October 19th: Hotel Chocolat Munchkins

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

Believe it or not Halloween has rolled round once again on our calendars with the day falling in little under a weeks time. I wont be giving to much coverage to Halloween this year for the sole reason that I simply don't like it :) but regardless I was hardly going to be turning down some more goodies from my chums at Hotel Chocolat. Last year you may remember me reviewing their Boo! milk chocolate collection (HERE) aswell as some of their other Halloween themed products. This year they have extended their Halloween range further with some additional products like these Hotel Chocolat Munchkins which came described as 'mini shortbread biscuits covered in orange flavoured white chocolate and icing sugar'. To me they sounded completely different to any other Hotel Chocolat product I had seen before and I was hoping that this new found adventurism would pay dividends.

These mini chocolates came in a 115.0g bag that I managed to wolf down in nearly in a single sitting. You may have noticed that the packaging was exactly the same as Hotel Chocolat's Chocolate Puddles range in that they were stored within a clear plastic packet decorated with a label and sealed with a stylish looking Hotel Chocolat ribbon. On the whole I do like this style of presentation though my one slight gripe with it is that it is quite hard to reseal once opened. Inside the pieces looked really groovy with their bright orange colour though they did have quite an awkward feel in the hand with their dusting of icing sugar making them feel dry, but at the same time a bit clammy - it was odd to say their least. Not to be perturbed by their odd feel I was more welcoming of the tempting dairy and fruity orange scents that emerged when the packet was opened.

Although above I have described not liking the feel of the icing sugar on my fingers it did provide a very welcome cooling sensation as the pieces hit my tongue and it gave a pleasant fizzling sensation to reveal the chocolate layer below. As expected the white chocolate was nothing short of delicious and combined a cream based, vanilla hinted taste with a wonderful note of fresh tasting zingy orange which brought a lovely bit of variation to the traditional Hotel Chocolat white chocolate. The shortbread biscuit that sat below was unsurprisingly overwhelmed by the orange white chocolate though it did bring a pleasant crunchy element to the other softer, smoother textures. As I stated above I nearly managed to eat my way through a whole pack of these in one sitting and this was solely down to something I call the 'Maltesers' effect. These Hotel Chocolat Munchkins tasted absolutely superb but just were not satisfying or fulfilling in any way whatsoever.

Overall I think when judging this product it will make more sense to look at the different attribute scores rather than the aggregated average as I think it doesn't give a fair reflection on the product. The only sole problem with these Hotel Chocolat Munchkins was that they provided very little in terms of hunger fulfilment which was a real shame when put in the light of how nice they tasted. These were yet another nicely presented and great tasting product from Hotel Chocolat and fans of their white chocolate will absolutely love these if they also happen to like orange flavoured chocolates. Though these wouldn't probably wouldn't purchase these for myself again in the future if I was to be gifting small presents at Halloween (which I wont be!!) then I would see these as a sensible option given that they both look and taste great. These were by no means the best Hotel Chocolat product ever but I feel a step in the right direction in terms of new smaller, fun products in their portfolio.

7.5 out of 10