Chocolate dipped granola bars and a review

Do you like surprises? I'm generally a little wary about surprises particularly when it comes to food as I'm a bit of a picky eater. Degustabox sends you a monthly surprise box with 9 to 14 surprise products, most of which are new to the market. A monthly subscription including delivery costs £12.99 which is less than what you would pay if you were to buy the items individually. They also give you a chance to feedback directly to the brands about whether you like the products or not. 

I thought it sounded like a good idea so I was pleased to be offered a box to review. The box is simple and tasteful and the products were well packed so they all arrived in pristine condition. There's a cute sticker which says" Open me, eat me... enjoy me!" when you open the box which is a nice little touch.

The contents of the box vary from month to month. I received this box in October but have not had a chance to write a review until now. My box consisted of :

• 3 x Burt's Lentil Waves in 3 different flavours - sour cream & chive, Thai sweet chili and Lightly Salted. 
• 1 x Jordans Simply Granola. 
• 2 x Pick up! - Milk chocolate sandwiched between 2 crisp biscuits and white chocolate sandwiched between 2 cocoa biscuits.
• 2 x Crabbie's alcoholic fruits - Raspberry and Rhubarb and Black Cherry. 
• 2 x Little Miracles- organic tea and fruit juice with ginseng and acai.
• 2 x Carnation Cook with It!
• 1 x Elixabeth Shaw's dark chocolate Mint Thins
• 1 x La Vieja Fabrica marmalade 

It was a good mix of snacks, drinks and cooking ingredients. I used the Carnation Cook with it! to make a chicken and leek stroganoff which turned out beautifully. The drinks and snacks were handy for our lunch boxes. I also decided to bake something with some of the ingredients and found this recipe by Edd Kimber for Honey Nut Bars.  The only change I made was to use simply granola which is what I had instead of the Super Nutty Granola in his recipe. I also added some mixed dried fruit.  I actually baked this recipe twice as the first time the granola bars stuck to the paper as I didn't spray the paper after lining the tin and I just couldn't peel the paper off no matter what. I then found my silicone individual tray bake tin which was perfect apart from the giant sized granola bars that it produced! However, they were very tasty and the chocolate added extra indulgence. 

My verdict - This is quite a fun and interesting way to try out new products for a reasonable price. Everyting is readily 'usable'- nothing gets relegated to the back of the cupboard to be forgotten. It would make a good gift for a foodie friend or relative. As I've only had 1 box, I'm not sure if items get repeated in future deliveries but looking at their website it looks like they have new products each month. Some brands are repeated but the products are different. The products are all of a reasonable quality and there's some money off vouchers in the box for certain brands. There's also a handy leaflet reminding you what's in the box with the RRP for each product. 

 mix the dried fruit and granola

 melt butter, sugar and honey 

 First attempt with a square tin

 second attempt with my silicone tray 

 no problem getting them out of the tin bu they are huge!

 dipped in chocolate for extra decadence 

Recipe adapted from Edd Kimber's Honey Nut Bars

300g Jordans simply granola
50g mixed dried fruit
125g clear honey
50g butter
25g light brown sugar
200g dark chocolate

• Mix the granola and dried fruit in a bowl and set aside.
• Heat the butter, sugar and honey in a small saucepan until completely melted.
• Pour the honey mixture over the granola and stir well.
• Press into silicone tin or a lined baking tray after using lots of cake release spray.
• Bake for 25-30 minute or until lightly golden.
• Allow to cool completely then place in the fridge if you want to dip the bars in chocolate.
• Melt the chocolate and dip half the bars in chocolate and place on parchment paper to dry. 

Disclaimer: I was sent a Degustabox for review purposes. A positive review was not required. All opinions expressed are my own. This is not a sponsored post.

Peanut Butter Granola Bar

I felt like making granola bars one weekend. It's not something that I regularly bake but I decided it was a good way to clear out my baking cupboard as I could put in a combination of seeds, nuts and fruits all of which were sitting in my cupboard gathering dust. I often buy ingredients in case I want to make something or it's on offer and sometimes I forget about them or change my mind and they end up sitting there for ages. So this recipe is slightly made up based on ingredients I had available but you can easily adapt this your tastes. 

The bars were really tasty and I got lots of compliments about them. I love the peanut butter in there and the mix of fruit, nuts and seeds make it seem healthy. Definitely a good on the go snack or lunch box treat. 

I'm entering this to Tea Time Treats hosted by Karen from Lavender and Lovage this month and co-hosted by Kate from What Kate Baked on alternate months. The theme this month is Flapjacks, Oats and Tray Bakes.

I'm also entering this Credit Crunch Munch hosted by Elizabeth from Elizabeth's Kitchen Diary. The challenge was started by Helen at Fuss Free Flavours and Camilla at Fab Food 4 All inviting us to share our frugal food recipes.  This recipe is a great way to use up bits of dried fruit, nuts and seeds that you have lying around in your cupboard. It's probably not cost effective if you had to buy all the ingredients separately as seeds and nuts are generally on the expensive side. However, I didn't have to buy anything to make this recipe as I had everything to hand so I think it fits the bill for credit crunch munch.

I'm also entering this to a new blogging challenge called Treat Petite. It's hosted by Kat from The Baking Explorer and Stuart from Cakeyboi and the idea is to submit any sweet treat that's individually portioned and not a big cake. The theme this month is 'No Theme' so anything goes. These are perfect bite sized sweet treats! 

 brown sugar, crunchy peanut butter, honey, golden syrup, oats, dried cranberries, flaked almonds, roasted chopped hazelnuts, seed mix

 I also had an opened pack of this pineapple and papaya mix so I added it in as well 

 Love the colours! 

 Melt honey and butter 

 toasted granola 

 make the peanut butter mixture 

 drizzle with chocolate before serving 

100g butter
100g honey
480g oats
100g flaked almonds
100g toasted chopped hazelnuts
60g seed mix (pumpkin, sunflower, hemp seed, linseed, sesame seed)
1 teaspoon ground cinnamon
100g dried cranberries
145g pineapple & papaya mix
100g crunchy peanut butter
125mls golden syrup
70g soft brown sugar
50g dark chocolate (optional) for drizzling at the end

• Melt honey and butter in a small pan.
• In a large mixing bowl, mix all the dry ingredients.
• Pour melted honey and butter mixture over the dry ingredients and stir well.
• It should be a dry mixture at this point.
• Spread out thinly over 2 lined large baking trays and bake for about 10-12 mins, stirring half way until lightly toasted and slightly browned. Be careful not to burn your granola at this point!
• In a medium sized saucepan, melt peanut butter, golden syrup and brown sugar. 
• Transfer cooled toasted granola into a large mixing bowl.
• Pour over the peanut butter mixture and mix well.
• Press into a large rectangle tin as shown and allow to set completely. (I put mine in the fridge for about 20 mins)
• Drizzle with melted chocolate if using. 
• Slice into large squares and serve.