November 8th: Ritter Sport Orangen-Marzipan

Kcal 495 Fat 26.3g Fat(sats) 11.0g Carbs 56.2g (per 100.0g)

Today I bring you the second of my three Ritter Sport 2010 Winter-Kreation bar reviews, showcasing this Oragen-Marzipan variant. Last week I kicked off my latest series of Ritter Sport posts by sharing my thoughts on the Nuss in Nugatcreme bar (if you missed it See HERE). This second helping of Ritter winter goodness sounded a little more exciting in terms of it's proposition, and came described as 'milk chocolate with orange marzipan (44.0%)'. As ever the rest of my family were keen as mustard trying out a new Ritter Sport flavour. My father's passion for anything containing marzipan only further made their opinions for this review an inevitability.

Nicking this line directly from my review last week 'All three of these new Winter-Kreation flavours come up in the standard 100.0g size aswell as the mini block format for those that prefer their chocolate in more manageable sizes' (I told you I would just cut and paste haha!!). As you can see the packaging was also broadly consistent, though had the obvious adaptation of the secondary orange colour scheme and relevant marzipan pictures. When unsealed the plastic packet released an appetising set of fruity orange smells that mixed well with the more familiar Ritter milk chocolate scents. As expected the the marzipan filling looked well portioned sandwiched between layers of exterior chocolate layers.

Before tasting this bar both my father and I expressed our surprise that Ritter had chosen to use a milk chocolate coating as opposed to the usual dark chocolate that coats their standard marzipan offering. Given that this is probably my thirtieth Ritter Sport review that has used the same milk chocolate, I wont go full on in to the micro detail of the taste, but I can say that our preconceived concerns about the pairing of milk chocolate and marzipan were ill founded. Ultimately the chocolate was nothing more, nothing less than it's sweet, generic milky self. The word 'generic' may sound bad, but as ever this wasn't such a bad thing for this Ritter bar, as it allowed greater expression of the inner filling which was frankly very good. Texture wise it was just about right in terms of moistness and viscosity, and importantly avoided that dry, grainy cloying mouth feel that can be associated with cheaper quality marzipan. Flavour wise it was equally as enjoyable, with the juicy, orange influence coming straight to the party amongst the more subtle almond nut taste. Four chunks of this chocolate was a more than satisfying amount to eat at one time - I'm not sure that having any more than that in a sitting it would be quite as enjoyable.

Overall although this wasn't the best ever Ritter Sport flavour I think it is one that is well suited to the time of year, and it will certainly please many a consumer this Christmas time. It would have been interesting to see whether the filling would have been better matched with an outer portion of dark chocolate, but ultimately the milk chocolate did a more than satisfactory job, and despite initial concerns it carried the fruity flavoured marzipan with the same efficiency that it has done for other Ritter flavours. Whilst it may not be have been perfection by Ritter, this was still a very competent flavoured offering and the orange twist proved to be a very welcome bit of flavour development on the already very competent marzipan. Like I always do, I have left the 'best until last' for my reviews of this Ritter Sport Winter-Kreation range. This Orangen-Marzipan was great, but expect even better things to come next week when I review the last bar in this years winter collection.

8.1 out of 10

November 6/7th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 59

SITE UPDATE

Hi All,

Another week has passed on the ChocolateMission and to recap we learnt the following ... Ritter Sport love making chocolates with hazelnut in (See HERE), Hotel Chocolat make so damn good chocolate covered fruits (See HERE), Unilever's Marmite flavoured chocolate needs a bit of work (See HERE) and lastly J-List is back on the ChocolateMission map and they have all new Pocky (See HERE).

Thanks for all the comments and inputs this week - they were all as interesting and welcome as ever, please keep them coming. For the '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' post today I haven't had the greatest amount of time to compile all the news stories together. If I have missed anything please be sure to share it. Additionally if you have any product requests for any new or existing products you have seen recently then please feel free to drop me a note.

Next week we have more Ritter Sport, Hotel Chocolat and the return on 'Bits n Bobs' - apologies for the lack of BnB post this week (the Marmite Chocolate skipped the review line!).

Thanks everyone. Have a great weekend and enjoy the firework displays - stay safe ;D

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market

* Brace yourselves for the launch of Go*Do Chocolate coming soon to the UK ... See HERE

* There's some more information on the Thorntons dessert range ... See HERE

* Organic food company, Feeding Your Imagination has launched a new range of chocolate bars ... See HERE

* Chocolate and chips anyone? ... See HERE

* Aero is getting a new £1 million marketing push ... See HERE

* Thorntons has appointed Caffé Nero managing director Jonathan Hart as its new chief executive ... See HERE

* Mars this week have showcased their M&M's line up for Christmas this year ... See HERE ... I've already got around to buying a bag of their Christmas coloured M&M's Peanut ... see below

November 5th: Oreo Choc Milk

Kcal 113 Fat 5.7g Fat(sats) 3.3g Carbs 14.0g (per Oreo)

Before I start off todays review I must first take the time to thank ChocolateMission reader Ria who very kindly included these in a package with some Cadbury Screme Eggs last week. If you all cast your minds back to Christmas time last year, you might remember that one of the best scoring festive products were the white chocolate covered Oreos that were released in our supermarkets as a limited edition (See HERE). Ever since then I have been constantly on the look out for these Oreo Choc Milk, which you may well have guessed are milk chocolate coated Oreo biscuits. Having had no luck searching for myself for a long while, you can imagine my delight when Ria sent these to me - thanks again :D

I have no idea where Ria managed to obtain these from here in the UK, but the packaging stated that they had been produced in Spain (I've actually had them a few times out there before!). The 264.0g box included 6 individual snack packs, each containing two cookies which I thought was a very sensible portion size. Contained within foil wrappers the cookies were maintained in tip-top condition and looked very appealing on the eye with very thick coatings of milk chocolate. In addition to looking impressive, they all smelt particularly nice and emanated a wealth of chocolatey scents to further entice me.

As previously mentioned this wasn't my first experience with these cookies, so my latest foray with them was more of a reminder of tasty they were rather than a totally new experience. I ate the three snack packs during my mid afternoon coffee breaks at work and was the envy of many of my colleagues who cast me many jealous looks whilst they dipped their boring rich tea biscuits haha! My favourite method of eating these was to dip them quickly in my coffee in order to let the chocolate coating melt slightly. It was best doing this because the exterior chocolate had a somewhat waxy texture that took a while to warm in the mouth and initiate flavour release. Once this was achieved I could have no complaints, it was generically sweet in it's milk based cocoa flavours, but it delivered a substantial chocolate flavour hit even before the lower biscuit and creme elements had been encountered. Like I found with the white chocolate covered Oreo last year, the sweetness of the outer chocolate was simply wonderful when met by the saltiness of the sandwich biscuits below. Further harmonising the delightful textures on offer, the inner creme added moistness to the drier biscuit, whilst also bringing yet another twist to the taste with it's vanilla noted sugary creaminess.

Overall these milk chocolate covered Oreos were every bit as good I remembered them to be, and my only disappointment with them came when I finished my last one. Unfortunately for me now normal Oreo cookies are probably going to taste like they are missing something, as I felt the chocolate coating really added something to the experience despite it being far from the best quality chocolate in the world. Biscuits and cookies can often be very similar and 'samey' here in the UK, but I can genuinely say there aren't any cookies on the market here that offer the same type of experience that these Oreo Choc Milk do. I only hope that Kraft/Nabisco or whoever has the ability to make the decision, make these far better distributed throughout the UK - I know for one that they would be frequently ending up in my shopping basket. I would be really interested to hear from any ChocolateMission readers who have tried these - did you like them as much as I did?

8.6 out of 10

November 4th: Glico Pocky Chocolate-on-Chocolate

If you were cool enough (yes cool enough haha!) to check out the site this weekend you will have seen that a few Japanese sourced products had made their way in to my 'Bits n Bobs' Halloween Superpost. Indeed, after a long, sweltering Japanese summer, J-List have finally replenished their chocolate stocks so it's time for more reviews. My friend Peter at J-List was kind enough to send me a batch of goodies containing some of the newest products the Japanese products, includeing a new range of Pocky called 'Chocolate-on-Chocolate'.

Both these two flavour variants came in 60.0g boxes that contained 4 x 15.1g smaller packets within. Judging by the packaging of this new 'Chocolate-on-Chocolate' range I think it is safe to say that Glico are targeting a more upmarket consumer as the glossy cardboard box and less cartoony graphics gave a more premium and sophisticated sense as opposed to the norm. Portioned in packets of three, the Pocky sticks were about four times the thickness of your standard Mikado and normal Pocky lines. Both looked attractive on the eye, yet neither really grabbed my attention with any compelling aromas of note.

Glico Pocky Chocolate-on-Chocolate Praline:

Kcal 82 Fat 4.5g Carbs 9.2g (per 15.1 packet)

Normally I liked to start off my reviews by giving you the manufacturers description, though that would be a little impossible for me to do without taking a few lesson in Japanese reading and writing :D Propositionally these did look the more interesting out of the two and it was no surprise to find this was reality when it came to the taste. Starting with the biscuit bases they were your typical Pocky sticks, and were fresh and crunchy offering brown sugar noted wheaty flavours. The coating on top delivered the dual chocolate experience to reasonably good effect, with the lower coated sweeter chocolate enhanced progressively by the ever so slightly more cocoa led flavours of the 63% chocolate on top. Although not particularly prominent in the main stay of the tasting experience, a interjection of buttery almond flavours did make their way into the aftertaste. The upshot of this was that this praline flavour was very tasty, but in the grand scheme of things the nut element needed to stronger.

7.8 out of 10



Glico Pocky Chocolate-on-Chocolate Mild:

Kcal 81 Fat 4.4g Carbs 9.3g (per 15.1 packet)

I needn't take as long describing my experience with this 'Mild' variant as I did with the 'Praline' above because fundamentally these were exactly the same product but without the inclusion of the 1.4% almond powder. Given that fact you wont be at all surprised to hear that they tasted almost exactly the same, but just with the obvious exclusion of the nutty aftertaste. On reflection I think it would have been good if Glico had tried differentiating this flavour a bit more - perhaps by changing the strength of the dark chocolate part of the coating? The 63% dark chocolate was fair in terms of it's heightened cocoa emphasis, however it didn't venture past the usual mass consumer friendly dark chocolate experience. Although I still got that unsatisfied hunger Pocky feeling after eating these, I was more than happy with how they tasted.

7.4 out of 10


Overall I wouldn't like to lie to anyone by saying this new Chocolate-on-Chocolate range is anything particularly special, but I know for a matter of fact that most Pocky fans will still really love them. Personally I would have liked to have seen Glico be a little bolder with the flavour varieties they chose with these - a stronger, nuttier praline would have great, whilst a more intense dark chocolate would have definitely livened up the somewhat placcid 'Mild' flavours. Like I said, Pocky fans will love these but for the people who are not so fussed I think there are more interesting Japanese products out there. If either of these tickle your fancy I suggest you head HERE to the J-List website.

November 3rd: Marmite Very Peculiar Milk Chocolate

Kcal 540 Fat 32.1g Fat(sats) 20.2g Carbs 54.9g (per 100.0g)

In what must be one of the most requested ChocolateMission reviews of all time, I today have the grand pleasure of bringing you all my candid views on the much publicised Marmite Very Peculiar Milk Chocolate. Having read reviews on websites such as Chocablog (See HERE) and by pal Liz at Foodstufffinds (See HERE), I finally managed to get hold of this much sought after chocolate to try for myself. First things first, Unilever have to be congratulated for the 'buzz' they have created about this chocolate. This Marmite flavoured bar has received wide recognition across the press, with everything from the initial trade articles (See HERE), to the national press generating a great deal of consumer interest (for evidence of that all you need to see is my e-mail inbox filled with requests!!).

I bought this bar from BHS for the price of £2.99 for a 100.0g tablet. On the exterior packaging the product came described as 'The milk chocolate bar by Marmite - Marmite flavour milk chocolate bar', 'Peculiar' sounding indeed, but at the same time very intriguing. In my opinion, Unilever did a pretty decent job with the wrapper. I can't imagine for one minute that this was completely top of mind when putting together their marketing mix for this product, fundamentally I think the people who are willing to try the chocolate in the first place aren't going to be put off with a non-snazzy box in any case. With that in mind I wasn't overly fussed by the non-decorative pattern work on the bar, to be honest my mind was preoccupied with the chocolatey scents emanating from the foil packet, as they offered a much stronger suggestion of Marmite than I was first expecting.

If you are a reader based outside of the UK you may want to catch up with the backstory behind Marmite before trying to understand the detail of the taste test I'm about to describe ... See HERE - thanks Wiki. Now everyone is up to speed it is worth me flagging to you all that I firmly sit in the 'Love It' camp when it comes to my views on this wonderful yeast based spread - suffice to say there aren't many mornings that pass without me indulging in a spot of toast laden with Marmite.

So being a Marmite 'Lover', what did I make of Marmite's Very Peculiar Milk Chocolate??? Well it was an experience to say the least. At the basis of the product there was fair to decent standard milk chocolate that established a decent milky sweet cocoa taste in the initial few seconds of each mouthful. In my first few blocks the Marmite influence was very, very minor and only raised the slightest of salty suggestions towards the back end of the aftertaste. As I made my way closer to the centre of the bar, the texture of the chocolate changed somewhat with what felt like small little crystallised balls roughening the melt of the free flowing chocolate. As the grittier texture became increasingly detectable, unsurprisingly so did the Marmite element, and in some blocks the flavours were really quite intense. Mixed with sweet chocolate, the Marmite element tasted contrastingly spice like, and delivered what I can only describe as an awkward oniony, herby taste in the mouth. Frankly it was pretty horrible, and far from the salty flavour experience that I desired - it certainly didn't leave me wanting to reach back in to the packet for more.

Overall I could probably talk about why this Marmite Chocolate should of, yet didn't work for an endless amount of time, but at the end of things I would always come to the same conclusion that this chocolate wasn't that nice. Looking at the ingredients list it appears Unilever chose to use Marmite flavouring as opposed to real deal Marmite - a somewhat puzzling decision, however it does explain the spiced notes of garlic and onion that I detected in the taste as both were included in the flavouring in powder form. Although I was excited about trying this chocolate I can't say I was all that disappointed by it, as my expectations were realistic in that it was going to be something to taste for an 'experience' rather than one to compete with the iconic Hotel Chocolat 85% dark chocolate. For that reason I would probably still buy it for friends who like Marmite and hadn't tasted it before, but I would probably warn them that it isn't that nice. Unilever have created a chocolate that wont be renowned for it's chocolate tasting prestige, but one that is worth trying 'just to see what it's like' and I would recommend you do on that basis alone. I can't promise you guys will like this chocolate, but I can promise you will be glad to have at least given it a go and laid your mind to rest to what Marmite flavoured chocolate would actually taste like :D

6.0 out of 10

November 2nd: Hotel Chocolat Christmas Chocolate Enrobed Fruits 2010

With Halloween out the way it's now time for the long build up to Christmas and what better way to get things started this year by scratching the surface of what Hotel Chocolat have to offer. If you have been visiting the site for a while you will have seen several reviews this year looking at Hotel Chocolat's chocolate enrobed fruit range. From Kirsch Cherries to Rum soaked Sultanas I have tried them all - I suggest you look back in the archives if you managed to let them pass you by (See HERE).

I'm going to kick of my Christmas 2010 Hotel Chocolat reviews this year by looking at two of their seasonal themed fruit offerings. With the help of my ever willing family, I have been photographing and sampling Christmas products for the last few weeks - Christmas has indeed come early in the ChocolateMission household.

Hotel Chocolat Cinnamon Rum Sultanas

'sultanas soaked in golden rum with a pinch of cinnamon, enrobed in white chocolate'

Both of these products today came in the tub packaging format and with 150.0g of produce inside. I normally dread the thought of having to photograph plain white chocolate items but the amazing sweet and and spicy smells emanating from the packaging were enough to distract me from my tough task at hand.

To sum these sultanas up in a load of random words I would have to choose creamy, fruity, boozie spiced deliciousness. Indeed these sultanas were fantastic and got gobbled by my tasting panel within minutes of them being opened. The white chocolate that surrounded the plump fruit centres was thick across all of the pieces, whilst the sultanas inside were juicy and fresh. Taste wise everything was so wonderfully progressive, with the flavour journey starting with a firm set of sweet cream based flavours before evolving into an array of cinnamon, rum and sweet fruit. The culmination of these different elements created quite the flavour party in the mouth and had us all reaching back for more time and time again until the whole lot was gone.

8.1 out of 10



Hotel Chocolat Mulled Wine Cherries

'cherries soaked in fortified wine spiced with cinnamon, nutmeg and cloves, then enrobed in thick dark chocolate.'

I have to fess up right away here - I think we all know I'm not the greatest love of cherries, but if there is one thing I'm certainly not, it's a wine drinker! With that in mind I wasn't particularly looking forward to these, so it was lucky I had did indeed have my family taste panel involved here.

Similarly to the sultanas above, these cherries displayed the most delightful of fruity scents when I opened the tub for the first time. You might not be able to gauge from the photo, but these were significantly bigger in size compared to the sultanas, this was helped largely by the fact that the dark chocolate was still very thickly coated despite the larger fruit size. I needn't say much about the outer chocolate - it established rich cocoa flavours from the outset and the additional fragments of almond nut created an undercurrent of delicious savoury butter flavours. As good as the chocolate was, the cherries were equally as flavoursome. They were everybit as fresh and juicy as came described, and the sweet red fruit flavours were enhanced magnificently by several spiced elements, most notably nutmeg and cinnamon. This combination was nothing other than utterly delicious - I was surprised by how much I liked these.

8.5 out of 10



Overall these were some of the best chocolate covered fruits I have ever tried and I loved the seasonal flavour sensation brought to the party with the spiced elements in both. The look, feel and taste of Christmas has been encapsulated in these fruits perfectly - even as a non-wine drink I couldn't help but love the Mulled Wine Cherries, they were really very tasty. I would recommend both of these products as worthy of trying out and buying this year if they tickle your fancy. I would love to say stick them top of your Christmas list but there are way too many Christmas themed chocolate reviews to come :D make sure you stick around for the best coverage of the Hotel Chocolat range this year.

November 1st: Ritter Sport Nuss in Nugatcreme

Kcal 572 Fat 39.0g Fat(sats) 21.1g Carbs 47.0g (per 100.0g)

Draw breath everyone because the run up to Christmas is going to be a long one! You can expect a tremendous amount of Christmas themed chocolates to be appearing on the site in the next few months, and what better way to get things really going than by looking at one of Ritter Sport's Winter-Kreation seasonal offerings? It simply wouldn't be a calendar season without Ritter coming out with a few new flavours - for winter this year we have yet another three for us all to enjoy. The first one I'm showcasing today is this Nuss in Nugatcreme flavour, which came billed as 'milk chocolate with a nougat cream filling, chopped hazelnuts and rice flakes'.

All three of these new Winter-Kreation flavours come up in the standard 100.0g size aswell as the mini block format for those that prefer their chocolate in more manageable sizes (yes I will be cut and pasting that sentence for the other two upcoming reviews :D ). In terms of presentation its nice to see that Ritter have been a bit adventurous with their packaging for these new bars. My family and I thought they looked suitably seasonal with the on-pack pictures of a frosty winter chalet appearing both artistic and appropriate to the brand. Beneath the plastic foil material the chocolate came presented in the standard 4x4 quadrant, and looked interesting on the eye with several particles evident amongst the well portioned cream centre.

Taking in the aromas being offered by the chocolate the smells were immediately familiar and smelt similar to the Ritter Sport Schokocreme bar I reviewed back in August, but just with some minor suggestions of some sort of nut content. It really wont take me long to describe the taste of this particular flavour because of it's similarity to that aforementioned variant. The outer milk chocolate, chocolate cream and rice cereal all delivered exactly the same experience. The chocolate tasted sweet and milky, with the rice establishing a minor note of biscuity cereal with its crunchy additive textural feel. As I was both hoping for (and expecting!) the small fragments of chopped hazelnut took the flavour development on a stage further, bringing notes of woody nuttyness to each block. It wasn't the most satisfying or rich chocolate I have ever tasted, but a four block portion proved a suitable amount for just a light snack.

Overall this was probably the least exciting sounding flavour in the new Winter-Kreation range so I was unsurprised by the minor sense of mediocrity I felt after eating it. Ritter Sport have created a number of very similar variants in 2010, I have already mentioned the Schokocreme flavour, whilst you may also remember the Haselnuss Krokant which I featured back in April. Discarding the fact it wasn't anything that differentiated from those prior offerings, it was still a pleasant bar in it's own right and the added dose of hazelnut to the party certainly made it superior to the duller tasting Schokocreme. I don't wish to spoil my other two upcoming Winter-Kreation reviews but I can ensure you there are better things to come from Ritter for this holiday period. For that reason alone I'm not sure I would be that keen to buy this flavour again so quickly.

7.8 out of 10

October 30/31st: 'Bits n Bobs' Halloween Superpost 2010

'7Days of Chocolate Reviews' takes a rest this week as I thought it more appropriate to post up some mini Halloween chocolate reviews to get you all in the mood for this weekends festivities. Todays reviews include harrowingly rubbish M&S chocolates, a quick stop off at Thorntons, a Cadbury Screme Egg and lastly the long awaited return of J-List to ChocolateMission with two of their own Halloween specials!

I hope you enjoy the reviews - please tell me what you will be giving away or buying for Halloween this year!!

Marks & Spencer Freaky Faces

I went on a big shopping trip to London last weekend and found myself in need of a quick sugar fix to restore my sapped energy levels - M&S to the rescue!! I bought two 60.0g bags of these solid milk chocolate 'Freaky Faces' for £1.50 (normally 99p each) - rather costly I thought for a product so small. Whilst the thin foil layers were decorated with some rather ugly looking faces, what lay below were just plain, undecorated milk chocolate egg - did M&S have some left over Easter stock?

Did they do the job boosting my short term sugar craving??? ... yes they did? Did they taste of good quality milk chocolate ... oh god no! The chocolate was about as tasteless as they come, and it was bland, flavourless and waxy in melt. M&S are generally better than this, don't be fooled into going anywhere near these this Halloween weekend.

3.6 out of 10



Thorntons Halloween Lollipops

It would have been nice just to have touched upon a few more the offerings from the Thorntons Halloween range this year, but I'm only guy and there is only so much gimmicky chocolate a person can take! Step forward these Halloween themed chocolate Lollipops :D

On the same shopping trip above I decided to venture into Thorntons to see if they had anything of interest. These fun looking Halloween shaped lollipops caught my eye - small (28.0g), cheap (£0.50)and cheerful ... why not :D The milk chocolate skeleton shape I tried was tasty enough, the cocoa flavours were relatively mild but it had a smooth milk rooted taste that I thought was relatively tasty. My shopping accomplice chose the white chocolate ghost and was less impressed - 'grainy feeling, sugary and sickly' were her words of choice.

7.0 out of 10



Cadbury Screme Egg

What do you do if you have a recipe that works? Well if you are a FMCG confectionery brand you stretch it as far as it goes! Indeed for the first time ever this year we now have Screme Eggs! These Screme Eggs are quite simply the usual Cadbury Creme Eggs that we get at Easter time, but with a green coloured filling. As far as I'm aware these are only available in Asda for £0.50, thanks so much to ChocolateMission reader Ria for sending some along for me to feature on the site.

So what can you expect from a Screme Egg? Well I can safely say you are in for no surprises. The chocolate was it's ever tasty milky, sweet Cadbury self, whilst the filling was the most sugary fondant goo you will likely ever come across .... culinary excellence - No .... nostalgic wonderfulness - oh yes!! I do love the odd S/Creme Egg but Cadbury are on course for over extending one of their greatest creations!

8.3 out of 10



Lotte Toppo Halloween

After a blazing hot summer in Japan our friends at J-list have finally replenished their chocolate products on the site and they have some great new treats to share with us from the crazy folk in the Far East. Last week I was the lucky recipient of a brand spanking new box of samples - included in which were these Lotte Toppo Halloween.

As with all Japanese products these Toppo were decorated with the most fantastic looking packaging you can imagine. Bright colours, appetising pictures and of course pumpkins 'a-go-go' for these Halloween themed chocolate sticks. Whilst they looked superb and genuinely had me excited I was little underwhelmed to find that these were simply just the original milk chocolate Toppo with no other differentiating factor aside from the cool looking packaging. Thankfully all initial disappoint was soon washed away when I reminded myself just how tasty these chocolate filled biscuit sticks were. Mikado and Pocky fans beware - these are equally as tasty but every bit as moreish.

7.7 out of 10



Glico Pocky Pumpkin

No Japanese products for months and then two come along at once :D These Glico Pocky Pumpkin flavour sticks have been top of J-List's best sellers for a good few weeks now (See HERE). I wont try to pretend like I understood a word of the Japanese writing on the packaging, but it clearly showcased that they were Halloween themed and they were unmistakeably pumpkin flavoured with their bright orange colour.

It's hard to pin down and describe exactly what sort of flavours were involved here, but the outer orange coating was creamy with a sweet note of butternut squash. This may sound wrong and totally out of the ordinary from what you might want from a confectionery product, however it just simply worked. The combination of the sweet coating and savoury biscuit sticks made for a typical moreish Pocky experience. If you tried the sweet potatoe Kit Kat before and found that to your liking then you will love these Pocky Pumpkin.

7.7 out of 10

October 29th: Cadbury Mini Rolls Selection

Just over a week ago I brought you all my thoughts on some of the latest Halloween themed cake bars and mini rolls to hit this year (See HERE). In that review the Cadbury Trick or Treat Blackcurrant & Vanilla Mini Rolls won me over as the best out of the selection I tried,and I stated that 'Without doubt these are the nicest Cadbury Mini Rolls I think I have ever had'. This statement led many ChocolateMission readers to contact me saying that I had in actual fact only ever reviewed the original Mini Rolls anyway (See HERE), so it wasn't the strongest of statement I have ever probably written.

In order to right this wrong I decided to give some of the other variants in the Mini Roll range a shot at the ChocolateMission rating system. This brings me nicely on to todays post, which sees me do just that. Below are my thoughts and scores for the Double Chocolate, Caramel and Strawberry Jam flavour variations.

Cadbury Mini Rolls Double Chocolate:
Kcal 120 Fat 6.2g Fat(sats) 3.1g Carbs 12.3g
'Chocolate flavoured sponge with a chocolate flavour filling, covered in milk chocolate'.

These Double Chocolate mini rolls came branded with a 'special edition' tag on the exterior packaging, which I believe signifies the fact that they are only available in Sainsbury's supermarket. Aesthetically they looked the least exciting out of all three variants, with the dark coloured cream filling unsurprisingly looking little differentiated from the other exterior constituents.

Despite not winning the battle of the looks, when it came to the taste they were superior to the rest I tried for todays review. Compared to the originals, and both of the variants you will see below, I thought that cream filling was the nicest tasting and was the most balanced out of all of those variants. The inner chocolate cream had less of a sugary emphasis than the rest, and more made the sweet chocolatey flavours richer and more pronounced rather than the more sugar focused alternatives. I have no idea how long these will be hanging around for, but I would buy them again.

7.4 out of 10


Cadbury Mini Rolls Caramel:
Kcal 130 Fat 6.1g Fat(sats) 3.3g Carbs 14.1g
'Chocolate flavoured sponge with caramel flavour creme and caramel filling, covered with milk chocolate'.

Unlike the Double Chocolate flavour above these Caramel flavoured Mini Rolls had a pretty tough competitor product in the form on the McVitie's Mars Mini Roll. In terms of constituents, the Cadbury Caramel offerings was almost exactly the same, however if you compare and contrast my photos of the Mars version with the one abovve you will see that the caramel portioning was far less in the Cadbury product.

When it came to the taste this unfortunately proved to be to the Cadbury Mini Roll's detriment. The exterior chocolate, chocolate sponge and inner creme established a comparable experience to the Double Chocolate flavour, however the little suggestion of caramel running through the centre failed to create a worthy impact on the taste. Unlike the majority of Cadbury Caramel products (Standard Bar - See HERE, Cake Bar - See HERE) the caramel did little aside from advance the sweetness of the taste, which was disappointing given the usual buttery flavours it develops. These were fine but I wouldn't buy them again.

7.0 out of 10



Cadbury Mini Rolls Strawberry:
Kcal 125 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 14.0g
'Golden sponge with strawberry jam and a vanilla flavour filling covered with milk chocolate'.

After my largely successful experience with the Blackcurrant & Vanilla Mini Rolls in my Halloween cakes post, it was requested by several readers that I try out the 'legendary' Strawberry flavoured variant. Presentation wise it was noteworthy that this variant came with golden sponge cake and emanated a very sweet fruity smell when released from it's plastic packet.

Before writing the review for today I hadn't eaten a strawberry flavoured Mini Roll for a fair few years. The reason for me always choosing a plainer or different flavoured variety has always been based loosely around the belief that the strawberry jam makes the taste too sweet. For once my assumption proved to be reality, as I did indeed find that fake tasting fruit jam took the over the chocolate and sponge constituents, and creatied a very sickly, sugar based taste. Compared to the Blackcurrant and Vanilla Mini Rolls, the fruityness came across as more artificial, and even more so the vanilla creme felt less well portioned which was a further letdown. These weren't at all horrid but I can't see myself buying these again in the future.

6.5 out of 10



So there you have it - all Cadbury Mini Rolls reviewed! Which ones are you favourite?

October 28th: Hotel Chocolat Midnight Mints Selection

As soon as Christmas time rolls around it seems like the market suddenly gets flooded with countless numbers of chocolate mint products. Nestle After Eights, Mingles, Elizabeth Shaw Mint Crisp etc are just a few of the more popular options I can name off the top of my head. What about the fancier market offerings I hear you ask? Well today I got to try this rather classy looking Midnight Mint Selection from my favourite people at Hotel Chocolat.

This selection came described as 'recipes celebrating that most British preoccupation: mint and chocolate' and contained 'four classic mint chocolates in dark and white chocolate'. The entire box weighed in at 230.0g and contained two trays with the 26 individual chocolates within. The presentation of the product was fully what you would expect from Hotel Chocolat with the outer box well designed and premium looking, and the inner chocolates nicely crafted and decorated. As impressive as this all was, what was most notable about this Midnight Mint Selection were the minty aromas that sprung across my senses as soon as soon as the plastic packet film wrap was stripped away from the box - boy did they smell gorgeous.

Below are my thoughts on each of the different pieces. Ratings from Abysmal to Superb.

Mint Fondants - This was a piece that was formed of a firm mint fondant centre which was coated in a very thin layer of dark chocolate. Having tasted a great deal of sugary fondants in my life time I was surprised by the creamyness of the delicious peppermint flavours generated by the centre, though I would have liked the dark chocolate coating could have been just a touch thicker. My parents said these tasted like 'posh Fry's mint fondants'. Good.

Mint Batons - As you can see these batons came in two different varieties, one with 72% dark chocolate and the other 28% white chocolate. On the whole both were pretty nice, however I more enjoyed the dark chocolate as I thought the balance between the non-sweet chocolate and the sweet 'essence of Tasmanian peppermint' (no seriously not a joke!!) was just a bit better. My white chocolate loving sister thought exactly the opposite :D Very Good.

Mint Cremes - Although these turned out to be my favourites from the selection I did have some minor worries before tasting them as they looked exactly like the awful Parma Violet Hotel Chocolat chocolates I once tried. These pieces had gorgeous tasting softer peppermint fondant centres,which were cased in thick layers of dark chocolate. The combination of these both made for a refreshing, rich tasting chocolate that was really in a class of it's own. Superb.

Peppermint Crisps - At first I was very surprised that these were the same type of chocolate, as the white variation was nearly twice the thickness of the dark one. These pieces included praline centres with small pieces of peppermint crystals and puffed rice, which together all made for a very interesting textured chocolate. Taste wise, again the dark chocolate variation was more to my liking, the white chocolate piece was just a little on the sweet side in my opinion. I'm being overly critical again - the rest of my family were more inclined to the white chocolate ones :D Very Good.

Overall this was yet another superb collection of chocolates from Hotel Chocolat and I'm sure they would go down a storm with anyone looking for an extra special collection of mint chocolates this Christmas period. As you can tell by my ratings above the real standout chocolates for me personally were the Mint Cremes. I honestly think they are one of the best mint chocolates I have ever tasted and that is no small claim. For a brief time I was struggling with the score I was going this product for the 'selection' crtieria. At first I thought only having four different pieces was pretty limited, but on reflection I struggled to think of any other type of mint chocolate they could have included, so I think an average score of 7.0 is more than justified. As for the rest of the product everything else was very much better than average which isn't exactly a surprise when it comes to Hotel Chocolat. If you are a chocolate mint fan then I suggest you treat yourself to one of these Midnight Mint Selections - I can promise you wont regret it.

8.4 out of 10

October 27th: 'Bits n Bobs' - Marks & Spencer Layered Cookies

'Bit's n Bobs' takes a Marks & Spencer's focus today with me checking out the other two varieties of their Layered Cookies range. My desire to check out these other flavours was mostly driven by my enjoyment of the first lot I tried back in August where I rated the Caramel variety a very healthy 8.7 out of 10. Comments from readers came back so positive I thought it only right to try out the other offerings - oh what a dreadful task :D

As always readers comments are most welcome - so please share your thoughts ...

Marks & Spencer Milk Chocolate & Honeycomb Layered Cookies

Kcal 195 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 21.9g
'Biscuit topped with a milk chocolate truffle and honeycomb chip centre, coated in milk chocolate and topped with honeycomb chunks'

Don't these look a million dollars!! That's what I thought anyway when I first picked them up. Taking the plastic tray out of the cardboard box I was instantly impressed by both the aesthetic decoration of the cookies and the gorgeous smelling honeycomb scents that wafted over my senses. Just like I commented on the caramel variety review, my love for the outer decorative pieces was somewhat short lived when they proceeded to scatter themselves over my living room when I bit in to one of the cookies - in retrospect that was probably me just being careless.

I don't know quite where to start with the taste as it was such a mixture of tremendous flavours and textures. The biscuit base was deliciously buttery and had the smallest of salty notes that gave each mouthful a sinful moreishness. The truffle layer placed on top was the best thing about each of the cookies, and took the sweeter flavours of the milky outer chocolate to a greater cocoa richness. The honeycomb within the truffle layer luckily wasn't over portioned, which was lucky as the outer honeycomb created a very sweet initial flavour base alongside the milk chocolate. If I was pushed to make a choice I would probably still go for the caramel variety over these ones. Believe me though, these were still incredibly tasty cookies and I would buy them again.

8.2 out of 10


Marks & Spencer White Chocolate & Lemon Crunch Layered Cookies
Kcal 200 Fat 11.0g Fat(sats) 7.1g Carbs 22.7g
'Biscuit topped with a layer of lemon flavoured white chocolate truffle, coated in white chocolate with meringue pieces'

Had you asked me before trying then which of the three varieties I was the least keen on I would have told you it was these Lemon Crunch cookies. Sitting alongside the Honeycomb ones on the same £1.99 deal though, it made little sense not also giving them a review - I don't like to do things by halves you know ;)

Suffice to say I'm glad I decided to pick them up - they were sublime! Just like the other two the meringue pieces breaking away from the outer white chocolate was a minor annoyance but once I had the first bite in my mouth all attention was quickly diverted from the mess I was creating on keyboard to the sheer delightfulness developing in my mouth. The biscuit bases was consistent across all three so I needn't pass mention to how tasty it was again (woops I just did!). Before encountering the biscuit of course, I had to make my way through the outer white chocolate and lemon flavoured truffle centre - both of which were utterly fantastic. Despite the sugary lumps of meringue, the outer chocolate was more creamy than it was sweet, and it left a delicious vanilla note that lingered long in the mouth. Moving on to the truffle filling, well like the honeycomb cookies above it was the best thing about these cookies. It was outrageously creamy, and had a tart, citrus lemon twist that was just perfectly balanced with the other sweeter tasting components. These cookies were simply delectable - highly recommended.

8.7 out of 10

October 26th: Chocri 'Jim's Fruit & Nut / American Creations'

Just over a week ago I featured a brand called Chocri on the website for the very first time (missed it? See my review of my 'Coffee Creation' HERE). If you are in need of a quick reminder, Chocri are a company that offer a chocolate customisation service that allows consumers to put together their own chocolate bars using over 100 different ingredients.

As you will have seen on my last review I was pretty impressed with the standard of presentation and the effort that Chocri put in to making my bars look presentable and appetising. It is worth noting that each of the bars made by Chocri are handmade - they don't yet have a machine that can pump out these customised bars you know ;) I say they are all the better for it - look at how magnificent and colourful both my 'Fruit & Nut' and 'American' creations looked.

Chocri 'Jim's Fruit & Nut Creation'

'Jim's Fruit & Nut Creation': Milk chocolate with banana chips, hazelnut brittle, mango cubes, pistachios and Goji berries.
PRICE - £6.00

I was really excited about trying this bar in particular as it included several ingredients that both me and the rest of my family loved (banana, pistachio and mango in particular!). Speaking firstly about the milk chocolate, my thoughts about it were very similar to the conclusion I came to about Chocri dark chocolate. It's sweet milky taste was very undefinable and not particularly special in an manner, but it did the job of carrying the ingredients to a sound if uninspiring standard. As you will see in my photograph Chocri did a great job of dispersing my added ingredients across my bar, making sure that each portion got a suitable amount of each enhancer. What with their size, it probably wont surprise to hear that the banana chips came through strongly in the taste, adding a pleasant crunchiness to the blocks where present. Both the Goji Berries and mango cubes were similarly flavoursome, but these flavours only really came through once they had been chewed in the mouth after they had been left as remnants by the chocolate. The disappointing elements were unfortunately the hazelnut brittle and the pistachio nuts, as neither managed to stamp any sort of nuttiness on the taste. Ultimately this rendered my 'Fruit & Nut Creation' more a very sweet fruity milk chocolate lacking in nutty credentials. Overall this was nice enough, but not quite the full experience I was hoping for.

7.5 out of 10



Chocri 'Jim's American Creation'

'Jim's American Creation': White chocolate with organic salt pretzels, sprinkles, gummy bears, peanut butter drops and soy bacon.
PRICE - £5.10

"Soy Bacon? ... Soy Bacon???? ... are you serious??" Haha that is exactly what my family said when I showed them this one :D I've been accused of taking chocolate a little too seriously with my reviews so I thought I would have a little fun with my 'American Creation' here. To be honest I wish I hadn't of tried to 'liven' up my chocolate by taking a page out of Mr Zotter's (See HERE) book and adding the bacon in. As amazing as the chocolate looked decorated with it's gummy bears, sprinkles and pretzels, I knew I had made a terrible mistake as soon as I took the thing out of it's plastic packet. Upon doing so my senses were immediately met with the most fowl of scents that I later likened to a pet store (think dog treats!) ... yep that bad. With one hand pinching my nose I did brave tasting the chocolate, but it unfortunately tasted every bit as bad as it smelt. Whilst the combination of the white chocolate, gummy bear, sprinkle elements made for an immediate rush of dairy based sugar flavours, the taste was almost straight away dominated by a fowl, smokey, reconstituted meat fake taste. Quite frankly the soy bacon totally ruined this bar and I had to throw more than two thirds of it away. I think it was best summed up by my father who said 'one block was enough' ... indeed!

4.5 out of 10



Have any of you tried Chocri yet? What would creations would you make?