Warburtons Cranberry & Blueberry Muffins

I love muffins. But the options are fairly limited when following a gluten-free diet, especially at the supermarkets! Warburtons have started extending their range of gluten- and wheat-free products, so finding these muffins was a pleasant surprise!

First things first. They do not look like a conventional muffin (I'm thinking about sweet and breakfast muffins). They are more like two little loaves in individual cardboard baskets. There wasn't any of the delicious muffin top I love so much, which was disappointing.

Then I started eating one... they were actually really delicious! They still had all the density a normal blueberry muffin would have, and had a lovely texture. My only issue was there wasn't a lot of fruit in the muffin, considering it was fairly large. But it was still really filling, which was definitely a positive! I think I will definitely buy these for myself as a treat again.

Taste: Really delicious, a lovely thick, doughy muffin, and the cranberries and blueberries tasted really good together. It added just a little more something than your everyday blueberry muffin!

Price: £1.99. I bought mine on offer for £1.29 in Tesco. Reasonable for what it is, and compared to other gluten-free products.

Availability: According to Warburtons news website, they are available from Asda, Waitrose and Morrisons (found here), however I bought mine in Tesco.

Clearly labelled gluten-free? Yes, Warburtons display "Gluten Free" and "Wheat Free" on their gluten-free products, as well as the Coeliac UK crossed-grain logo.

Nutritional value: Not really very healthy! Very calorific and sugary just for one muffin. Like I said before, good as an occasional treat.

Comparison to the real thing: Similar texture and flavour of a normal muffin, I liked the flavour and it was just as filling as a real muffin (if not more!)

Overall rating: 8/10
Could have done with a bit more fruit in it, and I sort of missed the muffin top, but other than that all the other qualities made up for it! Lovely, sweet and dense.

nākd Cocoa Orange bars

I've seen the Nakd bars a few times when I've been shopping in Holland & Barrett, but just haven't tried them yet.  The flavours look good (such as cashew cookie, pecan pie and gingerbread), so I thought I would test out the cocoa orange bar.

The bar smelled quite orangey when I opened the packet.  Got to admit, when I took it out of the packet, it didn't look very appetising.

The chocolate flavour was not as strong as the orange.  The little bit of cocoa-taste was like dark chocolate, so if you're not a fan of dark chocolate you may not enjoy this as much.

Didn't taste too strongly of the dates and raisins listed in the ingredients.  It just tasted like a nice soft bar made of fruit.

Taste: I thought it was a nice-tasting bar but I wasn't overwhelmed. The dark chocolate was ok, but the orange flavour could have been stronger. It's a change from a normal cereal bar, and it's healthy. I would probably only buy them now and again.

Price:  I bought the Cocoa Orange bar in Holland & Barrett for 95p.  However I then went into a Tesco Express where they cost 75p!

Availability:  According to the Natural Balance Foods website, they are stocked in Tesco, Asda, Waitrose, Morrisons, Sainsbury's, Boots, as well as Holland & Barrett and Julian Graves, and other health stores.
The widest range I have found has been in Holland & Barrett.

Clearly labelled gluten-free?:  Yes, "gluten, wheat, dairy free" written on the front of the bar next to the name.

Nutritional value: Nakd bars are only made with raw fruit and nut, and have been advertised as being healthy and not processed.  They contain a fairly high amount of sugar compared to everything else, but these are naturally occuring sugars.

Comparison to the regular version: N/A

Overall rating: 6/10
I thought these bars were ok, I will probably buy them again in the future but there are other bars that are more appetising made from fruit (Eat Natural bars are a personal favourite). There is also an upside to buying these bars, as it supports a British company!

Tesco Free From 2 double chocolate muffins

One product I tried a few months ago are Tesco Free From double chocolate muffins.  I like to make my own gluten-free treats occasionally but have only ever made fairy cakes and brownies.  My baking expertise does not stretch to making muffins!

I like eating sweet muffins, and my favourite muffin of all time is the blueberry muffin (Waitrose used to make them with blueberry jam in the middle, and they were AMAZING), but I haven't been able to find a gluten free version so far.  So I recently bought a pack of my second favourite flavour muffins... chocolate.

These muffins are smaller than individually-bought muffins (but there are two in a pack).  They look the same...

When I opened the packet the smell was INCREDIBLE.  I couldn't wait to tuck into one.

When I cut into it, it immediately crumbled. It was still crumbly when I ate it, possibly more than a normal muffin.  A small problem I had was there wasn't enough of a "muffin top".  The best part of a muffin is the top! 

A problem with some gluten free cakes is that they can be dry.  I must admit, these cakes were a little dry, and would have probably benefited from milk in the ingredients.


Taste: Like chocolate cake!  The chocolate chips were also really good, and I enjoyed the sweetness of the chocolate.  It was just a little over dry and crumbly.

Price: £1.00 for a packet of 2 muffins.  Very reasonable when you consider the prices of individual muffins, even though these are slightly smaller than a regular sized muffin!

Availability:  From Tesco stores that have a free from section (the ones I know of are Express, Extra and Metro versions of the store).

Clearly labelled gluten-free?: Yes, in the Free From range and with the labels "wheat free", "gluten free" and "milk free" on the front of the packaging.

Nutritional value: As you'd expect, they're not very good for you!  From just one muffin in the pack, they contain a masive 300 calories, 23.4g of sugar (26% of your daily amount!) and 14.6g of fat.  Needless to say, these should only be an occasional treat.

Comaprison to the regular version: Very similar!  Apart from being slightly smaller and drier, they tasted sweet and chocolatey, and I definitely felt full after eating it. 

Overall rating: 7/10

If you fancy treating yourself to something sweet then one of these muffins would make a good snack or dessert.  Obviously, with the high sugar and fat content, I wouldn't suggest having them everyday.  There also may even be some cakes that would be more enjoyable.  However, if you're really missing chocolate muffins these would be a good suggestion!