate bar! The whole hazelnuts add a lovely nutty crunch and taste very fresh; these are not just any nuts, but M&S nuts...(sorry - I had to go there!)

Overall, whether you're vegan, dairy free or not this is an exceptional tasting chocolate bar that I would recommend to anyone (unless of course you have a nut allergy!) The perfect treat for a cold snowy day, these would go down well with a coffee or hot chocolate.

Nutrition (per half bar): 13.3g Fat, 189 Calories, 13.2g Sugars.

Ingredients: Cane sugar, cocoa mass, hazelnuts 18%, hazelnut paste 16%, cocoa butter, emulsifier soya lecithin, vanilla extract. Cocoa solids 31% minimum. Suitable for vegetarians. 

8.5 out of 10. 

Marks & Spencer White Chocolate, Raspberry & Matcha Bar

Whilst buying the delicious Swiss Blond Chocolate bar from M&S recently I thought I'd also try one of their new smaller "treat" bars with "healthy" additions. I went for this White Chocolate with Matcha tea and raspberry added because it sounded pretty unusual if not delicious. It's in the same range as the Latte Coffee Kick and Turmeric Coconut treat bars and costs 60p for 25g.

Described as a "matcha green tea flavoured white chocolate bar with freeze-dried raspberries" it's split it into two chunks - one for the AM and one for the PM. Really, M&S?! This may not be just any chocolate, but I certainly ain't saving half for later!

The dried raspberries were clearly visible on the underside of the bar. I can't say it looked all that appetizing to be honest.

Starting with the AM square (it was actually in the PM - so I had a good excuse to eat both pieces!) I took a bite, and thankfully it tasted a lot better than it looked! The chocolate is super creamy but this is offset by the sharp flavour of the matcha tea, which actually blends really well with it. Opposites attract it seems! The raspberry pieces added some nice crunch and bursts of tart flavour, which complimented the chocolate well. All in all this is a strange bar that's actually pretty tasty, a nice mix of creamy, sharp and tart flavours all in one.

Overall, would I recommend this bar? If you're a white chocolate fan then yes, definitely, it's something a bit different and not quite as odd as it sounds on paper. Only for the adventurous though!

Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa butter, dried whole milk, freeze dried raspberries (2%), dried matcha green tea, emulsifier soya lecithin, vanilla extract. Milk solids 21% minimum. 

8 out of 10.