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Earlier in the month I treated myself to a Honeybuns order. Within this order I chose a triple tinker cookie as I have never tried one before and thought it was about time I gave one a go!

Retailing at under £2 per cookie, these are quite large and fantastic value. The thing I love about Honeybuns is the variety of sizes they do their products in, allowing them to be much more affordable. Being sold singularly you can also buy a good selection of cakes to try what you want to without paying extortionate amounts of money or having enough food to feed a whole school!


At 250 calories a cookie this is quite calorific so it is just as well they are sold singularly! It also makes them feel like much more of a treat. Unlike many free from cookies I have tried, this cookie is very soft and chewy and has quite a rich flavour. Don't be mistaken into thinking that this cookie would be suitable for children, this bitter cookie, with a coffee twang is much more of a big kids treat! ;)

Filled with large chocolate chunks, texturally this cookie is very different. Quite flexible and chewy, it really gets your jaw working! With creamy hits of decadent milk chocolate, it's simply sensational!

 I would love to see bitesize versions of this product. I recently bought The Foods of Athenry cookie shots and I love how I can space these over the day and feel I am having lots of treats for little calories, as I am a snacker having them spaced makes me less likely to binge on a lot of calories in one day!

Another hit from Honeybuns for me! Not that I have found any misses yet! The only drawback I have ever found to Honeybuns is their availability, although available online with fantastic delivery options and the ability to freeze most products, it's only really an issue when I have a sudden craving!

I would love to know if you have tried this cookie and what you thought of it!

Hannah x
Friday was pay day, so I thought I would treat myself to a new gluten free cook book to add to my growing collection! Cook books are something I find very relaxing to flick through, although I always seem to get a little hungry afterwards! I have several lovely cook books that have been gifted to me over the years, but have only ever purchased two myself and so thought "Why not?".


I have had my eye on the Honeybuns cook book for some time so I thought this would be a good one to invest in next. As I was browsing the Honeybuns site I saw that they have a baker's gift bag which consists of a Honeybuns bag, tea towel, cake mix and of course the cook book. James and I are currently looking at buying a house so when I saw the tea towel it spoke to me, I needed it for my future kitchen! I just had to have the whole set, I need another hessian bag like a hole in the head, but I just couldn't resist!


Retailing at £28 this is a lovely gift (even if, like me, you gift it to yourself!). It arrived beautifully packaged with ribbon and twine, it honestly was any crafters dream! You could easily have this delivered straight to a friend without doing anything to it yourself as it is so stunning!

I still have some fresh cakes I am trying to get through so I tried to refrain from ordering more of their scrumptious cakes. As you can guess, I caved slightly and ordered myself a Triple Chocolate Tinker Cookie as I think it's one of the only things from their range I have yet to try. As they are only £1.50 I thought why not!


Honeybuns is a company I love to support as not only are all their products the best quality cakes I have eaten, they are also a true small business, with a fantastic ethos. Coming from a family of small business owners and being one myself too, I feel it's important to support independent businesses when you can! I will certainly review the cookie, cake mix and cookbook soon, I just can't wait to take the pictures for this post so I can open it all properly!

Hannah x
It's time for another Snackly open box! August should bring lovely summery weather, we have seen a couple of good days, but let's hope the bright yellow sticker and Lego style image on the card along with all these summery snacks makes the sun kick itself into gear!

What with taking a holiday to Dorset in the next couple of weeks, these are perfect in the car snacks for what could be a 6 hour journey! Also I have held onto some of my other Snackly goodies to have for picnics whilst away! That's why I love these sizes!


So what's in this month's box?

Honeybuns Mini - Almond Moon - RRP - £1.05
My eye was instantly caught by this product, you all know how much I love Honeybuns. We saw this featured in our April box I think! I am very very happy to receive another Almond moon as I love the flavour and I am waiting to get through a few more cakes I have in my cupboard and freezer before I do a buy a bulk from Honeybuns! This will certainly tie me over in terms of a Honeybuns fix!

Kent & Fraser - Choc Chip Cookies - RRP £2.29 for full box
Ginger, Lemon and now Choc Chip, we are slowly getting through the whole range! These cookies have had a fantastic consistancy so I am excited to try the choice chip version! Seeing that the chocolate chips are dark is also a perk for me, as I love dark chocolate!

Darling Corn - Sea Salt Toasted Corn Kernels - RRP £10.80 for pack of 18
A few months ago I received the barbecue version and loved them. It'll be interesting to try a plainer flavour, I love a lot of salt in general so I hope these are well salted! They only contain corn, sunflower oil and sea salt, so there is no major allergens which means they are great for egg and dairy allergy suffers too!

Quibbles - Chilli Honey Peanuts - RRP?
I have never heard of Quibbles before, this is why I love Snackly, there's always something new! This 30g snack bag which is made in Britain seems to only have natural clean ingredients. I imagine these will be like the chilli peanuts my Dad loves as through the bag they look more coated in a crispy coating rather than a seasoning. This bag contains 150 calories , so is nicely portion controlled.

Hale Kale - Sweet Chilli Crisps - RRP ?
Kale crisps are something that passed me by as I think they are so hard to find. This sweet chilli flavour is completely me if it isn't too hot as I love the M&S sweet chilli crisps. This will make a healthier, more nutritious change to regular crisps. At around 25 calories for this bag they are a great low calorie snack.

Handmade by Cobden and Brown - Hazelnut Chocolate - RRP ?
I have a recipe to share soon on an amazing chocolate hazelnut cake my brother baked from the Hairy Bikers book. My family (expect my Dad, who clearly needs help!) love hazelnut and chocolate, so I will have to keep this well hidden. Handmade in Northern Ireland this 50g bar is wrapped in a very crafty way, which speaks to the card-maker in me!

I would love to know what you're most excited to try from your box, I think the chocolate and kale crisps are a must try first!

Hannah x
I'm back with another Honeybuns product today! Snowy hills to be exact. Two of these have reached my grasp lately. I won the first and the second came in the most recent Snackly box.


After trying both a regular size and a mini version of the product, I must admit that the mini did suit me better as it was a bit more manageable. As I have said many times before, the great thing about Honeybuns products is that you can pick a size that you would prefer. Mini's are certainly my first choice, being the snacker I am, I enjoy smaller amounts.

This cake is only gluten free as it does contain egg and dairy, but is suitable for vegetarians. There is 495 calories per 100g so I would class this as a treat, rather than a regular eat!

This is one of the most unusual cakes that I have tried full stop. Two layers make up this cake slice, the first being a ginger, polenta and almond shortbread, followed by a lemon sponge. Crazy right? Whoever thought this up is a genius! Lemon and ginger is not a combination you see all too often but it really does work. I believe there must be some sort of lemon curd in the middle as there is a slight sticky textured, lemony flavoured something holding the two layers together which adds moistness to the cake and an extra hit of sweetness.


The shortbread is not too solid so the textures are not too contrasting, if it was a tough shortbread it would throw the combination off kilter. The sponge is very moist and bouncy, a complete contrast to many free from sponges I have tried. It is slightly tacky in texture too, very much like your typical lemon drizzle cake.

The only drawback to Honeybuns products so far is their avaiblity. They have a fantastic online shop but unfortunately I do not have anywhere local to buy them. Stockist are available but my local is a few miles away. I am not against buying online, if anything its one of my guilty pleasures whilst checking social media, it would just be lovely to be able to pick up a Snowy Hills or Congo bar when I get the craving! Although I am very excited to find out they are being stocked in Waitrose and John Lewis Cafe's so I will be sure to tell everyone, and I suggest getting to see if they are in your local ones ASAP.

As another Great Taste Award winner, Honeybuns seem to know what all of us in the free from market want and how to make wonderful cakes!

This product is fresh and will not keep for too long, so a perfect excuse to eat it quick!

Hannah x
After driving EVERYBODY in my office mad doing my best  tone deaf impression of Kate Bush. I finally sat down and ate the Heathcliff brownie from Honeybuns, it certainly kept me quiet for a few minutes!

This is up there in one of the best brownies I have ever eaten. Gluten free brownies I do feel have been really overdone. You can bet wherever you go that offer gluten free options, there will be a brownie. Not wanting to sound ungrateful that big chains are thinking about us, but why do they assume that all coeliac's eat are brownies!?!?!


Now I am assuming one of two things. That A) Browines just sell really well and this is why I am flooded by them everywhere I turn and Honeybuns have produced them to keep up with competitors. Or B) Honeybuns saw all those brownies and thought to themselves 'let's show them how it's done'. I like to think it's the latter.

What makes this brownie so one of a kind is the use of dark chocolate. Dark chocolate and I would get married if we could. I love the richness that darker chocolate can give which you cannot achieve with a milk chocolate. Orange has been infused in the brownie, making a perfect paring, the sharp  bitter chocolate with a sweeter orange hit is a flavour I really enjoy.

The brownies texture was beautifully moist and had the gooey centre which is one of the key attributes that have to be present in a brownie to make it a memorable one for me! You wouldn't believe how many dry brownies I have tried. The chocolate chunks and orange peel I found gave a dense chewiness to the soft brownie, which adds an extra texture you don't always find in a brownie.

I would say that this brownie is so decadent that it could be served with ice-cream as a dessert, and I would recommend that if you are hosting a dinner party buying the tray bake for this purpose. It does not taste gluten free, so none of the guests would know the difference and you can join in! I think heating this brownie would be very tasty too!

If you are interested at the award winning Heathcliff brownie or any of the Honeybuns range, you can find them here!

Hannah x
In all honesty I feel bad for my poor Congo Bar. I left the poor thing to be the last thing to try and was convinced that I wouldn't enjoy it half as much as the others as it wasn't oozing chocolate and there wasn't a drop of lemon. Chocolate and fruit flavoured cake are my favourite and for some reason I have always thought that a very chunky nutty bar wouldn't be my thing. How wrong could I have been? This is by far the standout product in the whole tin I won!


Funny how even though I've always thought I'd hate things like nutty cakes, I would still always go for almond or hazelnut based ones and think nothing of it,  but still running a mile at walnuts, pecans or anything slightly bobbly looking. I guess I have only seen them in the nut bowl at Christmas as a child and their look made me steer clear!

This bar had that wonderful Honeybuns shortbread which is present in a number of their products, buttery and crumbles in the mouth, just thinking about it is making my mouth water! This is topped with that typical Nan's style caramel that I found the millionaires shortbread had too. Pecans, coconut and chocolate chips were then sunk into this. The combination was amazing! The mixture of sweet and savoury flavours and textures blended well and complimented one another. This bar reminded me of a rocky road with a nutty twist.


The bar pictured is the regular sized slice which retails at £1.70. Like all their try bakes, you are able to buy multiple sizes. I have said before that the mini's are my favourite as I cannot eat too much cake in one go, but if this was a mini I think I would have felt a bit short changed as I love it so much.


This bar does set you back quite a few calories though, a whopping 470 to be exact, hence why I have moved on to americano as a coffee treat! I must admit it was worth every morsel. Honestly it was just as well I didn't have a full tray bake, or a lot more would have been eaten.

Now I have found Honeybuns cakes it is going to make comparing products tricky as I will always compare them to theirs, which I feel are on a par to good home cooking that includes gluten! Fantastic for us gluten free lot who like a cake well baked!

Hannah x 
Being coeliac awareness week and being a huge bargain hunter I thought I would share with you all the discounts on free from food I have been emailed or seen online for this week! As who can't resist a bargain!


Just a heads up with these discount codes. I wasn't asked by anyone to advertise these so I may be asked to remove these if they are not correct (although they are all directly from the companies, mainly through twitter) and do not know how long they will be valid or if the offer is still running!

Honeybuns Bakery - Use AWARE15 to get 10% off on orders over £25. Valid until 31st May

9 bar - Buy two cases and get the third free. Valid until 17th May 

Freego Food - Use code SAVE10 to get £10 off orders of £30
                        Use code SAVE20 to get £15 off orders of £40
                        Use code SAVE20 to get £20 off orders of £50. Valid until 21st May

Nakd bars - 20% 35g nudies. Valid until 18th May

Sponge Ltd - Use Code GFBABY8 to get £8 off gluten free baby sponges - This week only

Goodness Direct - FIRST shop only £5 off a £50 or more spend 32234Z8Q. Valid until 3rd August

 Love at First Bake - Free UK delivery when you use code COELIAC

There is only a few here but as I find more I will add to this list!

Hannah x
Always say - "Amondi Please" when ordering your coffee. So I did, with my Amondi in my bag I trotted down to costa to get my decaf americano. I used to be latte girl but with my new cake and coffee habit, I have to cut the calories somewhere!


This rather large cookie has a crispy outside and a softer middle, similar to american style cookies. Made up of both hazelnut and almond, this sweet cookie is perfect dunked in a coffee. There is no gluten or dairy ingredients so is fantastic for dairy suffers too, but does contain eggs.

The ingredients are very simple and consists of: hazelnuts, sugar, free range eggs, hazelnuts, orange zest, orange oil and icing sugar. Good simple ingredients and fully understandable. You may have also noticed the free range eggs! Always pleases me to see this, considering I have a number of pets, I do care a lot about our furry, fluffy and feathered friends!

The biscuit itself is another very unique free from product as it reminds me of something you would see in a typical bakery or even in a supermarkets finest brand. Any product that makes me feel like I have a 'normal' diet I really enjoy.


The grainier texture absorbed the coffee well and honestly was the best coffee treat I have had in ages. Suspended in the cookie was orange peel which gave an interesting zesty twist to a typical sweet ammaretti style biscuit. Who knew coffee and orange went together so well! The bitter coffee juxtaposed the sweet zesty and nutty flavours creating a beautiful complex flavour. The icing glaze and almond on the cookie was also a nice touch.

Retailing at £1.50 per cookie I find that this is very reasonable as this is typically what you could pay in a coffee shop for a mainstream version. However this is not bulked with dietary restrictive wheat flour which makes the other brands versions cheaper to manufacture, as  I have found nuts and nut flours are considerably more expensive.

I can see why this is another award winning product for Honeybuns. Holding a great taste gold award '07  proudly on its packaging. I thoroughly enjoyed this cookie and is nice to see a free from cookie that is not a chocolate flavour. Don't get me wrong I LOVE chocolate but it does make a nice change when I am not in a chocolate mood!

 If you are interested in seeing the Honeybuns range, Click here.

Hannah x
For sweet treat Friday... Well lets face it I've had my sweet treats more often than Friday's recently. But I guess you only live once! So when life presents you with gluten free cake, you must eat it!

I had the Mini Chocolate Caramel Shortbread from Honeybuns, which is the same concept of a mainstream millionaires shortbread. You may have seen earlier in the week I won a box of goodies from them. I have to admit the more I try, the harder it is to choose my favourite!


This slice is made up of layers, starting with a polenta base, which is very much like the mainstream equivalent. That slight crumble is present but with no dryness. There is nothing worse than a true biscuit base as I find it too crunchy compared to the other textures. Next is a good thick layer of caramel, the only thing I can compare it to is the caramel my nan uses in her recipes. It was truly a blast back to my childhood! Thick and rich but not too overpowering or sickly. The last layer was two types of chocolate, beautifully rich and decadent. The chocolate has been mixed with rapeseed oil to give some softness then topped with a light chocolate dusting. I found this solidified the top slightly, so there was a two chocolate layer effect. With a slightly harder chocolate on top and a softer one underneath. Neither chocolate was ridged but the differing textures are interesting and really make these stand out from the crowd. 


Retailing at £1.05 for this mini I find is good value for the quality and taste. I am just glad I only had a mini otherwise being the chocoholic I am, I think I could have eaten half a tray bake in one sitting! These slices are suitable for home freezing  and with free delivery when spending over £25 you can stock up in one order!



Hannah x 
Today my Honeybuns Prize was delivered for their 5000 followers giveaway! It had fantastic presentation, including a cute gluten free bee sticker which I've stuck on my monitor at work, as I thought it was very fitting.

To my surprise the tin contained 7 products! I thought it would have been a small box with three or four items to try. I didn't even expect a tin so this was really above and beyond my expectations and much appreciated after the Monday morning that I had!


Let me show you what I got!

St Clements Cake Cake Slice - £1.70
With a great taste 2013 proudly on its packaging, this slice describes itself as an orange and lemon sponge with almonds. It looks to be a very moist with the texture of lemon drizzle cake so I cannot wait to find out if it tastes like one but with a twist!

Congo Bar Cake Slice - £1.70
The Congo Bar I think will be very much like the Almond moon in it's uniqueness. Using polenta in the shortbread base, topped with caramel, chocolate and nuts. I think this may be the one I am most excited to try as it's so different to anything I have tried in the free from market.

Amondi - £1.50
I am a coffee addict so when I saw that this is their take on a gluten and dairy free amaretti it was quite exciting. This too has a great taste gold award 2007 on the packaging so I have got high hopes for this product. Just need a trip to Costa now...

Milk Chocolate brownie Cake Slice - £1.70
I think I may have had this product before in a coffee shop a long time ago because as soon as I saw it I thought I recognised it. It must have been before my blogging days as I would have paid more attention and a post would have sure cropped up about this! This brownie also contains coffee and almonds so is right up my street as I love coffee and almonds, as I previously said. So I will be very happy to rediscover this!

Chocolate Caramel Shortbread Mini - £1.05
Another of the best sellers in the tin! The shortbread in this slice incorporates polenta much like the Congo bar but also almonds, so will have a nuttier taste. This is topped with caramel and chocolate! What could be better? This Millionaires shortbread style slice is my Dad's all time favourite cake so I'd better hide this up and make sure I bring in some mainstream Millionaires slices when I take this to work!

Snowy Hills Cake Slice - £1.70
Unique is something Honeybuns do so well. This slice consists of a ginger, polenta and almond shortbread which is topped with a lemon sponge. You might have guessed it, this too holds a great taste gold award 2010 as do most of their more niche quirky products, which you just do not find the main supermarket brands doing. This makes the products really stand out from the crowd as I see these as more comparable to 'normal' foods rather than the typical free from sponges and biscuits I can find anywhere.

Heathcliff Brownie Mini - £1.05
It can't just me me that does their best Kate Bush impression when reading the name of this brownie?!?! A 2005 great taste gold winner. Like its sister this brownie has an almond and chocolate base, but what makes this even more delicious sounding is that is is make with two blends of dark chocolate and some orange thrown in for extra goodness! Chocolate orange is one of my boyfriends and I's guilty pleasures so this will be another one that's being hidden until I polish it off!

I think it would be fantastic for Honeybuns to make a mystery box like this as a product, as I think it would make a great gift or even just to try something new. They do have gift sets online but from what I've seen you know what will be in the box. I love mystery/subscription boxes that have emerged over the years and although I think a subscription service or a one off purchasable temping tin from Honeybuns would certainly brighten my day!

Hannah x
Yet again Snackly have hit the nail on the head in finding fantastic smaller brands. As you all know as a small business owner myself, I have always had a soft spot for supporting smaller, more personal feeling brands.

If you are like myself and haven't heard of Honeybuns before, here's a bit about them. Honeybuns is a small Dorset based business which was started in 1998 in student digs! Now I didn't go to uni myself but my brother is currently a post grad student, imagining him trying to bake in a shared kitchen I find hysterical as they are always fighting for oven space so it would bound to end in flour, sugar and butter everywhere! So to me being a start up bakery in student digs is incredibly impressive! They now have a very large social media network, including Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, Pinterest, Blogs and an online shop. You can also purchase their baking book, if you want to try and be creative in the kitchen yourself!


On another note their packaging is biodegradable so for those of us that are conscious of the environment and think the mini's contain a lot of packaging, this has already been thought of and catered too!

Today I am going to be reviewing the Almond Moon Mini that was sent out in the Snackly box. This slice was a bite size style which is right up my street, having a large slice in one go does overwhelm me, so these pre portioned smaller slices that I don't have to cut down means that I can throw it in my bag for work and I don't have to worry.


These Mini's retail for £1.05, which I think is good value for a smaller brand and the quality of ingredients. Being able to try a variety of flavours without the fear of them all going bad before you get to finish them is something I really enjoy as I hate wasted food! But if you do fall in love with a flavour you can buy a larger slice for £1.70 which could be cut down to bite size. Or you can opt for a whole tray bake for a mere £6.70, there's even a large tray bake for £17.15, which could also be fantastic for family gatherings and parties.

The flavour of the Almond Moon is incredibly similar to a cherry bakewell, which I do find interesting as this slice contains cranberries rather than cherries. I put it down to the almond base, which is also a prominent feature of cherry bakewells and that could make the cranberries translate as a slightly cherry taste as both are red fruits.


The slice itself has a biscuit crumble base, similar to a homemade cheesecake, with a thin layer of a thickened cranberry sauce in the centre which is almost a jam in texture. This is layered with a luxury crumble style topping. This consisted of large chunks of almonds and slices of dried cranberries. The slightly more crumbly mixture and the thick sauce held each other together well and complemented on another in taste and texture. I love almonds but I do think they are quite a dry nut in flavour and are not very oily, so combining this with the thick sweet cranberry sauce made the flavours blend together well.

I am definitely very interested in trying more from Honeybuns as I really enjoyed this slice and I think is one of the most unique gluten free cake slices I have had in a while and for that reason I would 100% recommend trying this slice as I think you'd love it!
 
Hannah x
This month is the box of reappearing products. All our favourites are making a second appearance, and for those who are new to the box it gives you a chance to try them!

 When I first opened this box I was not as excited as last month as I saw everything was bar shaped and I do like picky snacks, but once I read what the products were that all changed! 

 I also really like the new printed card that came in the Snackly box, I hope this will lead to RRP and product descriptions on them in the future!

So what was in my box?

 Chika's Plantain Crisps RRP - £1.45
As I said before when I saw these in my box banana chips are one of my favourite snacks but I've never thought about trying plantain even though it is in the same family. These chips are also quite a bit healthier as they are not coated in sugar, it only has sunflower oil and salt so is much more clean. The whole bag contains 178 calories and feels much more than what you can eat for the same calories of banana chips. I have yet to eat the other chips as I bought a bulk of banana chips before receiving them and I have them in my snack box waiting for when I used up my banana chips or a holiday/weekend away as they are sealed! 
We received the orange variety at Christmas and now coconut as the weather has got hot! I am a very seasonal eater, I love different flavours certain times of the year so this caters to summer loves, along with berries and vanilla ice-cream. I even may have it with that combination and grate it over a bowl of eton mess! 

Cobbs Bakery Gluten free Luxury Beligain Chocolate Brownie - RRP ?
As in my last post that included this product I  cannot find the price for this. In the last post I said that I  am not sure how I feel about this product as as I opened the box I thought 'oh another brownie' as I see brownies everywhere. But I have to say although it is a brownie and brownies are a very common product. This is a very very good brownie and I will happily eat another... It would be rude not to! ;)

This 'bite' bar contains two of my favourite ingredients, Almonds and Cranberries. This bar is a perfect size for me as I don't like too much in one go so I know this is perfect to have as an afternoon treat snack. I have looked on their website and this has won a great taste award 2010! I am hoping that this will be delicious as many items on their site look amazing and could be great for reviewing and they are a little bit different to supermarket cakes! They even have mixes. 

I am not sure if these are meant to be little pieces or if mine have broken! I love cheese and soups, which is what I tend to eat these type of crackers with so I will be trying these with them and see what I think! At only 66 calories a pack this keeps well within the healthy lifestyle we all long for! 


At 98 calories, this is one of the most interesting things I have seen in a while. I have read the ingredients and it only contains mango and sugar. I am assuming the 'sour' will be unsweetend mango pieces. I enjoy regular dried mango so I will have to see how these compare!

I hope you all got some lovely treats in your Snackly box!

Hannah x