Ren Behan - Author Wild Honey and Rye

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Review and Giveaway: Bluebasil Gourmet Brownies

They say that good things come in small packages and in this particular case, a very good thing, or two, arrived in the post and practically knocked my socks off.  Bluebasil gourmet brownies. A little box, small, but perfectly formed. Tied with string with  a pretty label. It wasn’t Christmas day, but it could have been. They made my day.  

Inside the box, a personal note and an ingredients leaflet. Nestled deeper and well protected, a tissue wrapped parcel…

Inside the triple-wrapped tissue paper, four gourmet brownies, to sample. Each brownie was generous in size. If you are strict with yourself or have any self-control, you could possibly eat half at a time. Not me.

Ordering brownies by post seems to me to be a very good idea. Particularly when the brownies are this good. Bluebasil brownies are not just any old brownies. The Bluebasil Cardamom brownie won a Great Taste Gold Award in 2011. This year, Bluebasil have been nominated ‘Best Local Supplier/Producer’ at the  The Cotswold Food & Drink Awards. The Independent called them “The Rolls Royce of Brownies” – they were not wrong! 

What can I say? They were dense, truffle-like and incredibly moreish. I had to call a friend to come over for coffee as I was afraid I would eat them all in one sitting. The Classic Chunky Chocolate with added Divine (fairtrade) chocolate chunks, was like sinking your teeth into the most perfect morsel of fudgy chocolate, ever.  Chocwork Orange came a close second for me, again, made with Divine orange milk chocolate and orange blossom water; delicate yet rich with an aroma that could almost make you want to leave it out, just to smell it.  All four had a thin, slightly crisp top. Beyond that, I practically just melted into each mouthful, falling deeper and deeper into some sort of state of brownie bliss.

The hazelnut brownies had a slightly different texture to the others owing to the chopped hazelnut, giving them a character of their own. I loved the shards of hazelnut sprinkled over the top. The Cardamom brownie was a fairly new taste experience for me, almost floral, and reminding me a tiny bit of eating cardamom-scented rice, not in a bad way, just in a way that has gently nudged me towards trying cardamom more often with sweet things.   

There are others on the menu I need to try; a Banoffee brownie, a Caramel Crunch, a Cappuccino and a Chunky White Chocolate. It’s almost as if Bluebasil knew that I would be straight over there to order my next fix… 

Bluebasil brownies are made by a small company based in Oxford who are committed to using local produce, such as local organic eggs, organic flour and local butter along with a fine quality 70% cocoa chocolate. There are also gluten free versions of some of the flavours available. 

You can chose your flavours when you order. They will arrive the next day if you place your order between 10am Monday-Thursday. They can be stored in the fridge for up to 14 days, but you won’t be able to delay finishing them that long. You can even send a personal message card.

So, that’s it. All my future gift lists sorted. These would be perfect as a new baby gift (for the mummy), as a birthday present, anniversary present, a “sorry you are leaving” present. Send them to someone who is ill, send them to someone who is sad, send them to your mum or dad. Whoever receives these brownies will be your friend for life. Actually, be your own friend and just send them to yourself.

Flavours: Caramel Crunch, Classic Chunky Chocolate, Chunky White Chocolate, Chockwork Orange, Cappuccino, Hazelnut, Banoffee, Cardamom. Chunky Chocolate and White Chocolate available in gluten free.

Prices: 

  • £14.50 for 9 brownies (+P&P)
  • £17.50 for 12 brownies (+P&P)
  • £21.50 for 16 brownies (+P&P)

As far as I know, they don’t sell them by the crate.

Giveaway

Since Bluebasil are a nice company, they have offered  to send a gourmet Bluebasil brownie gift box to one of my lucky readers. The winner will receive a gift box of 9 generous brownies (worth £14.50) – I’ve taken the liberty of chosing Classic Chunky Chocolate, Clockwork Orange and Banoffee – unless the winner is gluten free.  

Enter! Tweet! Like! I think you’ll love them, too.

  • Entry to this giveway is via the Rafflecopter form below. There is no alternative prize.
  • To begin, please enter your name and e-mail address on the Rafflecopter form so that I can contact you if you win.
  • A mandatory question will appear, which you need to answer by leaving a comment at the bottom of the post, before going back to the Rafflecopter form and hitting “Enter”.
  • After this, you can complete the bonus entries as explained on the form to increase your odds of winning!
  • If you can’t see the Rafflecopter widget, please refresh the page! 
    a Rafflecopter giveaway

 

Thank you to Bluebasil brownies for my review package and for offering a giveaway gift box. I received the brownies for free in the hope that I would mention them on my blog and was given no incentive to write a positive review. I only recommend food/products or services I use personally and believe my readers may be interested in.

 

About Ren

Ren Behan is a British-born food writer of Polish descent. She is a mum to three young children (13, 10 and 5) and spends lots of time with them in the kitchen. Ren writes about seasonal, family-friendly food on her blog www.renbehan.com. She also contributes recipes and articles to online and print food publications, such as Food52.com, GreatBritishChefs.com, Huff Post Food and JamieOliver.com. She holds a Diploma in Food Journalism with Distinction and has completed a Food Styling course at Leiths School of Food and Wine.

Ren’s cookbook, Wild Honey and Rye: Modern Polish Recipes, draws upon her Polish heritage and regular travels to Poland.

Reader Interactions

Comments

  10. I’m gluten free and it is so hard to get nice gluten free brownies, but these ones I’m sure would be fabulous!

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  19. Clockwork Orange and the white chocolate are my favs. Sorry I cannot choose between them.

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  20. they all sound yummy, but i think that chockwork orange would probably be the one for me

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  23. Probably the classic Chunky Chocolate, although the Capuccino and Hazelnut would be very close behind!

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  61. Classic chunky chocolate for me – but I quite honestly wouldn’t say no to any of them of course!!!

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  70. The hazelnut brownies sound delicious, actually they all do, but that would be my first choice.

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  93. They all sound ama\ing but caramel crunch sounds soooooooo good, my mouth is watering!!!

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  94. Ooooo I am in love with this mouth watering goodies. I would love a chunky chocolate 🙂

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  95. They all look amazing – and i am sure the taste would be as nice as the appearance – although think it would have to be the caramel crunch one! Nom nom!

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  97. Clockwork Orange flavour sounds perfect for me, although my children would love the chunky chocolate brownies and my husband would adore the Banoffi option. What a fantastic review, I’m drooling already.

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  108. I loooove the look (and sound) of the chocwork orange brownie. I can almost smell it from the description! I think my other half would like the white chocolate ones, as he has a sweet tooth.

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  110. Caramel Crunch sounds like my flavour. I love food with different textures and I’m already feeling the smooth chocolatey brownie going against the crunchy bits of caramel on top. Mmmm…

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  130. The Classic Chunky Chocolate does sound brill…
    But the orange one sounds nice too…

    But which is better? There’s only one way to find out…

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  133. After much deliberation i think my favourite flavour would be Chunky White Chocolate. I think I need a tasting session to confirm this!

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  153. Chockwork Orange I think. Or caramel Crunch…. ummm. Maybe Banoffee? To be fair, i think I’d love them all! 🙂 @pipersky1

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  158. They sound devine but love the sound of Clockwork Orange hmmmm my mouth is watering right now 🙂

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  160. Has to be Caramel Crunch or Chunky White Chocolate or Chockwork Orange! Hell’s teeth hope I win! 🙂

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  164. I have to pick a favourite? I love brownies and they all look so good. Hazelnut if I really really have to choose though

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  180. hmm, how do you choose… they all sound delicious! If forced I think I would go for chunky white choc x

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  202. I think my favourite would be Classic Chunky Chocolate because it’s a classic, but there’s only one way to know for sure!

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  234. I’d have to try the White Chocolate Brownies, I love white chocolate and have never tried it in a brownie before.
    (Would that actually make it a whitey instead? LOL!)
    I wouldn’t mind the Hazelnut either, I imagine it has a sort of Fererro Rocher taste to it??
    OMG, I am so hungry now looking at those brownies, yet all I have is butterfly cakes. They just don’t compare really do they.

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  237. WOW these looks so wonderful, this is the type of thing i like and you dont see this kind of thing around, bet they taste devine?! .. Esp Chockwork Orange, Ahh my mouth is watering now!!! Stunning.

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  239. Can you not just make a huge chocolate brownie made up of little squares of each flavour that you could break off like chocolate squares? That would be my favourite as its impossible to choose just the one.

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  245. It would have to be Caramel Crunch…no maybe the Classic Chunky Chocolate or even the Chunky White Chocolate….no I think it would be Chockwork Orange AND Cappuccino AND Hazelnut AND Banoffee AND Cardamom or Chunky Chocolate and White Chocolate….hmmmm maybe just all of them because I’m greedy and love brownies….

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  266. It would be the Caramel Crunch for me, but they all sound nice, and making me really hungry thinking about them

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  281. Sigh drool I am so hungry! They look fab. I think out of all the flavours they make the cappucino might be my favourite as I really love coffee/choc combinations for cakes. Must be time for an afternoon cuppa now…thanks for the competition!

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  287. All of ’em – I have a VERY sweet tooth – but if pushed to choose Hazelnut – got a Nutella addiction!

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  299. Great review Ren, it really made me smile. I was lucky enough to try some of these brownies for review last year and I have to say they are in a class of their own. The cardamom was my absolute favourite, though it was hard to make a decision and that’s the one I would go for again if given half the chance! I am unable to refrain from attempting to win this box 😉

    Reply

  303. Banoffe!! closely followed by classic chunky chocolate. These brownies look amazing… I LOVE brownies so really hope I win otherwise I’ll just have to order them for myself 🙂

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  304. I would like the chunky white chocolate brownies – anything with white chocolate in it has my vote – and you have them in a gluten free version for my dad too! What’s not to like??

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  312. Hmmmmm. After A LENGTHY deliberation I think I would plump for Chunky White Chocolate. Sounds delightfully amazing. Clockwork Orange a very close second!

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  313. I really can’t choose between Chocwork Orange or Hazelnut as I’m a sucker for chocolate in these combinations. Ooh, they just look yummy!

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  319. OOH they all sound so delicious,but the caramel crunch just sounds so tempting so that gets my vote

    Reply

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