September 21st: 'Bits n Bobs' Chocolate Cereal, Flapjacks, Cookies & Bars

Reader requests have been coming in from left-right and centre in the past couple of months so what better way to cover a good selection of them off but with a 'Bits n Bobs' post today. The reviews will be short and sweet, but I encourage you guys to let me know what you make of these products yourselves. There is a lot to get through today so without further ado lets get down to business ...

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The Fabulous Bakin' Boys Choc on Top Flapjack
Kcal 354 Fat 17.1g Fat(sats) 7.7g Carbs 45.8g

I've had a few variable run-ins with with the Fabulous Bakin' Boys range down the years - some good, some pretty abysmal (See HERE). Encouraingly one of the better experiences I've had with them was with their Choco Flapjacks, which managed to impress despite their small size.

Aiming to combat the problems of the aforementioned FBB offering, this 'Choc on Top' flapjack looked like it meant business and weighed in at a 75.0g catch weight. Calories galore, I ate this flapjack alongside my mid-afternoon coffee and boy it felt exceedingly heavy in hand. The base flapjack was pleasant, though the taste was definitely not as buttery or caramel led (new word haha!) as say Heavenly Cakes flapjacks are. Whilst the base was fine, the chocolate topping was abysmal. It was waxy and horrible in texture, and almost completely devoid of any cocoa or milk flavours whatsoever. The chocolate element was so AWOL I question why they bothered including it in the first place. There are many better chocolate flapjacks out there.

5.8 out of 10


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Kellogg's Krave Cereal
Kcal 135 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 9.0g (30.0g serving)

The reader requests for me to review this cereal have been coming in ever since it's launch back in 2010 (See HERE), and what with the launch of a second Milk Chocolate variant (purple) to accompany the original Milk Chocolate Hazelnut variant (red) I could hardly ignore it any longer. I found these 'limited edition trial packs' on sale in my local Tesco - how convenient for a chocolate reviewer who just wanted to try them the one time - Thanks Kellogg's :D

To test these cereals out I replaced my usual big bowl of bran flake cereal with these 30.0g trial packs. You may have noted already that I have lumped both of these cereals ratings under the one Krave scoring chart - I've done this because I thought exactly the same about both of them. A real strength about both variants were that they had a nice unique mouthfeel, and the distinction between the crisper outer shells and inner paste centres was evident even after a long duration in the milk. In terms of differentiation between the two, I felt there was very little difference between the two flavours. Both were very sugar led in taste, though the milk chocolate offering was just a touch sweeter in my estimation with the hazelnut variant tasting just a little saltier (despite having lower salt in ... go figure!). My big issue with these cereals was that they just didn't do the functional job I wanted from my breakfast and on both trial days I was hungry by 10.30am having consumed them at 9.00am. I'm sure the kids will love these sugar fest offerings but I can't envisage them appearing in my cereal cupboard again anytime soon.

6.5 out of 10


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Nabisco Chips Ahoy!
Kcal 190 Fat 9.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 27.0g (per 4 cookies)

What with my forays into the British biscuit market this year it was only a matter of time before some of my US readers began requesting I reviewed some of their most popular cookie offerings. In the US, Chips Ahoy! are one of the best selling cookie brands - I have my pals at American Soda to thank for providing me with the ones you see in the review today.

American Soda were kind enough to send across a few 40.0g packs of these original Chips Ahoy! and I ate them across various times during my working week. Partnering my mid-morning and mid-afternoon coffees, I often left the packets unsealed (four was a bit too many for one time!) - this didn't effect their texture whatsoever, as they maintained a consistent crunchy freshness. In terms of taste I found them preferable to the majority of lacklustre cookie offerings we get in this country (e.g. Marylands's), with their less sugar focused taste allowing greater emphasis on the salt hinted wheat. The semi-sweet flavours of the chocolate chips also came through relatively well, though at times I thought they were a little sparsely integrated. Store bought cookies aren't ever as good as home made fresh, but for a taste of America these snack-pack Chips Ahoy! are a decent little offering.

7.7 out of 10


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Mr Kipling Choc Chip Cakes
Kcal 108 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 10.0g (per cake)

Mr Kipling hasn't always had the best time here on ChocolateMission - his Chocolate Slices (See HERE) hardly lit up the scoring chart when he was last featured on the site. Despite this I had higher expectations for these Choc Chip Cakes. I used to have these often during my younger years and used to really quite like them. Today I was hoping this would all stay true to the current day so I could finally have something nice to say about our beloved Mr Kipling :D

Just as with the majority of all these products featured in Bits and Bobs I found these on a £1.00 deal in my local Tesco. Aesthetically and 'in-hand' these cakes looked a lot smaller than I remembered them from past times - I don't have the figures to confirm it but I'm pretty confident saying they are definitely significantly smaller than they used to be. To my delight the smaller size was thankfully no issue to the taste - they were exactly how I remembered. The sweet, vanilla noted Madeira cake was delightful and the chocolate chips were surprisingly well portioned which created a more than adequate chocolatey flavour burst. These weren't the most fulfilling of cakes because of their size and light texture, however that just gave me all the more excuse to have two :D I recommend them as a decent, cheap cake option.

7.7 out of 10