Review- M&S NEW Spirit of Summer: Summer Tartlet Selection

Penultimate SoS review, Folks! One I was particularly looking forward since my discovery and now, undying love of the Banoffee version.. A flavour trio this time - Mississippi Mud, Coconut & Lime and Dulce de Leche & Pecan.. It's a Summer Tartlet Selection! 

The 178.5g (Oo precision), box of 6 cost £2.50 with 2 tarts of each flavour, all suitable for Vegetarians.. But not Mustard, Sesame or Nut allergy sufferers due to manufacturing methods. Talking of Nuts, the box also comes with a nice warning not to feed such a thing to your Sprog as small children can choke on nuts.. I expect so can some adults. 

The tartlets were presented in a nice little plastic tray and weren't too smooshed.. Unlike some of the other boxes on the shelf! It does make you wonder whether it is in transit that products get destroyed or could the shelf stackers be the blame.. I assume they aren't in such a state when they leave the factory. Someone let me know. 

Mississipi Mud

All butter chocolate pastry tartlets filled with a chocolate brownie and topped with a chocolate buttercream and chocolate sauce. 

Smelling extremely cocoa rich, the ooey gooey tartlet was a pure hit of chocolate from start to finsh - The buttery, soft pastry encasing a squidgy brownie and a thick, ganache like buttercream with a final hit from the runny sauce centre. The proportion of each element was spot on and texture wise, was not dry in the slightest. Nothing but a Chocoholics dream! - Divine.

Coconut & Lime

All butter pastry tartlets filled with lime curd and a coconut sponge topped, with a coconut buttercream, lime curd and desiccated chipped coconut. 

Moving onto the Coconut & Lime, the pastry here seemed to be a little too tender as in the process of cutting in half, the side broke.. Although faultless in taste! A real zestyness was apparent when munching through the tartlet but was not all that easy to identify as being lime - It could have quite easily been lemon and I wouldn't have questioned it! As for the sponge, it also had problems in feeling a tad to thick for a treat of its size and surprisingly didn't deliver in terms of coconut - Not in taste, signature chew or even with the sweet buttercream to heighten the potency! A strange one!  

Dulce de Leche & Pecan

All butter pastry tartlets filled with caramel and toffee sponge, topped with a Dulce de Leche caramel buttercream, a pecan nut and white chocolate. 

Last but by no means least, Dulce de Leche & Pecan. The tart halved well with no pastry lost or even a crumb out of place to reveal the golden sponge within which tasted very much like golden syrup! Soft and sticky, the butteriness was undeniable with bucket loads of sweet caramel tones to compliment. The Dulce de Leche aspect really shone in the buttercream however, as seen above, I do feel there could have done with being a little more! Topping the lot was of course, the choking hazard of a pecan which tasted fresh and crisp - A nice finishing touch! 

Overall, this Summer Tartlet Selection isn't to bad at all and with a few tweaks, could quite easily be amazing.. It's the Coconut & Lime which is the main problem and letting the team down! Hunt yourself down a box, give the aforementioned to some unsuspecting chum and enjoy the rest with afternoon tea whilst M&S still have them! - It's a 3.5 out of 5 from me. 

Review- Quaker Oats NEW Warm & Crunchy Oat Clusters: Golden Crunch and Cranberry & Apple

You can't beat a bowl of steaming porridge, come a chilly Winter morning. That is why it makes perfect sense for Quaker Oats to release their NEW Warm & Crunchy Oat Clusters, straight bang in the middle of Summer - Clearly, a well thought out decision on their behalf. I picked up 2 different flavours in Asda thinking they were on offer.. Turns out, they were £2.99 each. 

I went for the Golden Crunch and Cranberry & Apple flavours. Each box contained 8, 48g sachets which were made of 100% whole grains to help lower cholesterol as well as being naturally high in fibre. 

Golden Crunch 

As instructed, I emptied the contents of the sachet into a microwavable bowl, measured out 60ml of milk by filling up to the line, poured it into the bowl and microwaved on full power for 30 seconds. 

This is what I was presented with! No, that is not a giant size bowl - You really do get that little of a portion! It had a very strange texture, being a lot like a very sloppy Ready Brek with hard, nobbly clusters swimming in it. It was like the milk had been absorbed by only some of the cereal to produce some sort of mushy yet crunchy mixture. It had a very creamy flavour even though, I only used skimmed milk when preparing. The oaty taste was very nice and went perfectly with a fairly subtle, golden syrup taste - I am glad it wasn't overly sweet or had that horrible metallic flavour! 

Cranberry & Apple

Once again, I followed the instructions as written above. I found 30 seconds in the microwave to be the perfect length of time to produce a warm, but by no means hot, brekkie. 

I looked at this in a state of bewilderment.. Where had the milk gone? Why wasn't it sloppy? Things got even stranger when after one mouthful, it became very apparent that this flavour was no where near as crunchy as the Golden Syrup, yet was lacking the milk to make it soft! Taste wise, it was essentially Christmas in a bowl! Although neither the cranberries or apple were particularly plentiful to the eye, it certainly packed a punch in terms of flavouring. There was a nice tartness from both elements whilst still having the sweet, creamy oaty taste. The few dried apples pieces that I did notice, had a pleasant, almost foamy chew to them - A nice change in texture!

Snack Warrior does Science

I was so confused by the stark contrast in textures that I decided to look at the remaining sachets in their boxes. At first, I thought maybe I had just been a twit and prepped them incorrectly but then I noticed this.. 

The milk line on each of the packets are in completely different places! Look at the wavey line! LOOK AT IT! Thats some good manufacturing right there.. 

I disregarded the information on the box and proceeded to weigh each packet with its full contents. I wanted to check one didn't contain more than the other and in turn, would warrant more milk. 

The Golden Crunch weighed in at 53g. 

The Cranberry & Apple weighed slightly less at 51g. 

So far, so good..

My next move was to fill each emptied sachet, up to the milk line, as suggested both on the box and the sachet itself. I tipped each, one at a time, into a tumbler that had been zeroed on my scales.. My results were as followed: 

The line on the Golden Crunch holds 78ml of milk.

The line on the Cranberry & Apple holds 42ml of milk. 

Thats a 36ml difference, Folks! I am not a twit, after all! 

To get a true representation of what this cereal is actually meant to be like, I precisely measured out 60ml and added it to another bowl of Oat Clusters. This time, as expected, it had a texture somewhere between my 2 original breakfasts - Not overly sloppy, not overly crunchy. 

There are so many issues with these Quaker Oats, I don't know where to begin. They've been released in the wrong season, the sachets are a faff to open, the milk lines aren't consistent, the textures are totally different, the serving size is only ever going to sustain a 4 year old.. I could go on. Taste wise they are alright and probably would be very enjoyable come the Autumn - That is along as you have 2 packets and can be bothered to measure out 60ml (or 120ml for 2 servings!) of milk every morning whilst still in half of a slumber. I am not going to mark them separately out of 5 given the forementioned discrepancies but I shall just say 2.5 and be done with it. Sort yourself out, Quaker Oats! 

Review- McVitie's NEW Breakfast Oaty Breaks: Porridge Oats & Golden Syrup and Porridge Oats Raisin & Cinnamon

Look! Another breakfast bar/biscuit - Just what the world needs! I picked up these NEW McVitie's Breakfast Oaty Breaks in Asda for £1 a box. Since they were so cheap, I thought it was only right to get both flavours - Porridge Oats & Golden Syrup and Porridge Oats Raisin & Cinnamon. 

Each box contained 6 individually wrapped, packs of 2 fingers. 

I was so surprised that they were wrapped in clear plastic.. I realise Breakfast Biscuits tend to be but I thought these looked a little cheap!

Porridge Oats & Golden Syrup

There was a nice snap to the biscuits when I seperated the bar down the centre into the 2 the fingers. They both, smelt as well as tasted very much so of golden syrup - With even having the almost metallic undertone flavour, you often find from the sweet stuff! There wasn't as many porridge oats as I expected but given how hard and crunchy the biscuits already were, not to mention the super sweetness, it is probably not such a bad thing! Definitely a snack to have with a strong coffee - Its a 3 out of 5.  

Porridge Oats Raisin & Cinnamon

This one smelt very festive - A cinnamon scent always exudes Christmas! Taste wise it wasn't quite as potent as its aroma suggested, with the spice being fairly subtle. The raisins gave an extra sweetness and, although they weren't soft, it added more of a chew to the dry, biscuity texture. Once again, the oats weren't in abundance so didn't really give much of a wholesome flavour which is a bit of a shame! Its another 3 out of 5 from me.  

Overall, these Breakfast Oaty Breaks aren't a bad offering from McVities's.. Not life changing by any means but do the job. I  do however, think they are the sort of thing you would only want to eat if you have a hot drink around, otherwise you might find your mouth to be like the Sahara - On your own head be it!