Heavenly, but at a price (Cadbury Dairy Milk Shortcake Biscuit)

Member Name: litefoot

Product:	Cadbury Dairy Milk Shortcake Biscuit
Date:	19/07/05 (1843 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Heavenly tasting chocolate

Disadvantages: VERY high fat content

*edit* I posted the review in the wrong category. I have asked for it to be moved, hopefully it is in the right place by the time you are reading this :)

It's Monday morning and I'm walking down the high street, fresh and alert. Suddenly the heavens open and I reach for my umbrella. Then I feel a 'plonk' on my head. I reach up and find a small square of chocolate lying there. I pop it into my mouth and the taste is lovely. Suddenly there is chocolate falling everywhere, and oddly each piece has a smiling face... they are all smiling at me and beckoning me to eat them. I reach out and grasp as many as possible and....

*wakes up*

On with the review :)

Cadbury Dairy Milk was first introduced in the 1900s. It was wildly successful and has been the top selling chocolate brand in the UK for many years.

A few years ago, Cadburys began to expand their range of Dairy Milk chocolate. These new bars were called:

Cadbury Dairy Milk Crunchie
Cadbury Dairy Milk Fruit and Nut
Cadbury Dairy Milk Whole Nut
Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly
Cadbury Dairy Milk Shortcake Biscuit
Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel
Cadbury Dairy Milk Turkish
Cadbury Dairy Milk Mint Chips
Cadbury Dairy Milk Crispies
Cadbury Dairy Milk Orange

I think that's all of them... please feel free to add any more in the comments section :)

The bars are available in two sizes: the standard 6 piece, 50g bar, and the much larger 200g bar. We all noticed how extremely appetising they looked.... mmmm... but at the same time knew they weren't very healthy.

All these bars are the same in size, look and packaging except for the different flavours. The bar in question in this review is the 200g 'Dairy Milk Crispies'.

Recently I have become quite fond of this bar. Too fond, in fact!

The Dairy Milk Crispie bar consists of 32 squares of Dairy Milk chocolate mixed with small chunks of shortcake.

The chocolate is wrapped in a purple and silver foil packet. The packet has serrated ends like most chocolate bar packaging, which makes it easy to open.

For me, Dairy Milk is the high standard for milk chocolate and aside from Nestle/Terrys I would give short shrift to anything else (and yes I can see all those Nestle campaigners frowning right now, but that's another review). This chocolate is lovely on it's own. In this bar, the makers have added Crispie bits which are very similar to Rice Krispies. This is an interesting choice of ingredient as you cannot find it in any other type of chocolate bar (unlike Dairy Milk Crunchie for example, which is a merging of two bars). There are about 15-20 crispies in each square; it may sound a lot but there is still plenty of solid chocolate in each square.

Break off a square and put it in your mouth. Let it melt slowly, that way it lasts much longer and is more pleasurable. Don't start crunching furiously as it won't last very long. And don't eat more than a square at a time, either!

The whole bar should not be eaten all at once, or quickly, because you will feel ill afterwards. But then you know that already! When you reach the final square, make it last as long as possible because you won't be having anymore... mmmmm.....

Have I made all that chocolate sound luscious and sweet and heavenly? Well it's time to come back down to Earth with a dull thud

*THUD*

because there is something wrong with this bar. There is too much of it!!!

The problem boils down to this: a man's daily fat intake should not exceed 95 grams. For women it is 75 grams. Now if you have a look on the back of the packaging, you will see that the amount of fat per bar is 27.4g. This is pretty bad but not absolutely horrendous. However if you look closer, you will see just above this it reads 'per 100g'. Which means that the true fat content is *double* the amount displayed! The fat content is 54.8g!!! Factor that into your meals and it probably takes you way over the amount of daily fat you should be having!!! So why don't Cadburys display the true fat content of the bar? Could it be that they are afraid of not selling as many? And as far the carbohydrates...

Despite knowing this I still purchase the bars on a regular basis as I am simply too fond of them. At least now I have passed on a warning to each and every one of you reading this review. If you must buy one, then spread it out, otherwise beware, you will become addicted!

The 200g bar varies wildly in price. They are stocked in most branches of WHSmith, but for an extortionate price - £1.69! They are also available in most supermarkets, for example Sainsburies sells them at £1.24 each. However if you have any 'bargain' shops in your home town, have a look inside. My local branch of Home Bargains sells a few types. The Crunchie bar is only 79p and the Crispies bar a lower 69p! If you're lucky you might find the Orange flavour for 59p (they have just sold out in my branch).

Recommended as a one off, but don't buy these often as you might develop an almost fatal taste for them! Five stars for the chocolate but only three overall because of the fat content.

Nutritional Information per 200g:

Energy 4280 kJ
1020 kcal
Protein 15.2g
Carbohydrate 117.2g
Fat 54.8g

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (Milk, Sugar, Cocoa mass, Cocoa butter, Vegetable fat, Emulsifiers (E442, E476), Flavourings), Crispie cereal (10%)(Rice flour, Maize flour, Sugar, Vegetable oil, Dried skimmed milk, Salt, Dextrose). May contain traces of nut, wheat and soya. Suitable for vegetarians.

You can find a short history of Cadbury Dairy Milk on their official website at

http://www.cadburys.co.uk/

Summary: Lovely chocolate that comes at a price