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Back in November, I stumbled across a packet of McVitie’s Gingerbread Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits. These were launched by McVitie's alongside a Christmas Pudding variation, but my local Coop didn't stock the latter product line.
Fast forward a month and I managed to get my paws on a packet of Christmas Pudding chocolate digestives at an ASDA store. Both variations of the classic milk chocolate digestive biscuit have received mixed reviews online, and my 'meh' review of the Gingerbread ones led me to buy the Christmas Pudding biscuits, just to satisfy my curiosity. Are the Christmas Pudding digestives better or worse than the gingerbread biscuits?
Packaging
The 250g pack of McVitie’s Christmas Pudding Milk Chocolate Digestives sports a dark green film exterior, which is a tad more festive than its gingerbread counterpart. A doodle of a chocolate digestive biscuit is made to look like a Christmas pudding, and it sits on the front of the wrapper next to the brand and product logos.
The packaging also sports the text "seasonal edition," suggesting this product line may well return next Christmas.
Along one side of the pack is the list of ingredients and nutritional information.
McVitie’s Christmas Pudding Milk Chocolate Digestives Biscuits ingredients:
Flour (wheat flour, calcium, iron, niacin, thiamin), milk chocolate (28%) (sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, dried skimmed milk, dried whey (milk), butter oil (milk), vegetable fats (palm, shea), emulsifiers (soya lecithin, E476), natural flavouring), vegetable oil (palm), wholemeal wheat flour, sugar, glucose-fructose syrup, raising agents (sodium bicarbonate, malic acid, ammonium bicarbonate), salt, natural flavouring.
The 250g pack contains 17 biscuits on average and each one contains just over 28% sugars. Recommended portion sizes aren't given although the nutritional information breaks the stats down per biscuit, so that might suggest it's one measly biscuit. Personally, two or three at a time feels about right - although, these are much easier to chow down than the gingerbread digestive biscuits.
Just as with the gingerbread variety, the film packaging cannot be easily recycled in the normal manner at home. Instead, you need to find a local Terracycle scheme that can recycle it for you.
McVitie’s Christmas Pudding Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits Review
As I opened the pack of biscuits, the aromas of nutmeg and cinnamon leaped out. It's a good start, but not quite evoking vivid imagery of a Christmas Pudding - yet.
The biscuits resemble the classic Chocolate Digestive. A golden digestive biscuit stamped with "McVitie's Original" forms the base, while a coating of milk chocolate lightly coats the top (or bottom, depending on your point of view).
Nutmeg and cinnamon dominate the flavour. Complimenting the crunchy biscuit, the spice blend, together with a hint of salt, adds a Christmas vibe to the humble Chocolate Digestive. It's a sweet, slightly salty, festively-fragranced treat that begs to be eaten.
The spice blend dwarfs the delicate flavour of the wheatmeal biscuit and the chocolate coating. It also lingers for a long time after the biscuit is eaten.
For me, it just doesn't capture the flavour nor essence of Christmas pudding. It tastes more festive than the gingerbread version, and for that reason it's the one out of the two packs I'd opt for again. But I'm not sure I'd buy another pack. It's nice enough, but nothing special. It's not particularly exciting, and I think I'd rather chomp may way through the originals rather than this festive makeover variety.
Compared to the gingerbread chocolate digestive, this one is by far easier to eat and I polished off a handful at a time. It boasts a festive flavour, even if it doesn't quite hit the mark of Christmas pudding. This pack is my favourite out of the two, but given the option of this over the original Chocolate Digestive, I'd opt for the classic version.
McVitie’s Christmas Pudding Milk Chocolate Digestive Biscuits Review
RRP: £1.50 | McVitie’s | Shop now
The flavour of this festive treat is nice enough but doesn't quite nail the flavours of Christmas pudding. I preferred this one over the gingerbread chocolate digestives, but wouldn't rush out to buy them again.
Where to Buy Online
Finding these biscuits online is near-on impossible. There's a few listed on eBay at a bit more than the £1.50 recommended retail price.
In person, ASDA and Co-op is your best bet. I bought mine from ASDA at the special offer price of £1.
It's not worth a special trip out though. If you spot them during the weekly shop, and you like both chocolate digestives and ginger snap biscuits, give them a whirl. They're something different, at least.
Have you tried these and did you like them? Let me know in the comments below.
