Vegan Candy Kittens

Vegan sweets. They are painfully hit and miss I must say, with them often resembling the texture of wax, and not really being a delight to eat. Yet every time that I hear of some new vegan friendly sweets, I cannot help but purchase them in the hopes that this time, they will be different! Often I am let down, and find myself either binning them, or giving them to someone else to munch on.

But, I had heard some excellent things about these Candy Kittens, and being a crazy cat lady, anything shaped, named, or even vaguely related to cats, is instantly a hit with me.

Here is a bit of background information on the company.

"In the Spring of 2012, Jamie Laing alongside his role on award winning reality TV series, Made in Chelsea launched Candy Kittens, an innovative, gourmet sweet range that set out to focus on quality. Using the best possible natural ingredients, and authentic flavours in beautiful packaging, the brand hasn’t looked back since.

Although slightly skewed young, our team have worked within various food companies and come from a variety of studying backgrounds. It’s a close group held together by a shared passion leading the change in confectionery, without compromise."

Now, I was initially a bit concerned, was this merely another soulless celebrity endorsement or adventure? Or perhaps simply all style and no substance? I prayed that this was not the case, because come on, these are too blooming cute not to be delicious!

The packaging is just brilliant. I love how they have the little clear window so that you can see the sweets inside, and then the more translusent and pretty design. They come in a resealable pack, which is good for those with any sort of self restraint (obviously I didn't actually get round to testing this feature out because I ate them all in one go...) 

The sweets smell simply delicious! They have a very naturally sweet pineapple aroma which is ridiculously enticing and I couldn't help myself from immediately diving in and biting into one of these cute little sweets. The flavour was simply divine. They tasted even better than they smelt, whic I didn't even think was possible. They are balanced to be sweet enough to counteract the slight tang of the fruity pineapple. This sweetness is probably what had me going back for more, and more, and more. They are incredibly moreish, but I was able to tell myself that they are healthy due to there being so much natural goodness in them, and them being totally vegan! 

I blooming loved these, and I am desperate to try the Hello Kitty Sour Apple flavour that they have done, if anyone knows where I can get them I would love to know so I could do a review!

Rating - 9.25/10

Calories - 337 per 100g

Vegan - Yes

Buy Again - Certainly will!

Ritter Sport Peppermint

Who doesn't love a good bar of chocolate? At the end of a rough day to cheer yourself up, after a success to celebrate, motivation to get you through a seven hour revision session, or you know, because you blooming well want it! 

I am guilty of all the above. My most recent favourite bar to munch on is this, Ritter Sport in Peppermint. I must admit, although seeing Ritter bars in various places on the web, and in stores, but I've never really known anything about the brand. So I did a bit of Googling to get a better idea, and this is what I found. 

"For us, the RITTER SPORT brand is both duty and capital in one. Supporting and building on its strengths and distinctiveness are vital cornerstones for maintaining the company's independence. 

Our brand messages communicate to consumers that they can be sure of purchasing a high-quality and high-value food item when selecting our products. We allude to the quality of our products without creating false expectations.

 The RITTER SPORT brand stands for a modern, high-quality and innovative chocolate brand for a broad consumer group."

 This sounds promising, and obviously, I was quite excited by the prospect of opening up the wrapper and testing this bar. The bar comes in a square shape, weighing in at 100g. I rather liked the novelty of a square bar, and thought that it actually looked particularly aesthetic overall. It was split into even smaller little squares filled with a mint cream, similar to that which you find in an After Eight mint, but with significantly more. 

The chocolate was dark and of a good quality. Not too bitter, with enough sweetness to work against the mint cream filling with its fresh and sharp flavour. The ratio of filling to chocolate has definitely been perfected here! Sometimes you can have a filled chocolate with nowhere near enough filling, which leaves you feeling cheated and totally unsatisfied! Something which is just unacceptable when eating chocolate! 

This was an absolutely delicious bar to munch on, but be warned, it is incredibly moreish! I brought my friends a bar to try and they agreed with me that it was both tasty, and dangerous to those on a diet! I would highly recommend and love to try all of the other flavours available. 

Rating - 9/10 

Vegan - Yes 

Calories - 491 per 100g 

Buy Again - I have about six bars in the cupboard

Quorn Vegan Nuggets

Quorn really are doing fantastic with their vegan expansion. Every time that I spot a new product added to their range, it instantly goes into my trolley as I hastily make my way home to try it! So as you can imagine, exactly that happened when I spotted these Quorn Vegan Nuggets. They are not exactly a vegan translation of their non-vegan range, as they are in batter, whereas these are in breadcrumbs. I presume that the egg white is a vital part of the batter mixture? Anyway, they reminded me more of rounded goujons rather than traditional battered nuggets. I wasn’t particularly bothered by this (surprisingly since I have gone on about it for about five lines). 

The nuggets were a good size, with a sturdy coating that thankfully never crumbled off everywhere, causing a massive mess! There was a very slight spiced flavour to the coating, which I enjoyed. The crunchy and crispy texture of the coating against the soft and tender Quorn filling. The Quorn filling had more flavour than that of the fillings, although I can’t quite pinpoint what this flavour is… But I think it is surprisingly convincing of chicken. 

These bring back a sense of childhood nostalgia, with a more sophisticated and adult vibe which helped whilst I munched half a pack with tomato sauce! Maybe not the most exciting or posh, but then again, I am a student and taste counts more than pretence! I really do love these, and thoroughly enjoy munching on these most nights, as do most of my family! 

So thank you Quorn for this fabulous expansion, and I cannot wait to see what other exciting products hit our shelves in the next few months!

Rating – 9/10

Vegan – Yes

Calories – 200 per 100g

Buy Again? – Already have another three bags in my freezer