April 23rd: Cadburys Caramello (Aus)

Kcal 265 Fat 12.5g Fat(sats) 7.7g Carbs 34.0g

Chocolate Mission's top spot currently is jointly held by the Cadburys Caramel, Galaxy Caramel and Snickers bar; when I came across this bar (at http://www.sanaza.co.uk/) curiosity got the better of me and I just had to see whether the Aussies' got such a good deal with the Cadburys Caramel as we do here in the UK.

The Aussie bar includes some differences to the UK version: firstly you will obviously notice the slight change in the name with the slightly less long winded 'Caramello'. Another slight difference comes in the size - the UK version one portion version weighs in at 50g whilst down under they get 55g.

The bar is also proportioned slightly differently, the UK bar is split into six blocks whilst the 'Caramello' is in eight. The blocks remain about the same thickness in term of chocolate, but in the Caramello there is less caramel placed in each. Aroma-wise the bar smelt almost identical to its UK twin, that ever so identifiable sweet Dairy Milk smelt was present - this was one of very few actual similarities.

There were a few differences; the chocolate although the same thickness felt lighter and less thick in texture once melted in the mouth. In flavour it wasnt too different from our UK Dairy Milk but it was ever so slightly more sweet and didnt have quite the rich creamy flavour of our UK Dairy Milk - it was still good...but just not as good as our UK equivalent.

It was a similar story with the flavour of the caramel - its was alot darker in colour relative to our golden coloured caramel and had more of a strong burnt flavour to it meaning it had less of a sweet edge. Personally this wasnt to my preference... again though when put in perspective this was still great tasting.

Overall I was quite suprised at the level of variation of flavours I could distinguish between the UK and Australian version. The Australian version dosent quite have the balance of flavours as well proportioned in comparison with the UK version. The flavours of the chocolate and caramel arent quite the same standard and im theorising this is solely just due to the obvious different sources of ingredients. Theres no doubting this is still a great chocolate bar - the flavours are still good and the texture of the chewy caramel is still luxurious. At 55g hunger is definately more than satisfied - if you ever get a chance to sample this I urge you to do so - its interesting see the differences but at the heart of it its still a great chocolate bar. Why not enter the Chocolate Mission competition to be in with the chance of winning this bar and many others!? :D

8.5 out of 10

April 23rd: Competition Time

Its finally time for the first ever Chocolate Mission Competition....
The prizes?.... Chocolate of course
Entry fee?...dont be silly its Free!

To have a chance of winning one of two boxes of chocolate goodies simply answer the two questions correctly below to be entered into the draw:

Q1. As of the 23.04.2008 what bar/s (bit of a hint there lol) currently hold the title of best chocolate bar i.e. Have the highest score?

Q2. As of the 23.04.2008 what bar is currently holding the Chocolate Mission Wooden Spoon i.e. The lowest score?

All answers to be sent to Chocomission@gmail.com

What Can you win? By answering Correctly you will be placed in a random draw to win one of two of the following boxs


Box 1: US Mix - Your chance to sample some of the best chocolate from America

1x Reese's Peanut Butter Cups
1x Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups
1x Hersheys Watchmacallit
1 x 42g M&Ms Peanut Butter

Box 2: Cadburys Mix- Your chance to sample some of Cadburys finest from across the globe

1 x Cadburys Black Forest (South African)
1 x Cadburys Caramello (Australian)
1 x Cadburys Snack (South African)
1 x Cadburys Double Choc (UK)

Entries close at 10am 03.05.2008 - and the winners will be notified
Open to the UK & Ireland
GOOD LUCK and keep tuning in to Chocolate Mission :D

Small Print:
1. None of your contact Details will be used or sold on to any 3rd party companies - this is a competition solely for fun.
2. As the questions state the answers are to be given to reviews posted before 23.04.2008...any reviews posted after will not be taken into account.
3. Only one entry per person
4. Rules/Prizes of the competition may be changed at any time to my discrection..theres blatantly details I have forgotten
5. As it says above this is only open to the UK & Ireland
6. My say on anything to do with this competition is FINAL

April 22nd: Montezuma's "Gourmet Gorilla"

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

Today I sampled yet another bar from the Montezuma's speciality gift box - The intriguingly named "Gourmet Gorilla" is a 45g bar of 'Organic Dark Chocolate with Almonds & Hazelnuts' - sounds 'the nuts' to me :) .... ok yes that was bad.

Again this bar as with the others in the giftset came in a swish looking box and plastic covering. Looking at the ingredients list on the back the bar includes a whole FIVE ingredients...yes five Oragnic Dark Chocolate 92% (Cocoa Solids 73%, sugar & vanilla), organic Almonds 4% & Organic Hazelnuts 4%. I know I say it everytime I review a Montezuma's bar but I think its amazing how simple they keep their bars and im sure this is why their bars always tatse so fresh due to their lack of preservatives and other rubbish - I definately commend them for this.

The bar although again lacking in real presentation finesse looked particularly appertising as I could make out the whole nuts that were dispersed in the chocolate. To me they looked really fresh and the fact they were whole and not chopped made me think that these were genuinely high quality natraul nuts. As with all dark chocolate I let the chocolate slowly melt on my tongue to let the flavour develop; the chocolate slowly melted away and developed a strong yet suprisingly creamy cocoa flavour that as you can imagine with the 73% cocoa solids was really quite rich. The chocolate tasted absolutely delicous and Montezuma's genuinely hold the crown for best dark chocolate I have tasted to date on Chocolate Mission.

Moving onto the nuts aspect of the bar I have a few slight issues. Due to their freshness they added a real genuine fresh crunch to most bites which agaisnt the smoothness of the melting chocolate was really quite good. However when it came to actual flavour they did little to enchance the experience. I genuinely could not taste the difference between two the different nuts. If I was to undertake a blind test I would have struggled; they simply didnt do enough for the taste of the bar and had very very little impact agaisnt the rich tasting chocolate.

Overall again its a struggle to score this bar - theres no doubting it tastes great but it simply dosentdeliver the nutty flavour to the extent you would expect. Simply put If you were wanting a good tasting chocolate bar you would be more than satisfied....if you wanted a great tasting nutty chocolate bar you would be left disappointed. I think its scores a fair one in that it dosent quite deliver on what it promises..but its still one of (if not 'the') best dark chocolate I have tasted.

7.5 out of 10

April 21st: Guylian Sea Shell Truffles

Kcal 546 Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ??? (per 100g)

Theres no doubting that these are great looking truffles. I have reviewed two of the Guylian truffle bars in the last few months and both were equally well presented. I dont quite know what it is but the marbled effect of the swirling mix of white and milk chocolate just makes these truffles look stunning and the pattern of the shells are equally as professionally etched into the surface. As I said with the Guylian bars, if Chocolate Mission was about finding the 'best looking' product then we could probably stop right now.

As we all know though Chocolate Mission is far more about just looking good - we are that vain now :) theres far more to it than that. I picked these up in a handy 65g pack which included six seashells. Six was a good number - more than enough to satisfy hunger though by the sixth the taste was a tad sickly.

For those of you who arent aware of the product, Guylian Sea Shells are chocolate coated (white and milk) praline truffles. These truffles didnt have a particulalry distinctive smell which was suprising due to the high praline content; their was a meager cocoa smell but nothing more on offer in that department.

Eating the truffles the first thing that I noticed was the thinness of the chocolate coating - though it differed from truffle to truffle due to the changes in shape, in most the layer was too thin and meant that the pure chocolate taste was quickly gone before it really registered on the tongue; saying that the chocolate was of a good standard and the blend of white and milk provided a nice mix of creamyness and flavor depth. As you can imagine with such a thin coating the overriding flavour is the paline centre.

Texture wise the filling was far more viscuous than the truffle centre of Lindt Lindor and had a slightly grainy texture in comparison. Personally for my liking the centre wasnt smooth enough for a truffle and was too thick - Tastewise the centre had a distinct nuttyness that was the right balance of being creamy but full of flavour. Unfortunately I found this flavour to get a bit monotomous nearing the end of the sixth truffle.

Overall theres no doubt these are nice truffles, though I think they suit a different purpose than your average chocolate bar. Personally I think these are the ideal chocolate to hand out after a meal with friends or to give as a gift - but not to sit down an eat six yourself; the flavour although pleasent does beomes a tad monotomous and they seem a product that seem more suiable for an occassion when their taste can be savoured and their appearance appreciated. These definately fit a need in the occasions I have described above, but I wouldnt describe them as filling the need state we are really looking for a Chocolate Mission - nice chocolates that are pretty to look at - why not treat a special someone to a box of these you could do alot worse ;)

7.9 out of 10

April 20th: Hershey's Take 5

Kcal 210 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 25.0g

Yet another goodie from the awesome people at Candy Pirate - The 'Take 5' name refers to its five main core ingredients: a salted Pretzel base, a layer of Peanut Butter, a layer of caramel, chopped peanuts all covered in a milk chocolate base.

Those of you may recall that I reviewed the 'Take 5 Peanut Butter' earlier this year...you also may recall I had a slight issue with the sweetness of the layers mixing with the salted pretzel. Luckily I can confirm that this wasnt such an issue with this bar for reasons I will go into.

In weight the bar was actually a few grams heavier than the peanut butter version - though not very noticeable in actual size I was definately a little more satisfied after eating this version than the Peanut Butter - though I still wanted more.As you can see above the bar is split into two funny pebble shaped pieces - as you can also see by the cross section the layering isnt quite as you would think. The bar actually blends the two layers of the peanut butter and caramel - this makes for a slighty salted nutty caramel flavour layer that I would aliken to the peanut butter caramel you get with the Twix PB. This blend actually works quite well and it makes for a nice slightly chewy texture agaisnt the crunchyness of the pretzel and its particularly the different textures featured in the bar that make it so intresting and unique.

Unlike the 'Peanut Butter' version the bar is coated in milk chocolate - the standard of the chocolate isnt half bad and though far from being the standard of say Lindt it does a nice job in providing a slightly sweet flavour that balances out the saltyness of the pretzel and nutty layers well.

Overall whether you like this bar or not really depends on if you enjoy the mixture of salty and sweet flavours. For me the bar actually does a good of balancing the two correctly - and the chocolate coating is far superior to peanut flavoured one in the 'Peanut Butter variant'. The only thing that stops this bar being a top runner is really the size, appearance and hunger fufilling factors that come along with it....simply put the bar could be bigger, look better and satisfy hunger more - if anything the saltyness just leaves you wanting more. I cannot fault it for taste though and its definately a product worth checking out though if you like the sound of it.

7.9 out of 10

Interested in buying a Hershey's Take 5? Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

April 19th: Lindt Lindor Peanut Butter Truffles

Kcal 210 Fat 17.0g Fat(sats) 10.0g Carbs 14.0g (Per 3 truffles)

I just couldnt help myself walking past Whittards today, the Lindt Lindor Pick-a-mix stand got the best of me and I nipped in and helped myself to a good selection of the varieties on offer.

Ever since my fellow chocolate blogger Terry over at http://www.thechocolatereview.net/ mentioned the existance of the Peanut Butter Lindor Ive been obsessed with trying them and finally today was the day.

As you can see above the truffles came in the rather smart foil wrappers - unwrapping the first one I was suprised at how evident the peanut butter smell was - it was extremely pungent and immediately reminded me of the scent of Reese's peanut butter.

I slightly chilled these truffles and as you can see above the truffle centre became extremely thick and firm - taking the first truffle in my mouth I first nibbled away at the chocolate...yep..what I expected smooth creamy Lindt milk chocolate - full of flavour and some of the best on the market. The chocolate was made all the tastier as it had a slight peanut butter undertone where the flavour of the centre had obviously been absorbed into the chocolate! Nice! After nibbling away half the chocolate I put the rest of the truffle in my mouth and let it slowly melt away on my tongue and finally tasted the peanut butter centre.

Similar to the original milk chocolate Lindor the texture was more akin to butter - it was extremely smooth...unfortunately too smooth for my liking. If I was to put the texture in terms of peanut butter smoothness it wouldnt be smooth peanut butter...it wouldnt be extra smooth peanut butter....it would be 'super super smooth' peanut butter. This meant the flavour was a little wishy washy in its presence - it had a strong satisfying nutty flavour, but its presence left the tastebuds all too soon because of the nature of the texture.

Overall these are good tasting truffles...they would have a hard job not being with such tasty chocolate!! Unfortunately they didnt quite live up to my expectations as the peanut butter truffle centre was a slight let down. I think generally what Reese's does so well with its Peanut Butter filling is that it has a slightly grainy texture that really convinves you of its nut content - if anything I would say the balance of butter and peanuts isnt quite right in these truffles and they would benefit greatily from having more nuts and less smoothness..I guess we can ony dream of a hybrid of Lindt milk chocolate and Reese's Peanut Butter.

7.7 out of 10

April 18th: Fry's Orange Cream

Kcal 210 Fat 6.9g Carbs 36.0g ** Update 21/10/10 - New photos

Its been a long time since I last reviewed a Fry's bar. Looking back at the review the score said it all, though if you care for me to elaborate I thought the fondant was pretty horrible and very sickly in taste. That combined with the chocolate not being the best (to put it mildly) meant it gave the Chocolate Mission wooden spoon holder a good run for its money. That said, everyone deserves a second chance, and though I have been putting this off for a while now today I dipped back into the Fry's range taking a look at this Orange cream bar.

The bar was comprised exactly the same as the original bar - dark chocolate covering a fondant centre (obviously this variant had orange flavoured fondant). Opening the very 'classic' looking wrapper the bar was presented in the same style as the original. A long bar split into six blocks with the 'Fry's' logo etched into the surface. What again annoyed me with this bar was the splitting of the blocks - the fondant ran all the way through the bar and the chocolate was only split half way in depth - simply put the block splits are more just lines thinly carved into the surface and not actual split, and thus making it messy to break apart.

Breaking the first block away (with difficulty) the fondant centre immediately made its presence known- its aroma was striking and its sweet orangey fruity smell was enticing.

The dark chocolate again was really rather uninspiring. It lacked any depth of flavour and was largely tasteless. Luckily for this bar the orange fondant centre was quite the opposite and established a fresh fruity flavour. Similarly to the 'original' variant the fondant was very sweet but the orange component prevented it from becoming sickening in taste. Texture wise the fondant was slightly thicker and less sticky than the 'original' bar which is to its credit; unfortunately though the chocolate retained its waxy feel meaning there is still room for improvement in this department.

Overall this is streets ahead of its 'Original' variant equivalent. The fondant avoids being sickening in taste and its orangey taste its more akin to a clean fresh sorbet. Unfortunately the chocolate coating is still lacking in any sort of depth in terms of flavour or texture and is really the limiting factor in this bar. As I have said this bar is far superior to the 'original' variant but I'm sure there are far better chocolate orange bars out there.

6.4 out of 10

April 17th: Reese's Peanut Butter Big Cup

Kcal 210 Fat 12g Fat(sats) 4g Carbs 22g

Yet another variation of the Reese's Peanut Butter Cups this time in the form of the 'Big Cup'.

The 'Big Cup' is simply just a big version of the original peanut butter cup and is pretty much the equivalent of two standard cups rolled into one.

Out the package it looked huge - the package says 'crammed full of peanut butter'...this is not misleading - when I split it in half the peanut smell just filled the room and I was amazed at the sheer volume of the peanut butter center.

Though im not 100% sure of the actual proportioning im pretty sure that the peanut butter to chocolate ratio is far higher in this big cup than the standards - personally I dont think this is such a bad thing. Anyones who read my reviews on Reese's products will know that I love the peanut butter in their products but I generally feel the chocolate used is bland and poor....well its a similar story here the chocolate is overly flavourless but this is more than made up for by the sheer delightful smooth nutty creamyness of the peanut butter - its a flavour to savour.

Overall I have to say I would prefer having one of these 'Big Cups' to a standard Reese's two pack. For a start its all a bit less fidly but I guess the real clincher is the vast quantity of peanut butter you get in this format - it means that the sub standard chocolate is really just less of an issue and you get more of the creamy nutty goodness. As far as im aware these are quite freely avalible so if you see one around I would reccomend you give it a try especially if your a Reese's fan.

8.6 out of 10

Fancy tackling a Reese's Peanut Butter Big Cup??!! Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

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

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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