M&S Spirit of Summer White Chocolate and Sicilian Lemon Cookies

I was really looking forward to these - my two favourite things; lemon and white chocolate!

As I opened the packet, I was met with a lovely lemony smell. Lovely chunks of white chocolate with strips of lemon zest.

It went downhill from there. Normally, I LOVE the All butter M&S cookie range. However, the texture of these was much harder and crispier than the other flavoured cookies. I think they used a different recipe to allow for the lemon extract to be used - which will change the consistency and ultimately the texture of the finished product. Either that, or I just got a bad batch.

I also thought the lemon was overpowering - instead of being tangy against the white chocolate I found it very sickly sweet. Perhaps a lemon juice or even just the zest would work better. The white chocolate chunks were nice, though!

Price: £2 for ten

Rating: 2/5

M&S Spirit of Summer Valencian Orange and Almond Cupcakes

These cute little cupcakes are part of the Spirit of Summer range at M&S.

Although pretty to look at, the wrapper was a bit annoying as I struggled to get each cupcake out nicely. I could smell the lovely orange as I unwrapped each cupcake.

The cupcakes were lovely and fluffy, very light, moist and buttery with a beautiful almond flavour and tangy orange zest. 

The zesty orange frosting was also lovely - perhaps a little too much but it was still delicious.

Overall, the flavours of almond and orange worked really well together, and I would definitely buy these again.

Price: £2 for two

Rating: 5/5

M&S Spirit of Summer Orange Eclairs

M&S seem to be doing a lot of orange flavoured desserts and cakes this year. I also saw some coffee eclairs, but I decided to not be too much of a greedy guts and just got these. (I will try the coffee ones at some point!)

I have to say, they are little works of art. I loved the glossy and shiny white chocolate glaze and the chocolate decoration.

The choux pastry was lovely and light with a slightly crispy outside -perfect. The orange mousse was lovely and tangy with pieces of orange zest. It was lovely and tangy - very refreshing. The white chocolate glaze was a great choice to offset the sharp tangyness of the orange.

I'd say these were a lovely summery, light alternative to a chocolate eclair, and I can't wait to try the coffee flavour!

Price: £2.50 for two

Rating: 4/5