April 19th: Barratt Lovely Mini Eggs

Kcal 195 Fat 8.4g Carbs 28.5g

First off I have to apologise for my failure to deliver what was no doubt one of the most highly anticipated showdowns for Easter 2010 for ChocolateMission. Indeed my epic failure in securing a bag of Barratt Lovely Mini Eggs during the Easter period meant that 'battle of the Mini Eggs' never came to light. I don't know if Barratt had supply issues at all, but I couldn't find a pack of these 'Lovely Mini Eggs' for love nor money. Now three weeks after the event my local shops seem to have tons and tons of packets overflowing their shelves, and I managed to pick up a pack from my local OneStop discounted down to 20p! On the bag these came described as 'solid milk chocolate eggs in a crisp sugar coating', basically they are Barratt's attempt at Cadbury Mini Eggs.

My 20p bought a 40.0g pack, which contained about 12-15 small egg pieces. Looking at the packaging and presentation I think it is safe to say that these were nothing short of a shameless copycat product. The outer packaging was reasonably friendly and inviting with it's pastel colours, but the inner mini eggs looked absolutely identical to the Cadbury ones. They saying is all is fair in love and war and that imitation is the greatest form of flattery, but I have had to knock off a few points for unoriginality here. Not to my surprise, like it is often the case with sugar coated products there was a distinct lack of aromas that emanated from the packaging, with nothing registering aside from a generic sugary sweet scent.

If you have read my previous Cadbury Mini Eggs review you will know that I am not the greatest fan of the things, so I guess it will come as no surprise that my enjoyment of these was pretty lacking. I don't wish to spend too much of my time jabbering on, so I will cut the story short. The outer shells were about the same thickness as the Cadbury Mini Eggs, though they were a little less spiky and sharp in terms of their sugar flavour delivery. Whereas this initially made the taste preferable to the Cadbury eggs, the taste took a turn for worse upon encountering the inner milk chocolate. The chocolate was noticeably more grainy and lax in melt, and it didn't have the creaminess in it's flavours that the Cadbury chocolate does. Ultimately it was a shame that the inner chocolate didn't build upon the more subdued flavours of the outer crisp shells. With the taste being so incredibly sweet, and not particularly enjoyable I wasn't inclined to eat the whole packet in one, and I ended up eating them across a few days.

Overall these Barratt Lovely Mini Eggs can only go down as poorer imitation product, which I guess from my point of view makes them pretty abysmal considering I don't enjoy the originals all that much. Despite the Cadbury Mini Eggs changing in recipe, and becoming increasingly sweeter this year, these Barratt Lovely Mini Eggs couldn't succeed in topping them as in my opinion the quality of the chocolate was even poorer than it was in the Cadbury equivalent. When you add in to the mix that Barratt didn't even try and differentiate the product at all from the Cadbury Mini Eggs then what you are left with isn't too endearing. I never saw these eggs at RRP so I am unsure what how competitive they were in price, perhaps a well informed reader can help me out with that ;) Unless they are significantly cheaper than the Cadbury Mini Eggs I simply can't make a case as to why you would choose them over the well established equivalent. They may not be my favourite product ever, but for me there is only one winner - Cadbury Mini Eggs.

5.8 out of 10

April 18th: Lindt Dark Mousse Fig-Caramel

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

It has been a long while since I last got stuck into a fig flavoured chocolate bar - the last being the Conscious Chocolate Fruit Fantasy. In the UK figs seem to be a bit of an old fashioned fruit and it is only very rarely that I see them implemented in any modern day foodstuffs. This is of course was never going to stop Lindt, they seem to have a flavour combination for any ingredient under the sun and thanks to ChocolateMission reader Susie I got to try this Lindt Dark Mousse Fig-Caramel bar which she included in a sampling package she sent me at the back end of 2009. I must admit it was one of the bars I left till last as it didn't really take my fancy all that much.

This product is part of the Lindt Dark Mousse range which meant it came in a 150.0g format. Despite not being all that excited by the prospect of a fig caramel filling I thought the presentation of the bar was still pretty first class and liked the golden fonts and borders on the black background. Aesthetically the chocolate itself looked rather good as well. Despite the blocks being a little too large for my liking there was no denying that the imprinted logos on the and plentifully portioned fillings didn't look appetising. Another thing of merit in regards to the presentation of the product was the smell which was a mixture of rich cocoa and sweet fruity scents.

Before eating this bar I wasn't all that familiar with the taste of figs - now having eaten it I can't say that this bar provided much of an education. The dark chocolate that formed the outer chocolate and mousse filling was of a 70% recipe and it was the usual Lindt high quality. It was noticeably lacking sweetness but never ever verged on what I would say was bitter due to an underlying milkiness in the taste. What I like about Lindt dark chocolate is that the cocoa flavours are always strong from very early on in the melt and never take all that long to establish themselves. Things were no different here and the cocoa flavours built up nicely with notes of coffee and red wine evident in the aftertaste. The melt of the outer chocolate to the softer mousse base meant that the texture became increasingly softer and was resoundingly pleasant until the jam like fig-caramel came into play. Unfortunately where the dark chocolate was most impressive the inner fig-caramel filling was not. Frankly it was nothing special at all - it was like a dull flavoured fruit jelly with a grainy, gritty texture. On some levels its sweetness contrasted well with the more reserved dark chocolate, but I couldn't help but feel that I would just preferred the filling to have been absent and just enjoyed the dark chocolate solus.

Overall this was hardly a repulsive bar by any means but as Lindt's standards go it lacked the usual high quality and distinctiveness of other fruit flavoured chocolates from their range. The fig caramel was not bad tasting at all but I just didn't enjoy the clumsy gritty texture and thought it took away the prestige from the smoothness of the chocolate. Had it not been for the sheer wonderful nature of the Lindt 70% dark chocolate this bar would have scored far lower on the ChocolateMission rating system and I think if you are really after a fig flavoured chocolate there simply has to be better out there. The dark chocolate element of this bar was no doubt enjoyable, but if it is that your after your best off enjoying it without this filling.

6.9 out of 10

April 17th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 40

### Jim's Corner ###

Hi All,

Edition 40 already!? It seems like only yesterday I was writing the first one of these!!!

Incase you all missed it I announced the winner of the Galaxy Counters competition a few days back - See HERE. Well done again to Jane - bad luck to all of the entrants, but don't worry there is a MASSIVE competition starting on this site next weekend to celebrate my 1000th review! More details are to follow, but I can reveal now that there are going to be multiple prizes, which are being supplied by none other than Hotel Chocolat.

I hope you enjoyed the reviews this week, it has been pretty varied in terms of success ... Wonka Exceptionals Domed Dark Chocolate (See HERE), Ritter Sport Cashew Milk Chocolate (See HERE), Cadbury Dream & Bournville Fingers (See HERE) to name just a few.

As always I am open to requests so please keep them coming in - See HERE. Let me know what sort of prizes you would like to see from Hotel Chocolat in the competition next week.

Have great weeks

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market:

* Have you ever heard about chocolate being good for us :D ... See HERE

* Easter chocolate says have done wonders for the retails sector - lets eat our way out of this financial crisis ... See HERE

* This is bizarre - chocolate flavoured haggis ... See HERE

* This will be amazing - John Barnes is recreating his famous 'football rap' in the next Mars advert - See HERE

* Kinder are introducing 'new faces' to the front of their packs - See HERE

* Cadbury are launching even more variants of their Mini Rolls - See HERE

* Kraft have started spring cleaning their newly aquired Cadbury assets - See HERE


Posts from other blogs I enjoyed this week

* Impulsive Buy - Just the sound of this had me drooling ... Peanut Butter Chocolate Klondike Sandwiches! Check it out - See HERE

* Foodette Reviews - This Japanese Noodle Yakisoba review took me back to my Uni days - See HERE

* Snackspot - Have you guys heard about Walkers' latest flavour promotion? Some of the flavours sound very weird - See HERE

* Chocablog - Cheese, walnuts & raisins chocolate! This could only be from Zotter! Speaking of which more Zotter reviews inbound on ChocolateMission soon - See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin found the new lemon flavoured Jaffa Cake Bars. Sounds good to me - See HERE


*** Updated Reviews ***

New photographs + a brief spell check! Magic!

* Reese's Peanut Butter Cups - See HERE
* Fry's Turkish Delight - See HERE
* M&M's Crispy - See HERE
* Terry's Caramel Bite - See HERE


* Please note that there will no longer reviews posted on Sundays except in exceptional circumstances.

April 16th: Wonka Exceptionals Domed Dark Chocolate

Kcal 200 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 24.0g (per 40.0g)

Just as I promised I will be feeding you guys one Wonka review a week for the foreseeable future, and today I bring you my views on this Domed Dark Chocolate bar. Before I launch in to the review I have to once again thank my pals over at Yankee Soda & Candy for providing me with the sample for todays review - if you want to try these Wonka Exceptional bars for yourself be sure to check out their site (See HERE). Moving swiftly onwards this Domed Dark Chocolate flavour promised 'dark chocolate with milk chocolate medallions'. Before anyone asks - NO there wasn't a gold ticket in my wrapper :(

Just like the previously reviewed Waterfall variety, this Domed Dark Chocolate bar came in a very precise 99.2g size, which was split into twelve blocks. Aesthetically speaking the wrapper was similar in style and had real stand out with it's crazy silver, purple and gold foil colour scheme. From a marketing point of the view the branding isn't that well implemented and it is a bit cluttered, but I don't think it can be argued that it doesn't look cool. Inside the chocolate wasn't quite as mad looking as the Waterfall variety, though the chocolate had a very smooth and fresh looking appearance, and there were no branding problems here as the Wonka 'W' logo was nicely scribed on each medallion.

At this point I feel the need to tell you that I ended up sharing the majority of this bar as most of it was consumed whilst I was visiting my family for Easter holidays, so this review is written with several different point of views in mind. The thing that we all agreed on was that it didn't really smell like dark chocolate. The smells that emanated from the wrapper were sweet and sugary and I guess in a way this did see nicely set expectations for the taste. As you will see from the photo above the dark chocolate was the key constituent of each block, as it formed the base of each piece. Starting with the dark chocolate I personally found it very under strength in terms of flavour, and thought the melt was more laboured and slow in comparison to the Waterfall bar. It wasn't as if the mild, unsweetened chocolatey taste was bad, but it wasn't like it contributed much to the taste, and by the time the sweet and sugary milk chocolate medallion came to figure in the experience, it's presence was became very much pointless for me. On the contrary, the members of my family who aren't dark chocolate fans, much preferred the mildness of the dark chocolate, as it allowed the more flavoursome milk chocolate to have the grander say in taste. The shallow depth of flavour from the bar's main constituents meant that I didn't find the chocolate all that satisfying - especially when I compare it to some of the other dark chocolates I have had in the past.

Overall I certainly wasn't the first, and I don't envisage it being the last mass produced dark chocolate bar that I find not all that great. The crux of the matter was this chocolate wasn't awful in any sense, but I felt it was inhibited by the fact that the dark chocolate was made for the mass consumer, and thus was woefully under strength and lacking power in it's cocoa volume. I guess if we look at it from the perspective of the members of my family who aren't the biggest dark chocolate fans, this bar was received quite well, though for them it was more about their enjoyment of the milk chocolate, with the dark chocolate not being strong enough to engage or distract them in the taste. Unfortunately I won't be recommending this bar, as in my opinion there far better dark chocolate products at this price point. It isn't uncommon for me to write reviews about mass produced dark chocolates being under strength for my taste. I do like my sweet chocolates, but I think if you are going for a dark chocolate it is worth going for a really high quality one.

6.7 out of 10

Fancy trying this bar for yourself? Head over to Yankee Soda & Candy

April 15th: Ritter Sport Cashew Milk Chocolate

Kcal 550 Fat 34.0g Carbs 51.0g (per 100.0g)

Today we complete the full circle of Ritter Sport 2010 Spring limited editions with this review of the Cashew Milk Chocolate offering. Over the past few weeks you may recall that both the Bourbon Vanilla and Hazelnut Krokant bars failed to leave up to the usual impeccable Ritter Sport standards, however I was hoping for much more from this Cashew Milk Chocolate variety. On pack this offering came described as 'Alpine milk chocolate with chopped cashew nuts', which struck me as yet another no frills, but appetising proposition from our friends in Deutschland.

Who wants to have a guess at what size this bar came in!? DING DING we have a winner ... indeed it was yet another 100.0g square block that was divided into the usual 16 chunks. Take a look at the packaging shot above and you will see that this variant incorporated the same cool looking spring themed wrapper as the other vanilla and hazelnut variants, though the cashew flavouring was also well communicated with the subtle nut pictures. Unsealing the plastic wrapper a pleasant array of nutty, chocolatey scents emerged ... all was good up until this point at least.

Who wants me to talk about Ritter Sport milk chocolate again :D Haha I thought not. Suffice to say the taste was pretty much the same as normal, though I did sense a slight change in the pace of the melt and overall texture. Flavour wise it was possibly a touch creamier than other Ritter Sport milk chocolate bars, but this may have just been a consequence of the softer, smoother texture which obviously came about due to the oil being released from the nuts. Whilst the chocolate was faster paced in melt, the nuts were fresh to the bite and despite yielding more easily than your normal hazelnut etc, they still maintained a satisfying crunch. I am glad to say that after the disappointment of the last Bourbon Vanilla and Hazelnut Krokant chocolates, the inner cashew nuts proved to be a far better additive to the chocolate, and they brought a delicious buttery, savoury nut dimension to the chocolate. Due to the melt being a touch on the faster side this wasn't the most satisfying or fulfilling Ritter Sport chocolate ever but I thought that a quadrant of blocks was a decent amount serving size to accompany an after dinner coffee.

Overall I actually didn't do this on purpose this time, but it seems like I saved the best until last in regards to the flavours on offer from the Ritter Sport Spring 2010 collection. It wont surprise you to read that where this bar excelled was in the enhancing additive flavour, the chocolate was as usual of a sound quality but it was the cashew nuts that made this bar what it was. The extra dimension the cashews brought to the softer texture was only outshone but the tasty nutty flavours they brought to the taste. I am not quite sure I would say the cashews proved to be preferable versus the Ritter whole hazelnut bars (of which I rate extremelly highly - See HERE), but this bar does back up my view that cashews are criminally under utilised by chocolate manufacturers, and that more should try using them in the future. If I was to suggest you try one flavour from the Spring 2010 range from Ritter this year it would have to be this Cashew Milk Chocolate flavour.

8.0 out of 10

April 14th: Galaxy Counters Competition Winner

*** COMPETITION RESULTS ***

Hi All,

Today was the deadline day for entries in to my Galaxy Counters competition, and I can reveal that the winner is .........

.....

...

..

Jane Willis from Hampshire!!!

Congratulations to Jane - your Counters are on the way.

So I am guessing the rest of you are disappointed huh!? Of course you are, but fear not!!

A far bigger competition will be up on the site very soon, as I will soon will be celebrating my 1000th post on this site! I will give an update with further details this Saturday!!

JIM

April 14th: Cadbury Dream / Bournville Fingers

As I am sure you are all well aware, one of my favourite everyday milk chocolates is Cadbury Dairy Milk. If you are a regular visitor to the site you may also know that my love for Cadbury UK begins and ends with their milk chocolate - my reviews of the Cadbury Dream and Cadbury Bournville are evidence that I really don't think all that much about their capabilities in the arts of white and dark chocolate.

Despite me having previously poor experiences with the Dream and Bournville sub-brands, I couldn't help myself when I saw these Cadbury Dream & Bournville Fingers, as it was my turn to bring some biscuits into my work office this week. On the packaging both the boxes claim these are new, though anyone with any common sense will know that they are just the old dark and white fingers rebranded.

As I said above I bought these 125.0g packs to bring in to work, and co-workers were more than happy to share their views.


Cadbury Dream Fingers


Kcal 120 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 3.2g Carbs 12.8g (per 4 fingers)

'Crisp biscuits covered with white chocolate'.

Had you asked me which of the two I was least looking forward to trying, these Dream Fingers would have been my answer. In my opinion Cadbury's Dream white chocolate is god awful - it is a sugary, bland substance that I'm not even sure deserves to be called chocolate. Now having said all that I quickly have to retract it all, as to my own surprise I actually really liked these. The outer chocolate wasn't great, but it benefited massively from being so thinly implemented. The taste generated was sweet and sugary, but it had a nice milkiness and allowed the crisp, buttery flavours of the shortbread biscuit centres to shine through. I didn't think they were incredibly satisfying, but they had a real moreishness about them and were nice to eat in small amounts with a coffee.

7.9 out of 10



Cadbury Bournville Fingers

Kcal 100 Fat 5.6g Fat(sats) 3.2g Carbs 12.4g (per 4 fingers)

'Crisp biscuit covered in dark chocolate'

The words Cadbury Bournville always send a shiver down my spine. Not everyone will agree with me, but I think the Bournville chocolate we get here in the UK really isn't that good - the only Bournville bar I have ever liked was actually produced in France (See HERE). Still I was hoping that like the Dream Fingers, these Bournville Fingers would prove to be better than the original chocolate. Getting straight to the matter, I did enjoy these Fingers more so than a standard Bournville bar, but the quality of the chocolate still hampered the overall product. The outer chocolate was devoid of real flavour and just generated a meagre offering of musty, unsweetened cocoa flavours with it's waxy and laboured melt. The biscuit element still produced the goods, however it was general consensus that they weren't as good as either normal milk chocolate or Dream Fingers.

6.6 out of 10



Overall I was half expecting to write a review saying how I didn't like either of these two offerings, but the Dream Fingers pulled it out the bag and proved themselves to be far superior product to the original Cadbury Dream bar. The office environment always offers a great opportunity to test if one product is superior to another, and this comes mainly from the ability to observe 'which gets finished first'. Well judging by the fact the Dream Fingers box was finished at the time the Bournville Fingers box was still half full, it gives you some idea which one was preferred. Out of the two I would definitely buy the Dream Fingers again, but the Bournville Fingers probably not.

Have any of you tried either of these yet? Which did you prefer?

April 13th: Paynes Poppets Choc Chip Cookie

Kcal 130 Fat 5.6g Fat(sats) 2.9g Carbs 19.7g

It has been over two years since I last reviewed a Paynes Poppets product and if you look back at the some of the scores I gave some of the flavours then it is debatable whether that is such a bad thing. Truth be told Paynes Poppets have never been a favourite of mine though I must say I was rather intrigued by this new Choc Chip Cookie flavour when I read Cin's review over at Foodstufffinds last year. Having finally tracked down a pack for myself I was actually relatively looking forward to the prospect of 'chocolate chip cookie pieces covered in milk chocolate'

These Choc Chip Cookie flavour Poppets came in a 28.0g pack that held several round ball pieces that were about twice the size as your average chocolate covered raisin/peanut. One thing I definitely have to comment on positively about these is the fact that Paynes have really upped their game in regards to their packaging and I liked the new Poppets logo and realistic visualisation on the front of the pack. Conversely one thing that hasn't changed about Poppets in the last two years is the fact that they still don't offer much in the way of an aroma though I did find the inner look of the cookie centres quite appetising when I went to the effort of cross-sectioning one.

Frankly given my previous experiences with Poppets I really wasn't expecting much and having now tasted these that was probably a good thing. Much like I have experienced in the past the outer milk chocolate was pretty non-descript in terms of flavours and only offered quite a mild sugary taste that lingered as the waxy melt developed. The chocolate wasn't horrible in any manner but neither was it particularly taste or left me wanting more. Of course what was at real interest here were the inner cookie centres and just like the milk chocolate they were similarly bland and flavourless. In their defence they did have the crunchy texture of cookies but unfortunately they didn't bring anything of note to the taste apart from the odd hint of wheat and brown sugar. In regards to nutrition and fulfilment it is worth noting that these were pretty light on the calorie side of things though it wasn't as if they provided much satisfaction for their 130 calories.

Overall this was pretty much a story of same-old, same-old with Paynes Poppets here. Much like I found with several of the other variants from the range these Choc Chip Cookie Poppets lacked flavour and were frankly pretty bland and limp when it came to the taste. Reflecting on this now I guess this it is all the more disappointing considering that the centres both looked and felt like cookies, but just didn't bring any sort of cookie flavours to the party. I was expecting these to taste like chocolate covered Maryland Cookies but the cookie element was just AWOL which sorta begs the question 'were these really worth eating in the first place?'. I will leave you to ponder that question but if I were to suggest a suitable replacement I would suggest some of the flavours from the Taste of Nature Cookie Dough Bites range as a great alternative. Having said that given that these are as cheap as chips it won't be like you will lose too much sleep if you buy a pack and decide you don't like them.

5.6 out of 10

April 12th: Snickers Cruncher

Kcal 206 Fat 11.4g Carbs 21.8g

Over the past two years I must have tried nearly ten different Snickers Limited Edition bars and they have all apart from one (Snickers More Nuts) hailed from outside the UK. Indeed todays Snickers Cruncher bar was produced by Masterfoods in Holland, though having googled it this variant seems to have graced the US market at some time during the mid-Noughties (See Cybele's review HERE). As I am sure you are aware the Snickers Cruncher is a variation on the original bar and it replaces the usual milk chocolate nougat with crispy rice cereal. Given how integral I believe the nougat is to the original bar I wasn't quite sure how this was going to sit with me, though of course I was more than willing to give it a try.

This bar came in a 40.0g size that you wont be surprised to hear wasn't as satisfying as a normal Snickers yet was still a sufficiently adequate snack. The outer wrapper wasn't quite as cool looking as the American Cruncher though I liked the clear communication of the rice cereal contents and consitent branding. In addition I also thought it still looked relatively appetising when cross-sectioned as the innards had a golden/bronze glint due to the plentiful caramel. As I have come to expect with Snickers bars the aromas that emanated from the foil wrapper were suitably enticing and there was a strong peanut influence amongst the milder chocolate scents.

Biting into the bar for the first time it was immediatedly evident that the milk chocolate coating wasn't quite as thick as on standard Snickers. That said it had just as much say in the taste due to the inner contents being less viscous without the nougat so I shan't complain too much. The milk chocolate was pretty standard Mars stuff - it was milk led in taste and was more sugary that it was cocoa focused - it was fine by anyones standards! Due to me not being the greatest fan of rice cereal I wasn't expecting all that much from the centre, however I was surprised to find that it was pretty damn good. The peanuts took a firm hold of the taste providing a wonderful savoury salt kick and the caramel and cereal elements contrasted nicely providing notes of honey and malt. Additionally all three components of the centre combined nicely to provide some variable textures with the nuts and cereal proving to be fresh and crunchy and the caramel adding a degree of chewiness which subsequently helped the flavour longevity for each bite. The 40.0g was finished a little too quickly for my liking but as I have mentioned above it left me feeling adequately fulfilled.

Overall I wouldn't rate this as being in the same league as the iconic original Snickers but at the same time I think if it were available to me more readily I would probably choose to have it over the standard bar every now and then. I feel I can quite comfortably say that as it is quite often that I choose to consume another snack over a Snickers bar because I don't always want the full on experience that the original offers. Despite it being marginally reduced in size recently the standard Snickers is still a pretty hefty bar which is something that doesn't always match up to my needs. This Snickers Cruncher fits such occasions nicely in that brings the majority of the taste to the party but just not in such a full on manner. Personally I think it is about time that Mars UK took notice of how other countries in their organisation play the game with the Snickers brand. The UK market is calling out for it's own proper Snickers limited edition but I won't be holding my breath. Snickers lovers this Cruncher variant is well worth giving a try despite it not being the best the brand has to offer.

8.1 out of 10

April 11th: Boyer Smoothie Peanut Buttercups

Kcal 250 Fat 14.0g Fat(sats) 9.0g Carbs 26.0g

When I think peanut butter cups of course the first thing that springs in to mind is Hershey's, Reese's brand. I think I can safely say that for the majority of people this would be mostly consistent, though one other brand hailing from Pennsylvania may have a little something to say about that. According to their website, Boyer were the first American company to produce a 'cup candy' in the form of their 'Mallo Cups' (review by Cybele at Candyblog HERE). As the company grew Boyer added further products to their portfolio, including these Smoothie Peanut Buttercups that I have reviewed today. On pack these came described as 'butterscotch flavoured candy cups filled with peanut butter and chopped nuts' - take a look below and see how they measured up to Reese's.

For the purpose of this review I ate a pack of two individual cups which netted out at a weight of 45.3g. The packaging was retro looking in design which I think gave the product a bit of personality whilst communicating the heritage of the brand well (Boyer was established way back in 1936!!) Inside the cups looked no different in size or shape to what you get from Reese's, and the cups were kept in great condition thanks to a combination of the paper cup sleeves and inner cardboard layer. Aroma wise the smells that emanated from the packet were just as strong as Reese's, however they were a little less nut potent and there was a slightly odd artificial sweetness lingering in the background which dampened my excitement somewhat.

Not being put off at all by the smell I wasted little time in getting acquainted with the taste. I have to say that my overall enjoyment of the product improved drastically over time but admittedly the outer 'butterscotch candy' did take a little getting used to. If you have read any of my reviews before you will know that I don't think too much of Reese's milk chocolate so I prior to eating this I really hopeful that this butterscotch layer could do things a little better. A look at the ingredients would have suggested not with the words hydrogenated and oil featuring heavily. Given that I have glossed over that issue many a time before I wont hold that against Boyer here, and I will focus more on taste which I personally think got better the more I ate. Initially the sense of artificial sweetness that I got from the aroma shone through in the taste, however after the first few bites I could sense underlying fudge and maple syrup like hints amongst all the sugar. The melt of the candy was a little on the sluggish side of things and was similar to Reese's in it's waxiness, but I did enjoy the extra crunch that was delivered by the chopped nuts which did at least bring some nice variation. In terms of the quality of the peanut butter it wasn't quite on a par with Reese's as the salt lick didn't cut through quite as cleanly, though it was still relatively tasty none the less and left lasting notes of butter and nuts in the mouth for a good duration after each mouthful.

Overall I did feel that these Boyer Smoothie Peanut Butter Cups failed to live up to Reese's own, but it wasn't as if they were epically bad in any way shape or form. One thing that you do get from Boyer when you eat these is a nice sense to retroness and I did like the way that the packaging and presentation managed to get across the brand heritage. The peanut butter within the cups didn't match up in terms of flavours, though they still managed to establish a really nuttiness and long lasting taste thanks to additional chopped nuts that were also present in the outer coating. Speaking of the outer coating it is something that really bugs me!? Why can no US manufacture bite the bullet and make a peanut butter cup with a really high quality chocolate!? Similarly to the milk chocolate of Reese's the butterscotch candy coating was lazy and waxy in melt and it took quite a bit of work for the underlying flavours to shine through all the sugar. Being a UK resident I doubt I will have these again the near future, but if Boyer products are a little more readily available to you then I would suggest you try them at least once in place of your usual Reese's.

7.0 out of 10

April 10th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 39

### Jim's Corner ###

Hi All,

I hope you all had a fantastic Easter that was full of chocolate. If you were one of the unlucky few that didn't quite get what they wanted then I suggest you go take a peak at the Hotel Chocolat Spring sale (See HERE) - they seem to have some tidy bargains that are worth checking out.

I hope you all enjoyed my review (or rant whichever way you look at it!!) of the Galaxy Counters this week. Remember there is still time to enter the competition to win your own pack (FREE of course!!) - you can enter by clicking HERE.

Coming up this week we have another review from the Nestle Wonka range, more Ritter Sport spring varieties, and lastly some reviews on some Cadbury bars from the Southern Hemisphere.

I hope you all had great weeks!

JIM


News from the chocolate market:

* Cadbury are launching some coffee shop type stores - sounds interesting!! ... See HERE

* Nestle have been having a few problems with Facebook this week (thanks to Phil for sending this through!) ... See HERE

* Nestle are launching some new impulse Animal bars ... See HERE

* The Times discusses the health benefits of chocolate :D ... See HERE

* This made me laugh .... toddler steals 2ft Easter bunny from shop display ... See HERE

* Did you see Heston's Charlie & The Chocolate Factory themed feast? Catch up with it online it was awesome ... See HERE

* The Guardian looks at why we are so obsessed with chocolate here in the UK ... See HERE

* I don't like Amy Winehouse ... but damn I wish I was one of her friends ... See HERE


Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week

* CandyBlog - Cybele did one of her famous Candy Tease posts looking at all the NPD that will be hitting the shelves in the US in April ... See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin got hold of a Mr Tom chocolate variety bar. I woudl love to try one of these ... See HERE

* ImpulsiveBuy - Walkers have just announced their biggest flavour promotion here in the UK (See HERE), and Marvo's review of these awesome sounding Parmesan & Tuscan Herb Lay chips have really got me in the mood to try them ... See HERE

* GiGiReviews - GiGi has been treated to a trip to the Ben & Jerry's ice cream factory in Vermont this week! She has still had time to publish this Ritter Sport Wildberry Yogurt review though!! ... See HERE

* YumYucky - Damn this roast beef sub looked ugly, but according to Josie it actually tasted pretty damn good ... See HERE


*** Updated Reviews ***

* Milka with Daim (UK Update) - See HERE
* Galaxy Minstrels - See HERE
* Yorkie Raisin & Biscuit - See HERE
* M&M's Peanut - See HERE
* Mars Planets - See HERE

April 9th: Ritter Sport Haselnuss Krokant

Kcal 563 Fat 37.0g Carbs 52.0g (per 100.0g)

Last week I brought to you the first of three new Ritter limited editions, the Ritter Sport Bourbon Vanille (See HERE). Well guess what!? Today I bring you numero dos from this new spring collection - the Haselnuss Krokant variety. On the back of the wrapper this offering was described as 'milk chocolate with a hazelnut creme, hazelnut & almond brittle and rice cereal'. As I have stated in many of my previous reviews Ritter Sport are renowned for the prestige of their fillings, and it isn't very often that they let us consumers down - this bar had real potential.

Prepared in the same style packaging as the Bourbon Vanille flavour, this Haselnuss Krokant variant similarly struck a fresh and appealing look. The pastel colours again struck me as bright and welcoming, whilst the pictures of the hazelnut and almonds communicated the flavour of theme of the bar and in an non-overly elaborate manner. Unzipping the 100.0g bar from it's resealable packaging, the 4x4 quadrants broke up with relative ease, and the beige coloured centre filling looked very appealing and plentiful in it's implementation. Inspecting the chocolate more closely the nutty smells that emanated from the chocolate weren't the strongest but they did a sound job in maintaining my interest.

What more is there to say about Ritter Sport milk chocolate that I haven't said in the previous 40+ Ritter Sport reviews I have written before!? To be honest there isn't, it just did the same average job of carrying the inner filling with little fuss and delivered the usual chocolate flavour hit that I have come to used to. Moving on to more important matters, I have the bad news of telling you that the inner nut filling wasn't quite up to scratch. Starting off with the positives the smoothness of the creme contrasted nicely with the crunchy nut and cereal elements which did at least bring a degree of interest in the textures. Unfortunately though the taste just wasn't up to scratch with Ritter's previous showings. I found that the creme and nut brittle constituents didn't deliver the desired nut flavours, whilst the rice cereal was unsurprisingly very mild and didn't contribute anything in terms of flavours. What really surprised me was that neither the hazelnut or almond came to the fore of the taste. The nut brittle pieces offered little apart from minor bursts of brown sugar, with the nutty influences were very much in the background of the taste. The totality of this all was that the flavour longevity was pretty limited, thus I didn't find that chocolate all that satisfying.

Overall my conclusions about this bar are very similar to my thoughts around the Ritter Sport Bourbon Vanille in that whilst it was hardly a bad tasting chocolate, but it was disappointing nonetheless. Disappointing is exactly the word that describes this bar best - when you think about what the bar promised (hazelnut creme, hazelnut & almond brittle) I bet you were thinking that this was going to be yet another review with me raving about how well Ritter Sport produce nutty chocolates. This assumption couldn't have been further off the mark as the nuts played such a minor part in the overall taste. To be honest I think someone with a nut allergy would barely get a rash eating this chocolate (joke!!) - it was that underpowered. Nipping all my criticism in the bud this still wasn't a disaster of a chocolate - yes it was poor in the light of the implementation of the nuts, but the chocolate and variable textures from the creme, cereal, brittle still offered some interest. Long story cut short - not a Ritter bar I would recommend but you could do worse.

6.8 out of 10

April 8th: Wonka Exceptionals Chocolate Waterfall Bar

Kcal 210 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 23.0g (per 40.0g serving)

Despite Charlie and the Chocolate Factory being widely recognised as one of the most loved children's book of all time, the Wonka confectionery brand currently has a very limited presence here in the UK. Back in 2005 Nestle did seemingly bring the brand to UK shores for a brief period (See HERE), however those bars appear to be long gone. Conversely the brand in America is still quite strong, and recently three new flavours got introduced under a sub-brand named 'Exceptionals'. Luckily for me (and all you of course!!) my pals at Yankee Soda & Candy managed to obtain a limited stock (See HERE), and today I will be taking a look at the Chocolate Waterfall flavour. On pack the wrapper this chocolate was described as 'a combination of swirled milk and white chocolate' that was 'truly amazing, and made with all natural ingredients'.

One thing I can't fault Nestle for on these Wonka bars is attention to detail - this was not a 100.0g bar of chocolate .. oh no ... this was a 99.2g bar of chocolate :D As awful as my picture looks above (sorry!) the wrapper did actually look pretty cool, and appeared zany and distinctive enough to be believable that it had come from a factory of one Mr Wonka. Not to be outdone by it's foil exterior, the chocolate also looked damn sharp, with the swirled milk and white chocolate proving to be almost hypnotic with it's eye catching patterning. Once I had managed to snap out of my swirled chocolate trance, the forthcoming sweet dairy smells were the next thing to hit my senses, raising my anticipation even further.

Having never tasted Wonka chocolate before I was really unaware of what to expect. Would this be a company creating cheap chocolate to cash in on an idealistic brand name? Or would the quality of the product actually prove to be ok? Thankfully I can say it was more the latter, and it probably deserves more than just being labelled 'ok'. As you can see above the block sizes were a bit on the large side, but it was no real hassle breaking them into smaller pieces. When doing so the chocolate broke with a satisfying snap which is always a good thing as it indicates the chocolate is relatively fresh. Taste wise the chocolate was pretty unique in it's flavours, which is something I have to admit I wasn't expecting from a Nestle product as a lot of them tend to just taste the same. The chocolate was what I would describe as sweet, yet it never had a sugary sharpness, as a fudgey cocoa influence occupied the majority of the taste. From what I could detect the white chocolate influence came to the party in the form of some slightly yogurty, cream flavour bursts that were apparent every now and then in certain stages of the melt. Speaking of the textures the chocolate melted at a fine rate, and with a real softness and elegance that I would rank above that of your average mass produced chocolate. I didn't think this was the most satisfying of chocolates I have eaten, but this predominantly driven by the moreishness of the taste.

Overall this was a great first experience to have with the Wonka brand and it has really got me excited about trying the other two variants from the range. As you might have been able to tell above I did have some preconceived fears before tasting this chocolate that it might be a product that relies on it's brand name alone to generate interest. Having now tasted it I can confirm that the quality of the product very much matches up to the standards I was hoping for, and if I was to place the quality of the chocolate in the context of the total mass produced market I put it up there with the likes of Milka etc. I thought this Chocolate Waterfall bar was going to have a hard time living up to the excitement that the wrapper and overall presentation created, but I felt the chocolate more than held it's own. The taste wasn't as distinctive as the likes of Dairy Milk, but the smooth, fudge noted cocoa taste was certainly compelling enough to hold my interest. If you are after a second opinion why not check out Cybele's review on Candy Blog (See HERE). I personally really liked this bar, and would have it again in the future if given the chance - more Wonka chocolate coming next week!

8.0 out of 10

Fancy trying this bar for yourself? Buy it HERE

April 7th: Galaxy Counters *** Competition ***

Kcal 185 Fat 10.2g Fat(sats) 6.0g Carbs 20.8g (per 35.0g portion)

Last week, just like every other chocolate blogger in the UK I was contacted by a PR agency on behalf of Mars and was offered the opportunity to sample these new Galaxy Counters. Of course I said 'send them right over', but I did insist that they give my readers the opportunity to also try them aswell (See Below!!).

So what are Galaxy Counters??? Why of course you will have read the article I posted a few weeks ago in my '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' post so you already know that ;) - (See HERE). For those who have forgotten I can reveal they come described as 'smooth and creamy milk chocolate pieces', and are about the size of a 2p coin. To put it another way they are simply Galaxy Minstrels, but just without the hard sugar coating (i.e. the things that have been in Revels since like forever!).

These new Galaxy Counters came in a 140.0g pouch that I managed to demolish in one sitting with the help of a few hungry work colleagues. As you will see above the packaging is 100% aligned to the rest of the Galaxy range and incorporates the usual cream and brown colours. The only exception is the pink coloured 'Counters' branding, which I think we can safely attribute to Mars going after a female demographic. Please before all you WI members starting reaching for the e-mail button, Mars have said that this is the marketing policy for their latest 'innovations' - I still think it looks pretty modern and cool anyway :P

So what did these Galaxy Counters bring to the party that Galaxy chocolate hasn't already!? Well to be honest absolutely nothing. These Counters retained exactly the same sweet, creamy flavours that you get from a normal bar of Galaxy, but obviously just in a different shaped format. That may sound like a bit of a negative thing but believe me this isn't so. These Counters tasted utterly delicious and delivered a sweet and creamy cocoa taste that became ever increasingly moreish with each handful. Compared with the Galaxy Minstrels that suffer at the hands of those dastardly sugar coated shells (See HERE), these Counters were much to my preference. One thing I do feel the need to mention though is that compared to a standard bar I didn't feel these Counters were as satisfying, as the smaller disc pieces didn't have the longevity or the presence in the mouth compared to the blocks.

Overall I would still on the balance of things give these Galaxy Counters a thumbs up, but it would certainly be a hugely tentative one. Given that Counters are just another format of original Galaxy chocolate I was never going to have a problem with the actual product itself. To my tastebuds, Galaxy is becoming increasingly sugary and sweet (could just be me or it could be a recipe change!?), however I still perceive the taste to be pleasantly creamy and the way it melts with it's distinct smooth thickness, still makes it superior to many of the other mass produced options on the UK market. What I do have a problem with however is the lack of true innovation we are getting from the way of Mars Inc ... do these Counters taste nice? ... well yes!! .... was there ever a consumer need for them? ..... errr no!! What I find painstakingly bad about these is that there is probably a whole division of people at Mars who work on R&D and innovation. Unless the long term plan is to rid of the Minstrels and replace them with Counters then these are just another 'innovation' that we all don't need. First Treets and now Counters!? Come on Mars step up your innovation game.

8.1 out of 10

*** COMPETITION ***

Having just read the above review/rant why not reward yourself by entering this Galaxy Counters competition. The winner will be chosen randomly by all entries sent to Jim{@}Chocolatemission.net and will be notified by the 14th of April.

The question is ...

'What size pouch/packet do Galaxy Counters come in?'

a) 14.0g
b) 140.0g
c) 240.0g

(usual competition rules apply 1. Only UK, 2. One entry per person 3. Anything I say goes etc etc)

April 6th: Galler Blended Sao Tome - Tanzanie

Kcal 529 Fat 41.4g Carbs 29.2g (per 100.0g)

Following the several requests I received from readers in regards to getting some Galler chocolates reviewed on the site, I last week brought you my review of the Galler Piemontais. As much as I enjoyed that milk chocolate offering, what I was really keen to try was one of Galler's dark chocolates so I requested they send me a sample of one of the most popular dark chocolate bars they have in their range. My contacts at Galler willingly obliged and sent me this Blended Sao Tome - Tanzanie tablet which comprised of a 70% cocoa recipe derived from two separate cocoa beans from two regions of Africa - Sao Tome & Tanzania (Website - See HERE).

I received this bar in a standard 100.0g size that was split in to several chunky block pieces. The outer packaging was simplistic, yet very effective in giving the chocolate a premium feel, and the finer granularity of information given in the on-pack detail gave the sense that this was a really special and carefully crafted chocolate. Under the cool looking outer black wrapper the chocolate was kept within a thick gold foil which kept the blocks in immaculate condition - check out the clean cut surface and the fine detail of the branding in the photograph above! When I had finally finished admiring the chocolate for it's aesthetics I next noticed the enticing raft of cocoa scents being emanated as I further unwrapped the golden foil coating.

As I have commented above the chocolate blocks looked stunning on the eye, but I have to admit they were not the most ergonomic feeling when placed in the mouth. Personally I found them to be slightly on the large side, and I would have preferred them to have been a little less chunky as they were a bit of a mouthful to consume whole. In the grand scheme of things this was a only a minor annoyance and really did little, if anything to spoil the melt or taste of the chocolate. The melt itself was well paced and the chocolate changed into a liquor form very softly, and with a real smoothness that genuinely felt nice in the mouth. The transformation of the melt was very much like the taste, in that it was also very smooth and resultingly very friendly in it's flavours. The cocoa volume wasn't the loudest ever, but the chocolate established a strong taste as soon as it entered the mouth, and the intensity of the cocoa flavours were consistently kept in check throughout the experience thanks to an underlying buttery sweetness. The taste wasn't particularly progressive from these strong, roasted cocoa flavours, however each mouthful was left with a longing note of bourbon vanilla which nicely rounded off the each encounter.

Overall I am impressed with Galler's first dark chocolate, and whilst I wouldn't say it was the finest I have ever tasted it was no doubt a chocolate of real high quality. My minor issue of the block sizes aside, the texture and taste were both phenomenally smooth and they provided a really comfortable experience that withheld no unnecessary surprises. For the average dark chocolate consumer I think the strength of the bar is just about right, and from a consumer point of view I think the divine consistency in the way the flavours are delivered with such smoothness and with a sweet aftertaste will really strike a cord with many. Whilst I wouldn't say this chocolate had quite the variety or depth of flavours as some of the really, really high quality dark chocolates I have reviewed, I would really recommend it as really well crafted bar that has a slightly friendlier vanilla noted taste than many of the other dark chocolate bars currently on the market. This was a really good quality product from Galler - I hope to try more of their range very soon.

8.5 out of 10

April 5th: McVitie's Caramel Shortcake Slices

Kcal 146 Fat 7.7g Fat(sats) 4.3g Carbs 17.8g (per 29.0g slice)

A little over a month ago you may remember that I reviewed Thornton's Mini Caramel Shortcakes to great success with them getting a score of 9.0. Well given how good they were and my love for millionaire shortbread I could hardly resist giving these McVitie's Caramel Shortcake Slices, especially when they were reduced to half price (75p) in my local OneStop shop. McVitie's here in the UK make some phenomenal biscuits (Hobnobs the best amongst many!!!) so I was pleased to see that they had brought their own little twist to the caramel shortbread concept as it constituted of 'McVitie's digestive biscuit shortcake topped with smooth caramel and milk chocolate'.

These Caramel Shortcake Slices came in a pack of 6 x 29.0g servings. I thought the presentation of the product on the whole was pretty good with the gold colour theme nicely supporting the actual product concept and the on pack pictures giving a fair idea of the slices inside. Contained within it was nice to see that each piece had it's own individual wrapper which meant that I could easily transport these to work without creating a mess in my bag. As I have referred to already the pieces looked exactly like they did on the packet with clear distinguished layers of biscuit, caramel and chocolate looking very enticing indeed. Aswell as looking pretty tempting the slices didn't smell half bad either and they a very familiar wheaty McVitie's biscuit aroma made itself immediately known as soon as I ripped open the plastic packets.

Everything up until this point was looking great but I unfortunately have to report that the taste didn't match the build up. As you probably expected it wasn't the biscuit base that let this product down but more the chocolate and caramel layers which were pretty lacklustre. The digestive biscuit base was very comforting and unsurprisingly tasted almost identical to McVitie's digestive biscuits with a strong sweet, salt hinted malty taste. As the biscuits obviously had to be crushed the base was a bit moister than your average digestive biscuit but that aside there it was very little different. Despite the ingredients list naming caramel as the dominating element the taste did very little to suggest this was the case. Both the caramel and milk chocolate lacked telling flavour influences, the caramel more so as it only contributed a very subtle brown sugar like influence on the taste of the shortcake. The milk chocolate was equally as mild and just really failed to exert itself into the taste whatsoever. I don't know about you but when I think of Caramel Shortcake I expect a very rich tasting experience but this just wasn't it, thus one slice was a calorific but not fulfilling snack.

Overall I was pretty disappointed with these given the pedigree of McVitie's for making biscuit products. Indeed they did produce a very nice tasting biscuit base for the product but I was never doubting that this wasn't going to be of a good quality anyway. What really let these slices down though was the abysmal quality of the caramel and milk chocolate which I would say were both verging on being near flavourless and were just bland. Because these elements were so poor it made eating these slices almost entirely pointless and I think I would have got more enjoyment from just tucking into a few digestive biscuits. If your a big fan of caramel shortcake like myself I would probably just stick to the Thornton's ones, or better yet head to your local bakery to get some freshly made real stuff. Who would I love to see a caramel shortcake product produced by? I think Cadbury could have a great go at it if they used their normal Dairy Milk and Caramel recipes. I wouldn't rule out this happening at some point in the future given they have just recently moved into making flapjacks and brownies!

5.7 out of 10

April 4th: Marks & Spencer Easter Sunday Special

Happy Easter to all my readers!!! Just to be a little different today I thought I would do a 'Bit n Bobs' style post of all the chocolate goodies I picked up in my favourite food retailer last week - Marks & Spencer. As you will see below these aren't full in depth reviews, but hey!? Who wants to get too serious on a day like today.


Marks & Spencer Chicks & Bunnies


Both of these mini chocolate varieties came foil wrappers, which were packaged in 65.0g nets. The 'Bunnies' were the simpler product out of the two, and were just 'rabbit shaped milk chocolate pieces'. The 'Chicks' you see on the left had a little more to them, and were described as 'milk chocolate with a soft chocolate centre'. Given their simplicity and smallness I couldn't see the point giving them each a score out of 10. Suffice to say they were both made with 'okish' standard chocolate - i.e. not great but passable. To give you some sort of gauge on the quality they were probably just a touch more creamy than the sugar filled rubbish you get with a lot of the big, hollow Easter eggs millions will be tucking in to today.


Marks & Spencer Bubbly Bunny

What a shame I picked this Bubbly Bunny up a few months late to be included in the 2010 Battle of the Bunnies (See HERE). This 23.0g choco-wabbit came described simply as a 'aerated milk chocolate bunny', and came packaged in a small film bag. Out of it's wrapper (that had no air holes in!!! How did it survive!???) the bunny shape was pretty intricate and I was impressed by the inner constituents which still looked pretty dense despite the large array of air pockets. In terms of chocolate quality the taste seemed a touch creamier than the smaller chocolates above, however it was still very sugary and probably only for people that enjoy their chocolate quite sweet. I wouldn't rank this bunny in the same league as the Cadbury Caramel or MaltEaster bunnies, but it holds it's own and I am sure not too many would turn their noses up at the prospect of tucking into one of these this Easter weekend.

7.6 out of 10

Marks & Spencer Gorgeously Gooey Egg

Out of everything on offer today this was the one that caught my eye right away. This M&S Gorgeously Gooey Egg constituted of a 'milk chocolate egg filled with a vanilla fondant centre' and weighed a respectable 33.0g. Now I have touched on the M&S milk chocolate enough already so lets cut right to the chase of the vanilla fondant filling. Unfortunately, whilst it looked appetising with it's viscous yellow coloured look, it neither smelt or tasted all that inspiring. The centre offered nothing in relation to any sort of vanilla flavouring, which was disappointing considering it was promised. In reality it tasted rather like the Cadbury Creme Egg fondant filling i.e. pure sugar. Now when you are Cadbury and have a more distinct, nostalgic tasting outer chocolate this is a little easier to get away with, but unfortunately the chocolate on offer here was neither of them. This wasn't an awful chocolate egg, but it was very much a case of sounding better than it was.

7.2 out of 10

Marks & Spencer Rattle & Roll Egg

Who remembers the Kinnerton Shake 'ems egg I reviewed back in February!? Well some bright spark at M&S thought it would be a good idea to have a comparable product on offer in their range this year. The proposition of 'a milk chocolate egg filled with chocolate pearls' just so happened to be just as weak as Kinnerton's offering, though the milk chocolate was possibly just a touch less sugary on balance. Similarly to what I found in the Kinnerton egg the inner candy pieces simply sucked big time! I know this is a product aimed for kids, but surely even they are going to want mum and dad to buy them a Cadbury Creme Egg rather than one of these bad boys. If you happen to come in to one of the possession of these in the next few days I would try playing a sneaky bit of swapsies with your family or friends :D

5.8 out of 10

Well this wasn't the best selection of chocolates to showcase to you all on Easter Sunday but they were all at least good looking, harmless Easter offerings. Hopefully by the time you have read this post today you will be ill at the thought of eating anymore of the chocolate egg you got given this weekend :D ... let me know what you got and what you gifted.

HAPPY EASTER

JIM

April 3rd: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 38

Hi All,

The logo above is a blast from the past isn't it :D I hope you are all having a fantastic weekend. If you would like to get familiar with some of the products you may be receiving this weekend I suggest you check out my reviews of popular Easter products ...

Easter 2008 Reviews ... HERE
Easter 2009 Reviews ... HERE
Easter 2010 Reviews ... HERE

Have I really been doing this three years now!? I need a new hobby huh :D

Question of the week of course has to be ... 'What have you been giving or receiving this Easter?' ... be sure to drop me a note with what you get/give.

There are a great few weeks coming up on the site ... more Ritter Sport, Galler, Hotel Chocolat, Cadbury and Galaxy products all coming in the next few days.

Thanks for all your continued support and comments. Have a great Easter holiday.

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market:

* This weekend the average child will eat over 2.5kg of chocolate - love it :D ... See HERE

* Never read anything like this before - chocolate is good for us :D ... See HERE

* And again ... See HERE .... and again ... See HERE

* Cadbury, Nestle, Hershey and Mars are being sued for price fixing in the US ... See HERE

* In the UK it seems our Easter eggs have got smaller but our consumption has gone up ... See HERE

* An interesting article sent to me by ChocolateMission reader Thea - who won in Yahoo's battle of the Easter eggs??? ... See HERE


Post from other Blogs I enjoyed this week:

* YumYucky - I am not the only one to have been checking out cereal bars this week. Josie tried out Quaker's latest offering in the US ... See HERE

* ImpulsiveBuy - Only in the US would you find a product that combines Cracker + Pretzels + Butter. It sounds good to me but Kelley at IB didn't think they were great ... See HERE

* GiGiReviews - Gi has been posting some fascinating Easter food alternatives this week. These Potato Pancakes chaught my eye ... See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Cin found the latest Ben & Jerry's Fairtrade flavour 'Fairly Nuts' GEDDITT!??? ... See HERE

* The Bewildered Brit - If I see another bloody Peep I am going to cry!? Why do we not have Peeps in the UK!? They seem as icnonic as our Cadbury Creme Egg in the US. Great post on all things Peeps ... See HERE


*** Updated Posts of Old ***

I am still busy updating my old reviews with new pictures, and punctuation better than your average six year old :D - check them out and tell me what you think of the updates.

* Cadbury Twisted - See HERE
* Cadbury Starbar - See HERE
* Nestle Milkybar - See HERE
* Toffee Crisp - See HERE
* Nestle Yorkie Original - See HERE