May 26th: Toblerone Fruit & Nut

Kcal 495 Fat 25.5g Fat(sats) 15.0g Carbs 61.0g (per 100g)

This review of the Toblerone Fruit and Nut caps off my reviews of the Toblerone range. 'Save the best till last'....has always been a philsophy I have lived by, but its been more just conincedence that the last bar I have sampled in the range has turned out to be my favourite.

The fruit and nut bar dosent actually contain any variation of nut type from the original - it simply just has the same almond ingredient. However, the nut pieces are noticeably larger and more generous in proportion. The fruit element of the bar is comprised of raisins that encompass 12% of the total bar...these again are very generously disperesed with each chunk containg 2-3.

We have long established now that I really like the design of Toblerone...asthetically it looks unique and intresting but what most impressed me with this bar was the way it avoided breaking up unevenly. Despite their chunky contents of the nuts and fruit - each chunk broke off with relative ease and same size. The bar had a pleasant cocoa smell that had a slight nutty hint to it.

So the bar looked good, smelt good and its ingredients proportioned well...so how did it taste?....well it tasted pretty damn awesome aswell. The chocolate was the pleasant milk chocolate that you get the with the original...it had a creamy taste with a hint of honey, only made better with the small but sweet little nougat pieces. The nougat also added a nice little chewyness to the texture once the chocolate had melted in the mouth - great stuff.

If I have had one gripe with the Toblerone range its been the lack of nutty almond flavour. This thankfully is put right here with the almond pieces being larger in size and more generous in proportion. Its always a worry with raisins in chocolate that they get lost in the taste but this wasnt the case - they had a nice sugary fruity flavour and had a distinct slightly chewy texture.

As aforementioned I was extremely impressed with the dispersion of the fruit and nut elements in the bar..each block seem to have an equal share of both which is far better than having one block crammed full of one or the other.

Overall the crunchy nuts and soft raisins agaisnt the creamy chocolate and chewy nougat makes for an outstanding combination of textures and taste. Fruit and nut can be quite hard to pull off, and with other bars I have reviewed before they have struggled with ill proportioned and bland ingredients...this isnt the case here and its definately the best fruit and nut bar I have had to date. Another thing that suprised me was that this had the lowest Kcal per 100g of the whole Toblerone range...thats just another excuse for you to go out and try this one :) . Toblerone fans this is a must....for everyone else...its still a must - this storms into the top 5!

8.8 out of 10

May 25th: Reese's Peanut Butter Cups Miniatures

Kcal 210 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 22.0g (per 5 cups - 39g)

Now arent these the cutest things you have ever seen?! These came into possesion courtesy of the kind people at www.sweetstall.com in a 150g bag which ecquates to about 4 servings of 5 cups...so 20 in all.

Being a massive fan of all things peanut butter I could hardly contain myself when I opened the plastic packet and an initial waft of peanut butter overcame my senses...these smelt soooo good and were eminating a lively and fragrant nutty aroma - very very enticing.

Despite their relative small size I was impressed to find each cup came protected in both a foil and paper cup wrapping...this not only looked smart but ensured that cups maintained their freshness and shape.

As you can see from the cross section above each cup had a relatively thick chocolate coating. In these minatures the proportion of chocolate to peanut butter certainly does favour the chocolate side of things - especially when you compare these to the 'Big Cup' versions which are litterally crammed to the brim with the creamy stuff.

This effected the texture and taste of the cups slightly in comparison to their standard sized siblings. The thicker chocolate made for a initial pleasant crunchy element, providing a nice 'cracking' feel. Unfortunately the overall texture was slightly offset in comparison. The chocolate in these miniatures is again the same slight disappointment it is in every Reese's product...slightly lacking in flavour with a weired waxy texture. Unfortunately as it is slightly more prominant in this variant it is at its detriment, as the waxy texture masked some of the amazing peanut butter flavour. The peanut butter despite lacking a bit in proportionality still had a lovely slightly grainy texture that gaves it that authentic nutty but creamy taste.

Overall these are a variation that certainly smell and look fantastic. They are alot less messy to handle than the original two cups format and just perfect if you would like just a small chocolate snack. Five at a time seems a good number and certainly went away to subsiding the hunger I had. Unfortunately the proportioning of chocolate and peanut butter wasnt quite to my taste - I would prefer more peanut butter...however despite this I still very much enjoyed these and would recommend them to any Reese's/peanut butter/nuts fan.

8.4 out of 10

Fancy getting your own 150g bag of Reese's miniature Cups? Click on the www.sweetstall.com link above and check out this and other great candy and chocolate items!

May 24th: Nestle Kit Kat

UPDATE: 24/07/10 - I've added in a picture of the Kit Kat Chunky + updated my review with my thoughts on how it compares to the four finger.

Kcal 233 Fat 12.2g Fat(sats) 8.3g Carbs 28.2g

Now I honestly don't think there can be too many people alive in the UK today that have never at one time in their life had a Kit Kat - if we are being truthful these are probably more likely to grace the average persons lunchbox rather than an apple. Whilst the Kit Kat has iconic status in the UK, you might also want to experiment by typing Kit Kat into google. You will be literally amazed at the number of hits of websites you will get in the Far East - they seem to have more variations of the Kit Kat than we have alternatives in our whole confectionery range here in the UK. So how does the original version we have here in the UK size up on the Chocolate Mission ranking then!? ...sorry to spoil the surprise if you have avoided the end but I can confirm it does pretty good.

As you can see above I sampled this in the 'classic' four finger product (45.5g). This did seem rather large in proposition, but I was left wanting more after polishing the fourth finger off. The design of the bar has always been pretty flawless - personally I'm happy with either a four or a Chunky, though I do have a soft spot for the iconic status of the four finger. The finger design is flawless in concept and makes for a handy and nice looking product. The inscribed 'Kit Kat' symbol placed on top, in my opinion always makes Kit Kats look extra classy look. One thing that is consistent across both formats, is that the foil wrappers do a great job of keeping the products both looking and smelling fresh. The Kit Kat I ate for today's review smelt both chocolatey and creamy with just a hint of savoury biscuit.

As I'm sure we are all aware Kit Kats constitute of 'layered wafers surrounded and coated in milk chocolate'. The bar has a nice texture to it with the base having a slightly thicker layer of chocolate - personally I like nibbling off the thin chocolate layer on top and then eating the exposed wafer with the rest of the chocolate base. The wafer had a nice light crispness which avoided melting away too quickly in the mouth - it lasted sufficiently long enough to provide a subsequently pleasant flavour. The chocolate was typical of other Nestle products. No it wasn't special by any means, but it had a smooth flavour flow that had a decent balance of milk and cocoa flavours. Unlike some wafer products, I always find that the Kit Kat wafers always deliver a decent amount of flavour. Though I would say the Chunky format is better at delivering long lasting flavours, this four finger bar still managed to generate the desired wheat biscuit flavours. The contrast of savoury wafer and sweet chocolate are what make the Kit Kat so great.

Overall there's a reason why the Kit Kat has such a iconic status ... it tastes great ... it looks great and its just an overly fun product. For me it's only slight issues comes in that it could be a little more substantial - whenever I eat a four finger or a Chunky I still feel like I could eat another. I'm not sure I should even bother recommending this because chances are that you would have tried a Kit Kat sometime in your life. Just to be on the safe side though, I genuinely recommend this product to anyone - go on 'have a break - have a Kit Kat'.... I had to get that in somewhere ;) very close to breaking into the Chocolate Mission top 5!

8.3 out of 10

May 24th: Montezuma's "Jungle Fever"

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

Its been awhile since I dipped into the Montezuma's range and judging by the amount I enjoyed tonights bar its been far too long.

The crazy Montezuma's range names continue with this bar named "Jungle Fever"...it encompasses 'organic milk chocolate with fruit & nut'. To be more specific the bar contains milk chocolate with 34% solids, organic walnuts (10%), organic coconuts (8%), organic sultanas (8%) and lastly organic apricots (3%)....frankly this bars crammed full of bits and bobs and as you can see above it makes the appearance of the bar look rather intresting.

Despite this bar also being 45g (the same as all the other bars in the speciality gift set) it did a geat job of satisfying my hunger...more so than some of the others - im sure this is accountable due to the extra chunky elements of the nuts and fruit.

As with the other Montezuma's bars this variant didnt hit all the right notes in the aroma category. Its smell wasnt overly strong...just a subtle milky cocoa smell with no real evidence of any nuts or fruity notes...a bit disappointing.

Due to the large nature of the fruits and nuts pieces the bar didnt break up amazingly well....it still split relatively easily into six blocks but they were random in size.

The thing that amazed me about this bar was the variance in flavours that each block had. The chocolate was simply divine - it reminded me an awful lot of Galaxy chocolate...milky, creamy and smooth with just a slight vanilla note. The walnut and coconut elements were fresh in flavour and had their typical strong nutty flavours. The walnuts were slightly woody in taste whilst the coconut had a slight milky edge...both were delicious. The raisin and apricot pieces also had refreshing full bodied flavours. In most fruit and nut bars the inclusion of raisins have tended to be relatively flavourless and not added anything to the bar...this wasnt the case here...the raisins had a nice slighty sugary fruity taste. The apricots also had a sweet fruity flavour and added a nice chewy element to the texture.

Overall this is definately the best tasting 'fruit & nut' bar on the market. Unfortunately due to its mediocre look and smell it dosent quite out score the Cadbury's Fruit & Nut - but if your looking solely tastewise you can do little wrong here. The organic nature of the ingredients makes for a fresh tasting full flavoured bar...my only slight qualm comes in that there are some slight issues with the proportioning of the ingredients...some blocks are packed full of fruit and nut whilst others are just plain chocolate...its not a major issue though and its one I can certainly live with. If your a fan of fruit and nut bars I definately recommend this bar...its a premiuim price - but its a premiuim taste...good work Montezuma's.

8.2 out of 10

May 23rd: M&M's Chocolate / Dark Chocolate / Almond

Over the past few days - with a helping hand from my chums at CandyPirate I have been sampling some of the remaining M&M lines I had not reviewed. Those of you who have been reading Chocolate Mission may recall that I have previously reviewed the 'Peanut', 'Crispy' and 'Peanut Butter' variants already - all to relative success with them all scoring in the upper 7s or low 8s.

Today sees me review the UK original 'choco' version and both the 'Dark Chocolate' & 'Almond' variants both of which are from the US (to get hold of them yourselves pay CandyPirate a visit!)


Kcal 212 Fat 9.6g Carbs 30.6g

I picked up this 45g bag of original 'chocolate' flavoured M&M's in my local newsagent - to my knowledge this variant is the main seller of the M&M's brand here in the UK. This single serving bag was plentiful and was more than adequete doing a job curing my hunger.

The packet as you can see above is very friendly looking though unfortunately did not give the product an overly fresh smell...as I later found with the other variants aswell the aroma was an issue throughout with the M&M's line - with none of them being overly appertising.

In appearace these were varied and colourful - Im always impressed with the look of M&M's..I find the variety of colours intresting and appealing on the eye - the embossed 'M' found on each one also adds to what is already a classy look.

I found the shells on these suprisingly dense and they gave each M&M a resounding crunch. The chocolate inside was smooth in texture especially when melted in the mouth - the resulting combination of these two textures was a pleasant one though nothing amazingly luxurious.

This variant definately had the strongest tasting outer shells - the flavour was very sweet and gave an after taste that semmed slightly saccharine based... which wasnt the nicest. Luckily the chocolate element was the strongest flavour and masked the slightly over sweetened outer layer - the chocolate tasted very milk based which made for a smooth but slightly bland taste.

Overall though far from being bad these are probably the least favourite of the entire range I have sampled so far. If it came to an 'either/or ' situation between these and Smarties..the Smarties would win every time as they just seemed to have a better tasting sugar coated layer and also Smarties have the added 'orange' flavour variant going on. As I said these are hardly a bad product but just suffer due to their being better alternatives on the market.

7.0 out of 10


Kcal 240 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 33.0g

As I said above these are currently only avalible in the US and came to me in a plentiful 47.9g packet. This was a larger serving size than any of the other single serving variants packets.. which was slighty suprising as you would expect with a dark chocolate product that the flavour would be richer - therefore meaning you would want slightly less...as you can guess the large sized pack made for a hunger fufiling product.

I think we have established now that im a fan of the look of M&M's...these looked exactly the same as the original chocoate variant though with the slight edition of the word 'dark' which was printed under the familiar 'M'.

I found the smell of these disappointing in that it wasnt any different from the original M&Ms - a very faint sweet cocoa smell but that aside no noticeable 'dark chocolate' distinguishable aroma.

Though the ingredient list didnt specify a solids level the chocolate is described as 'semi sweet' and this was exaclty how it tasted. The chocolate was ever so slightly more bitter and when combined with the sugar coating had a slight nutty note. Texturewise the difference in chocolate type didnt affect the melting point of the inside chocolate and these still melted at a nice rate in the mouth.

Overall these wernt quite the dark chocolate experience I was quite hoping for. I personally would have preffered the flavour to be richer and more cocoa based, though I can understand to a certain extent to why this has been limited in this product...to make a broader consumer based frendlier product...if it was darker in flavour it would probably be too niche for a mass market confectionary product. These are a nice variation from the original...which I personally prefer...they are a different proposition and worth a look at it.

7.5 out of 10

Kcal 200 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 3.5g Carbs 21.0g

Another imported variant from the US and one that came in a 37.1g single serving packet. Compared to the rest of the range (especially the nut variants) these were the lowest in calories and saturated fat...so I guess if your going to have M&M's on a diet these are the ones to have.

As you can see above these were similar in look to the 'peanut' variant - though they were relatively bigger in size....with some even being about the size of 5/6 standard M&M's (or one mini creme egg if you would rather!).

Although still not overly impressive these had the best aroma of the range to date and offered a slight nutty smell. As you will probably be aware by now the smell really is something that let down the M&M's range as a whole.

The relative difference in size of these was accountable by the fact these contained whole almonds. Despite this the chocolate layer was still relatively thick - the flavour was still substantial enough to provide a nice smooth milky flavour. Of course the main focus of this product is the almond element...and it dosent let it down. The nuts provide a distinct crunchyness to the texture. They have a very pleasant nutty taste which has a slightly buttery flavour that differentiaties it from other nut containing bars which are normally all hazelnut.

Overall these are the best I have tasted in the M&M's range so far. The almond element is executed brilliantly..they taste fantastic and fresh and add a nice crunchy texture. The almonds definately benefit from being implemented in a 'whole nut' manner rather than a chopped/crushed manner that you find in alot of other bars that contain nuts. I whole heartedly recommend these to any M&M's or nuts fans.

8.3 out of 10

Want to try the delcious Dark Chocolate M&M's or tasty Almond M&M's for yourself? Head over to CandyPirate....Buy American Candy & Foods in the UK!!

May 22nd: Riesen

Kcal 170 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 3.5g Carbs 28.0g (per 4)

Over the past few weeks I have had an ever increasing amount of requests to expand my Chocolate Mission journey further a field to sample some of Europes finest. Though I didnt have to import these (I found them in Gatwick Airport!) Riesen chocolates are made by Storck and are most commonly found in their country of origin Germany.

Riesen (pronounced 'Reason') chocolates are chocolate covered hard caramels and are sold in the forms of individually wrapped bar and bag forms. I sampled these in two 52.5g bars comprising of 5 chocolates. I ate them leisurely over the course of two days...mostly with my morning/afternoon cups of coffee and inbetween meals...bassically fitting a purpose as a nice chocolaty snack...which it did rather nicely. In appeareance they arent the most exciting though the wrapper of the product is quite smart and pleasing on the eye.

Im going to give you all a tip here...do not...i repeat DO NOT under any cicrumstances put these anywhere near a fridge....not unless you would like cracked teeth that is. I decribed these as 'hard caramels' for a reason and its because they are hard! As with all the candy I eat I chose to store these in the fridge at first which certainly proved to be a hell of an error when I ate my first one....they were rock solid and impossible to eat...little advice store these at room temperature!

When I did get around to enjoying these in their correct state I was on the whole impressed. Despite being a slightly darker positioned chocolate proposition (45% Cocoa solids) they had a pleasant sweet chocolate smell. The chocolate had a smooth texture that melted in the mouth nicely. Tastewise it had a nice sweet creamy taste that had the slightest burnt like note that gave it a slightly darker flavour.

The hard caramel centres are the key focus of the product and are the dominating flavour due to their firm texture. They are very chewy... but not overly so - my favoured method of eating these was placing one in my mouth and letting the chocolate slowly melt away from the caramel centre enjoying that flavour first...I then slowly sucked away at the hard caramel centre - glorious. The caramel struck a nice balance of being sweet and buttery and had a slight hint of saltyness - its flavour was neither too strong or too weak and seemed to strike a nice balance.

Overall these are a nice snacking chocolate that I really enjoyed having a few of time to time. Due to the nature of their texture I wouldnt overly recommend sitting down with a big bag of these and eating your way through ten in a sitting...not if you dont want jaw ache that is :D ... however enjoyed in context...a few at a time these are great tasting enjoyable chocolates. They have a slightly darker positioning chocolatewise but maintain a sweet creamy taste that I believe can be enjoyed by all. If your a fan of caramel then I would very much recommend these to you.

8.1 out of 10

May 21st: Hershey's Kissables

Kcal 200 Fat 10.0g Fat(sats) 6.0g Carbs 30.0g

Another day and another helping hand on my Chocolate Mission from my friends at CandyPirate who provided me with todays reviewed Hershey's Kissables.

These are much along the same premise as Nestle Smarties and Mars M&Ms in that they are sugar coated chocolate pieces. I sampled these in a well proportioned and hunger fufilling 42g individual serving bag...this seemed just the right amount to me.

As you can see above these were certinaly colourful and each piece had a particularly vibrant appearance. Looking at the ingredients list these have been achieved of course using artifical colours, however I think this can excused as I cant see what harm they could potentially cause - besides they give the product a glam, fun and unique asthetic look.

Opening the bag I cant say I particularly enjoyed the smell that emerged...it was a rather stagnant cocoa smell that really wasnt the most appertising...they just didnt smell the freshest product and this may have been down to the lack of foil wrapping.

Texturewise these were good. The outer shell had a nice thick crunch when bitten into and provided a nice variation of textures with the smooth chocolate encased inside. My preferred method of eating these was much the same as when I reviewed Smarties...taking 3-4 at a time and letting them slowly heat up in my mouth so the chocolate inside the shells melted - I then bit into the pieces releasing the melted chocolate...mmm delish! The only slight disappointment in texture came in the fact that some of the sugary shells grated the inside of my mouth as they had a slight grainy surface...though this has to be said this wasnt a major issue.

Tastewise as with M&Ms the outside shell was relativly tasteless apart from a slight sweet taste. The chocolate contained inside was of standard Hersheys quality - very sweet but milky and smooth tasting. Though these as a whole were quite a sweet product, as I have said the42g serving seemed just about the right amount - though I must say anymore and the flavour may have become overly sweet and sickly.

Overall these are quite an acquired taste as with most Hershey's but I really quite enjoyed them. The smell of the product really let it down in the scoring matrix but this aiside they have a unique fun look and have all the same qualities of nicely contrasting textures as you find in Smarties and the M&Ms range. I would recommend these to anyone who is a fan of the aforementioned or anyone who generally enjoys Hershey's chocolate.

7.2 out of 10

Want to try out the Hershey's Kissables for yourself? Head to CandyPirate - who are one of the biggest American Candy & Foods importers in the UK!

May 20th: Cadbury Timeout

Kcal 180 Fat 10.4g Carbs 19.8g

The Timeout seems to be one of the most unloved Cadburys products on the market...its never advertised, its had the same wrapper for years, its been removed from Cadburys Heros and seems to be fast disappearing from distribution..oh dear!

I found one of these bars cowering at the back of my local corner shop the other day and decided to remind myself (and probably you guys) of what its all about.

A standard bar compromises of 'Two milk chocolate covered wafer fingers with milk chocolate centres' which combined weigh 34g. This didn't make for the most filling of bars but it would certainly suffice for an afternoon snack.

As you can see above the appearance of the two fingers are not to striking - they are simply just long fingers with a slightly rippled surface. The bars did not have a particularly strong aroma either - they had a slight cocoa scent though as I have mentioned it was really rather weak and was not particularly detectable.

Texture wise the milk chocolate coating was very thin, though had a relatively smooth feel once melted. Disappointingly the wafer wasn't the crispiest and this was mainly due to the relatively moist middle chocolate layer. The middle chocolate centre had a very similar texture to that of a Cadbury Flake/Twirl, it was a nice crumbly which in isolation was good, though due to its partial nature to melt quickly, made the wafer limp and devoid of any crunchyness.

Tastewise I was surprised by the flavouring of the chocolate. Its almost taken for granted nowadays that Cadburys chocolate products will be made using Dairy Milk - this wasn't the case here and the milk chocolate was quite different in taste. It was no where near as creamy and if I'm honest really wasn't as nice in flavour. It tasted slightly less milky and had more of a flavour that I would aliken to hot chocolate powder...quite strongly cocoa based but very sugar rooted. The wafer had a very weak flavour and due to the nature of the middle chocolate layer dominating it, offered very little in terms of taste. The chocolate centre like in texture was very similar in taste to a Cadburys Flake and was far more like Dairy Milk chocolate - it was the dominating flavour of the bar which was rather lucky considering it was also the best out of the three elements.

Overall upon reflection its now a bit obvious why this is the 'forgotten child' of the Cadburys portfolio. When you think about the calibre of the other chocolate wafer products on the market (KitKat anyone!?) then its obvious why this bar does not receive much backing from Cadburys. The bottom line is that bars like the KitKat are far superior - Cadburys haven't quite got the wafer aspect nailed here and the with the majority of the chocolate not being Dairy Milk its always going to struggle. I wouldn't overly recommend this bar to anyone, and I can see the 'Timeout' being quietly removed from the portfolio altogether soon...why not take pity and pick one up for old times sake.

6.5 out of 10

May 19th: Cadburys Twirl

Kcal 230 Fat 13.2g Carbs 23.8g

Its been three days since my review of the rather tasty (but messy) Cadbury Flake and im still finding bits on my carpet grrrrr! Fear not becuase todays bar offered a remedy to this annoying problem...I present to you the Cadbury Twirl!

Decribed on pack as the 'Itense chocolate Hit' this promised the same proposition of crumbly 'Flake' like chocolate, but this time encased in a solid coating....see the above picture to see what I mean.

Though not branded as a Dairy Milk bar its pretty safe to assume this is made from the same stuff with the dominant ingredient being milk. It was nice to see the addition of Cocoa Butter in this bar...whilst vegetable fat was still on the list it at least was not as prominant as you find in other mass confectionary items.

This bar came in a 43g serving and was divided into two fingers...snapping one of these fingers in half I was met with an instant Dairy Milk aroma...ohhhhh the glorious milky scent yum yum! More to the point the bar didnt crumble into a million bits! Hooray for solid milk chocolate coatings.

Texturewise this bar combined a thick outer layer with a crumbly inner layer that made for an intresting variety of flavour breadths. As promised on the pack, the outer thick layer provided an initial 'intense hit' of flavour which the inner layer complimented perfectly with its less 'full on' but more excitingly textured crumblyness.

Flavourwise I couldnt detect any difference from this bar and standard Dairy Milk. It had the same creamy cocoa rooted taste and was as equally delicious. Some find the flavour of Dairy Milk too concentrated however I think even those peopler might enjoy this bar as the layered effect worked extremely well to balance the intensity of the flavour.

Overall this is another Cadburys product that I have really enjoyed. Its nothing overly complicated here...just gorgeous Dairy Milk chocolate with the same intresting texture of a Flake, just without the added mess. For the above reasons and plus the fact its bigger, its no wonder this bar has scored slightly than the Flake - I would recommend to all Cadburys fans...all the taste just less mess...great stuff.

8.5 out of 10

May 18th: Toblerone White Chocolate

Kcal 535 Fat 29.0g Carbs 61.5g (per 100g)

I only managed to review the one bar today...what a let down eh ;) ... not quite a sigh of relief from my waistline though as I still managed to make my way through a 100g bar of this today...I guess by saying that Ive already let the 'cat out the bag' so to speak and I can confirm that yes I enjoyed this bar very much.

Milkybar and Thorntons aside, good quality white chocolate seems pretty difficult to come by. Other alternatives suchs as the Cadbury Dream have tended to be on the overly sweet side and have made me want to stop eating them after a few bites - never a good thing. Luckily this bar came recommended to me by a few of my most devoted readers and contributors, so trusting them I today splashed out another mere £1 on this 100g bar...thats 1p a gram...if only every bar was as inexpensive as this one.

As you can guess this was exactly the same in proposition to all the other Toblerone bars I have been reviewing recently, except with the obvious substitution of white chocolate accompanying the nougat, almond and honey elements.

This bar seemed a winner from the off - breaking off the first triangular block from the foil wrapped bar I was immediately met with a wonderfully sweet smelling fragrance that had hints of cream and nuts. This coupled with the standard beautiful presentation as with all Toblerone and it made for one truly enticing prospect. The bar is also made from high quality ingredients with the chocolate being formed by cocoa butter rather than vegetable fat as found in most white chocolate alternatives.

Texturewise the bars retained all the key characteristics that I loved from the dark and milk chocolate variants. The chocolate had a nice viscosity and melted in the mouth at a nice rate; the nougat pieces were again proportioned and sized brilliantly to compliment the nature of the chocolate.

Tastewise the chocolate had a distinct creamy taste with a strong note of vanilla. It made for an incredibly moreish taste and one that thankfully avoided the common pitful of being overly sweet due to its flavour being more milk rooted than sugar based. Out of all three Toblerone bars I have tasted so far, this had by far and away the strongest 'honey' flavour; again the almond flavour was slightly lacking but the dominance of the honey and nougat suited this bar, and the sweet flavor it producded agaisnt the creamy chocolate was an exquisite combination.

Overall although in isolation this wasnt the greatest white chocolate I have tasted on Chocolate Mission, this bar manages to brilliantly combine several other elements alongside it to create a wonderfully addictive tasty bar. Its coalesces the creamy milky base flavour with the slight vanilla essence, honey and nougat elements brilliantly. This combination brings a great taste to a bar that asthetically promises so much with its brilliant design. I would recommend this to anyone - especially people who enjoy the other variants in the Toblerone range - try it and let me know what you think.

8.3 out of 10

May 17th: Trader Joe's Chocolate Covered...Coffee Beans / Sunflower Seeds / Edamame

A Chocolate Mission first!! Three in one here. Dedicated readers may recall that last month I was the recipetent of a HUGE box of Trader Joe's goodies from the US sent to me by one of my favourite and most kind readers Esther. Contained in this box were several plentiful 497g containers of different chocolate covered goodies of which myself and my family have been nibbling our way through for the last few weeks.

Having finished three of these containers this week it seemed relevant to write them up in the same review :) One thing that is worth noting with all Trader Joe's products is the ingredients they are made with... looking at the ingredients list for the all the chocolate in these items its all very pure. Simply cocoa mass, cocoa butter and a few other simple natrual ingredients...its no wonder the taste is generally so clean and natraul as it contains none of the chemichals or enhancers that all our day-to-day mass confectionary items contain - as you will see the quality of chocolate never fails to deliver.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans:

Kcal 170 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 21.0g (per 40g)

Theres no two ways of putting this...these were tremendous!! Simplicity seemed to be the key to these - they were simply just coffee beans dipped in Trader Joe's Dark chocolate..but boy did it make for a fabulous mixture. Asthetically as you imagine they arent anything special just small dark coloured blobs...generally smaller than your average malteaser, but larger than M&Ms or smarties - they varied slightly in size due to the nature of the coffee beans.

Aromawise they were stunning...I dont think I have ever smelt a better aroma coming from any product whilst reviewing for Chocolate Mission. Upon opening the small container every time I was met with a glorious 'freshly brewed' coffee smell with just the slight hint of cocoa - heavenly.

Texturewise each bean combined a smooth but thick outside layer of chocolate with a crunchy coffee bean inside. My preffered method of eating them was letting the chocolate slowly melt on my tongue and then biting into the crisp coffee bean.

Tastewise these wernt a disappointment. The chocolate was sinfully luxurious - it had a dark cocoa rooted tartness of which the longer it stayed on the tastebuds transformed into a rich creamy slightly coffee noted flavour...I havent come across much better tasting chocolate. Beneath this delicious chocolate of course were the coffee beans which literally just exploded with flavour once bitten into. As you can imagine the coffee taste was very strong but luckily it was equally as good as the chocolate. Each bean had a fresh roasted flavour that although was very rich provided a sumptuous coffee hit like nothing i have tasted before.

Overall these are the perfect accompaniment with a morning cup of coffee - a hand full of these with a dark black freshbrew and theres simply no better way to start the day. Simply delicious and its score is only held back by its limitations in its appearance and hunger fufilment credentials...as far as taste goes these are the best chocolate/coffee flavour combination I have had on Chocolate Mission.

8.5 out of 10

Trader Joe's Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops:


Kcal 140 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 1.5g Carbs 14g (per 27g)

To be honest I always thought that Sunflower seeds were things that birds or people on weired faddy diets ate...this seeds thing was a whole new concept to me and I must admit to being partially wary of these before I ate them.

Looking up sunflower seeds on the internet it was brought to my attention that they do have health benefits in that they are a good source of vitamins E,B and fibre -interesting.

There was no doubting the uniqueness of the appearance of these seeds. As you can see above they came in a variety of crazy yet friendly colours which slightly put my apprehensiveness aside. From the tub they offered very little aroma which was slightly disappointing as this gave me no clue to what they would eventually taste like.

Texturewise these were suprisingly intricate. One small seed contained three layers - firstly a crisp layer of sugar coating, then a very thin layer of chocolate and then of course the seed. This layered effect gave each of the seeds a very crunchy texture - one that was really quite pleasant.

Tastewise the seeds had an initial sweet sugary flavour due to the cripsy sugar coating. Once bitten into the slighty nuttyness of the seed was released along with a very subtle chocolate flavour - the flavours wernt overly strong but incredibly moreish.

Overall these arent overly imposing interms of flavour - I guess if your looking for a healthier chocolate alternative these are a good option but in truth these simply wont cure an urge for chocolate or hunger. These are a nice unique product and if you need another source of fibre in your diet then you can go little wrong here. I would reccomend these as a nice middle ground for people that find chocolate covered fruit too sweet and chocolate covered nuts to calorific.

7.1 out of 10

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Edamame Soya Beans:

Kcal 200 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 6.0g Carbs 21.0g Protein 7.0g (per 40g)

These were another slightly new proposition for me. I must admit to already buying ino the whole 'Soya Bean' consumption trend already...sure soya bean salads, soya beans with pasta, in tomato soup....chocolate covered soya beans errrr no.

Now all the instances I have mentioned above have involved me having boiled/steamed soya beans; these were slightly different in that they had been roasted. Like the sunflower seeds im sure we are all aware there are associated health benefits with Edamame..(its even classed as a 'superfood' here in the UK!). Another quick look on the net suggests that these beans are a great source of protein and also have associated links with prevention of colon cancer. Now I know its rather naive to ever try and argue that chocolate is 100% good for us but by the looks of it these beans arent too far off providing a decent argument.

Appearancewise these looked exactly the same as the coffee beans - though on average slighlty bigger in size. Aromawise they offered little more than a slight cocoa smell - no sign of any other elements here which I guess was due to the roasted nature of the Edamame.

Texture and tastewise the chocolate had the same qualities as the above coffee beans. A thick viscosity that still had a pleasant melt in the mouth element with a creamy yet deep routed cocoa taste - delicious. The soya bean element was slightly unusual, due to their roasted nature. They had an initial crunchyness; though this transformed once through the initial outside layer as the inside of the bean was slightly soft and chalky. Unfortunately this wasnt the most benefical to the taste as it rather diluted the flavour of the chocolate. The edamame themselves were rather non descript in true flavour but had a slight salty taste with nutty soy notes which was really neither overly pleasant or unpleasant.

Despite their relatively weak flavour they did have a real hunger fufilment aspect - just handful proved to be more than adequete for a snack.

Overall these are another unique concept from the people at Trader Joe's. As far the marriage of health benefits and chocolate go im still relatively unconvinced - and wouldnt overly recommend these as your part of your diet plan to increase your protein intake. The chocolate element is glorious though suffers a little due to dumming down texture effect of the soya beans. For an on the go snack these would provide a nice alternative to diversify a persons usual repetoire. Though not the stongest in flavour they really do fill a gap and worth definately worth checking out if your in to the whole superfoods craze.

7.6 out of 10

May 16th: Cadburys Flake

Flake Kcal 170 Fat 9.9g Fat(sats) 6.1g Carbs 17.8g
Flake Dark Kcal 160 Fat 9.5g Fat(sats) 6.0g Carbs 16.6g

Im continuing the 'buy one get one free' you guys have been getting on Chocolate Mission this week as today I managed to sample both the original Flake and Flake 'Dark'. The flake for those who dont know is a long thin bar of interspersed woven chocolate layers - this makes for an extremely delicate product, hence why it is known as 'the crumbliest chocolate in the world'.

Its an extremely popular bar amongst woman due to its 'lighter' chocolate proposition and its relatively low calorie content....suffice to say i did consider whether I was really reviewing these in the wrong environment due to my lack of diet coke and Sex in the City DVD boxset...hmmm less said of that the better....I do claim 'man points' for eating both at the same time :D

Despite their relatively 'lighter option' positioning I actually found that one of these 32g bars alone didnt do a bad job satisfying my hunger - in truth eating both at the same time was actually a bit of a struggle.

So whats the difference between the two variants you ask? Well the Dark version contains slightly less sugar and more cocoa solids...a min of 44% compared to the original's 25%. Asthetically of course the dark version was a slightly darker shade of brown (see above). The bars looked genuinely great, the woven nature of the chocolate made for an intresting and unique look in what plays a really big part in the character of these bars.

Aromawise, comparing both side by side the original version offered far more of an appertising smell. It had the more instantly recognisible sweet Dairy Milk smell whislt the Dark version offered a slightly less appertising very faint cocoa scent.

Texturewise both bars offered an amazing yet at the same time frustrating experience. The crumbly nature of the chocolate has both elements of brilliancy and idiocy. Its both exciting and luxurious and has the most intresting melt in the mouth texture going...but...and yes theres a BUT here.... its SOOOOOO messy to eat. It goes everywhere and I mean everywhere! Luckily I ate this using an aid of a plate but without one I would have lost proably half a bar and thats not a good thing; its just to crumbly.

I ate the Dark chocolate version first and was slightly suprised at the lack of taste. Though not containing the degree of cocoa solids of some other 'dark' bars on the market (Greene & Blacks/Lindt etc) 44% isnt remarkably low and the bar suprising lacked much of a cocoa taste. I can see why Cadbury wouldnt want the bar being that bitter due to the target consumer, but this lack of cocoa flavour made for a slightly dull shallow taste.

Conversely the original flake was far sweeter. Though not branded as Dairy Milk its definately made with the same ingredients and had the same thick creamy taste...made all the more sumptuous by the melt in the mouth texture. Its sweeter nature made for a bolder flavour and was one I savoured to the last bite.

Overall its extremely hard to rate these bars due to their main strength and main weaknesse both lieing in its unique but inconvenient texture. The way in which both bars melt in the mouth is pure luxury...the problem is just getting it in your mouth and for this reason I would never recommend anyone attempting to eat one of these 'on the go'. In regards to which out of the two is superior I would say the original. I feel the depth of cocoa flavour has been limited in the dark version - probably due to the stigma that the trarget consumer would find it 'overly bitter'. The original Flake combines Dairy Milk chocolate with the compelling texture which makes for one great tasting bar. I would definately recommend these bars to anyone...but this recommendation definately comes with the advice to use a plate :D

Flake 8.2 out of 10
Flake Dark 7.6 out of 10

May 15th: Thorntons Ginger Bar

Kcal 190 Fat 10.6g Fat(sats) 7.4g Carbs 20.1g

They say the best thing to do if you fall off a horse is to get straight back on...well after this weeks earlier travesity from the Thorntons range (see Vienesse truffle bar) I decided to revisit Thorntons sooner rather than later, in hope of rekindling my faith in the 'master chocolatiers'.

This bar offered a 'chocolate truffle centre with natrual ginger oil and crystallised ginger pieces, enrobed in rich dark chocolate'. It came in bar that was little over 35g - not overly massive but due to its rich taste did a job in satisfying my hunger. The bar had a strong pleasant ginger aroma - thankfully this was also translated in the taste of the bar. Asthetically this bar wasnt anything outstanding - it was a long fingered bar with a slightly ribbed ripple effect...what did look appertising was the truffle centre which had a particularly smooth looking texture.

Txturewise the bar had a nice contrast. The outside coating of dark chocolate had a nice solid thickness that provided a nice cracking effect agaisnt the soft buttery truffle like centre. The centre, despite its smooth looking appearance had a slightly grainy texture which was accountable due to the presence of the crystallysed ginger pieces. This combination of thick outer chocolate and smooth centre provided a nice variation of textures.

Tastewise the bar was very good. The dark chocolate coating provided a rich cocoa taste that wasnt suprising due to its 60% min cocoa solids content. The chocolate although initially slightly bitter transitioned into a more creamy flavour once melted in the mouth. The majority of the ginger flavour was delivered in the truffle centre through the both the ginger oil and crystallysed pieces. The ginger flavour was strong yet not overpowering, and gave the bar a very distinct and enjoyable taste - very nice indeed.

Overall i must admit I do enjoy writing reviews on bars I enjoy rather than dislike...and luckily this is one I enjoyed. This is another great tasting truffle bar from Thorntons and the classic combination of ginger and dark chocolate is amalgamated in this bar very well. The mixture of textures with the thick outer chocolate and smooth truffle centre is nothing short of superb; whilst the quality of the dark chocolate and ginger ingredients is really very good. Areas of slight improvement could be the size, aroma and asthetics of the bar but that is being very pedantic...this bar has restored my confidence in Thorntons - phew :)

8.0 out of 10