Monday, 6 December 2010

December 6th: Chocri 'Jim's White Xmas Creation'

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

Hopefully last weeks successful 'Jim's Nutty Delight Creation' managed to vanquish all memories of soy bacon from ChocolateMission reader's minds. As I mentioned in that review, that was the first of three new bars I had created - the second being the focus of things today. Indeed, after spoiling my last white chocolate Chocri bar during my disastrous bacon episode, I thought it only fair that I give Chocri's white stuff another try - presenting 'Jim's White Xmas Creation'. Indeed, with Christmas fast approach I thought it appropriate to make my other two remaining creations Christmas themed. Chocri have recently just added a whole load of new Christmas ingredients and toppings for people to use on their chocolates, you can see them all HERE.

As with every customised Chocri creation, my bar came in a 100.0g size and I was again given free licence to add as many toppings as I wished (a full five it was then haha!). My 'Jim's White Xmas Creation' comprised of a white chocolate base with mini Spekulatius cookies, marzipan stars, walnuts, star-decorations, and candy cane pieces. Out of all of my Chocri creations thus far, this one was one of the cheaper options and altogether would cost £5.60. If you fancy trying this combination of ingredients for yourself you can use the code '1I7wvb' on the Chocri site to quickly rebuild it rather than having to go to the effort of inputting all of the toppings again manually. I think this is a pretty cool functionality to have should you ever wish to repurchase one of your previous orders.

As you will have determined from my choice of toppings, I went for some added ingredients that were going to make my chocolate hopefully look nice and festive. I have to say that when my bar arrived I was impressed with what I saw, as all my toppings were well distributed and made for an aesthetically interesting bar. When it came to the taste the good dispersion of the toppings made for a variable and persistently interesting experience. At the base of every bite, the white choccolate was of a fair to good quality, and established a very sweet, but vanilla hinted flavour set. Out of all the toppings my favourite bits were definitely the Spekulatius cookies and the marzipan stars. Both of these were the most forthcoming with their respective gingery biscuit and almond nut flavours, and they progressed the taste nicely in every block they had presence. The rest of the toppings were a little hit and miss, with the walnuts not particularly cutting through the far sweeter tasting components, and the star decoration and candy cane pieces struggling to establish themselves in any great manner. Like most white chocolates I didn't find it the most satisfying ever, but on a more positive note it wasn't like the taste became overly sugar dominant like a lot of white chocolates can do.

Overall I was happy with how this bar turned out given that I was a little distracted trying to create a Christmas themed chocolate rather than one that had the best possible mixture of toppings. Looks wise, if I say so myself this was one of the better looking chocolates I have eaten recently :D It's always hard photographing white chocolate so you may not quite be able to appreciate it, but trust me it looked impressive and the Christmas themed outer wrapper further helped create a festive feel for my bar. In regards to taste I will again reiterate the point it wasn't the best white chocolate I have ever had. Some of the toppings I have mentioned above though are certainly worth your consideration if you are going to be creating your own Chocri creations in the near future. I hope you enjoyed seeing my attempt at creating a 'White Xmas' bar, I would be interested to hear what toppings you would have chosen yourselves. More Chocri coming to ChocolateMission next week!

7.8 out of 10

40 comments:

David said...

These Chocri reviews are fascinating, you keep picking ingredients that I wouldn't of thought you would have. I never would of had you down to have all those decoration bits on there, I would have thought you would have picked extra nuts or something. Oh well, lol still a cool review thanks jim.

Steven_F said...

You have done better with your last couple of Chocri bars well done :)

If I ever made some bars myself I wouldn't haven't made it with a white chocolate base. It would always be the milk or the dark for me.

Rachel said...

Its good to see you went back and had another stab at the white stuff. The only time we saw you use it before was with the bacon and it didn't get much of a look in when you talked about it then (obvious reasons lol).

I do like the sounds of those german ginger biscuits you keep featuring on here - speklautius???? They sound super yummy I wish we could buy them.

Rxxx

Ana said...

I think that out of all your Chocri creations this is the one I like best - I love the sound of Spekulatius, marzipan and walnuts :D I'd surely put then in a Christmas bar as well :)

Ben said...

£5.60 is still expensive but at least this one is a little less dear than the £7 one you did the other day? What is the thing that makes them vary in price so much? Is it the type or number of things on top?

Kim S said...

One thing I still don't get is whether these are made in Germany or the UK now? I get that they have started selling in the UK just recently, but have they shifted manufacturing to here as well?

I'm not sure I fancy them as much if they are made and then shipped over. The post can be a bit dodgy if they are sent over such long distances.

Kim S said...

One thing I still don't get is whether these are made in Germany or the UK now? I get that they have started selling in the UK just recently, but have they shifted manufacturing to here as well?

I'm not sure I fancy them as much if they are made and then shipped over. The post can be a bit dodgy if they are sent over such long distances.

Robert said...

I thought the stars were going to just be rubbish at first but then you said they were marzipan ones mmmmm :-) Anything marzipan gets my juices going. This is a yum sounding bar of choc well done sir.

Kevin said...

I'm still not impressed by the scores you have been giving these bars considering how much they cost.

For something that costs over a fiver (without postage factored in I presume!??) I would have thought they would be pushing 8s or 9s. You consistently score them below this though, which tells me their chocolate isn't anything special.

Golden_Touch said...

I do really like the idea of creating my own chocolate but chocri don't have many of the things I would necessarily want in my ideal bar ever. For a start I would want some sort of soft caramel, you can't have any bar without that. They also don't have coconut which I think is a big miss for them. If they get those I might consider it. I don't get how they would do the caramel though.

Michael said...

Thats a cool bar you made yourself there Jim. I wouldn't have picked white chocolate because I don't like it much, but I would try your bar if you gave it to me.

Daisy said...

Yay Chocri!!!!
I have already built two bars for my sisters and I will be buying them this week. I don't think either of them have seen or heard of Chocri yet so getting their own personalised chocolates should come as a real surprise for them :) Thanks for introducing me to them.

Dx

Ian said...

I'm sorry but that price is still mental. You can buy Hotel Chocolat for that much, sorry but I think I would rather have the HC.

Katie S said...

white choccolate was of a fair to good quality, and established a very sweet, but vanilla hinted flavour set. Out of all the toppings my favourite bits were definitely the Spekulatius cookies and the marzipan stars. Both of these were the most forthcoming with their respective gingery biscuit and almond nut flavours, and they progressed the taste nicely in every block they had presence. The rest of the toppings were a little hit and miss, with the walnuts not particularly cutting through the far sweeter tasting components, and the star decoration and candy cane pieces struggling to establish themselves in any great manner.

The white CHOCCOLATE hey? Lol sorry to be a busy body and point out your spelling mistakes :P I hate it when people do that to me.

Lol your bar does look v pretty though. You get a thumbs up for that but not your marzipan ways. Marzipan on anything makes me sad :( I would have to pick them off.

Anonymous said...

Chocri sound cool. Do they deliver to the whole of the UK? Just asking cause I live in Ireland.

Graeme said...

It's getting annoying that people keep moaning about the price that Chocri charge. Of course their bars are going to be expensive .... they have to make each one of them BY HAND!!!!

There isn't another company out there that has to do that! It's not like Cadbury specially make each dairy milk bar for your own personal consumption is it!? Comparing the two is stupid.

Andy said...

Thanks for trying the white chocolate again Jim. I was wondering what it was like still after the unfair test last time.

I wouldn't have personally chosen to put any of those decoration toppings on but your bar does look nice I have to say ;) Thanks for another wicked review.

Nigel said...

Sorry I didn't make it on this weekend Jim. I was really busy visiting relatives.

This bar looks pretty cool. Im not normally a white chocolate person but I would give this a try if it was made by yourself :)

Liverpool have got Aston Villa tonight, what do you think? Villa are so up and down it is hard to tell? I will go for 2-1 us and Torres getting two.

Warren said...

I like what you did with having those cookies in there. They do sound like one of the more interesting toppers they have.

I just knew your next Chocri was going to be Christmas themed btw ;) I wasn't expecting you to make a white chocolate one though. I thought it would have been dark chocolate all the way with you. Cheers for the post.

Anonymous said...

Don't the candy cane pieces hurt your teeth if you bite in to them hard? I can imagine it would really hurt if you came across a rogue hard bit and wasn't expecting it.

Kieran said...

I keep playing around with different combinations on their site but every one I make consistently comes out at over £6.50. Grrr I'm sorry but that is just to much to pay for a chocolate bar. I would question paying half that tbh.

I think I'll stick with the cheaper stuff me.

Anya said...

Congrats on making an edible white choc this time ;] I'm impressed with your knowledge of german cookies. I wouldn't have thought your average Brit would have know what speuklatius was! We make homemade ones every year during Christmas time. They are so much better than the shop made ones you get in Germany trust me. I will send you some if you like?

Roy said...

Im looking forward to your next chocri review already this review was great.

I think we are a lot different in the style of chocolates we would make but its always cool to see what other people make of the diff toppings. I think I know not to go for the walnuts anymore. That is one thing I might have picked out.

Frank said...

You put nuts on everything don't you. I challenge you to create one with the wasabi nuts on. There is potential there for something being worse than the bacon lol.

Michael said...

The going sense I get is that you are consistently underwhelmed by Chcori. I get the whole thing about it being cool making your own chocolates, but if the chocolate isn't great in the first place what is the point? If I'm not wrong this is the highest scoring one yet, and you hardly sound like you fell in love with it.

Paul said...

You have somehow managed to piece together a whole bar that I wouldn't be interesed in lol. I dislike white chocolate, nuts, marzipan and ginger lol Apart from that we are good to go Jim.

Are you going to be building another dark chocolate one from them soon? That is the case I would use if I was making something off that site.

Anne said...

Nice reviwe Jim! :) Though I would have never used white choclate with all those sweet topping and I find you alsways compeltely overload your bars. ;-) Though I have to admit teh bars look nicer with lots of toppings. Mine looked rather empty... Also, interesting to read your views on some of the toppings I have also tried, though in seperate bars. Agree with you on the cookies but not so much on teh marzipan stars. Found them too dense, hard and not so almondy at all.

@ Rachel and others who might want to buy Spekulatius, Lidl has them and Aldi might have them as well. Just check their sections with all the Gemran Christmas stuff. The Lidl ones are pretty decent (they have some with almond flakes and also the ones without), if not as good as some others you can buy in Germany. Lidl (and again, I am sure Aldi does as well) has some other nice German stuff. I also quite like the Dominosteine and the filled gingerbread hearts. Stay away from their Stollen though, has nothing to do with authentic German stuff. ;-) But that is coming from someone who was born in the home city of teh Stollen!

Linda said...

If you took the walnuts out this would be exactly the sort of thing I would make for kids. Im thinking of making them up their own bars for Christmas myself but I keep thinking they would just appreciate a bar of milkybar just as much each. I think it is me more than them who would appreciate it being made by Chocri.

Claudia said...

This looks great - I love Spekulatius and anything heart-shaped :D

If I was to design one (i.e. if I could afford it), I would go for the milk chocolate with roasted almonds, hazelnut brittle, peanut butter drops, Spekulatius and star decorations :D

Phil said...

Sounds nice :) I think I would have gone for hazelnuts instead of walnuts myself. The cookies and marzipan combo sounds good though. I really must try some spekulatius cookies if I see any in the shops.

Jamie said...

Ack what happened to you making up crazy mixes for us to see? Lol only joking mate it is probably best you keep the bacon anf stuff out of there or you will make yourself ill or something.

If it wasn't the white chocolate factor I think I would be bought in to this one. I might even try it out on a milk chocolate base maybe? It would probably be more fun to create me own now I think about it.

Phil said...

@Anne - thanks for the tip :) I might have to pop to Lidl now. I'm generally not a fan of the place but the stuff they sell at christmas is always interesting.

Ganesh said...

These are always fun to see thanks so much Jim. I look forward to seeing what you have to say about the next one you have coming up , please tell me you have kept the topping choices sensible for petes sake.

Charlotte said...

Nevermind this over expensive Chocri. When are we seeing more heavenly cakes Jim?

Julian from chocri said...

Hi guys,

Thanks for your review, Jim!

@Ben: The chocolate start at 1.90. The final price really depends on what you put on the bar (toppings range from 0.2 to 1.40 for real gold flakes). But you get our recommended bars at a discount (usually one bar for 3.90)

@Kim: Yes, we produce everything in Germany. That's the only way how we can guarantee our high quality standards at the moment, because we have invested a lot in our production site. But it would be great to build a similar production site in the UK.

@Golden_Touch: Actually, we have those toppings in our range. We have toffee bits and coconut shavings...

I'd be happy if you visit our homepage ;)

Best,

Julian from chocri

Jim said...

Hi All,

Thank you again for the positive feedback on these Chocri reviews. Remember to get your orders in soon if you plan to have your bars by Christmas time (I've placed a handy banner ;D at the top right of the right hand side bar to make sure you guys remember)

David - RE: I never would of had you down to have all those decoration bits on there, I would have thought you would have picked extra nuts or something

I thought I would change it up a bit :D deviate from the norm and jazz up the looks of my bars for once.

Steven /Rachel / Michael / Warren - Re: White Chocolate Base

A few of you have commented on me using a white chocolate base today. Usually I would have used one of the other chocolate types, but I felt the need to try the white on it's own again after the bacon foul up. As far as white chocolate goes it wasn't bad at all.

Rachel - Re: I do like the sounds of those german ginger biscuits you keep featuring on here - speklautius

Essentially they are just ginger biscuits, there are several similar things in our supermarkets.

Ana - Re: I love the sound of Spekulatius, marzipan and walnuts :D I'd surely put then in a Christmas bar as well :)

That is good to hear thank you. I was wondering if most people would think this was Christmassy enough but it seems like I did an ok job in that regard.

Ben / Richard / Kevin / Ian / Graeme / Kieran - Re: PRICE

This is still such a sticking point for everyone isn't it. I think it is just the case that you guys are seeing a bar that I created at that price and not one you have tailored yourselves. When you get to create something from scratch you might find that the price is a bit more acceptable .... haha or you might just not and still think it's expensive :D Haha I don't know what else to say on the matter to be honest.

Graeme makes a good point about the bars being handmade! There aren't many brands that can claim that each bar they product gets that kind of attention.

Kim - Re: One thing I still don't get is whether these are made in Germany or the UK now? I get that they have started selling in the UK just recently, but have they shifted manufacturing to here as well?

They still make the bars in Germany I believe. They package them very well, I wouldn't worry about that.

Golden - Re: Soft Caramel

Im struggling to see how they could put soft caramel in there. They could place it on top because it would be too messy. I guess they could have a set number of bases in stock with caramel inside them. I imagine that would be very costly and hard to manage stock wise though. It doesn't seem likely to happen to me.

Katie - RE: sorry to be a busy body and point out your spelling mistakes / Marzipan

Oh dear if you are going to start pointing out my grammar and spelling mistakes you are going to have your work cut out haha! You need to start showing more love for the marzipan Katie. It's good stuff and there is always plenty to go around at Christmas time :D

Anon - Re: Chocri sound cool. Do they deliver to the whole of the UK? Just asking cause I live in Ireland

Indeed they do.

Nigel - Re: Liverpool vs Villa

It's at Anfield so I will say 3-1 you guys. It could be tight though, I don't think Gerrard is playing so that is always bad for your one man team haha :D

Jim said...

Anon - RE: Candy Cane

Not really - the candy cane was only as hard as some of the nuts are etc. It was a decent topping to have on there but it could have been portioned a little better and in bigger chunks.

Anya - RE: I'm impressed with your knowledge of german cookies. I wouldn't have thought your average Brit would have know what speuklatius was

I only knew because of my dealings with the Ritter Sport bar before. Thanks for the offer of the homemade stuff but I have so much Christmas stuff to get through I wouldn't want it to go to waste :D

Frank / Jamie - Re: You put nuts on everything don't you. I challenge you to create one with the wasabi nuts on. There is potential there for something being worse than the bacon

I think in fairness to Chocri it is best I keep the crazier combinations to a minimuim. It's not fair on them I make something and then say it's rubbish when they send me it for free.

Paul - Re: Are you going to be building another dark chocolate one from them soon?

Next one up chap! Will be with you.

Anne - Re: Your Comment

I think you could be right - I probably do overload my bars with too many toppings. It's just the stupid mentality that I have though ... more = better :D I also feel a certain duty to try as many of the toppings as possible so I can tell you guys what most of them are like.

Thanks for the Spekulatius advice - I might even venture in to my local Lidl to check out their selection now :D

Linda - RE: Treat your kids

Well if they are old enough to understand that the bars have their names on etc I could see kids getting very excited about that. I know I would of when I was younger. You could always make them some cheaper options with fewer toppings.

Claudia -Re: Your Comment

Oh yes I do like the sounds of the toppings you have going on there. I thought the hazelnut brittle was a bit disappointing mind you. I would probably go for just some plain hazelnuts instead.

Phil - Re: Your Comment

I know what you mean about Lidl chap :D I have one right by me but I tend to keep well out of there ( I hate the shopping atmosphere!!).
You are a wise guy when it comes to your nut selection! The hazelnuts are better than the walnuts for sure.

Charlotte - Re: Nevermind this over expensive Chocri. When are we seeing more heavenly cakes Jim?

Don't worry there is plenty of time for both :D I only just recieved my latest Heavenly Cakes batch so I can't imagine the new reviews will be up until next week. Sorry for the delay. Blame the Royal Mail.

Thanks for the comments today everyone. It is always nice to hear what toppings etc you want to see me use next. My final Chocri review for a while will be upcoming next week. I hope you enjoy that one just as much.

JIM

Anne said...

I do get you point about wnating to try as many toppings as possible to be able to comment on them! And I (well most of us reading here actually!) do appreciate that. :)

If you do give the Spekulatius cookies a try (or anything else of course) would be great to hear what you think. Dominosteine have chocolate on them, so do some other Lebkuchen. Just saying. ;-) It will never be as good as home baked or even as good as some other brands in GER or stuff from german bakers but I thik it is nice enough to give you some idea of German Christmas goodies.

Will probably miss the cheese KitKat review this week, no PC access until friday. :( But am looking forward to reading it all when I am back. ;-)

Leo said...

I love how pretty your bar looks you should be very proud of your creation.

I would also choose white chocolate but I wouldn't of gone with the nuts or the marzipan. There are so many different things to choose its so hard narrowing it down to just five. I might have to make a few bars to fit everything I want to try on.

Sean said...

I'm Sorry but You can't review a chocolate you had a hand in making...

OK tell you what, I know,it will be hard but, well, OK, don't beg, I'll review them on your behalf ;)

OK, good review, not my cup of tea but some nice ideas

 

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