October 8th: The Original Cookie Dough Bites Chocolate Chip

Kcal 190 Fat 9.0g Fat(sats) 5.0g Carbs 26.0g (per 40.0g serving)

I am a massive fan of Ben & Jerrie's Cookie Dough ice cream, so when sent these by CandyPirate I was hopeful they would deliver a similar experience. I hear these 'Cookie Dough Bites' are similar to Hershey's Milk Duds, in that they are a very popular choice of snack to consume at the cinema in the US. The on pack description described the product as 'bite sized cookie dough pieces in creamy milk chocolate', as far as I am concerned cookie dough is a really underutilized flavour variant. The only cookie dough themed bar/product I have tried before was the Kit Kat Chunky Cookie Dough ... which was extremely disappointing - I was hoping for far more from these.

The pack I received from CandyPirate contained two 40.0g servings (well it totalled 88.0g as my pack had 10% extra free!). I did eat these over two sittings, neither of which were really that fulfilling, though the sweetness of the product went some way to abiding my afternoon munchies. The packaging was ok in it's appearance, the decorative colour scheme was nothing spectacular but fair. The bites themselves were stored in an inner plastic packet ... in an ideal world this would have been foil just to keep an extra freshness to the product. The bites were quite randomly sized, this was more dependent on the amount of the cookie dough in each, as the chocolate layer remained relatively the same thickness throughout. The product lacked a real definitive smell, there was a sweet chocolaty scent as I opened the plastic packet, it just wasn't the strongest or the most forthcoming ... a mild aroma is a better than a bad one I guess!?

The outer milk chocolate instantly brought comparisons to Reese's milk chocolate to mind when tasting the product ... as dedicated readers will know this isn't a necessarily good thing. The milk chocolate had a grainy texture, of course this wasn't helped by the expected rough texture of the cookie dough, but the chocolate was noticeably clumpy and stodgy in it's melt. Though the texture was poor the taste wasn't altogether that bad, it was mostly devoid of flavour, though it did add a milky note to the overall taste. The chocolate was pretty disappointing, but in contrast the cookie dough was spot on. It had a deliciously raw, doughy taste that had small crunchy notes of brown sugar; despite lacking the promised chocolate chip element it was very well executed. The taste didn't last all that long in the mouth and these were incredibly addictive, I can see how it could be very easy to polish off a box of these in next to no time.

Overall these are a product that will definitely cure a cookie dough craving, but are still far from being anything spectacular. The chocolate was obviously not the main focus of the product, and this was all to apparent; lacking flavour and with a poor texture it was certainly nothing to get excited about. Thankfully the cookie dough was extremely well executed, bursting with all the sweet, doughy flavours you would come to expect from such a product ... and doing them rather well at that. Cookie dough fans will no doubt love these, but if your not fussed by the flavour there is little else here for you.

7.2 out of 10

Interested in trying These Cookie Dough Bites for yourself? Find this bar and many more American candy & foods delivered directly from the UK at CandyPirate!!

October 7th: Dove Milk / Dark / Almond Chocolate

Dove chocolate is the US equivalent of Galaxy chocolate here in the UK. A bit like the deal we have with MilkyWay (US) and Mars (UK), both are manufactured by Mars (Masterfoods) but sold under the different brand names for reasons unknown ... anyone!?? Recently ***I SHOP 4 YOU II*** sent me across these three different bars from the US Dove range, the milk chocolate, dark chocolate and almond milk chocolate.

The bars came in well presented plastic wrappers in the form of a 36.9g servings for the plain milk and dark variants, and a 32.9g serving for the almond milk chocolate. They were significantly smaller than their equivalent UK Galaxy single serving bars, this was not something that reflected favourably in the context of their deliverance of hunger fulfilment. The design work of the packaging was all but familiar with the only obvious difference being in the branding. Despite the bars appearing relatively small in their size, aesthetically they were nicely presented with a five piece segregation scheme, each with smart looking Dove logos. Below are my notes for each of the variants:

Dove Milk Chocolate:Kcal 200 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 20.0g

The bar had a relatively nice smell when released from the foil wrapper. It's dairy smell was one of very few similar characteristic to it's UK equivalent.

The texture of the chocolate was pleasant, it didn't have the thickness in melt of the UK bar, though it was equally as silky and smooth. The chocolate was extremely milky, I stress the word milky here and not creamy. Due to the thinner nature of the melt, the taste seemed more mellow than Galaxy. It was a nicely balanced, easy-going milk chocolate, but just lacking the richness and impact in it's overall flavour in comparison to Galaxy.

7.7 out of 10

Dove Dark Chocolate:

Kcal 190 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 17.0g

This bar had a more striking aroma than the milk chocolate bars. It had richer connotations of cocoa and just had a bit more substantially behind it.

The nature of the melt was the same of both the milk chocolate variants - it had a nicely paced smooth melt that released the flavours of the bar at a nice rate. Tastewise this bar didn't offer a necessarily better overall taste. It did however offer one that grew in intensity during it's melt, making the overall flavour duration last a lot longer. The actual taste of the bar was very sweet, and would definitely be what I would consider a mass consumer friendly dark chocolate. The volume of the cocoa intensity seemed turned up somewhat, with less emphasis placed on the milky flavours. The taste had a slightly tangy element, with notes of fudge - It's stronger flavour was for me preferable over the milk chocolate.

8.0 out of 10

Dove Almond Milk ChocolateKcal 180 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 6.0g Carbs 16.0g

I always find almonds quite a risky business, if not fresh they can really lack flavour - this was unfortunately somewhat the case here. The smell of the bar was identical to the plain milk chocolate variant with no nutty indication here whatsoever.

If this had been a blind taste test, I would have likely have guessed that the pieces embedded in the chocolate were in fact rice cereal pieces. They added a nice crunchy contrastive texture, but struggled to generate any sort of substantial flavour. Occasionally I did detect small savoury nutty notes, but the tiny chopped nature of the almond pieces did very little to create an impact on the overall flavour. Of course the chocolate was of a relatively good standard but this was largely disappointing given the promise of the extra nut element.

7.4 out of 10

Overall despite these being a relatively good standard range of chocolate bars, my own personal view is that the UK Galaxy equivalents of the milk chocolate bars are superior. The Dove milk chocolate had a thinner nature to it's melt, because of this the overall flavours seemed less impactful and not as creamy, whilst the length of the taste just didn't last as long ... given the smaller nature of the bars this was never going to be a preferable thing. This wasn't the first time either that I have had a nut containing bar that simply didn't have a strong enough nut flavour to warrant the inclusion. Despite the added interest to the texture the almond milk chocolate was largely disappointing. My favourite of the lot was the dark chocolate, I cannot compare it to the Galaxy Dark as I haven't reviewed it yet, but in the context of the milk chocolate variants it's flavour was richer and more forthcoming. Anyone who has tried both brands it would be great to have your input on the subject - please comment away. If any of my American readers enjoy these Dove bars I urge you to try get hold of some Galaxy chocolate - I'm sure you will really enjoy it. The Dove range is fair, but for my money Galaxy has the slight edge.

*** EU & UK Readers Attention*** Ever been been browsing Chocolate Mission or any other Candy Site and felt frustrated not being able to get hold of an American bar/item!??? .... well feel frustrated no more!!! 'I SHOP 4 YOU II'!! is a great service that provides a unique "one stop shop" international shopping experience!!! Visit the Ebay shop - if they dont have the item you want instock simply give them a message - there is no harm in asking. This service comes with a Chocolate Mission Seal of Approval!! It is a genuinely great, fast and friendly service... Just say you came from Chocolate Mission.

October 6th: Hotel Chocolat Boo!

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

This week we are taking a break from the 'Purist Range' and are turning our focus on to some of the seasonal offerings of Hotel Chocolat. Firstly I feel that I have to inform you that if there was in fact a 'Halloween Scrooge' of this world, they would probably take the shape of myself. It's not that I hate Halloween, its just I purely don't understand it. Not once in my twenty one years on this planet have I once thought of getting dressed up as a scary ghost/bat/vampire/Kerry Katona/Zombie and knocking on peoples doors for free chocolate/candy. Free samples from companies themselves ... well I can handle that - Hotel Chocolat were recently so kind as to send me these Halloween themed chocolates - 'A scary collection of horrific Halloween figures in ghoulishly good milk chocolate'.

These came in a 180g pack, in the form of sixteen individually wrapped chocolates in the shapes of skulls, bats, fingers, cats, tombstones and ghosts. There was no doubting that the chocolates looked impressive, the shapes were well crafted and each came with a plastic tray to help protect them inside the cardboard box. Despite being stored in plastic wrappers as opposed to foil ones, the chocolates still retained a remarkably appetising smell. The aroma was strong and forthcoming, and had strong dairy connotations, with even a sweet caramel like hint.

These individual chocolates were formed of the standard 40% House Milk chocolate. Their taste differed very little from the outstanding 40% slab - it had a delicous progressive, clean creamy taste that had a nicely balanced cocoa base flavour. The creamy flavours had a longing presence in the mouth, as expected this was milk chocolate in some of its finest form. The melt of the chocolate was excellent, though not without its issues. Due to the nature of some of the shapes it meant that some of the chocolates were irregular in the rate they melted. For instance the 'tombstones' and 'fiendish finger' shapes were both relatively thin in their thickness. As they were both too large to eat in just the one bite, it meant they had to be eaten in two not so substantial and flavoursome bites, this was just the smallest of annoyances. With the other shapes this was not so much of a problem, the chocolate melted superbly at a glorious rate into a smooth thick liquid. Despite their novelty look, these were some outstanding tasting chocolates. 

Overall despite these having scored particularly well and being absolutely fantastic in their taste, I'm struggling to come to terms with just one thing ... who are these meant for!? The back of pack suggests they are 'perfect for trick or treaters and sharing at Halloween parties' ... maybe this is my inner student talking, but are these amazingly high standard chocolates really the sort of thing you want to be handing out on mass to trick or treaters? ... or at a party? I am sure this is all but confirming me as the Halloween Scrooge, but I just couldn't bring myself to hand out such a high quality, great tasting product at such events - lets not kid ourselves, these are not the cheapest of products going. If unlike me you are going to be handing out chocolates this Halloween, and aren't petrified at the thought of sharing Hotel Chocolat chocolate willy nilly, then I can seriously recommend these. Just another instance of a great tasting, finely presented Hotel Chocolat product.

8.6 out of 10

 

October 5th: Fry's Peppermint Cream

Kcal 215 Fat 6.9g Carbs 36.3g

With both the 'Lindt Lindor Mint Truffles' and exceptional 'Lindt Excellence Mint Intense' having been reviewed in the last few weeks, this Fry's bar was always going to have a hard time - lets be honest they both set the mint chocolate combination standard pretty high. On request of Chocolate Mission reader Alan I today went about rounding off my reviews of the Fry's range, trying out the Fry's Peppermint Cream.

The bar came in a pretty sizeable 50g serving, one thing I personally think worth noting are the nutritional values which appear to be really quite low for a bar this size ... that's if your not looking at the carbs aka. sugar!! Personally I think the packaging is starting to look a little bit outdated and could really do with a bit of a spruce up - its not quite retro, nor is it contemporary ... a bit late 90s if you know what I mean. In my other Fry's reviews I have referred to the bar as being poorly sectioned, yet again this was true, they simply just didn't have a clean break off, and caused an annoying mess when splitting! The bar smelt nice enough - it had a nice undertone of cocoa and a strong peppermint smell!

I normally find the flavour of Fry's plain chocolate rather dull and lifeless - though I seemed to be able to pick up more of flavour with the less concentrated flavouring of the mint centre. It had a pleasant enough unsweetened cocoa flavour, the lack of sweetness from the chocolate actually counter balanced the fondant centre nicely - it was a good combination. The texture of the chocolate wasn't the smoothest in its melt; it did seem to clump slightly in places, though I was too busy enjoying the surprisingly chewy fondant centre to care all that much. The fondant centre provided an enjoyable minty taste, not quite as fresh or as flavoursome as the 'Lindt Excellence Mint Intense', but avoided the pitfall I was expecting to fall down - and wasn't too sugar intensive in its taste. The aftertaste was very mint rooted and left a favourable taste in the mouth; this wasn't the most filling of bars but it was a pretty satisfying one.

Overall out of the 'Frys Cream' bars this one was definitely my favourite. There is certainly improvement to be made in the chocolate quality and actual design of the bar though when considering the price in its comparison to the Lindt Excellence Mint Intensive this really isn't a bad choice. The chocolate and mint flavours are balanced nicely, and I think if your a fan of mint chocolate combinations this would definitely be a bar you would enjoy. The best of a pretty bad bunch!

7.0 out of 10

October 4th: Hershey's Kisses Cookies n' Creme / Dark / Vanilla Yogurt Creme / Almond

Recently I reviewed the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses and commented that I was looking forward to trying some of the more adventurous flavour variants from the range. **I SHOP 4 YOU II** kindly set me across a huge array of different flavours ... a number of which I have been tucking into recently - here are my tasting notes and scores for some of them so far:

Hershey's Cookies n' Creme Kisses

Kcal 210 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 25.0g (per 9 pieces)

Having already tried the original Hershey's Cookies n' Creme bar I thought I had a pretty good idea what to expect here. The wrapper colour and presentation was fair, the Kisses' had a nice speckled looked with the brown flecks of 'cookie' in bedded in the chocolate. The smell was pretty indicative of the taste, they smelt extremely sweet and artificial.

One of the things I enjoyed from the original bar were the Cookie pieces, unfortunately these were altered in these Kisses and were little more than crystallised sugar pieces ... add these to the already super sweet white chocolate and you can get a picture of how awfully sickly these were. They reminded me a lot of the cheap Hannah's Jazzles White ... never a good thing. Overall a pretty awful showing ... serving suggestion 9??? ... I think if you ate all them you would have no teeth left!

5.0 out of 10

Hershey's Dark Chocolate Kisses

Kcal 180 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 25.0g (per 9 pieces)

Having never tasted any standard Hershey's dark chocolate before I wasn't knowing what to expect from these. The Kisses looked reasonably nice on the outside, the dark purple wrapper was a nice choice of colour.

The smell was quite heavily cocoa rooted, far deeper and forthcoming in comparison to others from the range. The taste was quite reserved, it was more an unsweetened version of the original milk chocolate Kisses rather than a heavily concentrated cocoa taste, still the taste was pleasant and longer than other alternatives. These were definitely far more fulfilling than the milk chocolate variant and lacked the yorgurty tangy aftertaste. Not groundbreaking chocolate but pretty enjoyable nonetheless and one of my favourites from the lot.

7.9 out of 10

Hershey's Vanilla Yogurt Creme Kisses

Kcal 210 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 25.0g (per 9 pieces)

These looked an awfully similar proposition to the Hershey's New York Cheesecake Kisses I reviewed way back in March ... luckily these delivered on a grand scale in comparison. Despite a partially waxy, sticky outer coating the Kisses looked nice in their appearance, their wrappers were bright and shiny, the definition between the middle creme and outer chocolate looked very enticing.

Unlike the New York Cheesecake Kisses these smelt very appealing with a nice chocolaty smell, no apparent hint of the creme filling at this stage but a nice dairy scent. The melt was delicately soft in the mouth, they had an almost butter like texture that was very smooth. The milk chocolate coating was creamier than the standard Kisses and had a nice long milky taste. The creme filling delivered what it promised and had a pleasant subtle vanilla edged milky taste. For my liking they were a little on the sweet side, I definitely wouldn't eat anywhere near 9 at a time. As far as one off chocolates go they were pretty satisfying and unique in their flavour. The best of the bunch.

8.1 out of 10

Hershey's Milk Chocolate Almond Kisses
Kcal 210 Fat 14.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 21.0g (per 9 pieces)

How do they get the nut in these Kisses!? Who knows!? I liked the gold wrappers of these, they look smart and with a fair sized almond piece placed in the middle of each - I had no qualms with their appearance.

They had a very familiar smell, very similar to the original milk chocolate Kisses, just with an extra added nutty element. The praise stops pretty much here for these; the milk chocolate was fair but unspectacular - identical to the standard Kisses with its yoghurty aftertaste. The almonds were of an unfortunate quality, lacking any real flavour and with a almost spongy texture. They didn't taste all that fresh and their lack of crunch only reaffirmed this conclusion. Disappointing execution of a pretty good idea.

6.6 out of 10

Overall a bit of an array of results from these Kisses, ranging from the dismal, to the pretty damn tasty. I would recommend avoiding the 'Cookies n Cream' and Almond variants, they simply just don't deliver. For a fair tasting less sweet version of the original milk chocolate Kisses the Dark Kisses are a good choice. If its a real flavour hit your after though, I would recommend the Vanilla Yogurt Creme Kisses ... very sweet but unique tasting. More Kisses reviews to come shortly!

*** EU & UK Readers Attention*** Ever been been browsing Chocolate Mission or any other Candy Site and felt frustrated not being able to get hold of an American bar/item!??? .... well feel frustrated no more!!! 'I SHOP 4 YOU II'!! is a great service that provides a unique "one stop shop" international shopping experience!!! Visit the Ebay shop - if they dont have the item you want instock simply give them a message - there is no harm in asking. This service comes with a Chocolate Mission Seal of Approval!! It is a genuinely great, fast and friendly service... Just say you came from Chocolate Mission.

October 3rd: Cadbury Bournville Deeply Dark

Kcal 535 Fat 39.3g Fat(sats) 24.0g Carbs 37.6g (per 100.0g)

A long time ago in a Waitrose far, far away .... I bought this Cadbury Bournville Deeply Dark bar, well ok it was my local Waitrose, but it was certainly quite a long time ago. After the poorness of the original Cadbury Bournville my motivation to really go out my way to try this bar was hardly sky high, and in truth it had been lieing around in my box of bars to review for a fair few months. Well finally after a nudge from dedicated reader Alan I got around to reviewing this 'Deeply Dark' Bournville variant - a bar that promised 'chocolate with caramelised cocoa nibs and coffee'.

The first thing I noticed about the bar was it's nice appearance; it combined a decorative paper wrapper with a tightly packed foil layer. Looking at the wrapper more closely further revealed a few home truths ... though branded as Bournville the product actually stated it contained 60% minimum cocoa solids (original Bournville contains 39% min!!), what more was that the wrapper also revealed the bar was manufactured in France ... no not Birmingham the 'home' of Bournville but France ... lol this just struck me that this bar wasn't Bournville at all ... merely another bar of chocolate using the Bournville brand!! Sneaky eh!?

Anyhow - the bar was nicely presented, the chocolate itself was sectioned perfectly into bitesze chunks, each with a neat Cadbury logo. The bar had a pleasant alluring smell which was strongly coffee weighted ... I could literally smell the beans yum!

This was an extremely rich bar that I enjoyed over a few days. Breaking off a few chunks of the 100g at a time provided a delightful chocolaty hit, this bar was extremely rich. Again this was yet another chocolate that was best enjoyed letting it melt on the tongue. Doing so allowed the cocoa nibs to really release their delicious flavours; unlike the original Bournville it had a full bodied dark taste, that had undertones of nutty, fruity flavours. It was certainly a far more full flavoured taste, but it still maintained a relative sweet milkiness in its aftertaste. The smooth melt and highly enjoyable taste of the dark chocolate was good ... but the best was still to come. Letting the chocolate melt away left small granules of coffee, which when crunched released the most delightful of coffee hits, it was a near perfect compliment to the dark chocolate and made for what was really a long, rich taste.

Overall this was a bar that surprised me on so many levels. I will freely admit that due to the sheer poorness of Cadbury Bournville, I really wasn't expecting much from this bar, but it really delivered a great tasting dark chocolate with a delicious coffee after kick. After the revelations of the wrapper - its clear this isn't actually a Cadbury Bournville bar, what it definitely is though is rather damn tasty one. If your a fan of coffee flavoured dark chocolate, this is a bar I seriously recommend you try - very good indeed.

8.4 out of 10

October 2nd: Reese's Milk Chocolate Big Cup with Nuts

Kcal 430 Fat 26.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 41.0g (per 2 big cups)

This has been a product I have wanted to try for a very long time - the sheer thought behind it had me convinced this had to be a terrific idea ... a standard Reese's Peanut Butter Big Cup .... just with added extra nuts ... genius surely!?

The packet I was sent to sample by ***I Shop 4 You 2*** contained two...yes two Big Cups - weighing in at a mighty 79.0g. Each cup packed a whopping 13.0g (20% of an adults RDA) of Fat! To be honest this became less of a surprise when I sectioned one of the cups for the above photo ... it was literally crammed full of nuts. It didn't say on the pack how much of the total constituents was actual peanuts but I can tell you for a fact it would be well over 50%. The extreme nutty content looked fantastically appealing ... at last a product name living up to it's billing ... no skimping here whatsoever. You wont be surprised to hear that the product had a fantastic nutty aroma ... everything from the packaging, to the smell just highlighted the extreme nut content - genuinely fantastic.

The product had really bigged itself up in it's appearance and presentation, and it didn't let itself down. Thankfully the pretty bland tasting milk chocolate seemed to be lessly so portioned to normal. As you will see above it wasn't quite as thick as you would probably would have expected it to be. It was typical Reese's milk chocolate, a waxy melty texture with little more than a short sweet milky taste ... it was lucky really that the main focus was the absolute treat of a centre.

The middle filling consisted of a huge amount of peanut butter that had whole peanut pieces thrown into the mix. The peanut butter was the usual creamy, roasted, buttery goodness with that ever so important lick of salt. The additional peanuts further intensified the nutty flavour and also provided an interesting extra dimension to the texture ... they were wonderfully crunchy and actually fresh tasting. The additional peanut pieces further enhanced the aftertaste making it even longer and even more satisfying than ever. One of these at a time provided a more than fulfilling snack, kudos to anyone who could eat two at a time ... I just don't think it's even possible.

Overall this has to be one of my favourite Reese's products I have ever tried ... and as you will know I have tried my fair few. The peanut butter filling was its usual fantastic standard ... the additional peanuts just further added to the intensity of the nutty flavour, whilst adding a superb crunch to the texture. The only way I could see this product bettered would be with the implementation of either the milkier Reese's white chocolate or the fuller flavoured Reese's dark chocolate. A fantastic product that is a must try for peanut butter and chocolate fans - I cant recommend it enough.

8.9 out of 10

*** EU & UK Readers Attention*** Ever been been browsing Chocolate Mission or any other Candy Site and felt frustrated not being able to get hold of an American bar/item!??? .... well feel frustrated no more!!! 'I SHOP 4 YOU II'!! is a great service that provides a unique "one stop shop" international shopping experience!!! Visit the Ebay shop - if they dont have the item you want instock simply give them a message - there is no harm in asking. This service comes with a Chocolate Mission Seal of Approval!! It is a genuinely great, fast and friendly service... Just say you came from Chocolate Mission.

October 1st: Ferrero Rondnoir

Kcal 52.5 Fat 3.5g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 5.0g (per chocolate)

No sooner had Dean-German-Grocery sent me a pack of these Ferrero Rondnoir all the way from Germany last week, I saw this trade article Terry posted on The Chocolate Review stating Ferrero's intent at bringing them to UK shores:

"Ferrero Rondnoir offers consumers a darkly sensual journey through crispy wafer and indulgent creaminess towards a pearl of dark chocolate at its heart."

Well it didn't take them long to start appearing in the UK shops - I saw them in both my local Tesco and Woolworths at the weekend ... the invasion is well and truly on, and let me tell you now what a treat they are.

Dean-German-Grocery sent me through a pack of twelve of these Rondnoir, each chocolate was an extremely rich experience that was both satisfying and fulfilling. Although I did on one occasion eat five in a row, they were equally as satisfying eating one or two at a time. When I reviewed the Ferrero Rocher I was distinctly impressed with the presentation of the product. Despite my slight reservation towards the crumbly outside layer (messy!!) I had similar feelings about the appearance of the Rondnoir. The boxed packaging was nicely presented and had a premium look, apart from the slight annoyance of the fragile coating the chocolates also looked exquisite and wonderfully crafted - thumbs up here. Opening the foil wrappers I was met with a pleasant dark cocoa smell, it wasn't the greatest or most distinct of chocolaty aromas but it was still very tempting.

One of the main features I loved about this product was the layering. The outer crumbly chocolate pieces and wafer provided a nice crispness against the softer inner smooth chocolate creme; right at the centre of the chocolate creme was a small, hard spherical chocolate piece. Together the different and varying textures made for an interesting and contrasting array of flavour intensities. The outer frosting and wafer layers provided a pleasant initial biscuity sweetness, whilst the middle creme gave a nice smooth slightly milky but unsweetened chocolaty taste. The real defining element of the taste came from the burst of extra cocoa flavour from the hard pearl sized centre - it just really topped off an extremely rich tasting chocolaty hit. As you can imagine the flavours left a long lasting impression in the mouth. Balanced, creamy and strong tasting ... what more could you ask for!?

Overall these are a fantastic product from Ferrero and are one that I highly recommend. They are perfect chocolates to both indulge in on mass, or separately for sharing occasions. Supposedly these are aimed at catering for the market who don't enjoy nuts i.e. won't buy Ferrero Rocher ... well not only do I recommend them to those people, but I also recommend them to Rocher fans aswell ... in my book they are even slightly superior. As you can tell I enjoyed these immensely, a superb, affordable chocolate offering.

8.9 out of 10

Fancy trying the Ferrero Rondnoir for yourself!? Fancy any another Ritter Sport / Milka / Lindt / Storck or German Grocery ... head over to Dean-German-Grocery!!

September 30th: Lion Bar White

Kcal 215 Fat 10.8g Carbs 26.5g

The Lion bar was one of my all time favourite bars as a kid, and after a successful review of the milk chocolate UK version, I was never going to be turning down the opportunity handed to me by Dean-German-Grocery to try this white chocolate version - a bar produced in Frankfurt Germany.

The first thing I noticed about this bar was the difference in size from the UK milk chocolate to this white chocolate version. This bar was a full 10g lighter at 45g - the difference was certainly noticeable and it simply wasn't a very fulfilling bar. It's smaller size meant it was slightly less impactful to look at, although the actual look of the bar with it's distinct layering was nicely presented and pleasing on the eye. The outer wrapper was standard Nestle plastic packaging, it looked ok aesthetically but it really struggled to maintain the freshness of the bar, the smell was really not forthcoming and the product only managed a minor sweet milky scent.

The smaller sizing of the bar seemed to not affect any one of the layers more so than any other, the down weighting was obviously proportional. The outer coating was still relatively thick and contained small rice crispies, which added nicely to the texture. The texture of the white chocolate wasn't bad - it had a nice constant melt, though there where mouthfuls were it did cloy and lump together. The white chocolate tastewise was largely disappointing, like the smell suggested it had a milky flavour, although this altogether was very minor and subtle ... sure it avoided being overly sweet like a lot of white chocolate, but it simply lacked flavour nearly entirely. The wafer had a nice wheaty taste that seemed noted with a slight twist of sweet coffee to its aftertaste. The middle white chocolate creme like the coating lacked flavour; conversely by far and away the most flavour impactful layer was the milk chocolate creme which had a lovely smooth texture and relatively strong chocolaty taste. Finally the caramel added a pleasant chewyness to each bite, however unfortunately was lacking in a definitive flavour. The aftertaste of the bar was heavily based around the wafer element as it lasted longest in the mouth, even this flavour didn't last that long though. The lack of strong flavours meant this bar wasn't the most satisfying of chocolates.

Overall as an eating experience this was a bar that really struggled to create an impression on me. The change up of chocolate from the original was not a favourable one; in comparison to the original milk chocolate, the white chocolate lacked flavour and depth. The caramel layer also suffered from lack of flavour, which was surprising due to this component being one of the real strengths of the original. The textures were still a real strength of the bar, the contrast in chewy, crunchy and creme layers was well executed - this alone though was not good enough to make this anything more than an average scoring bar. By no means an offensive product, just a little lacking in it's flavours and could have been done better.

7.3 out of 10

Fancy trying the Nestle White Lion Bar for yourself!? Fancy any another Ritter Sport / Milka / Lindt / Storck or German Grocery ... head over to Dean-German-Grocery!!

September 29th: Hotel Chocolat Organic Dark 100%

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

Today saw another Chocolate Mission first, this was my first ever review of a 100% cocoa bar - the Hotel Chocolat Organic Dark 100%. The bar was another from 'The Purist' range I have been sampling over the past few weeks, and was farmed at the Hacienda Lara Plantation, Ecuador. On pack the bar described itself as '100% cocoa and nothing else, but far more mellow than you would expect thanks to extra-long conching' ... what is Conching you ask!? Well refer HERE for the long explanation - in short it is the one of the final processes of chocolate production that involves using machinery to heat the chocolate so that the cocoa butter is evenly distributed, thus making the texture smoother ... you learn something new each day.

I will only fleetingly play tribute to the appearance of the bar - like the rest of 'The Purist' range it was spot on. The cardboard sleeve was full of interesting information on the farming and production of the bar, the foil packaging provided an outstanding freshness and the slab itself had a shiny, glossy appeal ... everything about it just radiated class. The smell of the slab was very indicative of the taste; it was very intense and had a strong cocoa aroma - there was no element of sweetness about it whatsoever. The boldness of the smell although expected was not the most enticing.

This was always going to be an experience slightly out the norm ... and that it was. Placing the first piece in my mouth I literally felt the moisture in my mouth just disappear. The texture felt chalky and dry, and the initial cocoa flavour was nothing more than I could describe as extremely bitter - my taste buds felt extremely overwhelmed. Despite my initial displeasure I did continue eating the slab, varying the size of the chunks I consumed. As I progressed eating the bar my taste buds became more at ease with the intensity of the flavours. The texture of the melt seemed to get smoother the more I ate, and the flavours more pronounced. After a few chunks the overwhelming burnt taste subsided, and I did start to appreciate the deep flavours of the bar more. The taste was extremely rich, the cocoa very pronounced with coffee and fruity notes ever present. The aftertaste as you can imagine was extremely long lasting in the mouth, I could taste the cocoa for a good deal after. Like the other variants from the range the bar came in a 75g serving, it took me days to finish; its intensity meant that it was best to only eat in very small servings.

Overall I found this bar extremely hard to rate. Appreciating this chocolate required a degree of dedication, if I had judged the bar on my first few mouthfalls I would have told you it was overly intense and repulsive ... well after getting used to the concentration of flavours my appreciation for the taste grew. The chocolate does indeed have a nice deep clean cocoa flavour with a number of spicy edgy notes in the formulation of its rich overall taste. The texture for me wasn't the best, initially it felt quite dry, however like the taste I did become more accustom to it over time. Personally I have much preferred the more straight forward offerings from Hotel Chocolat ... ones that instantly struck me as flavours I could appreciate like the 85% Dark, Caramellow and Praline White. If your after a really full flavoured chocolate this could be a bar that you could really enjoy, just beware this is one intense experience and certainly won't be everyones cup of tea.

7.6 out of 10

September 28th: Harry & David Moose Munch Milk Chocolate Bar

Kcal 300 Fat 21.0g Fat(sats) 13.0g Carbs 29.0g

Having never heard of the Harry and David brand, I had to consult Liz at **I Shop 4 You II** to get the low down on this bar. Well, according to Liz this Harry & David Moose Munch Milk Chocolate bar is currently her favourite, and is a pretty hard to find premium brand of chocolate. Looking at the wrapper revealed that this was a bar comprised of a 'smooth fudgy centre, fluffy white popcorn, buttery caramel and crisp nuts all dipped in sweet milk chocolate' ... wow that's a lot of stuff crammed into one bar.

As you can see above in the nutritional information this was one pretty mean bar! It weighed in at a largish 56.0g and contained 65% of the RDA of saturated fat... this was indeed a plentiful serving, anything larger would have pushed the boundaries of actual necessity. The packaging of the product was superb the bar came in a matted foil wrapper packed with an inner plastic tray for added protection. The bar itself wasn't the most spectacular looking of chocolates, though the cross section did provide an interesting look at all the added ingredients. For a bar that contained so many added elements the smell was pretty non-descript, I was expecting more than just the sweet dairy scent that I got from it.

Lets clear something up courtesy of my friend Wikipedia:

"Fudge" in the U.S. is usually understood to be chocolate. In fact, the word fudge is used on packaging of cakes and brownies with "extra" chocolate flavoring or with fluid chocolate in the mixture.

The fudge centre was not like the sugary fudge we get here in the UK, but more of a moist chocolaty centre ... almost like a truffle filling but a tad more viscous. It had a silky smooth texture that melted delightfully in the mouth. It was not the most deliciously flavoured milk chocolate, but it still had a nice sweet milky appeal. Unfortunately I couldn't help but be slightly disappointed at the balance of the ingredients used for the filling. The popcorn was portioned at least double the amount of the peanuts and caramel. I'm not saying the popcorn was bad ... it was great and added a superb crunchy texture and slightly salty note; it was just a shame that the caramel and nut elements were equally as tasty, but just simply weren't as prominent. The caramel element was especially good; like all good caramel it had a nice sweet, buttery taste - absolutely fantastic. The bar had a wonderful array of textures, the fudge centre was luxuriously smooth and contrasted superbly with the gooey caramel and crunchiness from the popcorn and nuts. As you probably would have guessed this bar did a great job fulfilling my hunger, the aftertaste had a nice milky flavour to it - I definitely wasn't in need of a second.

Overall this was a bar like no other I had tried before, it certainly gets credit for its originality. The milk chocolate was better than average with it's sweet, milky and long lasting taste. I think I would have enjoyed this bar even more if the ingredients had been better portioned. As I referred to above, each part of the filling added individual qualities, which just made it an even greater shame that the portioning was slightly off. Definitely a bar worth checking out if you get the opportunity - the only reason why I would say avoid is if your watching the fat in your diet, or dislike any of the mentioned ingredients. Those people aside - for a truly innovative offering this is a pretty good bar.

8.0 out of 10

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