December 2nd: Ritter Sport Spekulatius

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

With 2 days now open on advent calendars around the globe it is time again today to get our heads around yet another festive offering from the chocolate market this time from Germany. It has been a while now since I last got stuck into a Ritter Sport bar but thanks to ChocolateMission reader Susie over the last few days I have been eating my way through this Spekulatius limited edition chocolate. Now for anyone living outside Germany the first obvious question would of course be 'what is Spekulatius?' ... thanks to my friend Wikipedia I can tell you that it is a biscuit originating from the Rhineland area of Germany and is often consumed around Christmas time. Availability of this bar appears to be limited to middle Europe - so don't expect it popping up in the UK anytime soon.

This chocolate came in the usual 100.0g Ritter Sport size and was split into 5x4 blocked dimensions. Looking at the packaging I think more could have been made of its festive spirit but I at least got the sense that it was a 'winter flavour' given its leafy dark brown and black secondary colours. Inside the chocolate looked very similar to the Ritter Sport Butter Biscuit variant though the biscuit was a bit darker in colour and seemed a little crumblier when I split the blocks apart. In regards to smell the bar smelt pretty appetising with some sweet spicy influences present amongst the dominant aromas of the milk chocolate.

I will save you the boredom of me describing the quality of the Ritter Sport milk chocolate for the 1000th time and just leave you with the reassurance that the sweet, milk prominent flavours were kind to the taste and delivered the all important chocolate hit with a well paced, flowing melt. The part I am sure you are all more interested in is the Spekulatius biscuit which was certainly not backwards in terms of delivering flavour. Towards the back end of the melt of the chocolate and the emergence of the biscuit, the spice flavours really started coming through with the ginger very much forthcoming. In comparison to the Butter Biscuit variant the inner cookie was as I preconceived softer in texture melted with minimal ease of the tongue releasing some explosive flavours. In addition to the original ginger spice coming through the majority of the latter taste was dominated by a cinnamon flavour influence with notes of nutmeg and roasted nut coming through from time to time. Due to it's biscuity nature this didn't feel like the most appropriate chocolate to eat in vast quantities and felt more suited to eating a few blocks at a time with a coffee.

Overall this was not the best Ritter Sport chocolate I have ever had but it certainly held its own in what is a very competitive range. The Ritter Sport Butter Biscuit is a chocolate that I used to eat quite commonly before I set up this site so I am in a pretty good position to make a side-by-side comparison. Unfortunately though I am just going to have to sit on the fence regarding which one is ultimately superior ... completely unhelpful I know :) In regards to taste the milk chocolate used on both is obviously the same so the differences lie solely with the actual biscuits. Personally I would say that I slightly prefer the creamier, butter taste of the Butter Biscuit variant though I would say that this Spekulatius is definitely the richer more satisfying choice out of the two. As much as I have tried to pull them apart I just can't do so, and thus have to be happy with my conclusion that I would happily consume either given the choice. In isolation as a Christmas offering this ticks all the boxes for me with its warming spicy taste delivered nicely in a well rounded sweet chocolate - it is well worth a look at to get you in the mood this December.

8.4 out of 10