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

Asda Vegan 'Chicken' Popcorn

I used to absolutely adore chicken popcorns. The spicy, crispy, crunchy coating, with the soft filling. Doesn't sound quite as nice when I think about what was actually in the filling now... 
But my woes have been answered by the fantastic product team at Asda! They have done the impossible and created vegan popcorn 'chicken'. I was as stunned as you are, my dear readers, when I came across this on the vegan chat forums (I assure you that this isn't as weird or as boring as it sounds!). Instantly my attention was captured, and I knew that I needed to try them. So, I ventured out to Asda, a woman on a mission, determined to find these almost unreal promise of vegan chicken popcorns! 

I quickly located them in the frozen section and grabbed three bags, praying they would indeed be delicious and I wouldn't be left with three bags of deeply unpleasant faux chicken balls... 
So I opened the bag as soon as I got home and popped them chickens in the oven (I'm extremely talented in regards to puns). And let the cook. They took only about twenty minutes, and the smell was rather enticing. They were good sized balls, with a good crispy coating that was even and didn't crumble or fall off. They cooked evenly which was good, so I didn't end up with half of them burnt. I took the plunge, and took a bite. I was not disappointed! The flavour was fantastic, it was quite convincing in regards to the chicken flavour, with a nice southern fried spice. It had enough of a kick to provide intrigue, without being unenjoyable spicy. The heat was perfect and I couldn't help but enjoy every mouthful! The texture was good and once again, was somewhat unnervingly reminiscent of actual chicken popcorns, after munching the first one though, I wasn't that bothered because the taste was just brilliant.

They do not remind me exactly of eating, let's say, KFC, but I honestly don't think that is a bad thing. My brother and mother both tried them, and gave them a massive thumbs up, saying that they were actually better than the meat version! High praise indeed I would say. Basically, vegan, vegetarian, or meat eater, I would certainly recommend these! I cannot wait to see what other delicious thins that Asda, and other supermarkets bring out for the summer! 

Rating - 9/10 

Vegan - Yes 

Calories - 188 per Third a Bag

Buy Again - Much Man

Nak'd Caffe Mocha

​Nak'd bars are an integral part of vegan life (although certainly not an exclusively vegan product!). As an avid fan, and a bit of a connoisseur of the brand, if you will, I pride myself in trying all of the flavours available. However, there are some bars which are notoriously more difficult to get your paws on! 

The elusive Mocha bar being one of them!

You can imagine how my little eyes lit up when I saw these sitting there in my local health food store. I found my feet toddling towards it, unable to resist the urge to purchase several bars at once.  'Matta's' is a fantastic little health store in Liverpool, that stocks an impressive range of products! If you are ever in the area, I strongly urge you to venture in!

I may have gone off on a bit of a tangent about how much I love Matta's, but it honestly is, a fantastic shop! Now, I best get onto this review, hadn't I?

The wrapper was in the typical Nak'd style. Simple, clear, and as enticing as ever. Upon opening the appealing wrapper, I was instantly hit with the deliciously enchanting scent of freshly ground coffee. The actual taste of the bar, believe it or not, was somehow even better. I was utterly shocked. How could Nak'd improve upon such a tasty smell? I loved the bar. The flavour was rich with a subtle nuttiness coming from the rest of the healthy and natural ingredients of the bar, then there was a hint of cocoa which just made the whole bar even more indulgent. 

I really did love this bar, it was absolutely amazing and it took an awful lot of willpower not to then eat the other four bars that I had bought, but somehow I did!

Rating - 9.75/10

Vegan - Yes

Calories - 130 per bar

Buy Again - Definitely already have

Go Ahead Oaty Breaks

Go Ahead are a pretty snazzy brand. They make a wide variety of biscuits and snacks all claiming to be somewhat healthy. They may not be truly healthy in that they have all sorts of health benefits, but they have very little fat in, and are quite reasonable in terms of calories.

Whilst mooching around the shops, as I so often do, I came across these bars. Initially I didn’t realise that they were new, as the packaging seems to blend in incredibly well with the rest of the range. Despite this I was drawn to them, perhaps for fatalistic reasons, I do not know. But anyway, onto the review itself!

The bars come in duo form, which are easy to break down the middle, a bit like a KitKat. They are supposedly intended for you to eat on two separate occasions as the calories on the pack state that one finger is considered a serving size! I found this to be quite sneaky of Go Ahead because the packaging proudly boasts of there being only 98 calories! This obviously was too good to be true… Unless you do have fantastic willpower and can reseal the pack to prevent the other half from going stale, this two-serving suggestion just isn’t going to happen. 

 So I began my munching.

They are ridiculously crumbly biscuit bars, so I decided it was best to break them up into easy to eat portions to create minimal crumbage. This didn’t really work as well as I would have hoped, but better than a face full of crumbs. I enjoyed both bars but preferred the Cinnamon and Raisin flavour.

The Cinnamon and Raisin flavour was packed full of dried raisins which helped to break up the crumbly dryness. The sweet spice of the cinnamon added something a little different, it worked to create a warmth and depth to the flavour that I thoroughly enjoyed! 

The Golden Syrup was also yummy, but did have a bit of a strange burnt flavour to it. I’m not sure if I did just get a slightly burnt pack, or if this is part of the whole intended taste experience. It certainly wasn’t unpleasant, just a bit odd. 

Both flavours worked perfectly with a cup of coffee and were surprisingly filling, leaving me feeling extremely satisfied. Overall I liked these and found them to be very moreish, good as a mid-morning treat, or simply because you fancy something sweet!

Rating – 7.5/10

Calories –190/200 per pack

Vegan – Yes

Buy Again? – When on Offer