April 16th: Montezuma's "Bean Machine"

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Today I sampled another one of the bars from my speciality box set the 'Bean Machine' - I dont know who pays the guys in the marketing department at Montezuma's but 'Bean Machine'??? haha come on guys you must have better than that :)

Again this bar came double packaged in both a snazzy box and wrapped in a plastic packet. Again its just worth noting that the plastic packaging really is a bit naff when compared with the classyness of the box but thats just my opinion - and I must admit the plastic covering does keep the bar fairly well preserved.

So what is in the 'Bean Machine'??? ... well its a 45g bar that encoporates both 'Organic white & dark chocolate with Coffee of course; the split being 59% White chocolate, 40% Dark Chocolate (Cocoa Solids 73%) and 1% Coffee....waite....1% Coffee?? I must be kidding!?? Unfortunatey not - suffice to say I wont be having any difficulty sleeping tonight.

Appearance wise the bar again looked a bit plain - no patterns in the chocolate, a straight up no frills bar split into six blocks. Removing the bar from the plastic packet I was hoping for a strong coffee smell but unfortunately it was lacking. There was a nice dark smelling cocoa smell but not a sign of the coffee flavour whatsoever.

Despite the bar containing a higher quantity of white chocolate it was dark in colour - when reading the description of the bar, before seeing it I thought there might be a layered effect going on with possibly one type of chocolate being placed ontop of the other - this wasnt the case and both the white and dark had been blended together - fair enough.

I have mixed feelings regarding the taste of the bar. Flavourwise its nearly completely lacking in any sort of coffee element. I ate the bar in 6 different mouthfuls, one block at a time. Only in one block could I detect a slight amount of coffee flavour which was suprising as each moutful had a slight grainy texture which im guessing meant that coffee was probably present. The lack of coffee was disappointing but the taste wasnt bad and thats what makes this such a hard bar to score. The mixture of white and dark chocolate was unique; it seemed to combine the best elements of both - a rich deep tasting cocoa flavour of dark chocolate but with a creamy undertone of white that took away the slight bitter aftertaste you tend to get with dark chocolate....a realy synergy if ever there was one.

Overall this is a really hard bar to score. If this was meant to be a bar that blends both dark and white chocolate in one then this would be a really high scoring bar - the chocolate is first-class, smooth, rich and creamy in flavour...but the fact is this is a bar that should contain a coffee flavour...and unfortunately its really rather anonymou which is a real shame and is the reason why its score isnt the highest around. Im a big fan of coffee and I just cant reccommend this as a great 'coffee chocolate bar'. This variant has great potential, if Montezuma's can sort the proportioning this could be a top 5 bar simple as that!

7.4 out of 10

April 15th: Lindt Lindor Milk Chocolate Truffles

Kcal 220 Fat 17g Fat(sats) 12g Carbs 16g

I dont know anyone who dosent enjoy a good truffle...but what makes a good truffle you ask!? For me I believe its a crisp outer layer of chocolate with a good rich luxurious tasting centre. There has to be a distinction in flavour between the two elements and of course a difference in taste. Lindt Lindor truffles have been around for over 5o years and they describe themselves on pack as being 'a shell of Lindt's finest Swiss chocolate that surrounds a unique smooth melting centre'. 

I bought these truffles in a handy 50g taster pack which included four of these delightful looking truffles. The packaging was nice on the eye and the looks of the truffles themselves looked classy. 

At first I believed that four of these truffles wouldnt really be sufficent, but my opinion was soon changed after tasting.

Biting into the truffle the outer layer of chocolate was indeed crisp to the bite and provided a nice thick coating to the truffle centre. The outer chocolate was of a good standard and what you would come to expect of the standard Lindt milk chocolate; a deep milky flavour, with a melt in the mouth aspect. The centre of the truffle is where this product really shines. The truffle centre is super smooth on the tastebuds and had an incredibly creamy buttery taste. Its a purely luxurious experience but a rich one at that...for this reason four of these was more than enough and any more than that at one time and I think that it would be too much.

Overall these are a product that are not only alluring to look at but a treat on the tastebuds. In small quantaties these are divine and I havent come across any better truffles as yet on the Chocolate Mission. These are a really high quality product that would be great as giving as a gift - ...like truffles? why not treat yourself to some of these!?

8.5 out of 10

April 14th: Montezuma's "Culture Shock"

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

Last week I was the lucky recipetent of a speciality gift box from the kind people of Montezuma's - this gift box contains twelve 45g taster bars of their different flavour variations...arent I a lucky boy :D :D It wasnt until I started reading the brochure that came with my gift set that I realised that Montezuma's chocolate is 'designed and built in West Sussex Chichester'...very local to myself. The chocolate they make is organic and looking at the list of ingredients all of the bars appear to be very clean...this bar for instance only included seven different components..very different to the highly manufactured bars which contain ingredients lists that struggle to fit on the wrappers. Reading up about how they make the chocolate and their values is actually really intresting and I suggest you check out their website MONTEZUMAS

Moving on to todays bar - the aptly named "Culture Shock" is a bar of 'organic white chocolate with ginger & chilli'. Despite being a masive fan of spicy food ive not been someone whos yet bought into the whole 'chilli in chocolate' fad that seems to be very fashionable at the minute (see Lindt etc for evidence of that!)...before this bar I wasnt convinced it could work.

As you can above the bar came in a very snazzy looking little box (100% recycable!) - the chocolate was kept in a plastic sleeve inside the box which although did the job of keeping the chocolate intact and fresh was not really the most attractive. The bar itself asthetically was not the most impressive bar I have had, dont get me wrong it didnt look bad but it literally was just a bar of blocked chocolate - no special patterns etched into the surface etc..fair enough I guess. The only aspect that redeems the score for the appearance of the bar is the outer casing which really does look impressive and worthy of a more premiuim chocolate.

Breaking the bar into pieces was obviously easy enough with the nature of the design. The smell of the bar had a sweet vanilla scent, I could also detect a slight hint of ginger which wasnt suprising due to the bar being 17% comprised of the spice.

Letting the first block melt on my tongue the slight hint of chilli was quickly evident and brought a slight warmth and tingling to the tatebuds. Ive never really expreienced chocolate like this before and it was realy quite a pleasent sensation; as I said previously I am really quite a fan of spicy food - though I enjoyed the slight burning sensation I honestly believe that for some people they could find it too intense...if I was to give this to someone to try who didnt like spicy food I really would not be suprised if they turned their nose up at it claiming that it was too spicy for them...oh well I enjoyed it :)

Despite the chilli factor being the most evident flavour and taste to the bar, behind it is an extremely high quality white chocolate. Its definately some of the best I have had to date in terms of white chocolate and it had just that right mixture of milkyness and vanilla flavour with a delightful smooth creamy texture. The ginger flavour was also quite present in the bar and added to the warmth of the chilli - the ginger element added a subtle undertone of spice that worked nicely in tandem with the creamyness of the chocolate.

Overall this is really a great bar of chocolate that I urge you to try in some form. The contrast in flavours with the creamy chocolate and subtle tongue tingling spices made for an exciting flavour that I myself had never tasted anything quite like before, and im sure you probably havent either. Like white chocolate? Like chilli? Like ginger?...if the answer to the previous three questions is a resounding 'Yes' im pretty sure you would love this bar. Very much worthy of its fantastic score.

8.5 out of 10

April 13th: Trader Joe's Organic Milk Chocolate Truffle

Kcal 546 Fat 39.4 Fat(sats) 21.2 (per 100g)

Apologies for the lack of update yesterday but I consumed this 100g bar over two days and wanted to be sure of my opinion on it before writing a review.

This bar was yet another offering from the tremendous privately held chain store Trader Joe's in the US courtesy of my kind friend Esther :) This bar of milk chocolate on pack describes itself as 'Rich milk chocolate surrounding a smooth dark chocolate truffle centre'. All the Trader Joe products I had reviewed before today were either dark or plain chocolate so this bar really was a step into the unknown.

Like all the other TJ products the bar was beautifully represented in packaging and unwrapped. The crisp gold foil surrounding the chocolate bar meant that it had a nice fresh sweet cocoa smell when unwrapped and ensured the bar itself was kept in mint condition. As you can see above the bar had a subtle Trader Joe's logo scribed into the top of each block, breaking the bar into pieces was made relatively simple with the deep cut grooves running through the bar - it looked smart and well presented.

Breaking the bar half way through a block there was evidence of a slight layering system. Running through the centre of the bar was a very thin line of darker coloured chocolate. Taking the first block into my mouth I let it slowly melt on my tongue...and boy do I mean slowly. On pack it says the bar contains 'specialized caramlelized milk which results in an extra creamy smooth texture'...though the bar was certainly smooth in the mouth, in a weired way I found it overly smooth and verging on waxy. Biting through the chocolate offered very little resistance and I feel that the flavour of the bar was slightly held back due to over focus on the texture.

Tastewise the bar was pleasent but certainly not near the standard of the darker chocolate offerings I have had from TJ's. Despite the bar claiming to have a dark chocolate truffle centre the flavour was anonymous due to the combined factors of the overly smooth texture and lacking in proportion of the truffle centre. The flavour of the milk chocolate lacked the real distinguishable taste that I had come to relate with TJ products and certainly did not match up to the products I had reviewed in the previous weeks.

Overall I am somewhat a tad disappointed by this bar. I ate the 100g bar in two 50g sittings and both times I felt that it was overly smooth and lacking in the stand out strong cocoa flavours that made the other Trader Joe products so unique. This is by no means a bad bar of chocolate, if you enjoy smooth milk chocolate im sure you will enjoy this but if your looking for a rich cocoa flavoured bar that has a strong unique flavour this probably isnt the bar for you. A pretty average score and im not sure I would really be bothered ensuring I tried this again.

7.1 out of 10

April 11th: Hersheys S'mores

Kcal 230 Fat 11g Fat(sats) 6g Carbs 31g

Pardon me but up until today I was completely oblivious to what a S'more actually was; luckily a good friend of Chocolate Mission by the name of Esther has filled me in with the backstory:

"They're called 'Smores' because you want 'Some more"' They're good! They were started off by the American Girl Scouts in the 30's. My grandmother used to be a girl scout and she told me how they'd hike into the woods and toast marshmallows over campfires."

S'mores traditionally consist of a roasted marshmallow and slab of chocolate between two 'Graham crackers' (digestive biscuit for us Brits!). The Hersheys S'mores bar I sampled today consisted of a thin Graham cracker base topped by marshmellow and a coating of Hersheys milk chocolate.

When opening the bar the smell was really not to appealing at all. The bar had a good thick wrapper and obviously completely air tight; opening the wrapper a very strong pungent artifical sweet smell filled the air - not good, that being said the bar looked quite well presented.

Like most bars I left this to chill in the fridge for a few hours before eating...when I came to eat it I sliced the bar into bitesized chunks and was immdiately suprised at the ease at which the knife passed through the bar. The Milk chocolate layer was very crumbly and offered little resistance, the marshmallow had even less viscuity and was alarmingly spongy; to top it all off the Graham cracker was very soft and moist and more akin to a cake like texture.

Biting into the bar the mixture of textures and flavours was at least intresting. The chocolate was flaky and easily broke away from the centre when bitten into, its flavour wasnt the strongest compared with other Hersheys products I have tasted and despite that unique Hersheys flavour being present it quickly took a backseat to the other bar components.

The dominant flavour of the bar was the marshmallow layer. Texture wise it was similar to an extremely light nougat - aerated nougat if anything. Does it taste of Marshmallow? Not for my money...not like any marshmallow I have had before anyway. Looking at Cybele's review at Candy Blog she suggests that Hersheys have tried to encaptulate a 'toasted marshmallow' flavour...well in my opinion they have done little more than include an overly bland but sickly layer of light mush. This part of the bar really didnt do anything for me.

The Graham cracker layer isnt quite a biscuit type base. Its not crunchy enough to be classed as a biscuit but in flavour its pretty good. It has a nice cakey taste and goes some way in masking the overly sweet marshmallow topping.

Overall this bar was a light disappointment. Truth be told im a big marshmallow fan but unfortunately this fails in the fact it A) dosent taste like marshmallow b) becomes overly sickly tasting...because of this, one bar does feel quite fufilling, but thats more down to the taste being overly sweet rather than having hunger satisfied. If your a fan of sweet tasting bars this could be right up your street...it does seem S'mores are one of those American things that you should try at least once in your life time...if you cant be bothered to make your own I guess this isnt a bad substitute.

6 out of 10


The Hersheys S'mores is avalible at CandyPirate!! Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

April 10th: Oreo

Kcal 103 Fat 4.6g Fat(sats) 2.4g Carbs 8.7g (per 2 biscuits)

Now I know what your all going to say...no these aren't a chocolate bar as such...but they are a chocolate containing snack so its all relative ;) Oreo biscuits are now quite widely available throughout UK supermarkets thanks to a relaunch by Kraft mid 2008.

If you have lived under a rock since time began I can inform you that Oreo cookies consists of 'two chocolate wafers separated by a cream filling'. Oreos are available in several different variations and guises: from double stuffed, peanut butter flavoured, chocolate covered etc. For the review today I bought a 176.0g box that contained 4 snack sized pcks.

We all know biscuits are a product that are essential to keep fresh - a stale soggy biscuit isn't liked by anyone so the foil packets these came in ensured these were kept in a nice condition. Further evidence of this came when opening the packet when I was instantly greeted with a nice set of sweet buiscuity smells.

Popping the first biscuit into my mouth and biting into it, the first thing I noticed was the delightful texture of the two chocolate biscuit pieces. Of course being biscuits they had a nice crunchy outer layer but closer to the middle of each part they seemed to be a little softer. The middle cream filling also had a nice smooth texture - very similar to that of a custard cream/bourbon biscuit. Flavour wise the chocolate didn't come across all that strongly, and I found the taste of the cream filling quickly dominating the biscuit element. Although the chocolate flavour hit wasn't the strongest, the sugary sweet vanilla fondanct cream centres were undeniably pleasant, and made for a very moreish tasting cookie.

Overall I think Oreo cookies are great when they are eaten in sensible limited quanities. I have always thought that the chocolate biscuits could be more chocolatey, though I guess some might argue the main focus is meant to be the creme centres anyway. Im really intrested in trying the chocolate covered variant of these and I'm sure I will sample them in the near future. If your a biscuit person (and come on who isn't!) I strongly recommend you hunt some Oreos down. They aren't the best chocolate biscuits in the world, but they are a tasty option nonetheless.

8.1 out of 10

April 9th: Hersheys Payday Avalanche

Kcal 250 Fat 13g Fat(sats) 5g Carbs 29g

Those of you in the know will be aware that the current leader for the wooden spoon in Chocolate Mission is currenty the Hersheys Payday (2.8 out of 10)....so what on earth possesed me to even review the Payday Avalanche??? The Avalanche is exactly the same as the original Payday...wholenuts covering a cramel centre but with the added inclusion of a thick layer of chocolate. My decision to give this a chance wa largely routed in the inclusion of this chocolate coating - surely a sweet layer of chocolate would help the Originals main problems of it tasting way too savoury!?

Out of the wrapper it the bar looked well rather ugly - granted it was never going to be the prettiest bar in the world but the chocolate looked scuffed and quite dull in colour. I guess in a way it just didnt look particularly fresh looking (despite the best before date being late 2008). Smellwise it offered absolutely nothing - from a bar with such a high nut content you would expect at least a hint of nuttyness...but no..not here im afraid.

Biting into the bar my worst fears were realised...the chocolate tasted of get this....NOTHING!! I kid you not absolutely nothing...the coating added a slightly waxy texture that if anything masked the other ingredients (..sad to say but not an overly bad thing).

The peanuts again as with Original Payday seemed out of context with their flavour - they tasted more like the peanuts you would have with your beer rather than a chocolate/candy bar. The caramel centre was also again disappointing - its very similar to the fudge nougat you find in a Baby Ruth bar i.e. devoid of flavour and overly chewy.

Overall reflecting on this bar I guess reviewing bars like this is all part of the Chocolate Mission; not every bar I review can be good and unfortunately...frankly this just isnt. The chocolate is probably amongst the most offending I have had whilst on this and its only saving grace from picking up the wooden spoon baton from its brother lies in the fact that despite still not looking that appertising it looked nicer than the Original bar with the added chocolate. As you can tell this bar isnt one im going to be recommending - if your a massive nuts fan though I guess there could be worse things for you to try...like the Original Payday ;)

3.0 out of 10

Want to make your own minf up on the Payday Avalanche? Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

April 8th: Kit Kat Senses

Kcal 165 Fat 9.5g Carbs 17.5g

The Kit Kat Senses any which way you want to look at it is a direct move by Nestle to enter the marketplace with a rival for the Kinder Bueno.

The Kit Kat Senses describes itself as a 'milk chocolate covered wafer with a nutty hazelnut creme filling' - sure its almost identical in build to the Bueno but in truth it does some parts better and some parts not so well.

Nestle have very obviously marketed this bar at females - it promotes its 165Kcal per bar several times on the packaging. Unfortunately this means this bar weighs in at a measly 31g; now I know I'm not the target audience for this bar but its really a bit of a turn off...it cost me round about the same as a Bueno but seemed a least half the size (just over in reality)...why would you pay the same but for less...also its worth noting that despite its small size it still packed 9.5g of fat which is quite alot when you consider the weight of the product.

Opening the bar I as impressed with the look of it - it just looked good and well crafted. Breaking the first block off I was met with a nice nice nutty smell...good stuff.

Taste wise it was a bit of a mixed bag. The chocolate was really rather good, standard Nestle milk chocolate that was actually quite thick..especially at the base. The Wafer was also particularly nice - its was far more substantial than the wafer you get in the Bueno and had a far stronger longer lasting biscuity flavour...chalk one up for the Senses :) The hazelnut creme was a bit of a let down in this bar though; despite having a nice taste and one that was slightly nuttier than the Bueno, it was little less creamy and surprise surprise rather lacking in volume. It also didn't quite have the smooth buttery like texture of its Kinder rival.

Overall I think its all but impossible not to mark this bar directly comparing it to the Bueno, and unfortunately it just wasn't as good. Despite delivering better in the wafer and the chocolate departments the real test of the bar has to be the hazelnut creme and I believe the Bueno is superior in both taste and texture. This is not to say this is not a tasty bar - if your a big fan of a KitKat and fancy a lighter chocolate hit then this is definitely a bar worth considering. Whilst this was a fair product I think if you're after a Kinder Bueno beater you're going to have to keep waiting.

7.8 out of 10

April 7th: Cadburys Orange Creme Egg

Kcal 150 Fat 5g Fat(sats) 3g Carbs 25g

Ok so first things first I must admit - seeing this egg my intial reaction was 'who put my Creme Egg in the wash'....a bit of an over reaction I admit but its true that in the US their creme eggs (original and orange flavoured) are both 4g smaller than our standard 38g Creme Eggs in the UK...it may only be 4g but it was noticeable.

Similar to the eggs I reviewed for the Easter reviews I chilled this egg so that the fondant centre would be slightly thicker than at room temp. unwrapping the egg from the foil I was greeted with those all too familiar oval patterns etched into the side...it seems that even in the US they love those oval patterns :) Biting into the of the egg I was immediately struck with an extremely fresh fragrant fruity orange zesty smell...I dont think I could use more adjectives there If I tried :) ...anyway it was a very pleasent smell that immediately indicated this was no slight variation of the original.

It was immediately noticeable where the weight in the product had been cut - unfortunately the outer chocolate shell was thinner than you get in the standard Creme Eggs we get in the UK ...not great! Despite this the chocolate was excellent and was your standard creamy Dairy Milk.

Conversely the fondant centre has not been skimped on - it remains the same sort of gooey texture to the normal Creme Egg but has a remarkably different flavour. The orange flavour is intense and fresh tasting and really quite refreshing; though plentiful in volume it avoided being sickly. Despite eating the fondant mostly by itself, it was when the fondant was eaten with the chocolate shell it was at its best; the mixture of the two flavours worked extremely well and was a taste that didnt leave the mouth long after eating. Yummy!

Overall this is a really great variation of the all time classic Creme Egg. Chocolate Orange is a really quite popular flavour and I dont quite understand why this isnt widely avalible in the UK. Despite its slightly smaller size and thinner chocolate layer its orange flavour is refreshing and unique. A great product that im sure many a Creme Egg fan would really enjoy...I know I did - I your intrested in getting your hands on one of these I suggest you head over to my UK based friends CandyPirate. A very respectable score that manages to make in roads in the top 10.

8.5 out of 10

Want to try the Cadburys Orange Creme Egg for yourself? Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

April 6th: Trader Joe's Semi Sweet Chocolate Chips

Kcal 80 Fat 3.5g Fat(sats) 2.5g (per 15g)

Semi Sweet? Now what the devil does that mean? Thats exactly what I was thinking before I opened these up - I can enlighten you all now and inform you that it is infact a wonderful cross between dark and milk chocolate.

Chocolate chips are honestly something I would never would have considered eating as a snack before the lovely Esther sent these for me to sample...far too small and fiddly for my liking, that being said these have changed my mind.

Removing the bag from the fridge I poured myself a small little bowl of which I ate with my morning coffee - tastewise I was extremely suprised how strong the flavours where...each little chip gave a very strong rich flavour that although a bit lighter than yesterdays dark chocolate covered blueberries were just as tasty.

The semi sweet aspect to these is really quite unique it manages to incorporate the sophisticated imposing flavours of darker chocolate but maintains a creamy sweetness of lighter milk chocolate. Suffice to say these were incredibly morishness and it wasnt long before I was pouring myself another finger bowl full of these (thank god for the 256g bag). The only small gripe with this eating method was the slightly grainy texture they had in the mouth...despite the taste being quite smooth and consistant it did have a slight bumpyness to it which im sure was just the unrefined cocoa - nothing major but smoothness is preferrable.

Overall these were really quite impressive. The amount of flavour these generate in each individual chip is quite frankly amazing. The small texture issue aside these are a perfect little snack that would cure a choclate fix even more so than alot of bars could do. Unfortunately my cooking skills are rather limited but I can imagine these being amazing added to cakes, cookies...perosnally I think that these would make the ultimate chocolate sauce melted over some ice cream..definately something to try if you get hold of some of these. As far as a score goes a very respectable 8.2 - there are so many things you could do with these..I would love to hear anyones thoughts on possible recipes or ideas.

8.2 out of 10

April 5th: Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Blueberries

Kcal 180 Fat 6g Fat(sats) 3.5g (per 40g)

Over the last few months of Chocolate Mission I seem to accumilated many dedicated readers - thank you too everyone who has contributed and left comments/feedback etc..its alwas great to hear from you all keep it up.

One especially dedicated reader especially has pushed the boat out and opened new doors for Chocolate Mission and it is at this point I would like to thank Esther from the USA. Dearest Esther was kind enough to send me a big..(and i mean BIG!!) box of goodies all the way from the US full to brim with goodies from a US outlet called Trader Joe's. Over the next couple of weeks I will be working my way through the vast amount of goodies Esther has sent me...and today I thought not better place to start than with the Dark Chocolate Blueberries.

As you can see above these came in a container of 256g...certainly a massive tub. The individual pieces were far bigger than I was expecting, each one was slightly larger than your standard malteaser. Opening the tub I was immediately greeted with a very strong cocoa smell - I was expecting a far more bitter smell but in actual fact they smelt really quite sweet.

Like most products I review, I let these chill in the fridge for a few hours before I consumed them. Popping the first one in my mouth I slowly let it melt on my tongue...the chocolate slowly rose in temperature and melted on my tongue afer a few seconds. The flavour was delicous - it wasnt bitter like I as expecting but was really full bodied and rich. After letting the thick chocolate melt away I bit into the remaining blueberry; upon biting into it, the taste in my mouth changed and my tastebuds were met with a slightly sharp berry taste.

Texture wise the chocolate was really quite smooth - the blueberry centre is very much like you get with fresh berrys..a slight burst when you bite into it but then a smooth fruity taste.

Overall Im really quite impressed with my first offering from Trader Joe's. The chocolate is a really good standard and despite its 'dark' billing avoids being bitter and provides a rather more deep rich flavour than your standard mass producded bars from the likes of Mars etc. The blueberry element is also really rather tasty; despite the rich flavour of the chocolate they manage to establish their own flavour to each small piece in what I would describe as a refreshing berry twist. If your lucky enough to be able to get hold of some of these I would honestly reccomend you do so. Its scored a very respectable score on Chocolate Mission..a good start for these Trader Joe' products..now if you dont mind im off to finish the rest :)

8.4 out of 10

April 4th: Pretzel Flipz Milk Chocolate

Kcal 260 Fat 10g Fat(sats) 6g Carbs 40g

Todays review brings up the 100th review of Chocolate Mission in little more than just over three months..its been a good start and I must thank everyone that has contributed to the site so far. Todays offering (courtesy of the lovely people at CandyPirate !) really brought back memories, some of you may remember Pretzel Flipz being avalible in the UK during the 90s...I certainly do - and back then I can remember filling many an empty stomach with bags of these.

Unfortunately Nestle for some reason pulled these from the UK market - and after having a pack of these today im still quite unsure as to why. I was the lucky recipetent of a 56g bag of the Milk Chocolate variant - for those of you who are not familiar with the product these are simply salted pretzels coated in milk chocolate. 

Opening the packed I was instantly reunited with the sweet chocolaty smell that I remembered distinctly from years past - ahhh the nostalgia. Biting in to the first pretzel I was really suprised at the flavour, the chocolate despite being the coating took an instant back seat to the salty savoury pretzel taste. It was not until I had chewed and swallowed the mouthful until the sweet taste really kicked in. Its really quite a distinct combination that is really quite hard to describe - you have to taste it to really understand it. 

The texture of the product is really what shapes the taste - the chocolate coating really has to melt in the mouth abit before its flavour really comes to the fore; the salty pretzel taste really is the dominating aspect and it does take a good few seconds before the mouth really melts the chocolate enough for its flavour to emerge. For this reason im finding it hard to decide whether this is a savoury snack that has a chocolate hint to it..say like a chocolate crossaint; or whether this is a chocolate snack with a savoury element to it..say like the Take 5 bar....hmmm food for thought indeed. 

Overall this product is really quite a unique one. It blends a sweet and savoury like no other I have tried so far, this is not to say its not a good mix though. The chocolate although not the highest in quality is pleasent and the pretzel adds a really moreish aspect; before you know it the bag will be empty :) This is a product I really quite enjoyed, as I said I wouldnt know to reccomend it as a savoury or sweet snack but I guess it would do the job for a need for either. A unique product that is well worth giving a go, either to try for the first time or to reignite old memories; worthy of its respectable score. 

8.2 out of 10

Interested in trying Pretzel Flipz Milk Chocolate for yourself? Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

April 3rd: Kinder Bueno White *UPDATED MARCH 2011*

****UPDATE - MARCH 2011****

Kcal 110 Fat 7.0g Fat(sats) 3.3g Carbs 10.1g (per finger)

Back in January Ferrero announced the reformulation of their Kinder White bar with following statement to the trade - "The new improved recipe delivers the delicious intensity associated with white chocolate, plus a more creamy texture which melts smoothly in the mouth." Excited at the prospective changes, I today found one of the new formula bars on sale in my local Sainsbury's supermarket ... boy was I shocked at what I found!

Not only was the bar reduced in size down to 39.0g, but it soon became apparent that this reformulation in actual fact just meant an increase in the proportion of vegetable fat in the recipe. The thinness of the chocolate layer meant there was no detectable difference mouth feel wise - I don't get how it was supposed to established anyway given the outer dusting of cocoa was always going to add a relative coarseness. The only actual difference between the old and new bar that I perceived was that the chocolate did came across as a touch sweeter and sugar based in it's flavours.

Ferrero aren't the first, and neither will they be the last to both decrease the size of their products or increase the vegetable fat proportions. What gets me is that they have the cheek to position these changes as being driven by consumer demand. Sorry Ferrero but thats just cheap!

----- Kcal 120 Fat 7.6g Carbs 11.3g (per 21.5g finger)

Those of you who take an active interest in the confectionery market will be aware that a few weeks ago Ferrero announced they would be launching a 'white chocolate' version of the Kinder Bueno bar for the UK market...well being the impatient man I am I couldn't bear to wait and Ive been lucky enough to get my hands on one of these bars already. See above for proof ;)

Almost identically to the original bueno the bar comes in the form of two 21.5g fingers each with four sections.

Each finger is coated in what Kinder describe as 'chocolate meringue dust' - its a light brown coloured dust (like hot chocolate powder) that I will admit makes the bar look exceedingly good. This is where my positive things to say about this aspect of the bar run out though...this 'meringue' dust offers very very little in flavour and in all honest just causes one hell of a mess when you break the bar apart. When snapping the individual sections the brown powder just fell from the bar, making not only a mess of my fingers but also managing to get on my desk and clothes...not good. I understand its inclusion for its aesthetic appeal but its more of annoyance than anything and that's why the bars appearance score isn't good.

The white chocolate element is I'm sure what most of you are interested and for your information its not bad. It has an extremely similar texture to the chocolate on the original Bueno - rather smooth but verging on having a waxy texture that doesn't melt too well in the mouth. The actual flavour of the white chocolate isn't the strongest but has a slight vanilla hint which is quite pleasant. Most peoples complaints with white chocolate stem from the tendency for it to become sickly due to its generally high sugar content; this bar avoids this issue and its flavour although not the strongest is enjoyable.

The hazelnut creme and wafer elements are identical to what you find in the original Bueno. The wafer is pretty nondescript - pleasant enough but not going to set anyones world alight...it does its job competently but little else. The hazelnut creme is a different story altogether - its smooth, its creamy, in a word its wonderful and utterly indulgent experience.

Overall this latest offering from Ferrero is worth trying but far from being anything overly spectacular. The original elements that are kept from the Bueno are still really quite good - in terms of a creme filling not much else on the market gets near the Hazelnut centre...its really very good. The new elements this bar introduces are varying in terms of success. The meringue chocolate dust is not the best idea - visually impressive but practically not so; its unavoidably messy and basically just a real nuisance. The white chocolate element itself is an idea that is implemented with caution - its almost identical in texture to the original bar and a slight vanilla hint aside offers not too much differentiation in taste - its hardly poorly done but its a little unspectacular.

When this bar makes it to market here I would recommend you give it a go; I can see this being hugely popular due to the success of the Milk Chocolate Bueno - its not to far different from the original so if your a big fan I see no reason why you wont enjoy this white chocolate variant.

7.5 out of 10

April 2nd: Twix

Kcal 284 Fat 13.8g Carbs 38.0g

Looking over the banner of my website today I suddenly realised that despite having reviewed a few of the more obscure varieties from America, I had not actually reviewed one of the most popular bars available in the UK... the original Twix. The Twix Java currently holds pride of place in 4th of the Chocolate Mission rankings...so how would its UK original version fare?

Picking this up from my local shop today I realised that Mars had now made Twix available in a 'King Size' version - looking at the size and nutritional content of the original sized bar (56g) I decided that the original size would suffice and picked that up.

The 56g pack is split into two long fingers that obviously weigh 28g each. Each finger contains a crunchy shortbread like biscuit base with a layer of caramel placed on top, this of course is all coated in a layer of Milk Chocolate.

Opening the bar, as with the Twix Java I was not presented with a strong aroma; a slight sweet chocolate flavour aside it offered little in this department.

Breaking one of the fingers in half it was quickly apparent that the caramel layer was really quite viscuous and was unlike the runny caramel found in products like the Aero Caramel or the Cadburys Caramel; it was not quite as chewy as a Curly Wurly or a Chomp bar but rather a real stick on middle ground between the two. This worked really quite well in that it made sure that the bar was not overly messy to eat but also ensured the bar had a nice varied texture agaisnt the crunchy biscuit. In taste the caramel was very flavoursome, in terms of quality its extremely close to being on the same level as the Cadburys and Galaxy Caramel bars - really rather good!

The chocolate coating is probably the most disappointing aspect of the bar. Its not overly poor just I found its texture to be quite waxy, it quickly melted on my fingers when I was eating the bar despite the relative short amount of time it took to do so. Flavour wise its really nothing more or less than average milk chocolate - it did its job in terms of adding the chocolaty taste but really little in the way of exciting or luxurious flavours.

The base of the bar is an area where the American and UK version of the Twix differ. As seen in the Twix PB/Java reviews the American bases had a cookie based constituents and were chocolate flavoured; the UK original Twix I had today had a shortbread type base. I found the base of this bar to be really quite good - it was crunchy yet avoided being crumbly and messy, it offered a distinct sweet biscuity taste that had a hint of saltiness like all good shortbread. Not many bars really offer a biscuit like option like this on the market at present and it really rather owns this niche of the market at present.

Overall this is one of the better bars I have had during Chocolate Mission. Its only real shortcomings come in the form of the chocolate of the bar - its flavour and texture are both not up there with the better bars that currently are hosted in the top 5 which is the only thing really holding it back from being up amongst them. The caramel and biscuit base aspects of the bar are really well done and both add unique qualities in varying textures and flavours. If this bar sounds right up your street...it really probably is... and I recommend you try it out.

8.6 out of 10

April 1st: Tobelrone Milk Chocolate

Kcal 525 Fat 29.9g Carbs 60g

There are many examples of deep rooted symbolic branding in the confectionary market; the Cadburys Flake, KitKat Fingers to mention a few but none quite as symbolic as the triangular shaped Toblerone bar. The traiangle shapes represetent the Swiss mountains - the country in which Tobelrone was founded.

Now part of the wide Kraft Portfolio I today sampled the 35g Original Milk Chocolate variant. The bar itself was split into eight mini sized mountain shaped pieces as above. The bar is formed of solid milk chocolate with honey and almond flavoured nougat pieces.

The milk chocolate itself is really rather pleasent - I would say it is extremely similar in taste to Galaxy chocolate in that its smooth and has a distinct creamyness yet avoids being overly intense and is really quite good.

The nougat pieces are unlike anything I have had in any other bar where nougat is present. Instead of having a big thick helping running through the bar, smaller rice crispy sized pieces are disperesed throughout. This works really quite well and the smaller pieces remain flavoursome whilst adding a nice slightly converse grainy texture to the smooth chocolate. Flavourwise the nougat pieces are quite sweet yet due to their well proportioned nature they avoid becoming sickly - though the honey flavour is quite apparent the almond flavour isnt too forthcoming and this could be an area of improvement along with the rather small size of the bar.

Overall this is a really unique bar in more ways than just its striking shape. The concept of the smaller pieces of nougat are not an idea I have seen implemented in any other bar and its one that works really quite well. Though not overly amazing in really any criteria its chocolate is really quite good and its nougat concept is something different from the market norm; if you have never tried Toblerone before I would urge you to give it a go.

7.9 out of 10

March 31st: Aero Caramel

Kcal 210 Fat 11.2g Carbs 25g

This bar came in a 42g serving that was seperated into six sections. I say seperated, though in actual fact the surface of the chocolate was merely indented slightly and the caramel ran the whole way through the bar; this proved to be rather messy when I tried to split the bar into its six setions. The bar itself has two seperate layers composed of a base of bubbly airated chocolate with a thick helping of golden caramel running above it; all this of course is coated in a milk chocolate coating. The base of the bar is really quite pleasent, it is consistant with other Aero bars and has that delighful melt on the tongue feel that ensures a smooth pleasent initial chocolate flavour. 

The chocolate itself is pretty standard Nestle milk chocolate...not at all bad and due to its pleasent melting aspect its really quite enjoybale. By far and away the strongest flavour of this bar is of course the caramel; which is quite literally packed in to the brim. The bar I had was so packed that the rather thin chocolate shell was broken in a couple of places and the caramel was oozing out all over the inside of the wrapper - hardly the most appealing and annoyingly messy. The caramel flavour itself was honestly not the best I have tasted. Due to its sheer volume and sugaryness it quickly became rather sickly and after only three blocks (half a bar!!) I really felt like eating no more. Due to the nature of the research I did finish the bar but by the last block the taste was really quite monotomous and not one I was particularly enjoying.

Overall the actual Aero aspect of this bar (the airated base) was really quite pleasent and I can see how this would appeal to many. Unfortunately the actual caramel aspect of this bar is quite poor in comparison to others I have tasted during Chocolate Mission. This bar would benefit from having a little less caramel thats taste is more concentrated and flavoursome like comparative Galaxy/Dairy Milk bars. Worth a try if your a diehard fan of Aero but if not I would reccomend other Caramel bars above this one. 

7.3 out of 10