&f=Calibri-Bold&ts=14&tc=d4d4cc&it=gif&c=round&bgt=gradient&bgc=ad6807&ebgc=d98807&be=on&w=125&h=30){kind=small}
----
McVitie's Mini Chocolate Digestives
Kcal 199 Fat 9.9g Fat(sats) 5.1g Carbs 24.8g (per bag)
'Mini wheatmeal biscuits topped with milk chocolate'
How on earth do you introduce a biscuit like the McVitie's Chocolate Digestive? Answers on postcards please because I don't have a clue :D Digestive biscuits have been one of those products that have been around here in the UK since ... well ... forever (1876 if you believe Wikipedia - 1925 saw the first chocolate ones). Although mainly famed for their ability to be dunked in tea, for the review today I left tea out of the equation and bought a pack of Minis to enjoy as an afternoon snack. The thin chocolate layer on the upperside of the biscuit was thin in it's portioning, but just as with the Hobnobs reviewed below it was more than adequete at providing a chocolate flavour hit to each and every biscuit consumed. Despite the added chocolate context, the iconic brown sugar noted savoury wheat flavours were every bit as prominent and delicious. Comparing this biscuit to the others on show today, I would say the lighter viscosity and flavour impact of the Digestive isn't quite as satisfying as a total product. Non-UK ChocolateMission readers will certainly still be wanting to try these out though.
7.6 out of 10
----
Bourbon Creams
Kcal 67 Fat 3.0 Fat(sats) 1.8g Carbs 9.3g (per biscuit)
'Sandwich biscuits filled with chocolate flavour cream'
Acting as the middle part of our McVitie's sandwich today we have the UK family favourite the Bourbon Cream. If Wiki be believed again, I believe this biscuit was first produced in 1910 (originally under the name Creola), thus it is slightly younger than the grandad of this selection the Digestive. Nowadays Bourbon biscuits/creams are produced by several different companies, all of which make identical products. For the review today I picked up a pack produced by Crawford's in my local shop, a bargain at £0.49 a pack (I thought so anyway). Three of these biscuits roughly equated to the McVitie's Mini bags I reviewed for the other mini reviews, so it is of this basis that I make the following comments. Despite not being contained in a foil wrapping, the biscuits managed a good crisp texture and I loved the contrastive mouth feel created by the sandwich crunchiness and smooth inner cream. The outer biscuit portions were predominantly buttery and sugar led in taste, but the revelation of the cream delivered the desired the sweet chocolate flavour hit. I wouldn't rate the overall taste as high as either of the McVitie's options, but an advantage this biscuit has over them is that also brings the fun factor of splitting the biscuit apart without any breakages :D This is a fantastic chocolate biscuit.
7.7 out of 10
----
McVitie's Mini Chocolate Hobnobs
Kcal 194 Fat 9.4g Fat(sats) 4.7g Carbs 24.6g (per bag)
'Mini oat and wheat biscuits topped with milk chocolate'
Hobnobs have forever been a permanent fixture in our family household since I can remember, mainly due to them being the choice of biscuit of my old man. Just the thought of our family biscuit tin running out of Hobnobs is enough to send shivers down my spine - never under any circumstances do you want to be caught nabbing the last one :D For my own safety I chose to buy a bag of Mini Chocolate Hobnobs for the purpose of this review. This bag contained about 15-20 perfectly bitesized mini biscuits that were kept fresh smelling and in good condition thanks to the foil bag in which they came packaged. Placing the thin layer of chocolate face down on my tongue I first let the sweet tasting chocolate melt away taking in the pleasantries of the soft solid to liquid transition and the sweet tasting chocolatey cocoa flavours. Then munching on the core biscuit portion, the fine crunch delivered a variety of delicious brown sugar noted wheat and oat flavours. In comparison to the other biscuits the taste was just a tad saltier, and the texture just a bit more viscous. From a personal point of view I would say it was these two attributes that make Chocolate Hobnobs the superior biscuits, and most certainly my pick out of the three.
8.4 out of 10
----
So there you have it ChocolateMission readers. Chocolate Hobnobs are my favourites out of these fantastic chocolate biscuits but what about you guys? Let me know what you think!
Posts
61 comments:
Its so good to see you review these Jim, they are all time greats but can be forgotton about so easily. out of the three I think that chocolate digestives are my favourite and are probs the ones we buy in for our house most often. Now I see them I realise its been way to long since my last bourbon. I might some of them today ;) thanks for the inspiration.
Omg I could nom on bourbons all day. Once I open a packet of them I just can't stop myself.
I'm loving the post J but seriosuly, can you really have a classics post without the chocolate rich tea? Glaring miss my friend .... glaring! Sort that one out and I think you have the lot covered.
No matter how many of these 'cookie' brands try take over our supermarkets there's no getting away from the fact that these are the classics that everyone knows and loves.
Word of advice people. If anyone ever tries to fob you off with tesco value chocolate digestives be sure to give them a piece of your mind :) Some things are worth paying for and mcvities digestives come under that criteria.
Have you forgotten how to write critically or something? You seem to like everything you end up reviewing these days :( You need to learn to hate stuff again lol.
I can't even remember the last review where you said you didn't like something.
Jim how can you do this to us?
Asking us to pick a favourite from these three is like asking somone which family member they love more lol. There's no way I can decide. I love all three of these.
Ever since my mum started her health kick shes only bought boring old rich tea.
I miss my beloved bourbon creams and custard creams. I'm being cruelly denied them at the moment. I have a good mind to ring childline.
I'm as chocolate mad as anyone on this site but I prefer my biscuits just being plain rather than having the cheap stuff they put on them at mcvitie's. I tend to find it's pretty tasteless and has that disgusting waxyness to it.
I wouldn't mind trying some of those new Temptation biscuits they have made though. They look kinda interesting.
Hobnobs better than bourbon creams? hmmm I'm not with you on that one Jimbo. Great reviews though mate. It just proves that not everything you review has to be new and upcoming.
Nothing beats dunking a choc digestive into warm milky tea on a cold winter day. Just thinking about that makes me feel all fuzzy inside.
Great review J but out of interest why did you take pictures of these snack packs and not the real deals? It doesn't make any difference, I'm just curious?
Can I be controversial and say that you haven't got the best classic chocolate biscuits here?
In my opinion if you are talking the best ever chocolate biscuits made in England you can't overlook the cadbury fingers.
They've been around since the dinosaurs lol, you should have included them in your analysis if you ask me.
Jimbo pal. If you like your bourbon creams then you need to get some Tim-Tams from Oz.
They will blow ya bourbons out the water mate. No contest if you ask me.
I don't like really biscuits at all but my Mum + Dad have religously bought bourbons for as long as I can remember. I'm a little embarassed to say but I don't think I've ever had chocolate hobnobs before. I might give them a try now I've see this review of them. Thanks Jim.
Yay Bits and Bobs. Where have you been all my life :-)
Good to see you bring it back Jim. All your reviews have been awesome lately but I do like a good bits and bobs cause you get to see more than one thing.
Well well well! This is a rich set of reviews coming from a person who said they would never review biscuits ever. Do you ever keep your word on anything?
Lol woop woop! Way to big up some best of British Jim I like your style.
I know they don't come under chocolate biscuits but my favourite classic biscuits of all time is the custard cream. Omg I could nosh on them all day long. I used to be able to eat whole packets of them when I was at school. Those were the days when my metabolism was a bit faster and I could get away with that sort of thing lol.
My ranking of these would be
1. Bourbons 2. Hobnobs 3. Digestives
Thats nearly the same as yours but the top two flipped.
Hey J
That deal for wesley sneijder looks dead in the water matey ;P What are you going to do now eh? No replacement for paul scholes at all. I think you are in a spot of bother if you don't get someone in for him.
I don't have much to say on your review today because I think you have said it all. I agree with the ratings you made defo.
Cheers
N
Tesco choc digestives are better than the mcvities ones. Thats a fact ;)
I'm not a biscuit person but when I do have them I tend to have plain ones and not ones with chocolate on. I've found more often than not that the chocolate they put on them is crappy in quality and often so thin its more of a tease than it is a treat. People think i'm mad when I say they don't fuss me that much lol.
I like the other two aswell but it's the chocolate digestives every day of the week for me. Nothing beats them.
Has anyone here seen the newest McVitie's biscuits yet? They are called Quirks there is a picture of them here http://www.britsuperstore.com/acatalog/Mcvities_Quirks_Double_Chocolate_175G.jpg
I didn't buy them because they didn't look all that great to me. If anything I would say they looked well boring.
When ever I used to try and stick to diets it was always chocolate biscuits that were my downfall. I just can't live without a choccie biscuit to have with my tea, dunking bourbon cream is just something no one should ever be denying themseles.
Great reviews Jim. Got anything special planned for your weekend or are you just chocolate reviewing :-) lol thats how I imagine you spend all of your time you know ;)
I got a random question to pump out there again (lol I'm good @ these aren't I)
Are we the only country to call biscuits .... biscuits?
I know in america they call everything like this cookies and I think they do the same in places like Japan and Australia. One of my american friends told me that a biscuit over there is like a flat english muffin kinda bun. Now thats weird.
Until oreos came along I thought british biscuits were better than american cookies etc.
SInce they launched them properly over here though I've had to reappraise that. I think it's now a toss up to which I prefer. Lol stuff it don't make me choose, just give me any of them lol.
My biscuit of choice is more often than not something with shortbread in/ or just plain shortbread. You should try and see if you can find the duchy originals shortbread that is dipped in dark chocolate. I think you would love it.
Thank you for your reviews this week Jim. Top effort again mate.
Are you doing more biscuit reviews soon Jim? I got some suggestions if you plan on doing them.
The Germans make some great biscuits.
Anything made by a company called Balhsen are mostly pretty good, you should try the HIT biscuits. They are well cheap in tesco. Lol I should know I bought a pack of them for less than 50p yesterday.
My favourite biccies at the momment are the cadburys crunchie ones. Lol I swear to god they are the most sexual biscuits ever made. The best thing about it is that Cadburys seem content at selling them for only a quid which is only an ickle bit more than you have to pay for any of these mcvities ones. If you haven't tried them you need to get yourself some asap.
I have always been a fan of plain ol' Hob Nobs myself. The chocolate ones are ok, but I got brought up being given just the plain ones because I think my parents thought the choccies were a little too unhealthy. When you look at the details now there isn't actually much between the two lol I think it was just the perception of giving us chocolate, and them wanting us to see it as more of a treat.
To this day I've never understood why some people love biscuits so much. I think it must be an English thing.
I gave up biscuits a long time ago =) I don't think people realise how bad they are for them. Just one and half biscuits contains about as many calories as a pack of crisps you know. If our country gave up eating biscuits altogether our obesity % issue would probably be halfed lol.
This sets up snack of the week terrifically. I'm looking forward to it already m8.
Before I read this I was doing so well and not having a biscuit with my coffee this morning.
Even before I finished reading I found myself looking to see what we had in the kitchen :P Its a shame we only have boring rich teas in.
My biscuit of choice is normally shortbread based but I do dabble in the odd chocolate digestive every now and then. Some good reviews again today Jim. You haven't been letting us down lately thats for sure.
Foxs chocolate Vienesse > All others
Epic amounts of win with the vienesse. Sort out a reiew of them Jim.
I find it hard keeping up with the endless amounts of new biscuity things that Mcvities etc come up with. Everytime I visit the supermarket there seems to be a new pack of biscuits there that I've never seen before. The funny thing is that unless they look truley cool I often just buy chocolate digestives anyway. Boring as it sounds I know what I like and I'm happy sticking with them.
Spot on - Chocolate Hob Nobs are the best out of this lot. They are legendary. However I never buy biscuits like these because they are a bit plain and boring. There are loads of exciting new biscuits coming out constantly which are epic (personal favourite being Fox's Extremely Chocolatey) so why would you want to just stick to buying the same boring old biscuits that you've had a million times before? Branch out people!
Asda have started stocking some Milka biscuits which look exactly like choc Hob Nobs, but taste a bit different. They aren't quite as good though but still nice.
I somewhat agree with Tony. A lot of times the "chocolate" in chocolate biscuits shouldn't even be called that. Especially when we're talking about the middle part in sandwich biscuits. Too many times have I found it to be just some brownish greasy stuff that didn't deserve the name "chocolate".
Sure, over the past seven-eight years I have discovered quite a few chocolate biscuits that were truly what they promised to be (first name that comes to mind is Bahlsen), but when I was a child, the only nice such biscuits I ever had were the Prinzen Sandwich biscuits (I think you reviewed them a couple of years ago)... oh, those were the #1 biscuits of my childhood.
And the result of having tried so many crappy "chocolate" biscuits as a child is that now I'm always a bit cautious when trying any product whose wrapper suggests it combines biscuits and chocolate. I always fear finding a crappy greasy cream in sandwich biscuits or a really bad tasting chocolate coating on coated biscuits.
I often see hobnobs and digestives on the import shelves. I'll have to give them a go.
HI All
It's really cool to see the amount of banter flying back on this one today :D I have a beer garden with my name on it so I'm afraid my response will be short and sweet tonight.
This has been a review I've been meaning to post for a long time now. I thought it was about time it got it's airing on the site.
ANON - A whole packet? Boy that makes me feel ill just thinking about it haha.
NICK - Chocolate Rich Teas? Is there really such a thing? I don't think I've seen them before you know.
BEN - I do try and see the best in all things but I'm hardly opposed to the odd rant am I :D I'm just not that sort of guy I'm afraid.
WILL - They were just handy to have for the purpose of the reviews. I don't often buy big packs of biscuits as I get bored of them easily.
RYAN - I've reviewed Cadbury Fingers before. Just check the archives chap.
NIGEL - The Sneijder situation doesn't look good does it. I hope it's Ferguson playing smoke and mirrors. We could really do with him.
PETER - I've seen them and tried them. I will implement them into a future Bits & Bobs.
LEWIS - I know for a fact that Germany call them biscuits ... Keks infact!
JAMES/ANON/ROY/MYSTERIO - Thanks for the suggestions chaps.
LINZYLOO - I've seen those Milka biscuits before you know. Based on your (non) recommendation I think I might let them pass me by again if it comes to it.
ANA - I have indeed reviewed a few Prinzen biscuits before. They will no doubt of been included as part of some Bits & Bobs reviews.
RODDY - The Hobnobs are your friend chap :D
Thanks everyone. Have great weekends.
JIM
I feel like I need to warn people about these 'lights' version of chocolate digestives you can buy which my mum bought once (http://www.amazon.co.uk/McVities-Light-Milk-Chocolate-Digestives/dp/B004YALGLE)
They are the worst biscuits I've ever tasted. They are so bland they are pointless. You may as well just have half a normal one.
My favourite biscuits of all time are just the plain hob nobs but of course I love chocolate topped ones just as much. The only reason I don't think we buy the chocolate ones are because we think the ones without are halthier for some reason. I know thats silly of us to think lol.
What a fun review Jim thank you.
Theres been many a time that I have thought about requesting some the bourbon creams but I thought you didn't like reviewing stuffs made by supermarkets and not brands. There isn't one big brand that is supposed to be renowned for making them is there? Am I being dumb?
I've always wanted a version of custard cremes with chocolate biscuit outer bits. I know they would essentially be like bourbons but I would just love to have the custard cream centres instead of the chocolate ones.
I don't want to be rude but you Brits are so funny. You get all fussy and say people stereotype you as tea and cake obsessive and then I read all the comments like the ones left here. LOL you guys crack me up man.
Hey Jim,
Im back ar last lol ive been offline again so notb been able to read any reviews properly. Im not the biggest biscuit eater but I do like the odd chocolate digestive and a bourbon. Much prefer the proper sized ones though, the minis just dont taste the same lol. I also like the dark choc ones best aswell. Dont mind HobNobs but we never really buy them.
it's like that song, 'make new friends but keep the old,one is silver & the other gold'....Bourbons gold, Hobnobs silver!
@Lewis India :)
I am wondering why the British have no variety of snacks like Japan and S. Korea markets?why sticking to eat biscuit and tea? I am just wondering as a foreigner. There seems so many choices to have a refreshing break time.
I've recently discovered the utter joy of caramel chocolate digestives! Have you tried them hun? I would of thought with your love of caramel things you might have done already, if you haven't you are missing out on the best biscuits ever. Take this as a request if you haven't.
Rxxx
@Ryan I don't think what you have said is controversial at all.
If you want to be controversial you should have said the best biscuits ever are JAFFA CAKES :) lol that should stir things up a bit.
Jim for snack of the week one weekend can you do the same but for plain biscuits? If you did reviews of custard cremes, normal digestives, normal hob nobs, rich teas and perhaps ginger nuts??? That would be such a cool review to see. Have you ever thought about putting polls into your reviews? That would be so cool being able to vote on a mark that we would give them all. That way you could get user ratings as well as your own.
That anonymous person is so right. There is something special about dipping a chocolate digestive into a warm mug of tea. I don't think I would be able to get out of bed if it wasn't for the prospect of a tea and biscuit awaiting me downstairs :)
I go through phases of liking different biscuits more than others. There are certain ones that I always find myself buying every now and then like bourbons, but generally I do swap around depending on whats new or whats on offer lol.
The beauty with biscuits is that there is always something on the cheap, you never have to pay full whack for a decent pack of biccies.
Jim lad you blatantly got to review these new cadburys versions of these classics.
I would of thought that they would be awesome if the biscuits bits are just as good as the mcvities ones. Cadburys chocolates + the original biscuits = instant recipe for success if you ask me.
Justin OMG you said exactly what I was going to say.
Jim bud you seriosuly need to get down with some timtams. They are the god of all biscuits.
I think you are spot on here J. If you had asked me to name three of the all time great chocolate biscuits these would have been the first three to spring to mind.
If we are talking about great biscuits out of the limit of having to be chocolate I think you have to throw coconut NICE biscuits in there as a worthy contender. I loves them.
Dx
Post a Comment