December 9th: Thorntons Classic Collection

Kcal 55 Fat 2.6g (per chocolate)

Now with Christmas drawing in fast I am sure a lot of you are considering gifting the odd box of chocolates to your friends and family. With that in mind I today thought I would give one of the most widely available Thorntons selection boxes a try - their 'Classic Collection'.

This product came as a box of ten chocolates which came billed as 'classic favourites including caramel, nut, fruit and fudge centres, enrobed in dark, milk and white chocolate. The selection included eight different variants with two portioned twice.

For me the presentation was a mixed bag ... and I mean that literally! Whereas the outer golden box looked pretty swanky, inside the chocolates were all jumbled together in a single plastic packet leaving them looking not so fresh in appearance and also all smelling the same as they were all affected the sweet, fruity piece in the packet. Personally I think this is a cardinal sin and I simply just can't stand it when this happens as it tends to have an impact on the initial flavours ... which it annoyingly did!

Below are my brief thoughts on each chocolate - working from left to right as usual.

Creamy Fudge - This was one of the flavours that was portioned twice with one milk chocolate covered and one dark chocolate covered. Out of the two the dark chocolate was the better as the milk chocolate and fudge combination was a little too startling in terms of sweetness. Thorntons are quite good at their fudge fillings and I again relatively enjoyed the crumbly, sugary buttery flavours of the centre. Good.

Hazelnut Nougat - Just as with every piece the outer chocolate was briefly affected by an annoying fruity tinge though it soon settled down to provide a fair coating. This sounded one of the more intriguing chocolates out of the selection but the inner hazelnut nougat was a complete let down lacking any nutty flavours of note with its boring sweet bland taste. Poor.

Chocolate Dream - Dream!??? Hmmm I don't think so. Maybe I have been spoilt by quality chocolate truffles recently but this was seriously bad. The outer chocolate of both variants was of a fair quality but the inner 'truffle' was absolute pap! It had a rancid sweetness that on the whole just tasted ridiculously cheap. One to avoid! Awful.

Strawberry Velvet - Ahhhhh the perpetrator! This chocolate was the offending piece that initially affected the taste of all the others in the selection with its artificial fruity aroma. Surprisingly it actually tasted pretty good :) and unlike the smell suggested the centre offered a tasty fruitiness that I was actually pretty impressed with. Good.

Country Caramel - This was actually more of a toffee than a caramel with its super hard texture but lets not get into that discussion. This was a piece I relatively enjoyed but wasn't particularly all that fussed with. The outer dark chocolate was fair and established a nice set of chocolaty flavours in the mouth before the hard inner centre was sucked on. The caramel was little flavourless and grainy in texture, though I did like the change up from the softer centre pieces and did get some pleasure from the mild butterscotch flavours. Standard.

Creamy Coffee - As a big fan of coffee flavoured chocolates I was looking forward to this one in particular and saved it until last. Unfortunately it wasn't the fitting finale I was hoping for as the coffee flavours were mild if not non-existent. The soft centre did have a milky, creamy taste but it just didn't deliver the promised coffee element. Poor.

Turkish Delight - I don't think I review enough Turkish Delight chocolates but this chocolate didn't exactly inspire me to seek out any more products with any great urgency. After the fake strawberry influence disappeared there was very little time to enjoy the true flavours of the milk chocolate as it was portioned very thinly around the inner jelly. The turkish delight centre was lovely in a texture with its minor chewiness but it lacked a little in the flavour department with the rose water flavours perhaps not as strong as you would find in the like of Fry's etc. Standard.

Coconut Paradise - Did I save the best to write about until last!? Well not on purpose but it is the way it has worked out! This chocolate was really pretty good and was surprisingly coconut centric in its flavours. The outer white chocolate had a double cream like taste and smoothly melted into a crunchy centre which was lined with small pieces of coconut. Had I to choose one of these chocolates to have again this would be the one. Very Good.

Overall despite the actually variety in terms of selection on offer here the actually quality wasn't all that great. As I mentioned in the opening few paragraphs what annoyed me greatly about these chocolates in particular was the fact that for the first few seconds of the taste they all initially tasted the same due to them being stored in the same packet as the fruit piece in the selection. This didn't spoil things for me totally but it was certainly an annoyance and was not a good start to the taste for every piece. Like all selection boxes you are often going to find there are a few chocolates you don't like but for me there were just to many here with the hazelnut nougat and chocolate dream pieces sticking out like sore thumbs. Although there are a few chocolates that I did enjoy in here I just can't recommend that you gift these this Christmas. If you are looking to do things on a budget (£1.99) then this might possibly be a viable option but in that case I would just go for the £1 boxs of selected Cadbury, Nestle or Mars bars you can get.

5.5 out of 10

December 8th: GU Naughties Millionaire's Flapjacks

Kcal 465 Fat 25.4g Fat(sats) 15.4g Carbs 54.2g (per 100.0g)

Although this review initially came about after a request from ChocolateMission reader Alan I needed no further encouragement once I saw what GU were offering up here. The combination of flapjack and millionaire's shortbread sounded like a match made in heaven and the description of 'butter flapjacks with lashing of gooey caramel, covered in thick milk chocolate' had me salivating almost Homer Simpson style. For those unaware GU is a UK based manufacture whose business predominantly lies in the chilled desserts sector. As you can see here however they have recently made strides into the ambient cakes market with a few products under the sub brand 'Naughties'.

I bought these in my local Sainsbury's supermarket at the cost off £1.99 (1/3 off!) for a tub of 16 bites. I have to admit at full price I may have been put off but I thought the stylish presentation of the product made it justify its price premium against the other cheaper priced items it sat near on the shelf. Opening up the lid I was surprised to see all the bites loosely rolling around inside, though my mind was soon distracted by the terrific chocolaty smells that soon emanated from the tub. Despite the lack of inner protection the pieces themselves looked largely unblemished and fantastically appetising with some distinct layering.

Just like most cakey treats I soon found a playful way to eat each piece and by the end of the tub I had perfected a wonderful (if slightly mad) technique. My preferred method was to firstly bite off the chocolate pieces from each side, then eat the lower flapjack base before lastly enjoying the remaining caramel and upper chocolate topping. In regards to the chocolate it wasn't the best quality I have ever tasted, however it still had a nice appeal and delivered the all important chocolate hit with a surprisingly rich set of cream based flavours. The flapjack base was terrific and held back on the sweetness nicely to provide a buttery, golden syrup oaty taste with its dense, fulfilling texture. I guess my only fear was this product was that the combination of flapjack and caramel may have been overly sweet though I am glad to say this wasn't the case. The caramel was less intense in terms of its sugar flavours than I was expecting and it instead brought butterscotch and salt elements to the taste which contrasted nicely with the chocolate. There is no denying these were ridiculously moreish but I felt content eating just two with a mid afternoon coffee.

Overall I am sure you can tell these were a product I really enjoyed and thankfully I can confirm these were executed just as well as I had hoped. Millionaire's shortbread at the best of times can be insanely rich so the fear of course was that with the addition of a flapjack base to the mix the outcome would be something just a little bit over the top. As you will have read above though GU got these spot on and I felt that each of the different layers contributed nicely to a well rounded and flavoursome taste. The chocolate perhaps wasn't the greatest quality ever but it still brought the chocolate element to the party to a fair standard. The real stand out elements of this product for me though had to be the flapjack and caramel layers which were both utterly delicious. If you like the sound of these and are going to buy them in the future (which I seriously recommend you do!) my last tip for you is to keep them in the fridge ... it makes them all the more enjoyable. These are well worth considering though maybe not at their full price which I think is just a little too steep.

8.9 out of 10

December 7th: Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Cookies & Caramel Festive Wreath

Kcal ...loads Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

If you have a great memory you may remember all the way back last year (Christmas 2008) that I was lucky enough to get the opportunity to review one of Hotel Chocolat's famous Chocolate Wreaths ... SEE HERE. Indeed that Fruit & Nut Wreath was absolutely fantastic and earned a coveted 9.1 rating on the ChocolateMission rating system - making it one of the highest scoring products for 2008. Given this history you can imagine that I was pretty delighted to see this Hotel Chocolat Milk Chocolate Cookies & Caramel Wreath pop through the door in my Christmas 2009 sampling package and the description of '40% milk chocolate with caramel Florentine, cookie pieces and white chocolate chunks' did very little to temper my enthusiasm.

It is good to see that at least one manufacture this year has not been sneaky by reducing the size of their chocolates and just as last year this Cookies & Caramel Wreath weighed in at a mighty 450.0g. Back up was going to be needed in order for this to be consumed and as always my family were more than happy to 'help me out' as best they could :) ... I tell you they get the best deal out of this website (all the eating none of the writing!). If you have cheated and already peaked at the scoring chart you will see that like last years Wreath a magic 10.0 has been awarded for presentation and I think their can be little argument. Simply put this Wreath look amazing - the outer cardboard box was a wonderful golden colour and decorated with smart silver snowflake patterns but even this paled in comparison to the beauty (yes I really have just used that word!) of the inner chocolate Wreath which truly was a sight to behold. It was wonderfully crafted with intricate patterns etched into the surface and with visible chunks of caramel Florentines and biscuit dispersed evenly throughout. As much as we loved admiring the Wreath's aesthetic prestige the chocolaty caramel scents were just to appealing, thus it didn't last long in its unbroken state.

In totality this Wreath lasted about a week in our household with us all helping ourselves to generous chunks after meals, coffees etc. Now having reviewed probably over 30+ products that contain Hotel Chocolat's 40% milk chocolate you are all probably pretty bored of me describing it but I think it is worth mentioning the broad appeal that it obviously has. This can be no better exemplified than by the approval it gets from the older generation of my family who adore the creamy, cocoa rich taste. Whilst we all very enjoyed the base milk chocolate and added pieces of white chocolate which further reaffirmed the cream flavours what was very noticeable was that the areas that contained the Florentine caramel were the first to go. The pieces of Florentine were frankly superb and offered a little differentiation to the smooth melting, thick chocolate with light crispy bits added to the texture and delightful flavour hits of toffee and butterscotch. Whilst the caramel element was very much enjoyed the cookie pieces weren't quite so impactful on the overall taste and though they also add nice bits of crunch texture wise they did lack a little in terms of flavour offering only mild, sugared wheat suggestions to the taste. As I have said above the Wreath lasted about a week which I felt was a decent amount of time between the 3/4 of us.

Overall Hotel Chocolat have come up trumps again with yet another Christmas offering that I would strongly suggest you take a look at if it is chocolate you are planning on gifting this Christmas. One thing that you can almost guarantee with Hotel Chocolat is that if the product is mainly compromised of their 40% house milk chocolate you are going to be on to a winner but for me this wasn't what made this Wreath so special. What I think makes this product stand out from other gifting options this Christmas is the overall look and presentation of the product which I think is altogether is really special. In terms of practicality for consuming this Wreath wont be winning any prizes but in terms of aesthetic looks it is in a class of its own. I may have preferred the dark chocolate Wreath last year in terms of taste but with this Cookies & Caramel variant I was similarly impressed by the care that had gone into crafting it. If you are after a fabulous tasting chocolate product that has a real wow factor as a present I think you need look no further than Hotel Chocolat's Wreath collection this Christmas.

8.9 out of 10

December 6th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 26

### SHORTENED EDITION ###

Hi All,

This week we have another shortened edition of '7Days ...' as there are still so many reviews to get through before the year end. Please be sure to check out the extra review posted today ... McVities Jaffa Cake Bars!!

There isn't much to report this side but I can reveal we have more showings from Hotel Chocolat's and Thornton's Christmas ranges this coming week!

News coming from the chocolate market this week is all still focused around the Cadbury takeovers bid. The latest is that Hershey seem to be putting together the money ... and Cadbury are showing all the signs of being willing to accept an offer from them ... SEE HERE.

Post from other blogs I enjoyed this week

* GiGi Reviews - This Trader Joe's Peppermint Bark White Chocolate bar really caeught my eye on Gi's site! It looks/sounds awesome! ... SEE HERE

* Yum Yucky - Josie discussed a fabulous rule that whilst your watching your sports team the more you eat, the better the chance they have of winning :) ... SEE HERE

* Candy Blog - Cybele has started her own Christmas reviews and took a look at the Hershey-ets ... SEE HERE

* Would I Buy it Again? - The guys at this site found perhaps the most disgusting/calorific fast food food ever - Hardee's Monster Biscuit ... SEE HERE

* Impulsive Buy - Speaking of fast food Marvo tried this Chinese-in-a-freezer-bag when he tried this Wanchai Ferry Sweet & Sour Frozen Chicken Meal ... SEE HERE

Have great weeks - be sure to check out the review below!!

JIM

Do your Christmas Shopping with ChocolateMission

Why not join buy your loved ones a membership to Hotel Chocolat Tasting Club

Check out the online Special Offers from Hotel Chocolat

December 6th: McVitie's Jaffa Cake Bars

Kcal 129 Fat 5.5g Fat(sats) 2.8g Carbs 18.8g (per bar)

My review of the original McVitie's Jaffa Cakes is one of the most popular pages on this site and it little surprise given their popularity amongst us Brits. Jaffa Cakes have to be one of the most iconic British snack foods and I don't know about you but any other supermarket own brand Jaffa Cake copy cats never quite match up to McVitie's original biscuits. Having extensively covered the cake bar market over the last few months one of the most requested product reviews I have received recently have been for these McVitie's Jaffa Cake Bars. One of the most commonly discussed things around Jaffa Cakes are whether they are cakes or biscuits? Described as 'dark chocolate with a light sponge and orange center' it surely can't be argued that these Jaffa Cake Bars are biscuits!

I do love my £1 promo deals at the moment and bought a pack of 5 of these on that very offer in my local OneStop shop. Aesthetically I was pleased to see the consistent use of the Jaffa Cake branding and liked the fact that each bar came within singular foil wrappers. Taking the bars out of the wrappers I was met with some familiar Jaffa Cake scents which was a mixture of cocoa and sweet orange fruit influences. As well as being relatively impressed by the presentation of the product on the whole I just wasn't completely down with the cake bar format. It had all the same layers of Jaffa Cake, it smelt like a Jaffa Cake but it just didn't seem right not in the iconic disc shape of norm which took some of the appeal away for me.

As you can see from the picture above the outer layer of 'dark chocolate' was very thinly implemented especially in comparison to other cake bars I have tried recently. One would think this was a decision made on the basis that the dark chocolate might be too strongly flavoured for the average consumer if implemented more generously, though personally I felt the semi-sweet cocoa flavours lost relevance in the greater presence of the sponge and orange filling layers. Indeed the sponge below was light and fluffy as described, however didn't ever go beyond delivering a flour led sweet taste and cloyed due to the chocolate failing to provide enough moisture when melted. Of course the most distinctive and enjoyable flavours came from the orange centre which was sweet and fruity and left a zingy orange aftertaste in the mouth. One of these at a time was probably more satisfying and that three separate Jaffa Cakes but having said that the cake bars were certainly less fun and playful to eat.

Overall whilst these Jaffa Cake Bars retained many of the pleasant things of the originals they for me just lacked a little of the Jaffa Cake magic. Although these Jaffa Cake Bars tasted pretty much the same as the original Jaffa Cakes I felt that they just couldn't match up in terms of looks or the amount of fun they were to eat. As discussed at great length on the review last year there are hundreds of way to pick a part and dissect a Jaffa Cake but these Cake Bars can't quit boast the same level of playfulness. I guess in a way the original cakes (yes they are cakes as well...don't get me started!) aren't the easiest product to consume and carry 'on-the-go' so I can possibly see that having the option of one of these Jaffa Cake Bars at hand would be advantageous in that instance. In the context of the cake bar market though these simply can't match up to some of the other options out there from the likes of Thorntons. Certainly a product for the Jaffa Cake nutters but not a must try by any means.

7.2 out of 10

December 5th: Hershey's Bubble Yum Chocolate Flavour

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

I have only ever done one gum review before here on ChocolateMission but a few months ago I received a request from a reader for me to try this chocolate flavoured Herhshey's Bubble Yum. As soon as I received the request I did look into getting hold of a pack but unfortunately my Internet search came up pretty dry with very few results. Luckily my pals at CandyPirate were on hand to solve my woes and they kindly sent me a few packs to chew my way through. At the time of sending these through Jon from CandyPirate did inform me that this product has now been discontinued by Hershey's ... your just going to have to trust me if you haven't tried these before.

Despite being a chewing gum addict I hadn't had bubble gum since my younger years so trying this Hershey's gum was a real blast from the past. Surprisingly a single pack (photo above) only contained five different pieces which I managed to get through in a single day. In regards to packaging I thought the product looked pretty cool. Looking at some of the rest of the Bubble Yum range the consistent colour seems to be fluorescent pink situated behind the branding, and I thought this was nicely combined with the brown shades and Hershey's branding to communicate the chocolate flavouring. Smell wise the gum not surprisingly didn't have much of an aroma, however there was a noticeable sweet smell that reminded me of Hershey's Twizzlers.

The likeness to the Hershey's Twizzlers didn't just stop at the smell as the taste was also very similar. Placing the gum in my mouth I was at first surprised at the familiarity of the flavours at hand with some sweet, dried milk, milk cocoa influences deeply reminiscent of Hershey's milk chocolate. Up until this point I was reasonably impressed but unfortunately these flavours were soon all but lost with just only a few minutes in the mouth. As the gum warmed and was chewed the chocolaty flavours were soon all lost, leaving only a very sweet artificial and musky taste in the mouth. With the flavours lasting such a brief amount of time I only ever chewed a single piece for no longer than 15 minutes.

Overall to sum this gum up nicely I wouldn't say it was unpleasant but at the same time I wouldn't describe it as a pleasurable experience and this was solely down to the longevity of the flavours. When choosing a gum I want it to do three basic things 1) Taste good 2) Give me fresh breathe (or at least leave my mouth feeling fresh) & 3) Have flavours that are sustained over a decent amount of time. This gum did 1) & 2) to at least some extent, however with the gum flavours lasting such a brief amount of time it in some ways made benefits 1) & 2) redundant. At the end of the day this definitely wouldn't be a product that I would replace my usual mint chewing gum with which I guess is pretty lucky considering it is no longer available. If you would like to read a few more exotic gum reviews I suggest you head over to GiGi's site as she recently did a full weeks worth of gum reviews (HERE).

5.3 out of 10

December 4th: Thorntons Toffee Cakes

Kcal 177 Fat 9.9g Fat(sats) 5.2g Carbs 20.2g (per cake)

This review comes as a result of a long term request from ChocolateMission reader Phil who way back in September told me to get hold of some of these Thorntons Toffee Cakes. To be honest I needed very little encouragement as my previous experience with Thorntons' Chocolate Cakes was so overwhelmingly positive that they held the title of ChocolateMission's favourite cake bar ... that was until today! Described as 'layers of toffee sponge, toffee sauce, toffee buttercream covered in milk and white chocolate' these cakes sounded wonderfully indulgent - of course they had the nutritional content to match at nearly 180 calories a bar!

Despite the packaging displaying no catch weight the multi pack I bought consisted of 5 very large sized cakes and cost me just over the £1 in my local Waitrose. As with most Thornton's cake products the packaging looked pretty good and I liked the accurate display of the cakes illustrated on pack which gave a great indication of the inner product. Just as with the Chocolate Cakes these Toffee ones were wrapped in individual plastic wrappers which included transparent window so the inner contents were visible. Inside the cakes smelt fantastic and a sweet caramel like set of scents emerged as soon as I broke open the plastic packet seal. When I cut into the cake I was pleased to feel that the bar a nice resistance with the cake feeling quite dense as I pushed the blade through each of the layers.

From the very first bite it was little wonder why Phil had been recommending these cakes for so long as they were simply delicious. Unlike most chocolate cake bars the outer chocolate was thickly implemented and I particularly enjoyed the entertainment of playfully picking away at the coating and enjoying the cream based chocolaty flavours away from the other toffee dominated ingredients. Once I had finished massacring the outer chocolate I next moved onto devouring the rest of the cake, toffee sauce and buttercream layers. If you had had Lyle & Son's golden syrup sponge cakes before you will instantly understand how the cake tasted as it was very similar with it's seriously sweet, syrup led taste. Although the toffee sauce layer pretty much blended in with the other toffee and caramel flavours of the sponge and the buttercream its presence certainly wasn't without benefit and it wonderfully moistened the cake whilst providing a barrier between the cake and buttercream elements. Whilst the cake and outer chocolate layers were great, the toffee buttercream was utterly divine. It was insanely creamy with a caramel noted taste that was both moreish yet incredibly rich - one bar left me feeling more than satisfied having consumed it.

Overall I have had to rate these Toffee Cakes ever so slightly ahead of the Thorntons Chocolate Cakes as I think given the option to have either one of them again I would probably choose these Toffee ones. I am sure you will have noticed I have tried many a cake bar over the last few months from good to bad but these really stood out as something special and I enjoyed them from beginning to end. Every part of these cakes were fantastic - from the great standard outer chocolate to the utterly class toffee buttercream and cake layers. Could they be improved in any manner!? Nothing strikes me as particularly in need of changing but it would have been great to have seen what they would have been like with a slightly stronger chocolate recipe coating the particularly sweet tasting inner constituents. If your a fan of tea and cake ... (come on who isn't!?) I would seriously advise you to give them a try in the near future. If toffee is your thing I think you will really enjoy these.

8.6 out of 10

December 3rd: Green & Black's Caramel

Kcal 511 Fat 27.4g Carbs 56.0g (per 100.0g)

Only a month or so ago I was swearing I wouldn't be buying another Green & Black's product for a 'long time' but having received a request from ChocolateMission reader Phil ages ago I felt obliged to give this bar a well overdue review. I say the review is well overdue for two reasons - firstly I am admittedly not always that keen to review Green & Black's products due to poor past experiences. Secondly this Caramel bar has been almost impossible to track down and it wasn't until I stumbled across it in Waitrose last week that I managed to chance upon it. Described as 'milk chocolate with a soft caramel filling' this was a product that certainly had its work cut out given the quality of the milk chocolate caramel bars I have reviewed previously.

I found this Caramel variant in a 100.0g form that was segregated similarly to the previously reviewed Green & Black's Mint bar. Aesthetically I didn't like the outer wrapper but I guess most of you could have already guessed this so lets not open up that can of worms again. On a more positive note I did like the look of the chocolate with the inner caramel filling looking surprisingly dark and treacle like in colour. In addition to looking relatively appetising the fresh smelling chocolate scents further added promise and managed to engage me a lot more than the packaging at least.

In the interest of not being overly negative I want to get the bad stuff out the way quickly and it wont surprise you to hear that I didn't think all that much about the milk chocolate. Like so many of the Green & Black milk chocolate bars I have had before I just felt that the milk chocolate was lacking in a distinctive taste. There was nothing bad or overly wrong with the milk led, mild cocoa taste but there was just nothing about it that made it stand out as anything special or unique to any other milk chocolates I have had recently. One thing I will say about the chocolate was that the melt was pretty well paced and just about the right thickness for it to accentuate the soft feel of the caramel once it was exposed. On the contrary to the chocolate I have more positive things to say about the caramel as it was noticeably different to any other caramel chocolates I have had recently. The caramel tasted quite like golden syrup but had floral honey notes with a subtle hint of vanilla which I must say did leave a lasting impression on my palette. This was certainly a chocolate best enjoyed once it had been chilled in the fridge but even though this slowed the melt somewhat it was still quite an easy one to consume in 50.0g servings at a time.

Overall Green & Black's were hindered here quite badly by the quality of their milk chocolate as the caramel filling went down pretty well with me. Whether I would say I preferred the caramel filling of this bar over the caramel in Cadbury Caramel or Galaxy Caramel is a separate thing altogether as what makes those bars so wonderful is the way the chocolates and caramels synergise. This could be purely just down to personal opinion and I would welcome your own thoughts on Green & Black's milk chocolate should you wish to share. I have said this many a time over the last year but personally nothing strikes me about the G&B milk chocolate as unique or offering anything different to other products or brands in the market. What really tips the scales for me is the fact that it is at a price premium to brands such as Galaxy, Dairy Milk, Hershey etc who all offer something a little different. To sum up I can't fault the quality of the caramel filling here, but G&B really have to do something with their milk chocolate recipe.

7.8 out of 10

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

December 1st: Thorntons Moments

I remember receiving a number of requests for me to try this product around a year ago but with Thorntons taking the smaller box out of distribution I have never had the urge to part with my monies for the large 250.0g size i.e. the one being reviewed today. This all changed last week however when I found them on a half price offer in my local OneStop for the price of £1.99, which for the amount of chocolate on offer didn't sound like a bad deal.

The Thorntons Moments collection comes described as 'a selection of favourite centres smothered in milk chocolate' and looks to be Thornton's move to compete with the likes of Cadbury Roses and Nestle Quality Street. The selection itself comprised of 6 chocolates - each of which I will go into below.

Taking into consideration the presentation for a second these immediately struck me as a sub-par Thorntons quality product. Personally I think these were just a victim of the usual high standards that Thorntons set but I didn't like the choice of colours for the inner wrappers with too many of the colours looking similar. The mixture of brown, dark red, orange, yellow, gold and purple was hardly vibrant or colourful. One thing that also struck me as disappointing was the size of the chocolates themselves which looked tiny to size they appeared in their wrappers.

Below are my brief thoughts on each piece:


Orange Crisp - The taste here was dominated by the orange influence which was immediately evident as soon as the chocolate was in the mouth. There was nothing fancy here like a progressive taste or sophisticated textures - just sweet tasting chocolate orange which had a gritty feel when left to melt in the mouth. Really nothing to shout about. Poor.

Double Chocolate Crouquant - This was probably the best designed chocolate out of the lot as the taste did progress nicely from a very sweet milky white chocolate into a stronger tasting milk chocolate when left to simply melt on the tongue. The taste was still way too on the sweet side for me but the two tone chocolate worked to some effect. That said I didn't particularly care for the crunchy pieces in the white chocolate base which I could have lived without. Standard.

Crunchy Praline - Ladies and gentlemen I present to you the worse tasting praline chocolate of all time ... take a bow son! Quite how they thought they could describe this as praline I do not know ... was it creamy? ... no ... was it nutty? ... no!? This chocolate simply tasted of overly sugar laden milk chocolate which had a sandy, gritty inner texture. Awful.

Chocolate Truffle - Finally a chocolate that wasn't crispy / crunchy! Indeed the change up of the textures was nice with the smoother filling, however the chocolate was just the same old sugary sweet rubbish that was used across the majority of these chocolates. The taste was non-progressive and just really not the quality I was hoping for. I think there are quite a few Belgian chocolatiers who would spit at thought of this being described as a truffle. Very Poor.

Soft Caramel - Uh-Oh this looked remarkably like one of Paul.A.Youngs Salted Caramels and given the standard of the rest of the chocolate I sure you know where this is headed. To be blunt this chocolate couldn't lace Paul's boots. The chocolate was of course ridiculously sweet and was only further compounded by the sugary gloop that lay inside. Admittedly the caramel was soft in the mouth but this mattered little when the taste was as offensive as it was. Very Poor.

Creamy Fudge - Finally a chocolate that I can be sort of nice about! Phew! This chocolate reminded me of the Marks & Spencer Fudge bar that Thorntons no doubt produce for them. The chocolate was nothing to shout about but the inner fudge at least had a buttery, creamy taste that I did enjoy. Unfortunately for me this was one of the ones that was portioned less generously in the box! DOH! Good.

Overall ... well where to start!? What an awful selection of chocolates Thorntons offered up here! Never before have I reviewed a box with so many ratings below the average 'standard' rating but some of the chocolates on display here were even lucky to make it on the rating scale at all ... yes Crunchy Praline I am looking at you! The main problem with this selection box was the overall quality of the milk chocolate, which completely sub standard and no where near the kind of quality I have come to expect from Thorntons. Now I am not saying the quality of chocolate is good in the likes of Cadbury Roses or Nestle Quality Street but the milk chocolate here was really sugar laden and sweet tasting despite being billed as 30% cocoa solids. In the likes of Roses and Quality Street one thing they do have in their favour is that the proposed flavours pretty much deliver and make each chocolate unique. The six on offer here were just lacklustre with the one exception being the Creamy Fudge chocolate which was a stand out amongst a poor range. One can only assume that quite a few of you have tried these so it would be interesting to hear if your views are similar to my own.

4.6 out of 10

November 30th: Hotel Chocolat Cinnamon Crunch

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

It is the start of another working week (boo) but that also means it is Hotel Chocolat Monday (Yay!) and I today bring you another review of one of Hotel Chocolat newest chocolates. The second of the four new Hotel Chocolat Christmas slabs I tried recently was this Cinnamon Crunch variant which came billed as '40% milk chocolate with cinnamon spiced praline'. Thinking about it now this has to be one of the first cinnamon flavoured bars I have reviewed that has come from the UK. You may remember my Christmas reviews last year being dominated by cinnamon flavoured chocolates but most of those chocolates came from Germany/Middle Europe (Ritter, Milka & Lindt) so it was nice to see a UK firm try their hand at the combination.

This Christmas slab came in a slightly different format to the Hotel Chocolate Orange Nice Spice and came in a single 100.0g form. Of course this was a bit of a pain in the backside when trying to break pieces off but there is no doubting how awesome the slab looked aesthetically. The outer packaging incorporated the same look as the Orange Nice Spice and managed to combine both a prestigious and colourful looked with the box awash with gold fonts and silver patterns. The slab itself looked brilliant with the clean cut milk chocolate decorated with a snowman centre piece and small white icing sugar pieces for a snow effect. After I had stopped admiring the slab I noticed the sweet and spicy smells that were emanating from the foil wrapper ... can a chocolate smell Christmassy!? ...This one did for me :)

One thing that I was never worried about with this chocolate and knew was going to be of a good quality was the 40% milk chocolate which has to be one of Hotel Chocolat finest recipes. As usual it had a creamy taste that was laced with the finest degree of cocoa to give it an extremely smooth, friendly, strong flavoured appeal. The defining element of this chocolate was of course going to be the implementation of the cinnamon to the chocolate and I can say it was done really well. Although having a great presence in the smell of the chocolate the flavours didn't really come to the party until the latter stages of the melt and encountering of the rice pieces. Rice is often used as cheap 'filler' for chocolates but this was not the case here as the cereal element delivered a biscuity element to the taste whilst also delivering the cinnamon element. The spices weren't overpowering and were nicely balanced with the chocolate to bring a nicely well rounded taste experience. Just as if this all wasn't enough the snowman centre piece was formed of Hotel Chocolat caramel flavoured milk chocolate which brought notes of burnt brown sugar and toffee to the taste. With the slab portioned a single serving it was hard not eating the thing all in one go with its moreish taste. I don' think this would survive two sitting for most people.

Overall I wouldn't say that cinnamon flavoured chocolates are necessarily my favourite but what this slab did prove is that it is a terribly underutilised ingredient in this country. As this chocolate proved when implemented correctly cinnamon can really be a flavour enhancing spice and this was definitely very much the case here. With the spice flavours not coming through until the latter stages of the taste this allowed the chocolate to be enjoyed first before the full on effect of the cinnamon was experienced. One thing I have failed to mention yet is how gloriously the textures worked together. The thick melting chocolate was nicely studded by the cripsy cereal pieces whilst the aftertaste had a warming spice effect which I can only believe was brought about by the touch of paprika that was present in the chocolate. If you are looking for a real festive chocolate to get you in the mood this Christmas or perhaps just fancy trying something a little different this is another Hotel Chocolat option well worth looking at.

8.8 out of 10

December 29th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 24

### COMPETITION RESULT ###

Congratulations to Daniel Bailey whos answer fell between the +/-15 parameters of the competition I set two weeks ago. He is the lucky winner of the Ritter, Riesen, Amicelli and Schogetten chocolates - please send me your address Daniel .... I have e-mailed you!

I won't be telling you all the exact number of product reviews that have been featured on the site yet as I want to keep post 1000 a surprise as I am planning something special! Put it this way ...if you guessed between 820-850 you were in the mix for the final draw!!

Again this is a shortened edition of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' as I want to clear out the remaining reviews I have stockpiled and get through all the Christmas products I have before the end of the year!

Apart from the Cadbury buyout story rumbling on I couldn't find any other chocolate news I am afraid .... Nestle interested in buying Cadbury?


~~ Other Blog Posts I enjoyed this week ~~

* ImpulsiveBuy - Marvo posted podcast #9 featuring an instant Yakisoba product. Be sure to check it out ... SEE HERE

* GiGi Reviews - Gi posted her review of the new limited edition Oreos ... for the love of god someone please send me some :) ... SEE HERE

* Foodstuffinds - Cin has come up with a cool idea for readers to share their advent calendar content each day! Check it out ... SEE HERE

* Yum Yucky - Josie over at YY wasn't impressed with these but I thought the concept of sweet potatoe crisps (aka chips!) sounded like a cool one ... SEE HERE

* Chocablog - Dom reviewed the Hotel Chocolat Sparkling Stars Praline and like I found with the Sparkling Stars Caramel he was puzzled as to where the actual Christmas concept came in? ... SEE HERE

~~ Where to do your Chritmas Shopping ~~

November 29th: Mr Bunbury Millionaire's Shortbreads

Kcal 213 Fat 12.3g Fat(sats) 6.9g Carbs 24.3g (per slice)

Long term readers will be aware that Millionaire Shortbread is my favourite bakery item and I have been trying a fair few different brand offerings over the last year or so. The latest product to come under the ChocolateMission spotlight were these Mr Bunbury Millionaire's Shortbreads which I found in my local Sainsbury's. Mr Bunbury is a small UK based company who produce their goods in Kingston-Upon-Thames in Surrey, a stones throw away from where I reside now. One thing I immediately loved was how they were described on the pack as 'buttery shortcake fingers shamelessly smothered in caramel and topped with vulgarly rich Belgian milk chocolate' - they get points creativity at least.

Out of all the Millionaire Shortbread products I have tried over the last few months (McVitie's, Thornton's etc) these were the most dear and cost me £1.99 for a pack of 5. My thoughts on the outer packaging were pretty positive and I liked the classic look of the light blue coloured cardboard box which was patterned with some simple but quite decorative looking fonts. Upon opening the box though I was less impressed with what I saw as despite each slice being wrapped in a plastic wrapper the biscuit of each had crumbled everywhere. As well as hampering the aesthetic appeal the softness of the biscuit layers made these incredibly hard to eat without causing a mess which is never what you want for on the go consumption. Messiness aside I must admit that I was relatively tempted by the sweet caramel smell that emanated from the wrappers.

With Mr Bunbury having built his Millionaire's Shortbreads up as shamelessly seductive I was expecting a sinfully rich taste experience - especially since these packed over 200 calories a slice! With the biscuit base crumbling everywhere I decided to be done with it and first ate away at the shortcake base. To my surprise the biscuit really lacked flavour and was disappointingly lacked the buttery element that the packaging promised. With its soft, yielding texture the biscuit lacked presence and it only took seconds for it to disappear entirely once in placed in the mouth. With the biscuit layer devoured this left the caramel and milk chocolate layers which I had mixed feelings about. Like the biscuit the caramel was disappointing and lacked distinctiveness in terms of it's flavours as well as a soft texture. Unlike any good caramel the one on display here was gritty and grainy in texture and lacked the desired butterscotch and salt notes to make it stand out as a good quality caramel. Thankfully having ripped into almost every aspect of this product above I finally have something nice to say and that was that I really enjoyed the milk chocolate that was placed on top of each slice. It was thick and broke with a fresh crispness when bitten in to and had a well paced melt when left to melt on the tongue. Unlike the biscuit and caramel layers that were lacking in flavour the chocolate exerted itself far more and had a delightful cream led taste that delivered the desired chocolate hit with a friendly cocoa edge. Looking at the nutritional content whilst considering the satisfaction I got from eating a slice these were probably more underwhelming than I would have hoped for.

Overall I would have loved to have written a really positive review about a local manufacture but I am afraid I would be doing an injustice to you all. As good as the chocolate layer was there was simply no excusing the caramel and shortcake elements which were frankly both underwhelming and disappointing. I guess there is the fun, comical side of billing your products as 'vulgarly rich' and 'shamelessly seductive' but when they don't deliver on these propositions the product comes across as all the more disappointing. Having reviewed the fantastic Thornton's Millionaire Shortcakes recently these were always going up against a tough benchmark but considering they cost the greater out the two there is simply only one winner out of the two. It would have been great to be able to tell you all to go out and buy these to support a smaller, relatively new brand but I just can't. Your better off sticking with the cheaper, tastier alternatives mentioned in this review.

6.2 out of 10

November 28th: Thorntons Creme Brulee

Kcal 180 Fat 10.4g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 20.2g

As requested by ChocolateMission reader Lily I today bring you the first of two seasonal limited editions from our friends at Thorntons UK. Joining the Thorntons Christmas line up this year we have been treated to two new variants from their single bars range - one of which is this Creme Brulee variant. This bar came described as 'milk chocolate with a creamy vanilla flavoured centre' and was certainly up against it from the outset given the quality of the recent Lindt Petite Desserts Creme Brulee chocolate I tried just a few weeks ago. Just so you know I bought this bar from a local Thorntons shop, where I believe is the only place to track these new bars down.

Like most products from this range the bar came in a 33.0g serving size which I of course ate in one single sitting. Looking at the presentation of the product as a whole I was pretty impressed and thought everything from the outer wrapper to the inner bar looked aesthetically pleasing. The outer wrapper incorporated a bit of a Christmas theme with a few silver snowflakes printed across the front giving it a sparkly and inviting look. The bar itself looked a little on the small side for my liking though I must say I did like the light dusting of brown sugar on the outer chocolate and the inner layering certainly looked appetising. Upon opening the plastic packet I was met with a waft of sweet, chocolaty smells that enticed to an extent but a the same time seemed nothing out of the ordinary.

When Thorntons put the required effort into their products they tend to do pretty well on the ChocolateMission rating system but it is an all too common occurrence that they fall fowl of this and serve up some right old rubbish. To be honest this bar didn't quite fit that mould, in that Thorntons looked to have put sufficient effort in, but just didn't quite produce a quality product. Starting off with the outer constituents the milk chocolate coating with the brown sugar pieces was pretty good. The chocolate was nice and creamy, whilst the brown sugar pieces delivered the sweet, crunchy texture that you would get on a creme brulee pudding with real effect. Unfortunately the taste was dominated by the inner creme which was pretty unpleasant and tasted sickeningly sweet. Whilst the wrapper promised a vanilla flavoured centre the reality was that it was more a sugary gloop that was monotonous and overpowering of the other flavour influences. As I have mentioned above, looking at this bar my immediate thoughts were that it simply looked really small and this did ultimately not fulfil my hunger to a satisfactory degree.

Overall I felt Thorntons didn't quite crack the Creme Brulee flavour in this bar and it unfortunately is yet another product that falls in to the bracket of 'it sounds better than it actually is'. In the defence of Thorntons it is nice to see them give this sort of innovation a try and they weren't far off producing a relatively fair standard product. This Creme Brulee bar fell down in two pretty obvious areas; firstly (and most importantly) the actual creme brulee inner filling wasn't good enough and was terribly sweet tasting and lacking the sophisticated creamy custard flavours I was hoping for. Secondly the product was simply just too small and had this bar actually been tasty I would most likely been left feeling disappointed given the miniature size. I don't want to lay into Thorntons too much here as I was pleased they actually gave something like this a go and they were up against pretty hot competition from the likes of Lindt. Look out for my second review of the limited edition bars from Thorntons this Christmas coming in the next couple of days.

6.6 out of 10