McVitie's Mini Hobnobs

Once again, a round of thanks to Cinnabar of Food Stuff Finds for sending me goodies from across the sea.

Hobnobs -- or in this case, Mini Hobnobs (and as everyone knows, almost everything is cuter when done in a mini version) -- are a beloved U.K. treat. Hobnobs are a digestive biscuit that is enrobed in milk chocolate.



The biscuit (or cookie, to those of us on this side of the pond) is a hard, oat-based cake. Each Mini Hobnob is about the diameter of a U.S. half dollar coin. I dunno, something about them just makes me feel like I should be watching a Hugh Grant movie (I am thinking "About a Boy").

So how do they taste? Pretty darn addictive is how! The milk chocolate layer sits on top of the biscuit. It's very smooth and cool on the tongue. It's creamy and sweet, but it manages not to get too sweet.



The biscuit itself reminded me of a cross between a graham cracker and an oatmeal cookie. It's crunchy, yet airy...and I said it before, addictive!



I really love these! They are very simple, and that's what largely what makes them so good. Oats and chocolate -- and that's it. And it's a combination that works brilliantly.





PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from Cinabar of Food Stuff Finds

CALORIES:
194 calories per snack pack.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains milk, soy, and gluten. May contain nuts.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
mcvities.com

Hotel Chocolat: Collection of Filled Chocolates

First, my thanks to Cinabar over at Foodstuff Finds. She and I have recently done a candy exchange, and this is the first in the plethora of great British candy she sent me. I started with this item because I simply do not get enough Hotel Chocolat in my day-to-day life...and Jim is always sending me into chocolate envy with his.



This four piece collection has some beautiful filled pieces.

I'll start with the Chocolate Brownie:



The outside of this cube is studded with little brownie crumbs. The center creme looks smooth -- except there are little tiny brownie crumbs mixed in. The smell is sweet and milky. Biting into the piece, it's surprisingly crunchy...that was a nice surprise. It didn't remind me much of brownie in any way, but it has a really nice and mellow milk chocolate flavor. And the crunchies mixed in with the super-smooth center is fabulous.



Next, the Amarena Cherry suspended in Amaretto Buttercream:



I had to Google "Amarena Cherry" to find out if it was something special. And as best I can tell, it is like a really upscale Maraschino cherry. Basically, if the two were different branches of the Griswold family tree, the Maraschinos might be like Cousin Eddie emptying his septic tank into your yard, while the Amarenas are more like Clark's uppity mother-in-law wondering what the hell Ellen ever saw in him (and possibly why her grandkids looked different every time we saw them).



The smell of this piece reminded me a lot of a cherry brandy. Rich, and just a little boozy. The dark chocolate outer shell is deep and biter. It's like coffee, only not a strong mocha. The bitterness of the chocolate is perfect because the buttercream center is very sweet. With a milder, milky chocolate it would have been too sweet overall, but the dark chocolate really adds to the appeal.

Sadly, I have a love/hate relationship with the buttercream filling. Texture-wise, it is the most incredibly smooth buttercream I have ever had. There is no sugary, graininess to it. It's silky smooth enough that The Zohan might give up hummus for it. The only issue is that the flavor -- though supposed to be Amaretto -- reminded me of cheap cherry cough syrup. And it's really hard to come back from cheap cherry cough syrup.

The inner cherry was quite small -- about the size of a plump blueberry -- and oddly, while the creme around it made me think of cold medicine, the cherry itself didn't. It was tart and juicy with just a tinge of sweetness. I could eat these by the handful.

Next, the Butterscotch Ganache with Shortbread Biscuit:



This was a cute candy. I loved how the tiny little biscuit sat atop the molded chocolate cup. I have noticed that "butterscotch" and "caramel" can sometimes be interchangeable in British candy. Here in the US, the flavor we expect of butterscotch is like that of butterscotch puddings or Werther's candy. But sometimes what is described on a UK product as butterscocth flavored is more like what we would call caramel flavored here. In the strictest sense, butterscotch is a basically caramel that's made with brown sugar and butter in place of "plain" white sugar and butter.



The butterscotch in this piece was the Werther's type -- only it was whipped into an almost fluid state. Again, high praise for the texture. The butterscotch has a very brown sugar taste to it. It's paired with dark chocolate. The shortbread wafer adds some crunch but no real flavor. The basic flavor is good -- it is just overwhelmingly, throat-burningly sweet. As much as I liked the taste, I couldn't finish the piece.

Finally, the Praline with Crispy Pancake:



This is the one I was most looking forward to. I love pralines (Trader Joe's sells rather large tubs of them, and they are addictive) and was intrigued by the "crispy pancake." When we here in the U.S. think of pancakes, we think about breakfast items -- large, fluffy round things, (hopefully) buttered and drizzled with syrup. However, in Hotel's world, "pancake" seems to refer to thin layers of biscuits (or sometimes wafers). I think I like Hotel's version better.



They really nailed this one. It is like the best sugared pecan you will ever have in your life, coupled with milk chocolate. As best I can tell, the pancake is represented by little crunchy bits. I had been expecting more of a wafer, but this worked really well. There are no actual nuts bits in the piece, which I liked.

Overall, even the pieces I didn't like as much as the praline were pretty good (Well, minus the cough syrup part). Hotel's chocolate -- both the dark and the milk -- is rich and has a fantastic melt. It's just really good all the way around.

Yeah, these were good. Really, really good.



PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from Cinabar of Foodstuff Finds.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains: Soy, nuts, gluten, sulphites, eggs. Suitable for vegetarians (but not vegans).

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
hotelchocolat.com

Walkers Ginger Royals

It is no secret that I am a huge fan of shortbread, ginger, and dark chocolate. So the three together should be like a trio composed of Barry Manilow, Michael Buble and Ben Folds, right? (Did I just hear groaning? I don't care, I think that would kick ass.)

Each biscuit is made of ginger flavored shortbread. According to the extensive research I did by reading the back of the box, the shortbread is is baked with preserved ginger stems and fresh creamery butter (As opposed to old creamery butter? Or stuff hawked by Fabio?), and then the biscuit is enrobed in dark chocolate. So far, so good.



How did they taste?

There is no mistaking that there is ginger in the cookies. There are little bits of candied ginger sprinkled throughout the shortbread. I have to give Walkers points for going with ginger that has fire and bite to it. The ginger really stands up for itself. I love strong, hot ginger, and it was nice that Walker's didn't wuss out and go with something more sweet or mild. The chocolate looks darker on the box picture than it does in real life, but it has a nice rich flavor to it. It's a little waxy at first...but it does look glossy and it melts well.



The shortbread biscuit is buttery and flaky. No matter what Walkers may add to, or top the shortbread with, the shortbread itself is always stellar.

I really loved these biscuits.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

PRICE:
Unavailable

CALORIES:
130 per 2 cookie serving.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Kosher. Contains milk, soy, wheat, and gluten. Not suitable for people with nut allergies.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
walkersshortbread.com

SAN Łakotki Deserowe z Cukrem

Wow. This one has proven tricky.

Most of my review research goes fairly easily, thanks to Google's Skynet-like knowledge of life, the universe, and everything in it. But somehow, it disappointed me on this one. I know that these biscuits cannot possibly be all that exotic, as they are made by a brand called SAN, which is a Warsaw-based subsidiary of the French cookie company, LU. They are thus a Polish LU product, and I am sure there is a politically incorrect joke to be had there.



Deeply buried Slavic DNA notwithstanding, Polish is a language I can neither speak nor understand, let alone read. That presented a problem when I saw the blurb on the back of the box, which proudly proclaims:

Ciastka SAN wzięły swą nazwę od jednej z najpiękniejszych polskich rzek, zaczynającej swój bieg w dziewiczej części Bieszczad. Właśnie w Jarosławiu nad brzegiem Sanu powstają nasze produkty. O ciastach wiemy wszystko.

Najlepsze składniki oraz pasja pieczenia to tajemnica wyjątkowego, domowego smaku Łakotek. Są kruche i pyszne, dlatego wspaniale umilają czas spędzany w gronie rodziny i przyjaciół.

Smacznego!

Got that??? Me neither. So, it was on to the wonderful world of free online translation services, the best of which I could find rendered it thusly:

Cakes have taken name from one of fine Polish river SAN, in virgin Beshyadas beginning run part (frequent). Our products emerge in (to) over coast exactly Jarosławiu Sanu. Everything we know about pastes.

Fairest components and passion of baking it exceptional secret, home (domestic) savor Łakotek. They are fragile and proud (excellent), so, in bunch of family magnificently time (sometimes) spent umilają and friends.

Bon appetit!

Ummm...sure. If any of you out there have more info you would like to share -- or better yet, have sufficient fluency in Polish to give me a less clunky translation -- please comment.

What really inspired me to get these cookies was that I wanted something from the store I was in, and hey -- the box had a big spoon of sugar on it -- and how could that not be good?



You see, once again, we have my not-exactly-biological-sister Net to thank for this review. Chris and I had gone to visit her in her native and not exotic land of New Jersey, and after we had safely procured more Herr's Puff'n Corn (damn, that stuff is good!), we stopped in at a small Polish butcher shop/deli called Continental Homemade Provisions, because Chris wanted to try some of the home made kielbasa they sell.

[SOMEWHAT RELATED TANGENT] If you are ever remotely close to East Brunswick, New Jersey, and can get to Continental Homemade Provisions -- GO! Sadly, they don't have a web site, nor do they do mail order. They don't even have a Yelp listing. But they are run by the nicest people, who do in fact make and sell some of the best Eastern European meat products you will ever hope to taste. Be warned: once you have eaten their kielbasa, you'll never return to the stuff sold in supermarkets again. They are located at 190 Main St., East Brunswick, NJ 08816. Or telephone them at (732) 254-4911 if you can no longer contain yourself. But we're veering into another review altogether, so let's get back to the biscuits... [/SOMEWHAT RELATED TANGENT]

Anyway, I selected these biscuits because they looked like the most interesting of the non-deli items to chose from (and because they would travel well). As best I have deciphered, they are simply a sugar coated shortbread type biscuit. Pretty darned basic.

So how did they taste?

Like the best animal cracker ever! Imagine a ring-shaped animal cracker (though lighter and airier), topped with a sprinkling of coarsely grained sugar. The texture is really flaky and crumbly.



Animal cracker, yes, but the taste is also like a really sugary butter cookie. Oddly enough, it also reminded me of "dry" cereal marshmallows. There's a vague vanilla flavor to them that I swear sent me looking for the Lucky Charms. It's just a really simple cookie, but it's so basic that it's great -- yet another illustration of how simplicity, well executed, can equal excellence. I didn't try the milk test because they are so flaky I thought they would just mush up, and I cannot deal with a glass of crumbs. But never mind...you don't need milk with these. They're terrific by themselves.

If you should see them, grab a box. In fact, grab two -- and send one to me.



PURCHASED FROM:
Continental Homemade Provisions
190 Main St
East Brunswick, NJ 08816
(732) 254-4911

PRICE:
$1.99

CALORIES:
481 calories per 100 grams. The box weighs 148 grams and contains 16 cookies, so I figure that's about 44.5 calories per cookie. Unless my math is wrong, in which case...oops.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
lupolska.pl (Polish language only.)

Jammie Dodgers

Yes, I know it seems like we just finished Brit Week. But I've got a ton of products to work through still (I could have easily done Brit Month), and I could not resist doing this pack of biscuits (aka cookies) called Jammie Dodgers.

Part of it is my inner 13-year-old boy coming out again. I can't help but admit that the name "Jammie Dodgers" almost sounds like some sort of soft porn masterpiece that said boy might try to sneak a peek (peep?) at on late-night Skinemax while the parental units aren't paying attention. The tiny, more mature side of me just likes the thought of shortbread biscuits spread with jam.



Jammie Dodgers are -- you guessed it -- shortbread treats that have a raspberry-flavored plum jam sandwiched in between two biscuits. I'd think as a rule that these biscuits are probably quite cute. Unfortunately, my packet had seen some better days, as you can see from the pictures. But remember that the biscuits did have to get from the U.K. to Atlanta, and then from Atlanta to me here in California. All things considered, they could have been far worse for the wear.



The shortbread was pretty light in color. It was surprisingly flaky and airy. The texture was great. Sadly, though, it has almost no flavor at all. It's neither buttery nor salty. It's sort of like the universe's blandest pie crust.

The raspberry-flavored plum jelly was really good. I still don't get the point of using raspberry flavored jam, rather than just using actual raspberry jam. (Jim's suggestion was that perhaps it is used because Brits tend to prefer a seedless texture.) In any event, it is sweet and tastes exactly like German Raspberries. What a shame that it was sandwiched between those two disks of utterly flavorless shortbread.

I realize that I'm trashing a beloved U.K. snack here...and for that I do apologize to my friends across the pond. If the shortbread had only been something closer to, let's say, Walkers -- these would have been outstanding. As is, they're far too insipid to be worth the calories for me.



PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from my mother

LU Petit Écolier Dark Chocolate 45% Cocoa Biscuits

Yes, I know the Petit Écolier ("Little Schoolboy") biscuits have been LU's best known product practically forever. But there is something Hannibal Lecter-ish about these cookies. I mean, isn't there something vaguely disturbing about eating a cookie embossed with the likeness of a little French schoolboy? (Yes, he is French. LU -- short for Lefèvre-Utile Biscuit Co. -- was a French company before Kraft bought them out, and they're still made there.) It just seems a bit...unhealthy.

To be fair, though, the little French boy doesn't look entirely normal himself. He's got that glassy stare that makes you imagine his neighbors on the news years later, saying things like "he was such a quiet man" or "he always kept to himself"...so maybe it makes more sense than I thought. And what snack is he carrying in that basket, anyway? Cupcakes? More LU biscuits? Or...dare I say it...lady fingers...?



Aside from possibly being the favorite childhood snack of Dexter, the Petit Écolier Biscuits sound pretty darn yummy. The slab of 45% dark chocolate that the creepy little French boy is bas-reliefed upon sits atop what the box describes as a French Butter Biscuit.

Once you bite into the biscuit, you realize that the chocolate layer is not as thick as you might have expected. While the edges are raised and thick, the layer of chocolate that covers the center of the biscuit is thinner than it appears. But that's not such a bad thing. Actually, the proportions are very good. The chocolate is rich and creamy, though personally I think it is more of a deep milk than a true dark chocolate.



The biscuit is indeed buttery. You know those ubiquitous "gift" tins of Dutch butter cookies that are sold everywhere around the holidays? These biscuits are like a really high-quality version of those cookies. Butter is the strongest flavor. (Sometimes butter cookies just taste oily, but these don't.) The texture is light and flaky.

Combined, the two flavors together make sheer happiness. Happiness as in puppy dogs and rainbows rather than fava beans and a nice Chianti. The relative simplicity of the biscuit sets off the richness of the chocolate. At the same time, the richness of the chocolate highlights the buttery goodness of the biscuit. The only thing I would have liked to have seen -- beyond a less creepy stare on the little French boy -- would have been a little extra salt. That would have really set the whole cookie off.

A good cookie/biscuit/serial killer treat overall. In fact, I'm willing to bet even normal people will like it a lot.



PURCHASED FROM:
My mom got them from Vons Supermarket