October 6th: Hotel Chocolat Kirsch Cherries

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

After last months adventures with Hotel Chocolat's Chocolate Sultanas I today go full circle with HC's enrobed fruit range by taking a look at these Kirsch Cherries. Despite having tried past terrors such as Green & Black's Cherry offering, my more recent foray with Lindt's Amarena Kirsch bar was far more successful so I approached these with a relatively open mind. On the pack these came described as 'Whole de-stoned cherries, softened by a long soaking in kirsch, then enrobed in layers of milk then dark chocolate'. For those of you wondering, Kirsch is a clear, colourless fruit brandy traditionally made from double-distillation of morello cherries' (thanks Wiki!).

Just as with the other products from Hotel Chocolat's enrobed fruit range, these came in a 150.0g tub that contained I would say around 20 or so cherry pieces. Compared to some of the other fruits I have tried the cardboard tub didn't seem to hamper the freshness of the contents, I was pretty amazed by the strength of the fruit, chocolate and booze scents that greeted me when I ripped open the foil seal on top. In regards to aesthetic presentation the choice of colour for the outer packaging was obviously very sensible, and I was similarly impressed by the look of the actual cherries. Each of the pieces seemed very plump in size, whilst the dark chocolate looked relatively fresh considering the slightly scuffed surfaces.

I have to say before tasting these I was pretty intrigued as to how Hotel Chocolat had coated these in both milk and dark chocolate - all soon became apparent. The exterior layer of these cherries were coated with a thick layer of Hotel Chocolat 50% dark chocolate. As you would expect the taste wasn't quite as flavoursome or as rich as some of their stronger recipes, but it generated a decent set of unsweetened cocoa flavours that would later prove pivotal in the overall balance of the taste. Sat below the dark chocolate a thin layer of milk chocolate slowly eased the experience towards a sweeter culmination, though it was the cherry fruit piece that really took centre stage. The cherries were in every bit of the sense wonderful. Biting in to them they were juicy and bursting with a plethora of red berry and brandy flavours. Unlike so many of Hotel Chocolat's alcohol flavoured products the implementation of the Kirsch was fantastic and spot on at allowing the other fruit and chocolate constituents have their share of the taste. As moreish as these were I was more than happy settling for just a handful as a snack - believe it or not for a dark chocolate product but these were at their best when they had been stored in the fridge.

Overall colour me impressed, these were extremely tasty and exceeded all my expectations. As was probably evident by the fact they were the last ones I decided to review, these were not something I was particularly looking forward to reviewing but having just finished my sampling tub I oddly find myself contemplating buying another already which isn't something I often have an urge to do with any product I review. What I liked about these Kirsch Cherries was the way they struck a really fine balance with their sweet and unsweetened flavours. The milk chocolate and cherry fruits delivered all the sugary sweet fruity flavours desired, and were the perfect counter balance for the harsher tasting dark chocolate and liqueur flavours of the brandy. Quite simply I can't recommend these Kirsch Cherries enough for people that enjoy their chocolate coated fruits. Even if you aren't the biggest lover of cherries (like I'm not!), I would suggest you give them a try.

8.4 out of 10

October 5th: 'Bits n Bobs' Cereal & Biscuit Chocolate Bars # 7

Today I have the great pleasure of bringing you my seventh 'Bits n Bobs' post looking at some more cereal and biscuit bars suggested to me by ChocolateMission readers. The reviews today span across Harvest Chewee Milk & White Choc Chip Cereal Cars, the legendary Tunnock's Snowballs and lastly a new flavour of Leibniz Pick Up! biscuits from Germany. I would say thats four product reviews in one, but as you will come on to see its more three and a half ;)

As always I welcome all your thoughts and opinions on the products I write about today. Additionally if you have any suggestions for upcoming 'Bits n Bobs' reviews these would also be gratefully received.

Harvest Chewee Milk / White Choc Chip Cereal Bars

Kcal 92 Fat 3.2g Carbs 14.7g (per bar)

I had thought about reviewing these separately, however after tasting them I realised I had come to the same broad conclusions about both the milk and white choc chips variants. Harvest Chewee cereal bars are a common feature in many a child's packed lunchbox here in the UK. To my surprise a quick glance at the wrapper revealed that they are made by the same people who make Sugar Puffs (Honey Monster Foods Ltd). That little revelation aside the packaging did little to excite me too much, neither did the bars which I have to say straight away looked small once I took them out their foil packets. As I said above, my conclusive thoughts about both variants were very similar. The base constituents of the rolled oats and golden syrup bind were as good as any cereal bar on the market, whilst the both the different chocolate types were nicely distinguishable with the white chocolate taking more of a sweeter, yoghurty flavour stance. On the whole both these cereal bars were pleasant tasting, however their smaller stature and size only seemed to whet my appetite and further my hunger rather than satisfy it to any degree. For that reason I can't envisage myself buying these again in the near future. Unless you are buying them as a small sized treat for your kids I would suggest looking at a more fulfilling option like the Kellogg's Fibre One bars.

6.2 out of 10



Leibniz Pick Up! Coco Locos

Kcal 145 Fat 7.5g Carbs 17.0g (per biscuit)

Before getting stuck in to this review I must pass on my thanks to ChocolateMission reader Franzi who provided me with this product. A few weeks ago I posted my review of the original Bahlsen Leibniz Pick Up! biscuits in my special German focused 'Bits n Bobs' post, in which I scored them a very decent 7.9 out of 10. Having had such a positive experience with those originals, it was was with great delight that Franzi gave me the opportunity to try these Pick Up! Coco Locos. These biscuits constituted of the same chocolate cream and biscuits layers of the originals, however had an additional layer of coconut creme running down the centre. Not to my surprise the outer biscuit differed little with it's crunchy texture and buttery flavours. Where these Coco Locos did go that little bit extra though, was with the inner creme layer, which was nothing short of delicious. The additional coconut flavours further enhanced the creamy taste of the milk chocolate, whilst also bringing a delightful cooling sensation when encountered on the tongue. The coconut element left a lingering set of milk and nuts flavour in the mouth which made for a well rounded tasty and satisfying biscuit. I totally recommend them if you like coconut.

8.1 out of 10



Tunnock's Coconut Snowballs
Kcal 134 Fat 6.2g Fat(sats) 5.3g Carbs 17.0g

After reviewing the Tunnock's Caramel Wafers and Tunnock's Tea Cakes, the only remaining product for me to left to try of theirs were these Coconut Snowballs. I'm not to sure about what sort of date the Coconut Snowballs were first launched, however if they are anything like the Caramel Wafers it's probably safe to assume they have been around for a fair amount of time. For those that have never seen these before, Coconut Snowballs are similar to the Tea Cake, with the addition of grated coconut to the exterior of a soft chocolate shell but with no biscuit base. Whilst my photos have probably not done these Snowballs the correct justice I hope you will all recognise just how wonderfully unique looking they really are. Indeed, the shredded coconut made an awful mess of work desk but I was more than happy to put up with that small gripe given the delicious and refreshing milky coconut flavours it brought to the party. Neither the chocolate or mallow inner layers were particularly amazing quality, however it has to be said the thin chocolate layer still managed to provide a desired chocolate flavour hit, whilst the mallow provided a devilishly sweet taste with it's spongy texture. I wouldn't recommend these based on the quality of the product, but I would certainly do so on the unique coconut and marshmallow experience they bring to the party. The whole product oozes heritage.

7.4 out of 10

October 4th: House of Dorchester Milk Chocolate Slabs

A few weeks back in edition 55 of '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' I posted up a news article (HERE) which announced the release of two new products from a brand called House of Dorchester. I have to admit that I had never heard of the brand before, though further investigation showed that they had infact been producing chocolate for over 40 years. On their packaging they even claim to be 'the home of great British chocolates' - I know a few manufactures who would have something to say about that (Cadbury spring to mind!).

Despite my lack of knowledge around the brand I couldn't help myself when I saw these two new products sitting on the shelf in my local Sainsbury's. Both packs were priced on an introductory offer of 79p each, which at first had me thinking this was incredible value what with the relatively nice looking outer packaging. Looks of course can be very decieving, which is something I discovered as I took the products from the shelves. To my amazement the packs were as light as feather - both weighing only 40.0g each and containing only four very small sized 10.0g chocolate pieces. Since writing this review, Liz at Foodstufffinds has written a very funny post documenting her thoughts about the so called 'slab' pieces involved here - I suggest you take a look. Suffice to say I was very underwhelmed by the size of the slabs myself - this was not at all how I imagined these to be.

Below are my thoughts on the two flavours

House of Dorchester Double Chocolate with Mini Marshmallows

Kcal 525 Fat 30.0g Carbs 56.0g (per 100.0g)
'Milk chocolate topped with marshmallows & chocolate flakes'

The size and thin nature of the slabs meant that each piece could be comfortably consumed in two pretty shortlived mouthfuls. Aroma wise these marshmallow slabs offered little aside from some pretty standard milk chocolate scents which did little to grab my attention in any manner. The milk chocolate bases reminded me somewhat of what you would get from a Ritter Sport bar. The taste was predominently sweet and milky and on the whole pleasant enough, but at the heart of matters it didn't have any differentiated attributes which made it somewhat generic tasting. The additional mini marshmallows did very little in regards to adding flavour, however they were at least texture enhancing and brought a nice bit of variety to the soft melting chocolate. Overall these weren't in any manner horrible but they were totally uninspiring.

6.2 out of 10



House of Dorchester Double Chocolate with Caramel Fudge Pieces

Kcal 531 Fat 30.9g Carbs 56.6g
'Milk chocolate topped with caramel fudge pieces and white chocolate'

If the Mini Marshmallow chocolates above sounded a little boring to you then I'm sure you will agree with me that these Caramel Fudge slabs were the more exciting prospect. Presentation wise they certainly did look the more attractive, with the drizzled lick of white chocolate and golden coloured fudge pieces certainly looking like they had more thought put in to them. Unfortunately just like the Marshmallow slabs the chocolate was equally as average, even with the extra white chocolate thrown in to the mix. If anything the white chocolate just made the taste more sugary, though it was hard picking out whether this was a consequence of the white chocolate or the dire caramel fudge pieces. What was so dire about the fudge!? Well it was horrifically hard and carried a harsh brown sugar like flavour burst that has to be said was more harmful to the taste than it was enhancing. There were no buttery, salty caramel flavours that I could detect - I even ended up picking off the fudge pieces on the last slab I tried. Overall very disappointing and not a product I would consider every buying again.

5.4 out of 10


It would be interesting to hear any readers thoughts or opinions on either one of these prodcuts. As you can tell by my write ups and reviews I was tremendously disappointed with the quality of both.

October 2/3rd: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 56

### Jim's Corner ###

Hi All,

I hadn't planned for it, but it's been a recording breaking week on ChocolateMission with 16 different products being reviewed over the last 6 days. Just in case you missed out on any of them - it all started with Hotel Chocolat's Everything Selection, then Milka's 2010 limited edition flavours, a Cadbury 'Bits n Bobs' post, Galler's Inventive Amandes Grillees, Hotel Chocolat's Sushi Collection and then lastly Friday culminated with a 'Bits n Bobs' Pocky Superpost.

Whilst this has been somewhat useful clearing the review backlog, further packages from the likes of Hotel Chocolat and Ritter Sport received this week will certainly be keeping me busy for the foreseeable future.

If you haven't been keeping an eye on my Twitter feed I suggest you take a look HERE. If you start following me or 'Retweet' one of my reviews this week you automatically get entered into a prize draw for a selection of Ritter Sport bars.

Thanks for all the comments and musings this week. They have certainly been very entertaining and I'm grateful for every one of them.

Have a great weekend.

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market:

* (Credit to Anne) ... The Unilever brand Marmite are going to be releasing a chocolate bar :D I love Marmite!!! ... See HERE

* The market is going hot chocolate innovation crazy at the moment, here's another one from a brand called Choc-o-lait ... See HERE

* If you like your niche chocolate brands you will want to check out Holland & Barrett for some Choc Chic Kits ... See HERE

* This made me laugh :D United Biscuits have relaunched Penguins Bars with new wrappers, and a whopping 7 less calories ... See HERE

* Divine look like they are bringing some interesting products to market for Christmas this year ... See HERE

* Green & Black's the coolest food brand in the UK? Really!??? ... See HERE

* (Credit to Alan) ... Cadbury are dropping the 'glass and a half' claim from their Dairy Milk bars ... See HERE

* The Galaxy Bubbles bar is being released in a new larger format ... See HERE


Posts from other blogs I enjoyed this week

* ImpulsiveBuy - I haven't been the only one trying out some limited edition products this week. Check out Marvo's review of these Pumpkin flavoured Pop Tarts ... See HERE

* JapaneseSnackReviews - I also wasn't the only one to be getting stuck in to some Japanese products this week. JSR checked out this "Adult Sweetness" Kit Kat ... See HERE

* RodzillaReviews - Roddy proved I wasn't the only 20 something male to like the Kinder Happy Hippo Biscuits ... See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - That smug b****** Jamie Oliver is slowly taking over the world I swear. First the UK, then the US, and now Foodstufffinds :D Liz posted a review on how good his Italian Sausages are. I might try them now, but don't tell Jamie ... See HERE

* GoneChocco - Kath posted her thoughts on the Cadbury Twisted bar and the new Cadbury Cherry Ripe Roll. It's great to see an Aussie blogger filling her boots with British produce :D ... See HERE

* SugarPressure - If you love your Reese's products you have to check out this review over at SugarPressure. The world's largest Peanut Butter Cup ... See HERE



Have you checked out Hotel Chocolat's new autumn range?

October 1st: 'Bits n Bobs' Glico Pocky Superpost

One of the most commonly requested products that I often get asked to explore further on ChocolateMission are the ever popular 'Pocky' biscuit sticks. Pocky is a Japanese snack food made by the Ezaki Glico Company of Japan, first produced in 1966 and consists of the simple combination of a biscuit stick traditionally coated with chocolate. As with almost Japanese brand in Japan there have been hundreds of different flavour variations and sub ranges of Pocky down the years - some of which I have featured on this website already (See HERE).

Today thanks to my friends at J-List I got the chance to try some of the more traditional flavours they have to offer. If you look at the J-List website you should be able to find all of these flavours available to buy. Today I will keep the words to a minimum, just enjoy the photographs and the charts:

Pocky Chocolate Flavour - Kcal 230 Fat 9.0g Fat(sats) 4.0g Carbs 33.0g (per 47.0g pack)

Those of you who have ever tried the Glico Mikado available here in the UK will be very familiar with what these had to offer. The sticks of these seem to lack a little of the butteryness of the Mikado biscuits, but the taste was still every bit as moreish. Although just stated as 'chocolate flavour' on the packaging these were most definitely more milk chocolate than dark. The cocoa was sweet, yet not overly so and the chocolate flavour hit was adequately provided with each mouthful. Just as I as I stated with the Mikado, my only real problem with these was that I still found them relatively unsatisfying. Delicious, yet totally unfulfilling.

8.2 out of 10



Pocky Milk Flavour - Kcal 120 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 17.0g (per 25.0g)

I was expecting this Milk Flavour to be no different to the Mikado White Chocolate that we also get here in the UK, but they actually turned out to be really rather different. Aesthetically the pale coloured sticks looked appetising but it was the creamy aromas that really caught my attention. In terms of taste the coating was similar to evaporated milk, with a very intense sweet, sugary taste. The underlying cream flavours made this a very tasty combination with the biscuit, though once again I didn't find these to be a very satisfying snacking option. I don't think a bar of this milk flavour coating would work at all, but in this format it was pretty tasty.

7.8 out of 10



Pocky Choco Banana - Kcal 130 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 16.0g (per 25.0g)

Out of all the flavours on offer today I was really looking forward to trying this Choco Banana flavour as they were a little different in proposition to the others. Unlike the other flavours which all had plain biscuit sticks, these were chocolate flavoured with a banana flavoured coating. Taking the sticks out the foil packet, a raft of very sweet banana confection smells greeted me. In both smell and taste the banana didn't come across as the most genuine or 'real', but I still found myself enjoying the oldschool confection fruitiness - think of those banana flavoured foam sweets! It has to be said the chocolate biscuit sticks weren't anything spectacular or amazingly different from the usual plainer ones which was a slight disappointment. Banana flavour fans will like these.

7.7 out of 10



Pocky Strawberry Flavour - Kcal 220 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 32.0g (per 45.0g)

Finish off with the best? Unfortunately not! As you can tell from my scoring chart below I really hated these. The aromas that emanated from the foil packet straightaway struck a bad chord with me - the fake strawberry scents smelt horribly cheap and didn't excite me at all about the taste test to follow. Unfortunately I was soon to learn that the only thing that was worse than the smell of these Strawberry flavoured Pocky was indeed the taste. Just as the aromas suggested the strawberry coating tasted god awful. It had a very chemically, artificial taste that a) tasted nothing like strawberry and b) was sickeningly sweet - I needn't labour the point but these were really not to my taste at all, I wouldn't recommend them.

4.8 out of 10



Want to try these Pocky flavours for yourself? Head over to J-List - CLICK HERE

September 30th: Hotel Chocolat Sushi Collection

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

As promised here is your second helping of Hotel Chocolat for this week - Good times! Back in early June this year I brought you all my review of Hotel Chocolat's recently updated 'The Purist' range (See HERE). As part of that range update, Hotel Chocolat also brought out a few new offerings to go alongside those single origin bars. One of these products was this 'Sushi Collection Foursome' which they describe on their website as 'a collection of our most prized cocoa recipes, specially created to complement the characterful flavours of these rare chocolates' - fancy sounding huh!?

Well as good as this all sounded there was a problem - my 'Sushi Collection Foursome' unfortunately turned out to be a 'Sushi Collection Threesome'. Indeed due to some issues at the factory, the 'Extreme Dark Caramel' were suffering from caramel leakage problems (they made the outer shells too thin!). This left me with the 50% Milk, and the 65% and 90% Dark Intense/Extreme Pralines which you can see pictured left to right in my photograph above. All three variants came in 55.0g packs of 5 that were presented in some simple, yet stylish looking plastic try boxes.

As ever my family were at hand to help me sample all three of these different chocolates - below are our tasting notes on the three, the scoring charts for each are below.

50% Milk Intense Pralines - Hailing from the Island of Saint Lucia these were the first we tried out of the selection and they went down well with one and all. Despite being billed as milk chocolate, the main flavour contribution came not from a cream based flavour set but more the unsweetened cocoa flavours which were just a little less forthcoming than the 65% pieces. The outer chocolate shell was soft in and melt and well paced at revealing the lighter textured praline below. The hazelnut flavours of the praline came to the fore of the taste within a matter of seconds of exposure, rounding off a quite simply delicious tasting chocolate.

65% Dark Intense Pralines - Despite being billed as just having a slightly elevated cocoa content of 65%, these pralines were differentiated enough in their taste to be viewed as the best out of the three we tried. Compared to the 50% pralines I have written about above, the cocoa flavours were just a little more intensive and the flavour depth of the outer chocolate just seemed bit richer with some additional notes of roasted coffee joining the party mid melt. As with the 50% the melt and mouth feel of the outer chocolate to the praline centre transisiont was superb. Despite the slight volume increase of the cocoa, the creamy hazelnut flavours offered by the centre were just as profound. These were the first to 'disappear' :D

90% Dark Extreme Pralines - A few of my family members were a little cautious about trying these but I did eventually get them all to try one. Opinion was split when it came to the taste - my father and I quite enjoyed the richness of the roasted and intense cocoa flavours, however my sister and mother found them overly bitter and didn't enjoy the chocolates until the more calming, soothing flavours of the creamier praline came to the party. One thing that we all could come to a consensus on was our dislike of the textures established by the melt. Compared to the other 50% and 65% recipes, the mouth feel of the melting chocolate wasn't as nice as it felt like it cloyed and became lumpy in the mouth as it changed state.

Overall these were a fabulous set of pralines that really made for an enjoyable tasting experience sampling the delights of each variety. Out of all three the 65% Dark Pralines were considered to be our clear favourite as they had an intensity that sat well with all four of us. Whilst I have mostly talked about the quality of the chocolate in my tasting notes above it is worth reaffirming the quality of the praline filling that sat in the middle of every single one of these chocolates. The hazelnut flavours were sinfully creamy and the woody nutty flavours were about as delicious as you could hope for from any praline chocolate. That said I wouldn't consider either the 50% or 90% varieties to be perfect - the 50% could probably have been better as a creamier 40% option, whilst the 90% was probably just a little too excessive. Fingers crossed next month I can bring you my views on the fourth variety, for the time being I still would recommend this selection as well worthy of checking out based on these pralines alone.

Hotel Chocolat 50% Intense Milk Pralines - 8.3 out of 10
Hotel Chocolat 65% Intense Dark Pralines - 8.8 out of 10
Hotel Chocolat 50% Extreme Dark Pralines - 7.5 out of 10

September 29th: Galler Inventive Amandes Grillees

Kcal 560 Fat 38.1g Carbs 43.0g (per 100.0g)

I couldn't possibly let a whole week go by without featuring some sort of Galler product on the site now could I? My poor postmen again had to struggle to my door this week carrying a heavy parcel, his back must be hurting what with all the chocolate samples I have received off Galler recently. Contained within my latest sampling selection, this Galler Inventive Amandes Grillees was yet another bar requested a review by ChocolateMission readers. The Galler Inventive range is a line of bars that come with a somewhat cheesy descriptor line of 'creative, generous chocolates, discover new sensations'. This Amandes Grillees is just one of the offerings, and came billed as 'nuggets of toasted almond coated in a mix of rich chocolate and dried fruits' - I was excited to see what it could offer.

The 'Inventive' range forms part of Galler's larger size chocolate bar offerings and came in a 100.0g form that I shared with a few of my other family members. Being their ever reliable selves, the packaging and presentation was all first class. The premium looking wrapper was supplemented by an additional cardboard piece and thick foil wrapper to ensure the chocolate stayed in immaculate condition. I hope you will agree looking at my photograph above that the chocolate cut an appetising look, with the white chocolate outer portioning contrastingly nicely with the much darker filling which contained an abundance of almond pieces. Aroma wise I was possibly expecting the nutty scents to be a little stronger, though I found it understandable that the chocolatey smells were not exactly the most forthcoming given the white chocolate constituents.

If you have peaked already at my rating and construction of the scoring chart, you will have noticed that there must have been something fundamentally wrong for the product to have scored so lowly. If I can quickly refer you back to the product description supplied on the wrapper - 'nuggets of toasted almond coated in a mix of rich chocolate and dried fruits', I think the majority of you would agree that it wouldn't have been wrong to expect a fruit and nut type experience with this chocolate. To the surprise of myself and every member of my family that tried this bar this wasn't to be the case at all. Starting off with what turned out to be one of the only positives to come out of the bar, the white chocolate outer coating was up to the usual high quality standards of Galler produce. It was balanced in it's sweetness and produced a delicious array of cream and vanilla flavours that created a very pleasant taste from the outset. Unfortunately what sat below was by no means up to par with what I have come to expect from Galler. The inner praline centre had a very forthcoming bitterness which I can only theorise was generated by the almonds. I understand the almonds were supposed to be toasted, but I think whoever in the factory was in charge of toasting them may have done so for to long, as they created an overriding plethora of burnt nut flavours. Unlike stated on the wrapper, the bar also didn't contain any dried fruit content, so there was nothing to detract attention from the unpleasantness created by the nuts. I'm sure that this chocolate was fine to eat, but neither myself or my family went back for more after sampling a few blocks each.

Overall this is the first post of it's kind - a review in which I use the words 'Galler' and 'deeply disappointed'. This Galler Incentive Amandes Grillees was simply not up to the usual standards that I have come to expect from this wonderful Belgian brand. The bar not only failed to deliver what it promised in regards to the lacking dried fruit content, but also it was still poor in the execution of what it did actually have to offer. The white chocolate as ever was very palatable and very much to my liking, however this bar fell down in all other aspects of the taste and texture test. The toasted almond nuts were burnt and not cooked properly which subsequently spoilt the taste. What also didn't help too much was the fact that the almond pieces were jagged and small in size, which meant that the mouth feel of the chocolate melting wasn't altogether that pleasant either. At the end of the day, the less probably said about this bar the better - there are way too many other Galler products for us to preoccupy ourselves with, just check the archives (See HERE).

5.6 out of 10

September 28th: 'Bits n Bobs' - Cadbury Selection

Having being sent/bought several obscure Cadbury chocolates over the last few months, I thought it best to do a 'Bits n Bobs' Cadbury post to showcase a few of them all in one go. On show today we have the Cadbury Dark Burnt Almond and Cadbury Cerises bars from Canada, the Cadbury Chomp from South Africa, and lastly the Cadbury Jaffas from New Zealand.

Cadbury Dark Burnt Almond

Kcal 240 Fat 14.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 24.0g
'Dark chocolate with roasted almond nuts'.

This bar came in a 42.0g size that I consumed over the course of a single sitting. The outer packaging looked none to dissimilar to the style we used to get here in the UK, and I liked the brightness of the foil wrapper which I think gave the bar decent stand out.

With expectations set by the really dark, almost black colouring of the chocolate it was nice that the aromas had similar impact, and the mixture of cocoa and nut hints certainly made for a promising prospect. Cutting to the chase, the chocolate wasn't perhaps as strongly flavoured as I would have liked, though I guess I expected this due to this being very much a common consistency across most mass produced dark chocolates. The chocolate solus would perhaps of been a little bland and boring but luckily the almonds added an extra dimension to both taste and texture, bringing elements of savoury nuttiness and hints of butter with their crisp, crunchy feel in the mouth. I wouldn't have this bar down as a 'must try', but if you are a dark chocolate amateur looking to ease yourself in to 'the dark side' this is a nice option for you.

7.6 out of 10



Cadbury Cerises
Kcal 200 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 32.0g
'Milk chocolate with a Maraschino filling'

This Cerises bar came in a 45.0g format that contained four splendid looking large thimble shaped chocolates. Despite failing to register any aromas of great interest, when cross-sectioned the pieces looked very unique, with the glace cherries glistening nicely within the Maraschino liqueur - my intrigue was certainly raised.

The chocolate held no surprises with it's sweet, milk led taste - standard Cadbury fair really. Due to the thickness of the outer shell the chocolate was allowed to express itself to a decent level, but this all changed as soon as the inner constituents were breached. Despite it's liqueur billing, the Maraschino taste lacked an alcoholic edge, though personally I can't say I missed it and I still got some pleasure from the syrupy red fruit flavours. I'm no fan of glace cherries, but the variation brought by the unique chewy textures were a decent enhancement to the overall experience, making their presence worthwhile for this reason alone. This wasn't a product that was much suited to my own tastes, but I would recommend it to people who like their cherry flavoured chocolates.

7.4 out of 10

Cadbury Chomp (RSA)

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???
'Wafer biscuit and caramel covered in a chocolate flavoured coating'.

As you can see above this wasn't product notable for it's presentation, however it had a friendly charm about it, and the random addition of the hippo figures were more to my liking than the bastard Freddo or Magical Elve characters that cover our kiddie offerings here in the UK.

Fast forwarding to the all important taste test, this South African Chomp suffered from many of the UK Chomp's problems - the most obvious one of course being it's small, unfulfilling size. What was more surprising however, was the sub-standard milk chocolate this bar had to offer. Unlike the majority of Cadbury products, the chocolate had a lazy, waxy melt and it disappointingly created a very mild and sugary based taste. Luckily this bar was somewhat passable due to the relative tastiness of the caramel and wafer layers which combined created a satisfactory amount of toffee and malt flavours. Unfortunately it can't be ignored that the outer 'chocolate' coating was horrendously poor, which is something I wouldn't ever expect to say about a Cadbury product. This was by no means the worst product I have ever tasted, but I certainly wouldn't recommend it.

6.2 out of 10



Cadbury Jaffas

Kcal 123 Fat 5.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 18.8g
'Orange coated, chocolate filled balls'.

These Jaffas came in a 50.0g box that contained around 25 pieces, which were about the size of Cadbury Tasters. To my immediate surprise (and concern) I saw that the pieces were red coloured, despite being billed as orange flavoured!? I should have probably taken this as a sign of what was to soon follow!

Time to describe the taste ... well this wont take long :D These tasted of nothing more and nothing less than pure sugar. The outer shells completely dominated the experience and offered a set of cheap, artificial chemically flavours. The taste was simply one dimensional, boring and utterly joyless - the chocolate needn't be mentioned as it just had no say in matters whatsoever. After 3 pieces I knew the rest were destined for the bin. I didn't even bother offering them to any of my co-workers, I'm not that cruel :D I would honestly avoid these like the plague - just check out the score.

3.6 out of 10


If any of you have any views on the products featured today please be sure to drop me a comment with your thoughts.

September 27th: Milka Limited Editions 2010

Forget Hotel Chocolat Mondays - More recently it has been more like 'New Product Mondays'! Today I have another three for you to feast your eyes on. These Milka bars you see below were sent to me by ChocolateMission reader Franzi, who last week was kind enough to ship these three new 2010 Limited Edition flavours to me from Germany. Franzi has also reviewed these bars herself - See HERE.

Over the last seven days I (and my family & friends) have been sampling all three of the 100.0g bars. The packaging and presentation of all three new flavours was aligned with the rest of the standard Milka range with distinctive white on purple branding, and the flavour variety communicated with the use of on-pack pictures. Before anyone asks I have no clue what the significance of the cow pictures on the front of the wrappers is all about - hopefully Franzi will stop by the review and indulge us with this information.

Here are my thoughts on the three flavours - one thing that I can confirm was consistent across all three was the experience delivered by the Alpine milk chocolate which coated each all of the bars. As with every bar of it's kind, the Alpine milk chocolate established a familiar set of sweet cocoa, hazelnut noted flavours from the outset, and melted at a pleasant rate and with a kind smoothness. Milka chocolate is sweet, but I have always liked that it does have it's own uniqueness in it's flavours with small hint of nuttiness.

Milka Chocolate Creme and Mint

Kcal 590 Fat 41.5g Carbs 45.5g (per 100.0g)
'Alpine milk chocolate with a mint flavoured chocolate creme filling'

What with the hundreds of Milka flavours that have been created it is somewhat surprising that this was the first ever mint chocolate I had seen from them. Aesthetically the chocolate looked little different to many of the other Milka chocolate cream bars I had tried previously. The aromas emanating from the plastic sealed packet however did offer a mild note of peppermint, which suitably set expectations for the taste.

Sat the below the Alpine milk chocolate, the chocolate creme filling had an even softer textured feel, and it melted at a very hasty rate in the mouth. In terms of taste the chocolate cream wasn't really differentiated from the outer milk chocolate, and more just further went to build on the initial set of flavours established by the Alpine milk. To my surprise the integration of the mint wasn't as strong as expected, with only minor suggestions of peppermint on offer at intermittent times. When it comes to their flavourings, Milka are normally a lot bolder than they have been with this mint offering. It was in no way a bad tasting bar, but I think the mint deserved to be more prominent. This bar could of been better than it turned out, I think some chocolate mint fans might be left wanting a stronger minty taste.

7.4 out of 10



Milka Milk Cream & Pop Rocks

Kcal 560 Fat 34.5g Carbs 56.5g (per 100.0g)
'Alpine milk chocolate with a milk cream filling and popping candy'

The dreaded 'Knister' - that's 'Popping Candy' to us English speaking folk! You may recall that I have reviewed a few Milka products last year that contained this horrid stuff (See HERE & HERE). Like all of those previous products, this bar looked similarly innocent on the face of things, with the milk cream filling cutting a tempting looking appearance nestled between the milk chocolate exterior.

Given I knew I this flavour wasn't going to be to my own taste I enlisted the help of some work colleagues in order to give it a fair run out. Out of the four people that tried it, it was unanimously agreed that the the chocolate tasted nice, and there were several positive comments about the creaminess of the milk filling taking the dairy flavours of the chocolate a positive stage further. In regards to the crackly texture created by the copious amounts of popping candy, the panel was more split in it's views. Two of the four thought it was fun and liked it, whilst the other two were, well ... 'less inclined' to put it politely haha! From a personal point of view I just don't like the pop rocks sensation. On the other hand if you do like it then this will be a chocolate you will probably enjoy - it's as simple as that.

6.7 out of 10



Milka Milk Cream & Choco-Biscuits

Kcal 570 Fat 36.0g Carbs 54.0g (per 100.0g)
'Alpine milk chocolate with a milk cream filling and chocolate flavoured biscuit pieces'

Save the the best until last? Why of course I have :D Of all the three flavours Franzi so kindly sent my way, this was the one I had the highest expectations for. This Mika Milk Cream & Choco-Biscuits is Milka's attempt at producing an equivalent offering to Hershey's Cookies n' Chocolate bar (See HERE). From the outset I loved the look of the chocolate as it's gold tinged milk creme filling looked very appetising studded with a heavy portioning of cookie pieces.

Unlike the popping candy chocolate, this wasn't a bar I dished out amongst my work colleagues - I greedily ate it to myself over a few separate occasions. The main reason for this selfishness was because it was quite simply delicious. Like so many of the other Milka bars, the the milk creme filling did a fantastic job of building on on the existing sweet dairy flavours of the outer chocolate, and it added a fine dose of creamy goodness. Sat in the creme, the biscuits bits proved themselves to be a similarly fantastic addition to the overall experience and they came to the party at the end of each mouthful once the chocolate had melted away. Taste wise they added delicious buttery, chocolate biscuit flavours and retained a nice degree of crunchiness despite the moistness of the melting chocolate. Personally I thought this bar was easily the best out of the three latest limited edition offerings - I wish I knew what all these cows were about though :D

8.5 out of 10

September 25/26th: Hotel Chocolat The Sleekster Everything Selection

'7Days of Chocolate Reviews' takes a break this week as I bring you an extra dose of Hotel Chocolat. If you guys have been checking out the Hotel Chocolat site recently you would have seen that they have added a number of new selection boxes to their existing range. Some of the highest scoring products ever to feature on this site have been their Dark and White Chocolate Sleekster Boxes (See HERE & HERE), so when I was sent a sample of this Everything Selection I had seriously high expectations.

Described as a 'balanced collection with a little bit of everything, so there's something for absolutely everyone to love' I of course couldn't do the rest of my family the injustice of not sharing it with them. Hopefully my photos will do the presentation of the box and truffles justice - everything was superb looking and the chocolates terrifically crafted and detailed. What with there being 14 different pieces in the selection it's probably best we get down to business ...

Amarena Cherry - This piece was large in size but had a soft filling centre that yielded with a real elegance under the crisp outer shell. The flavours of this piece were wonderfully progressive with the sweet cocoa flavours of the outer milk chocolate taking on a grander creaminess from the buttercream filling before leaving a well balanced note of red berry liquor. Very Good.

Going Nuts - Formed of a milk chocolate coated praline with crunchy hazelnuts this was a very accomplished nut chocolate that combined smooth and crispy textures well. The milk chocolate let the nut constituents do most of the talking, but this sat very well with myself and I very much enjoyed the woody flavours contributed by both the different nut elements. Very Good.

Amaretto - Hotel Chocolat liqueur flavoured chocolates are always too strong are they not!? Well if this chocolate was anything to go by that statement would be very wrong. The crisp outer chocolate constituents were terrifically complimented by an outstanding buttercream filling that by my estimation was perfect in it's strength of boozie almond flavours. Superb.

Crispy Praline - This was a somewhat odd piece that combined an inner praline filling with small crunchy pieces of 'crispy pancake'. Whilst the pancake bits didn't detract from the creamy hazelnut flavours, the impression they created texture wise was not to my liking in the slightest - it was almost as if it was like dreaded popping candy *shivers*. Standard.

Within this selection box there were also several pieces that I had come across in other Hotel Chocolate reviews (or chocolates extremely similar to them!). If you are interested in my views on (from left-to-right/front-to-back) the Caramel Melter, Mousse au Chocolat, Billionaire's Shortbread, Brownie, Orange Praline and Orange Liqueur Melter - please click on the name of the piece to be redirected to those reviews.

Milk House Praline - This was pretty simple piece that combined a hazelnut praline centre with a milk chocolate exterior. Whilst it was undoubtedly very tasty I almost felt like it was a bit of a generic choice of chocolate to be included in the selection. I was told by the rest of my family that I was just being overly critical - they loved it. Very Good.

Praline Cup - This again was very similar to the praline truffle above, however had a base of dark chocolate. The dark chocolate provided a somewhat less sweet introduction flowing in to the praline, however I think it could of done with a full coating of dark as opposed to the suggestion provided at the bottom. Again it is hard to rate this anything other than Very Good despite it being very alike other pieces.

Butterscotch Ganache - Now if the two chocolates above were a little similar to each each other this truffle was one that very much stood out as offering something a little different. The outer milk chocolate was a perfect foil for the inner toffee flavoured ganache and established a creamy caramel noted flavour sensation. The shortbread biscuit piece on top capped off a truly exquisite truffle. Superb.

Isabelle - We get to end with yet another phenomenal chocolate. This was yet another piece that had a praline centre, but this one really was all about the florentine on top. In addition to the hazelnut and sweet cocoa flavours already on offer, the florentine biscuit brought additional hints of honey, caramel and almond to the party, all within it's delightful crispy chewy texture. Superb.

Overall this has been a very difficult Selection Box to rate as it could easily be argued that it could be deserving of a better or worse rating. On one hand this was a delicious collection of chocolates that contained no 'duff ones' and had some real stand out pieces like the Isabelle, Butterscotch Ganache and Amaretto. However, on the flip side, it could also be noted that for a selection that was meant to contain 'Everything' the actual variety was a little limited. As a lover of praline chocolates I actually fancied every single piece in the box. Unfortunately though my sister (who doesn't really like nuts!) felt very limited, with only the three fruit options really taking her fancy. With this in mind when it came to the scoring of this box I couldn't quite give it the highest marks like I did Dark or White Sleeksters. Saying that, if I was gifting this box to a person who I knew loved pralines, I would feel very happy with my choice - this box contains many of them, and they are all delicious.

8.4 out of 10