Mini Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns (Tesco)

Hot Cross Bun season is finally upon us (but who would believe it when half the country is experiencing snow more often than not, but I digress), and the stores are full of them! There are so many different flavours out there at the moment. But there really aren't that many actually vegan friendly. There are a few out there, but most of them are a bit basic in flavour, but then I discovered these little beauties! The Tesco Mini Chocolate Chip Hot Cross Buns!

I was excited about these. I was very very excited about these. So well done Tesco, for the conception of these incredible buns! So maybe I should stop rambling and write the review?

The pack comes with eight little buns, with the cute little crosses across them, as one would expect from a hot cross bun. This doesn't seem to necessarily be chocolate flavoured, but that isn't a terrible thing, as there is certainly enough chocolate chips running throughout the buns to leave you feeling entirely satisfied! The chocolate is evenly distributed, so you are definitely going to get a mouthful of chocolate with every bite, which let's be honest, is what we are in it for! 

The chocolate is of a good quality, not too sweet, with a nice bitterness to it. This works perfectly with the almost brioche sweet of the bread base. The buns were somewhat soft, but personally prefer my hot cross buns to be super soft and a bit squidgy . I know that it is traditional for people to toast their hot cross buns, but I think that due to their tiny size toasting them may cause serious problems, such as not actually being able to get them out of the toaster... 

So, in order to remedy this issue, I find that microwaving them for around 10-15 seconds tends to melt the chocolate to perfection! Not too hot that it is basically molten lava in sugar form, but not too little that they are still solid chips. The buns become delightfully soft, with chocolate oozing in the most tempting of manners. Honestly, this is just blooming delicious! 

Just a little word of warning though, the chocolate does have a tendency to get a tad messy, so be warned!

Rating - 9.75/10

Calories - 102 per bun

Buy Again - YES!!!

M&S Hot Cross Bun Loaf

Hot cross buns, 

Hot cross buns, 

One a penny, 

Two a penny, 

Hot cross buns. 

Have you guessed what this review is going to be about yet?

I am the biggest fan of hot cross buns, may it be in their traditional guise of plain with fruit, or maybe a bit more out there and not even in bun form! M&S seem to be the ones to beat when it comes to limited edition baked goods over the past few years-unsurprisingly, this year seems to be no different. They have put out a wide range of fruit buns and loaves (sadly with only one or two actually being vegan friendly), so with such a limited selection, for once I found myself untroubled in deciding what to pick! 

What M&S is lacking in quantity they are certainly making up in quality with this loaf. The bread is incredibly fresh and soft, unlike many other fruited breads out there, which I feel have a tendency to feel a tad stale. The freshness of the bread worked well with the pieces of dried fruit, encompassing all of the flavours you would expect and want in a hot cross bun. 
They remained moist and juicy which made it a tasty treat at any time of the day. I loved this first thing in the morning with a steaming cup of hot coffee, definitely one of my favourite ways to start my day! 

I was impressed by the detail that was put into the loaf. It wasn't just fruited bread given the name of hot cross bun, they bothered to actually put the signature cross on the loaf. I know this is only a little detail but it definitely added to the overall loaf experience. 
Basically this is a delicious breakfast or snack to have, which leaves you feeling adequately satisfied and ready for Spring! 

Rating - 9/10 

Vegan - Yes 

Calories - 110 ish (I genuinely can't remember)

Buy Again? - Definitely

Nestle Coco Shreddies (Vegan)

I am a massive fan of cereal, I have it basically every day with my vegan yogurt and bagel (I'm a greedy girl, what can I say?). But I was recently shocked to discover that many cereals which I had simply assumed were vegan are in fact not because they have the addition of lanolin in order to fortify them with vitamin d. 

So I did start scouring the Internet in search of easy to get hold of vegan friendly cereal and shockingly Cocoa Shreddies popped up on the list and were actually verified by Nestle as being vegan so who am I to argue?

I like to convince myself that I am being healthy when I eat Shreddies because of their whole grain goodness etc but in reality they are deliciously sweet with a good crunch and a nice hit of cocoa. I really do find these filling aswell, especially with only a 40g serving (normally I find cereal suggested serving sizes to be absolutely dire because surely not even a child would be suitably sustained on what is often no more than a handful of cereal?) anyway, I would probably say that that Cocoa Shreddies are probably my favourite thing to have with breakfast at the moment!

Rating - 8/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 149 per 40g

Buy Again - Yes!

Warburtons Crumpets

Crumpets are one of my favourite breakfast to have of a morning, and it has to be Warburtons. I've tried other brands but it is never quite as good, no others can compare to the delicious fluffy yumminess that is found in a fresh, hot, Warburtons crumpet.

The flavour is lovely and reminds me of being younger when I would have these for my breakfast slathered in peanut butter so much that the bottom would fall through! Unfortunately I don't think that was quite the healthiest breakfast I've ever had but it was by far the nicest! 

Anyway, now a days I tend to have them with a bit of Marmite or Vegemite or I may be a bit of a boring thing and just have them plain (I like things like that). Apparently the best way to have them though is slathered in butter -or a vegan friendly alternative. 

Basically I love to have crumpets in the morning and they are a staple breakfast item in my household!

Rating - 9/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 98 per crumpet

Buy Again - Part of the usual shop

Strawberry Weetabix

I have a certain fondness for Weetabix, they are such a tasty and versatile breakfast, packed with goodness and filling fibre to keep you going until lunch. I am a bit boring because I like mine with hot water but I do really enjoy them like this so no judging! When I was younger I enjoyed them with lashings of milk and plenty of sugar, not quite as nutritious but who cares when it tastes that good!

Now, Weetabix have recently brought out a new strawberry variety in aid of Comic Relief and they are actually really nice! They reminded me of strawberry laces, they smelt quite artificial but they tasted really nice, with a good level of sweetness that worked well against the classic flavour of Weetabix. Overall, I really enjoyed these and the only thing that would make them better would be perhaps having little chunks of freeze dried strawberries in it!

Rating - 8/10

Vegan - I think so

Calories - 152 per Two Biscuits

Buy Again? - Yes!

Banana Flavoured Weetabix

Bananas and Weetabix, a classic combination for adults and children alike at breakfast time, so what's not to love about banana flavoured Weetabix!? 

Unfortunately there are a few things. Upon opening the pack I was greeted by a lovely banana smell that instantly had my mouth watering in anticipation of tasting these new and interesting Weetabix. The flavour itself is somewhat sickly because of how sweet they are, but thinking back on it that may be my fault for me having three so perhaps that isn't the best reflection. The banana was a little artificial tasting and they actually reminded me of foam banana sweets that you could get in Pick & Mix from Woolworths. The texture was typical of regular Weetabix and had they lovely warming and filling properties that you would expect so I was certainly left feeling satisfied until lunch after eating them.

Overall I would recommend trying them especially if you have a sweet tooth, they make a nice change from my normal plain (but tasty) vanilla overnight oats.

Rating - 7.5/10

Calories - 159 for Two Biscuits

Vegan - No

Buy Again - Maybe

Caramel Oats so Simple Pot

Porridge is such a deliciously versatile food but often the flavours can be the same and become a little boring. So when I heard about the new Caramel flavour that Oats So Simple have recently brought out, I just knew that I had to try it! 

Caramel flavoured things always have such an indulgent and luxurious feel to them that I cannot help but love.

Now onto the review, the serving size is good and will keep you full through to lunch without feeling bloated or sickly. The flavour was nice enough but it wasn't really caramel that I could taste, it was more like Golden Syrup which was rather disappointing but perhaps I was expecting too much, it was pretty unlikely that it was going to taste like dulce de leche but hey a girl can dream?

Overall it was a tasty breakfast that was a nice break from my regular vanilla overnight oats but it just doesn't taste like caramel. It was worth a try to satisfy my curiosity and abate my sweet tooth but not if you are looking for a phenomenal taste experience.

Rating - 5.5/10

Calories - 208

Vegan - No

Buy Again - Doubt it

Price - £1.00

Options Hot Chocolate and Quaker Oats

One of my absolute favourite breakfast treats is hot chocolate and porridge, in my opinion it is the perfect winter warmer, so I decided to sample the indulgent varieties of the Options range. Options are a diet hot chocolate brand that offer quite a wide range of products, today I decided to sample the chocolate cherry flavour and overall it is pretty good, it actually reminded me a bit of the Cherry Garcia Frozen Yogurt from Ben & Jerrys.
Unfortunately there was quite an artificial taste to it which I found to be a tad disappointing but then again considering that it is a diet drink with reduced calories I think that it was rather optimistic of me to hope for it to be rich and creamy tasting. So when I consider it on a diet drink level then it is quite good, it is sweet, chocolatey and fruity and makes a lovely addition to my breakfast of porridge.

Rating - 5.5/10
Buy Again - Maybe
Calories - 60

Now I shall review the porridge for you as I have been absolutely rubbish I not posted for a week (loads of school work at the moment urghh)
Now when my mum came home with this new porridge I was rather excited as I absolutely love porridge with its warm and comforting stodgy-ness!
It was the 'Heaps of Fruit' variety of the Quaker Oats. I think that it is the first of its kind to actually have large chunks of fruit in it and as a fruit lover I really enjoyed that.

Rating - 6/10
Buy Again - Possibly
Calories - 133