January 22/23rd: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 64

Thornton's Milk Chocolate with Mango
Kcal 531 Fat 31.6g Fat(sats) 19.4g Carbs 52.9 (per 100.0g)

This week I thought it appropriate to kick off '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' with a special feature containing this latest offering from Thorntons. As with a few previous charity contributing products I have resisted awarding this chocolate a score, as I don't wish to be influencing your purchase decision on this basis.

More importantly than any score out of ten, I think it is worthwhile more looking at how this chocolate is positively influencing the lives of some very needy people in Haiti. This can be explained no better way than by Thorntons themselves ...

"A year on from the devastating earthquake that hit Haiti, the country is still rebuilding and desperately needs investment. By buying this Thorntons Chocolate Block with Mango, you will be contributing to Save the Children’s life-changing education work in Haiti – reaching thousands of children with safer schools, classroom equipment and quality teaching."

Quite simply from every bar sold, Thorntons will be contributing a sizable £0.91 to Save the Children's work - you can keep up-to-date with the total contribution thus far HERE.

So what does the bar taste like you ask? Well to be frank it was neither the best or the worst offering I have tried from their square bars range. My score for taste would have been 7.5. The 37.0% chocolate was tasty enough with it's creamy sweet milk flavours, but I felt the mango pieces could have been a little larger as they didn't create quite the same zingy fruity impact I was hoping for. At the end of the day I just don't think it matters anyway, chocolate prestige really isn't the issue here. If you are shopping around this weekend I would urge you to go to your local Thornton's and buy one of these bars. You not only reward yourself with a half decent chocolate, but you can also feel pretty happy that a large chunk of your money has gone to those who really need it.

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market

* Nestle have relaunched some of their sharing bags ... See HERE

* Cadbury have a new Creme Egg campaign ... See HERE

* Chocolate is good for you :D so say Tea4Life (do you want to see a review of this?) ... See HERE

* Ferrero's Kinder Bueno White has a new recipe (I will update the review soon with my thoughts!) ... See HERE

* These guys look familiar ... Heavenly Cakes launch a gluten free product range ... See HERE

* McVitie's are bringing out a new Penguin Caramel Wafer ... See HERE

* Kraft are denying they are going to sell Green & Black's ... See HERE


Posts from other Blogs I enjoyed this week

* Foodstufffinds - Any blog post containing that hilarious Crusha advert deserves a shout out on ChocolateMission ... See HERE

* GiGi Reviews - Gi has just posted the most awesome recipe for alcoholic whipped cream :D :D I'm sure this will interest a fair few of you ... See HERE

* Gone Chocco - It's always interesting to see what other countries make of our chocolates. It's a bit early for the Easter reviews on ChocolateMission, but that hasn't stopped Gone Chocco ... See HERE

* The Candy Enthusiast - This is probably the only chocolate in the world I would never try. I hate mushrooms!!!! ... See HERE

* Chocolate Reviews - Lee does try some fancy pants sounding chocolates doesn't he :D check out his review of Jean-Paul Hévin 64% Papua New Guinea bar ... See HERE

* Foodette Reviews - It's been almost like baking week on Foodette Reviews. Check out her several adventures in the kitchen this week baking various products ... See HERE

January 21st: Eat Natural Selection 2011

It's been nearly two years since I last took a look at the Eat Natural range (See previous reviews HERE) but since the turn of the year I have received a few requests asking me to check out some healthier chocolate options. Back in 2009 the Eat Natural brand was still relatively unestablished here in the UK, but since then their range has grown quite considerably with several new variants and products (cereals etc).

These indulgent health bars aren't my usual choice of snack, but I was able to track down two new flavours with relative ease in my local Holland & Barrett health store. Both 45.0g bars came in at a pretty price £0.89, though I guess this was to be expected given the proposition and ingredients. If you look at the wrappers from the 2009 reviews you will see that little has changed in regards to the presentation, which I personally think is fair given that it was never bad in the first place. Puzzlingly the wrappers still lacked nutritional information (you would of thought consumers of these sort of products would be interested in that sort of stuff), but nonetheless every other detail you may ever wish to know e.g. ingredients, production method etc were included.

Here are my thoughts on the two flavours:

Eat Natural Dark 70% Chocolate Brazils & Apricots

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

I am sure you will agree that this was the uglier of the two bars :D the unidentified green bits caused me to quickly refer to the ingredients list upon where I quickly learnt that they were in fact pumpkin seeds. I'm sure someone will inform me of the health benefits, but I have to say they did little for the taste and proved more an annoyance getting trapped in my teeth. In regards to the other constituents this bar was a bit of a mixed bag, with some mouthfuls full of flavour, whilst others proving relatively tasteless depending on what was portioned where. The apricot cranberries and raisins were all plump and juicy, and provided the desired fruity sweetness to the very plain tasting rice base. On the flip side the brazil nuts were pretty lax in their flavour contribution, and it was only really where the coconut was present that a nuttiness came through. Billed as 70% dark chocolate I was hoping the base was going to contribute a grander chocolate flavour hit than it did. Unfortunately the chocolate came across very diluted in it's cereal bedding - I understand heavier portioning would have hampered the 'healthy' proposition, but it was begging out for a thicker chocolate base.

7.3 out of 10



Eat Natural Cranberries, Macadamias & Dark Chocolate

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

The less alien looking bar emanated some tempting nutty scents when unsealed from it's wrapper which was unsurprising given it's heavier portioning of nuts. Fundamentally this was largely the same bar as the one above, just with some minor differences in the portioning of some constituents. I don't know what strength the chocolate was this time, but it yet again cried out to be more generously portioned as the smokey cocoa flavours struggled to cut through the more dominant savoury rice cereal base. Although lacking the apricot of the above, the cranberry fruits took more of a leading role making for a tarter fruity taste than in the previous. As you may have guessed, it was the nuts where I felt this bar had more going for it, and this was mostly down to the copious amounts of coconut involved. Indeed, the shredded coconut added a very nice milky nuttiness to almost every bite, whilst the less prominent macadamias contributed some more additional subtle buttery nut flavours when encountered.

7.6 out of 10


Overall these where both sound offerings from Eat Natural, though both were crying out for a thicker layer of dark chocolate to supplement the tasty fruit and nut constituents. What with the company going from strength-to-strength and branching out in to new areas, I think it may be worth them considering making an an actual chocolate bar range. If they paired up the great quality fruit and nut produce with some high quality chocolate, then I think they could be on to something quite special. Do any of you have any favourites from Eat Natural? Have you tried either of these two bars?

January 19th: Meiji Chip! Chop

Original Chocolate - Kcal 361 Fat 18.8g Carbs 43.2g (per 65.0g)
Roasted Nut - Kcal 324 Fat 15.4g Carbs 41.9g (per 65.0g)

It may be a new year, but the usual suspects are still supplying the samples for this ChocolateMission! Yes indeed you may have been able to guess that these Meiji Chip! Chop were another product sent to me by J-List - a Japanese goods exporter who have been sending me the latest Kit Kat, Pocky and Meiji products for a good while now (See HERE).

On their website, J-List describe the product in focus today, Meiji Chip! Chop, as 'triangle chip cereal shapes filled with chocolate'. This sounded like a fair premise to me, and I was even lucky enough to try out two different variants - 'Original Chocolate' & 'Roasted Nut'. Before I tell you about both of them, I must quickly pass mention to the quality of the presentation for the range. Both 120.0g boxes were well decorated with typically colourful looking decorative pictures and fonts. The cereal triangle pieces were contained within foil packs, which kept a nice fresh state even after being opened for a few days. The aesthetic appeal of either variant wasn't great, but it was at least nice to see a thin layer of chocolate nestled in the middle of each piece.

Being the adaptable product they were I tried both of these flavours in a number of different situations - dry on their own, on top of ice-cream and as part of my usual wheat flake cereal. Out of all three of these methods, I thought the latter two were the were where they shined best. A few pieces supplementing my cereal in the mornings certainly livened my usually dull mornings nicely. When it came to the two variants I tried the, 'Roasted Nut' flavour (silver packaged ones) were my favourite and were the ones I finished before the plain originals. The reason for my preference was quite simply because they offered everything the plain variant did, just with an additional minor flavour note of woody hazelnut. This supplementary hazelnut note complimented the existing sweet and salty wheaty chocolate flavours very well. Another thing that I really liked about these Chip! Chop was how the thin inner chocolate filling layers managed to register some moistness without compromising the crisp cereal texture - they were exactly as displayed on the packaging.

Overall when eaten on their own these weren't life changing, but as additional accompaniment to other foods they were a nice little product that I enjoyed across a variety of different situations. Whether they be eaten as a normal cereal, or used to top other desserts, I think these are a decent little product - they are certainly a lot nicer than some of the poorer chocolate cereal products that we have to put up with here in the UK. As aforementioned, my favourite out of the two flavours were the 'Roasted Nut' Chip! Chop - whether you like nuts or not will obviously determine where your own preferences lie. In regards to a recommendation, I wouldn't suggest you go to the expense of importing these especially just to try themselves, but if you are looking for a tasty little product to top up an existing order I would suggest them as a pretty nifty option.

Original Chocolate - 7.4 out of 10
Roasted Nut - 7.6 out of 10

January 17th: The Big Yum Chocolate Swerves

Kcal 480 Fat 20.8g Fat(sats) 12.8g Carbs 62.4g (per 100.0g)

Just before Christmas I exchanged Tweets with a company called The Big Yum on Twitter (See HERE) who kindly offered me the opportunity to sample some of their delicious sounding Chocolate Swerves. The Big Yum are a UK company founded by two people called Pippa & Aaron, a couple devoted to 'providing a refined snacking safe haven where discerning nibbles enthusiasts can take heart, learning what it’s like to be truly appreciated.' oooooh fancy guys :D (More on The Big Yum HERE). Before I take the mick too much, it is worth pointing out that as they expand their company they have committed to supporting several Charities & Foundations as they grow, so this is definitely a company with it's heart in the right place ... if only some of these mass manufactures were so generous eh!?

Pippa & Aaron were kind enough to send me a few packs of their 70.0g Chocolate Swerves, which came described as the tempting combination of 'milk and white chocolate coated salted pretzels'. These packs were in actual fact very groovy looking laminate pouches. For such a small company I thought the quality of the presentation was outstanding and the pretzels themselves were similarly impressive aesthetically. Before anyone *ahem Richard :D haha!! ahem* asks the question, these Chocolate Swerves sell on The Big Yum website for 6 x 70.0g bags for £11.40, or a 250.0g bag for £4.50.

I consumed most of my packs of these as afternoon snacks, occasionally offering some to my work colleagues for their all important second opinions. My preferred method of eating these was to place the pieces on the tongue, to let the chocolate coating melt away, before crunching down on the remaining pretzels. Eating them this way allowed the full spectrum of the sweet and salty flavours to be enjoyed - they tasted just fantastic. The outer chocolate that coated each piece was as tasty as it looked. It had a soft melt and struck a nice balance of cream and sweet cocoa flavours to deliver the desired chocolate flavour hit despite it's thin application. Once the chocolate had melted away, the crunchy pretzels hidden below burst with the promised saltiness. These Chocolate Swerves were so very moreish, but utterly, 100.0% delicious.

Overall I think the long running campaigns demanding the return of the Nestle Flipz (See HERE) can come to abrupt end because these Chocolate Swerves are even better. Comparing the products like-for-like, there obviously isn't much difference the pretzels, but when it comes to chocolate quality and standards of presentation, there is really only one winner - The Big Yum (just in case it wasn't bleedingly obvious haha!). Sweet and salty snacks are a combination that I love, and these Chocolate Swerves are a fine example of just how addictive the two together can be together. If you have any interest in reuniting yourself with the Nestle Flipz experience, or just plain fancy supporting a worthwhile UK small company then I suggest you head on over to The Big Yum website and buy yourself some Chocolate Swerves. These are some very, very tasty pretzels - well worthy of a ChocolateMission recommendation that's for sure.

8.6 out of 10

January 15/16th: '7Days of Chocolate Reviews' - Edition 64

*** Jim's Corner ***

Hi All,

7 Days of Chocolate Reviews is back by popular demand and there is plenty to catch up on :D

Behind the scenes I have a few exciting things bubbling away including the ChocolateMission Awards 2010 (more on that in a minute!), a new 'Stars & Their Bars' post, some hot chocolate reviews, Valentines day 2011 reviews and even some new products from several of our favorite suppliers.

I will keep this section short this week as there are hundreds of news articles to post. Please make sure you check out the competition at the bottom.

Have great weekends

JIM


News from the Chocolate Market

* Cadbury are putting some money behind their hot chocolate Highlights range ... See HERE

* Cadbury are also bringing back their Creme Egg Muller Yogurts ... See HERE

* Nestle are bringing back the Aero Caramel aswell as the Orange bar ... See HERE

* Onken are bringing out a new chocolate yogurt ... See HERE

* Divine have revealed their Easter range ... See HERE

* Are you prepared for the new Snickers Maxximus ... See HERE

* The final bar of chocolate has rolled-off the production line at a Cadbury factory at Keynsham near Bristol ... See HERE

* Another factory closure ... this time Burtons are the sufferers ... See HERE

* You may have noticed that the Easter products have already been on the shelves for a month ... See HERE


**** COMPETITION ****

I need your help for the ChocolateMission awards 2010!!

Quite simply I need you to pick your favourite three reviews from 2010 and send me your selections to Jim[@]chocolatemission.net ... Please ensure you make the subject name of your e-mail 'AWARDS 2010'

Doing so will enter you into a prize draw for some Ritter Sport chocolate bars - (I will post a picture of the prize next week).

This competition couldn't be easier to enter and is open to all readers. The winner will be announced on the award post itself.

Good Luck


Blogs I have been reading this week

* The Impulsive Buy - Drew, a new write at TIB checked out this new Special K cereal ... he must be a January dieter ... See HERE

* Foodstufffinds - Liz is as busy as ever hunting down the latest snacks and foods. I really enjoyed this review of this 'Saucy Fish Co' Salmon product ... See HERE

* ChocolateReviews - Lee has been checking out some more chilli chocolates from the Dartmoor Chilli Farm ... See HERE

* CandyBlog - Cybele posted a long over due review on our very own Mars Delight ... See HERE

* Foodette Reviews - It looks like these guys need to take some tips from Heavenly Cakes when it comes to gluten free cakes ... See HERE

* Gone Chocco - There have been plenty of Moser Roth reviews on Gone Chocco this week. How on earth did they all make their way to Australia?? ... See HERE

January 14th: Thorntons Premium Collection

In last weeks review of Thorntons Chocolate Collection selection box it was suggested to me by a number of ChocolateMission readers that I take a look at the Thorntons Premium Collection. This box of chocolates seems to have been a popular gifted item last Christmas, as a number of readers reported receiving the collection in one form or another.

For the purpose of this review I picked up the 105.0g pack from my local convenience store. For a product billed as the 'Premium' brand offering I was somewhat disappointed to find it on sale in this channel. I would of thought they would have been better off saving this line of products as an exclusive to their own branded stores - this would certainly have given it some aire of prestige other than the higher price.

In regards to presentation, I was again a little mystified to what I found. The outer box was reasonably inviting and informative, but the care taken to preserve the inner chocolates was sloppy. The chocolates themselves looked decent and relatively smart, though this was little helped by the fact they were all mixed together in a tatty looking clear plastic packet. Within the collection there were eight different pieces - my brief thoughts and ratings are below:

Vanilla Velvet - One of the more exciting pieces in the selection turned out to be rather dull flavour wise which came as a real disappointment. The outer crisp shell of white and dark chocolate initially established a pleasant cream based taste, but this was a poorly built upon by the very lacklustre flavoured sugary truffle centre. Poor.

Cafe Latte - The outer shell of white chocolate sprinkled with ground coffee acted as a nice lead in the coffee flavoured filling and established pleasant tones of dairy cream. The Latte name for this truffle proved to be a very accurate one, as the coffee flavours were tasty, but mild mannered amongst the sweeter cocoa hints that developed. Good.

Amaretto Truffle - I wasn't expecting this at all, but this was my favourite piece in the collection. The thick outer portion contained crunchy bits of amaretto biscuit which contrasted wonderfully with the softer filling. The inner almond and booze flavoured centre was weak, but spot on for my own taste. Some may question it's strength of alcoholic flavours, but I loved it. Very Good.

Dark Champagne Truffle - This was a very average champagne truffle that did it's job, although in a very unspectacular fashion. The exterior layer of dark chocolate was more unsweetened rather than raised in cocoa volume, but it did it's job nonetheless and created a decent amount of chocolatey flavours. The filling below had a boozie tartness to it that was reminiscent of champagne, however the chocolate flavours were there more dominant. Standard.

Chocolate Marquise - This was a truffle that had some good ideas, yet executed them to an average standard. The on pack description stated this piece was to have a layer of layer of crepes, but this was nowhere to be found. Instead small crunchy pieces of pancake were dispersed throughout the light textured truffle centre, which subsequently left them having little impact on the taste. The chocolatey taste created was sound but unprogressive. Standard.

Dual Layered Praline - The sound of white and milk chocolate praline together in one chocolate sounded very ambitious, but I'm glad to say they didn't do a half bad job of making it happen. The milk chocolate shell was fine for what it did, but it was the woody hazelnut flavours of first the milk, and then the creamier nut flavours of the while praline that dominated the taste. At last a chocolate with real flavour progression. Very Good.

Framboise Ganache - One of the surprises from the last Thorntons Chocolate Selection review was that I enjoyed the strawberry fondant piece in that selection, and this raspberry truffle wasn't half bas either. The sweet red fruit flavours were evident from the outset, but were thankfully quite mild mannered and avoided the fake tasting sugaryness that plagues so many other fruit flavoured chocolates. The dark chocolate could be improved but this was ultimately enjoyable. Good.

Triple Chocolate Mousse - This truffle created the most luxurious of mouth feel journeys. Starting with the crisp, thick outer layer of chocolate, the chocolate sprinkles placed on top further added an extra snap to the bite which complimented the soft whipped feel of the inner ganache below. My only disappointment with this truffle was that it failed to progress the flavours of the sweet cocoa and milk from what was established in the mouth in the first few seconds. Good.


Overall this Premium Collection was definitely a step up in quality from the Thorntons Chocolate Selection I reviewed last week, but it certainly wasn't without it's faults. As with most selection boxes there were still one or two weaker pieces, (namely the Vanilla Velvet) mixed in with the better offerings, but on the whole there were some pretty nice chocolates in this selection. What frustrated me a little bit about some of these pieces was that many of them had some really great ideas that could have been even better had they totally delivered on how they had been billed. Another slight annoyance for me is that the collection is labelled as 'Premiuim' - I don't know what other people may think, but to name a chocolate selection 'Premium' and then have it on sale everywhere (and I mean everywhere!!), in a slightly sloppy presentation style, isn't a great way to establish a premium brand offering. There are better boxed chocolates out there, but these are far from a horror show.

7.5 out of 10

January 12th: Ritter Sport Alpensahne Praline

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

Sad as this sounds I'm starting to associate the turn of each season more with the anticipation of seeing what the new limited edition Ritter Sport flavours are going to be rather than when the weather is going to take a turn for the better :D My previous dedication in reviewing all of these flavours seems to have not been overlooked by the Ritter team in Germany, as they recently invited me to join their esteemed tasting panel. Without having to think for one second, I of course accepted their kind offer. Today I have the pleasure in bringing you my review of one of the bars they have lined up for the Spring season this year, the Ritter Sport Alpensahne Praline.

This bar came described on the packaging as 'Alpine milk chocolate with praline creme'. Those of you who know your Ritter Sport will be all to aware that Ritter currently have a praline bar available in their existing range (See HERE). When I probed Ritter about the actual differences I was informed that this new spring bar was supposed to 'create the experience of praline truffles in a convenient bar format'. This didn't really answer my original question but that wasn't ever going to stop me trying it anyway :D

As the bar was only delivered to me in prototype form it would be unfair to comment to much on the packaging. By the looks of the stick on label it appears they are sticking with the attractive looking design from last year. In terms of looks the bar looked slightly differentiated from the normal praline bar in that the filling was lighter in colour, which I thought actually looked better than the single toned original bar. When it came to the taste test there were also minor discrepancies again originating from the praline constituents. Flavour wise the creme of the latest spring variant was milkier and smoother in taste and texture to the original. The hazelnut flavours were still exhibited to a functional degree, though the creamier taste and softer texture of the Spring 2011 bar did create a trade off between it's more desirable creamyness and it's short lived flavour longevity .... some might just say I was thinking about this all too much :D

Overall I don't think this is going to be one of the Ritter flavours that sets anyone's world alight in terms of it's innovation claim stakes, but there is no doubting that it is one very tasty offering. As I have insinuated above, the differences between the two bars praline bars they now offer are minimal to say the least. Aesthetically and in taste they might differ marginally, but if we are being totally honest I think 99.0% of people would struggle to tell the two apart - especially if they weren't aware of any differences originally. The level of 'new thinking' may be somewhat limited here, but there is no doubting the quality of the chocolate. The Germans really do seem to know what they are doing when it comes to creating praline chocolates. This is just another fine example of their capabilities.

8.4 out of 10

January 10th: GU Cookies

Today I have the great pleasure of bringing you a double product review from the renowned dessert manufacture GU. Apologies to all of you trying desperately to stick to your January diets, but come on - what were you really expecting on a website such as this one :D

Back in October 2010 I posted a news article from The Grocer magazine which talked about GU's portfolio expansion with them launching a range of Cookies (See HERE). Described as adding 'some adult appeal to a category dominated by own-label and confectionery brands, such as Rolo and Smarties', I thought this sounded like a half decent idea, however I was then disappointed to read they were only going to be made available in Asda - Boo!!!

Just last week though, low and behold I found both these Caramel & Milk Chocolate and Ultimate Chocolate GU cookies gracing the shelves of my local Tesco - one came only assume that this exclusivity to Asda was just for a few months only. Anyway, £2.00 of my cash bought me a pack of two different flavours - my thoughts on them are below.

GU Cookies Milk Chocolate & CaramelKcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???
'American-style cookies with chunks of chocolate and caramel'

These were the first I sampled out of the two and I was loving the fresh cookie and toffee smells that emanated from the bag when I opened it. Aesthetically the cookies were a touch pale, possibly a little under baked, but they were still pretty impressive and looked to have a decent amount of caramel and milk chocolate pieces dispersed throughout.

Texture wise these were very decent cookies and had a delightful fresh softness that yielded instantly and melted like butter in the mouth. A consequence of the cookie softness was that the flavour longevity wasn't particularly long lasting, though the limited time they did last in the mouth the flavours generated were altogether very pleasant. The base flavour generation of the cookie was predominantly dominated by a buttery shortbread biscuit taste that was enhanced by the slightest of salty hints. Where present the chocolate and caramel chunks added further interest to the experience, offering bursts of cocoa and brown sugar toffee suggestions. A whole cookie was a satisfying snack, but I was expecting that given it's size.

8.0 out of 10


----------

GU Cookies Ultimate Chocolate

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???
'American-style cookies with chunks of rich chocolate'

Judging by the limited stock left on the shelf at the time, it would appear that these Ultimate Chocolate cookies were the better selling variant out of the two. In proposition and looks I personally thought they were the less appealing out of the two I'm showing you today. Don't get me wrong the cookies still smelt gorgeous and looked appealing, however I was disappointed to see that GU hadn't chosen to use two different chocolate types (e.g. milk chocolate base, white chocolate chunks etc), which I think would have made them look even more attractive.

When it came to the taste test the cookies were every bit as soft as the caramel variant, and additionally had even larger chocolate chunks to add weight to the light, crumbly cookie base. As promised on the front of pack, the chocolate taste was indeed rich, and took hold of the buttery, shortbread flavours a little more than the caramel cookies. The chocolate flavour hit was delivered with a keen sharpness and in a more satisfying sustained manner, but the flavour progression was perhaps a little limited and in need of an added x-factor like say a nut, to make it truly special.

8.1 out of 10


----------

Overall I thought these were very decent cookies but I wouldn't say they were quite there in regards to being rated as highly as the likes of Heavenly Cakes. One thing I do know for sure is that they were more to my liking than than usual supermarket own brand offerings, which I tend to find overly sugar laden and sickly. Judging by the taste I would suggest that the quality of ingredients is far superior to the supermarket cookies - I guess this is reflected in the price. Neither of these were by any means perfect, but I would buy them again and would happily suggest you guys give them a try.

January 8/9th: Heavenly Cakes **NEW** Gluten Free Range

We are a week into January now and it is at this time of year that most of us make those New Year resolutions to start looking after ourselves a bit more. Indeed, after a Christmas period packed full of chocolate, cake and snack indulgences I'm sure there will be more than a few of you who have vowed yourselves to start looking at your diets a little more closely.

Whilst a great deal of people embark on the famous 'January diets', it is at this time we should probably spare a thought for the people who have to watch their diets on a more continuous basis - take for example people who have to eat gluten and wheat free foods:

'A gluten-free diet is a diet completely free of ingredients derived from gluten-containing cereals: wheat (including kamut and spelt), barley, rye, malts and triticale. It is the only medically accepted treatment for coeliac disease, the related condition dermatitis herpetiformis and wheat allergies'(thanks Wiki :D ).

When having to consider eating a diet not containing any of those things, Heavenly Cakes probably wouldn't be the first company you would think of when it comes to providing a solution for you. Well you are well wrong there !!

During the latter stages of last year, Maeve and Nigel (Founders of Heavenly Cakes) were hard at work developing a whole new Gluten-Free range. During this time they were kind enough to send me samples that they were developing alongside the original cakes when I was reviewing them. As you can see below, two examples of this were the Lemon Meringue and Marathon cakes that I reviewed last November (See HERE), they also sent along an exclusive cake to their Gluten-Free range, the Heavenly Cakes Gluten-Free Milk Chocolate Brownie with Nuts.

As you can see below by the photos the cakes themselves, looked no different whatsoever from the originals. My thoughts on how they tasted are below ... Marathon Flapjack - There were only very minor differences when it came to the base of this particular cake. It did seem to lose a touch of it's savoury oatyness, but this was more than covered up by the sweet buttery flavours and lashings of peanut butter and chocolate placed on top. It was still one truley phenomenal cake.

Lemon Meringue - Out of all the three types of cake this was the most obvious in terms of it's changed recipe. The shortbread did lose it's viscosity and was a little more crumbly and messy than the normal cake, but once again the layers above meant this was of real insignificance and it still retained most of it's biscuity charm. A delicious white chocolate and lemon combination.

Milk Chocolate Brownie with Nuts - I was a little worried at first because it didn't look at impressive as some of the other brownie products I had tried from Heavenly before. The taste was noticeably differentiated from the Heavenly Cakes brownie norm, but I'm pleased to say this wasn't a detrimental issue. I would say that on the balance of things the brownie was less cake focused, and more insanely rich in it's cocoa and nut flavours. The outer portion wasn't as crisp as one would have desired, but most importantly the inner section was gooey and softer to the bite. The presence of the walnuts and ground almonds was a masterstroke - the nuts really came through in the latter stages of the taste.

Overall I don't think anything more needs saying than a jolly congratulations to Heavenly Cakes for creating such a tremendous range of cakes for people who are restricted to these diets. Each and every one of the Gluten-Free cakes I have tried have been close to the originals - I bet if we tried a blind taste test the majority of people wouldn't even pick up on it. What makes the launch of these new Gluten-Free cakes even more extraordinary is that Maeve has managed to develop recipes for their entire range! If you are a person that has to adhere to these dietary restrictions and has somehow managed to wander on to this review then you should count yourself extremely lucky because you have just struck gold. Bravo Heavenly ... Bravo!!

January 7th: Thorntons Chocolate Selection

There were a few murmurings during my Christmas coverage just past that I didn't focus on Thorntons as much as I should have done, which is something I will concede. It was only typical really that on Christmas Eve, on my last day in the work office that I received my company gift - a 456.0g box of Thortons Chocolate Selection :D I obviously didn't have the time to get a review up before Christmas, but I was able to take it home with me to share with the family - I'm sure you guys will find it knocking around the sales which started on the Thorntons website as early as Christmas Eve - SEE HERE

This Chocolate Selection comprised of an impressive sounding twelve different chocolate varieties, of which most were portioned three times. A number of the pieces included were ones that I had previously reviewed in the Thorntons Classic Collection, a product I wrote about for Christmas 2009. Where this has been the case I have given you my previous ratings (all of which were consistent!), and given you the link back to the review if you so wish to read my extended thoughts on them. For your viewing pleasure I have photographed all the chocolates again.

The packaging and presentation of this Chocolate Selection was a bit of a mixed bag. The exterior box was relatively decent looking, as were most the chocolates. All was not perfect however, as the menu for the inner varieties was annoyingly print of the side folds of the huge box lid (what a dumb idea!). I also wasn't that keen on the fake fruity smells emanating from the box - yes I'm looking at you Strawberry Velvet variety!!!

Almond Marzipan - This was a simple piece consisting of an exterior layer of dark chocolate with a almond marzipan centre. The dark chocolate melted with a nice smoothness, though it failed to ever really establish a sensible degree of cocoa flavours and more came across as an unsweetened milk chocolate. The marzipan filling was also somewhat disappointing with it's sugar focused flavours, the almond element failed to really ever established itself on the taste. Poor.

Creamy Fudge - ... Good ... See Previous Review HERE

Coconut Paradise - I initially thought this would be another link back to the previous review, but then I noticed that they had swapped the chocolate type for the coating. This really didn't impress either me or my sister. We both agreed that the creamier flavours of the previous white chocolate coated piece worked better than the milk chocolate on this one. The coconut filling was still very tasty, but it has to be downgraded I'm afraid. Good.

Turkish Delight - ... Standard ... See Previous Review HERE

Strawberry Velvet - ... Good ... See Previous Review HERE

Chocolate Truffle - This was unfortunately one of those truffles that looked ten times more appealing than it actually tasted. This chocolate was almost solely ruined by it's truffle centre, which was very poor in terms of it's quality. The initial pleasant cream and milk flavours of the outer white chocolate were quickly dominated by the gritty textured, sugar flavoured chocolate centre. It made the taste mono-flavoured and really very boring. Very Poor.

Honeycomb Crunch - The sound of 'crisp honeycomb and roasted hazelnut croquant' was something that straight away got my attention so I didn't hesitate in trying this one out. I'm glad to say it was one of the better ones in the selection. The small nature of the hazelnut constituents made them somewhat of a non-entity, but the honeycomb bits added a nice crunchy element to the the texture and delivered pleasant input to the milky chocolate making the experience a least a little variable flavour wise. Good.

Hazelnut Praline - It was surprising how Thorntons aimed to bring both almond and hazelnut to the party with this piece, yet ended up giving neither of the two :D The exterior white chocolate was again of a decent standard, but the filling inside was frankly abysmal. It had a rough, coarse texture (even for praline!) and tasted no different to the sugary filling of the Chocolate Truffle piece mentioned above. Where were the almond and hazelnut influeneces!? I couldn't tell you! Very Poor.

Lemon Parfait - Although not necessarily the worse, this was without doubt the most disappointing flavour in the box. Wrapped in a fancy gold foil wrapper I was really expecting a refreshing, creamy white chocolate, but what I got was yet another sugar dominated flavoured filling. The lemon fruit came through in the taste, but the filling was more fondant like in it's flavours and the initial creamyness was overshadowed by a sickly sweetness. Poor.

Country Caramel - ... Standard ... See Previous Review HERE

Layered Chocolate Classic - This was a layered solid chocolate piece and was one of the more warmly received pieces in the box. It was slightly annoying that the piece was so solid you couldn't bite off the individual layers, but when it was melting in the mouth it was at least noticeable which layer was most in contact with the tastebuds. You have to say it was one of the more attractive looking chocolates in the selection aswell. Good.

Creamy Coffee - ... Poor ... See Previous Review HERE

Overall by and large my family and I were disappointed with the quality of this Thorntons Chocolate Selection. All four of us unanimously agreed that far too many of the pieces tasted very similar, with overly sugar laden fillings being the main perpetrator for this being so. When you look at the actual selection of flavours on offer this is a real shame as the mixture of different types of chocolate are actually quite good. Unfortunately though, when you have pieces like the Chocolate Truffle, Hazelnut Praline and Lemon Parafait all tasting similar you know you have to be in a bit of trouble. Fundamentally this wont be the worst box of chocolates that someone will ever buy. On the flip side however, its hard to see what more it offers than something like the Cadbury Milk Tray or the Terry's Old Gold Selection. I wouldn't particularly rate either of the aforementioned boxes, which is a pretty poor reflection on Thorntons given they are supposed to be offering a more prestigious, upmarket alternative. I can't be recommending this I'm afraid.

6.0 out of 10

January 5th: 'Bits n Bobs' Lotte (Japan)

The 'Bits n Bobs' reviews last year were all largely met with big seals of approval from ChocolateMission readers, so in 2011 you will like see posts containing shorter reviews, but with more products. Kicking off this trend I today bring you a few things I had remaining from a sampling package from J-List last year. These three products below are all manufactured by Lotte - the same people who make those fantastic Pocky look-a-likes 'Toppo'.

Lotte Charlotte Rich Milk / Lotte Charlotte Strawberry

Rich Milk - Kcal 36 Fat 2.5g Carbs 3.1g (per stick)
Strawberry - Kcal 39 Fat 2.2g Carbs 4.2g (per stick)

According to the J-List website these Lotte Charlotte have quite the historical background in regards to their name:'The name Lotte is a central fictional character in famous novel written by German author Johann Wolfgang Goethe first published in 1774 entitled "The Sorrows of Young Werther." Lotte is actually derived from the name Charlotte, a 19 year old woman whom he met in real life and fell in love with. Hence the name Lotte of Japan was born'

... interesting stuff huh!? Both variants came in nifty looking flat carboard pocket pouches that contained six long finger chocolate pieces within. The exterior packaging and inner golden sleeves did give both variants a premium elegance, though it was the strawberry flavour that looked the more interesting as they had visible liquid centres.

When it came to the taste both flavours provided adequete, if unexciting flavour experiences. Across both variants the milk chocolate tasted remarkably similar to Milka, just without the end note of hazelnut. The taste was sweet, friendly and predominently rooted in it's milk flavours rather than it's cocoa prestige. The strawberry centred variant offered a syrupy textured substance running through it's centre, however like it's smell suggested it was a little artifical tasting and more recogniseable for it's sugaryness than it's real red berry fruit flavours.

Overall these were nicely packaged, elegant looking chocolates, but they did little for me when it came to the taste department. Those people that enjoy just little chocolate snacks may like them for their convenience and small size, however I found them mostly unsatisfying. Neither were unpleasant in any manner but I wouldn't advise purchasing them.

Rich Milk - 7.0 out of 10
Strawberry - 6.9 out of 10



Lotte Crunky Ball Nude

Kcal 314 Fat 15.3g Carbs 38.9g (per pack)

You may be thinking this are another funnily named product from Lotte. The terminology 'Nude' is not one that is supposed to be cheeky, it is actually just a word that doesn't translate well from Japanese to English. The 'Nude' part of the name is actually supposed to signify the fact these chocolates are 'Inside-Out'. You may know that the normal Lotte Crunky bars are formed of chocolate with crisped rice inside. Well as you may well have gathered, these Lotte Crunky Ball Nude flipped this combination, with the rice also appearing in the outer chocolate aswell as constituting the inner centres.

These Crunky Ball Nude came in a 61.0g carboard pack that contained a foil packet containing around 20 to 30 ball shaped pieces. Aroma wise the balls smelly mostly of savoury biscuit, though there were small suggestions of cocoa present at times. When it came to the taste my immediate reaction was to grab a glass of milk to wash them down with. The balls were nicely crunchy, however they had a cereal like dryness to them that meant they would be far more enjoyable slightly moistened before being placed in the mouth. Due to the dominance of the rice, the chocolate flavour hit was subsequently mild at best with only faint registration at the beginning of each mouthful before the more savoury rice tast kicked in.

Overall I will have to be similar in my recommendation to purchase with these Lotte Crunky Balls Nude than I was with the Lotte Charlotte. These Crunky Balls were again pleasant enough tasting, but their heavy rice portioning meant that they were altogether just a bit generic and with the light malty taste a little unengaging. I wouldn't be passing up on them if offered, but at the same time I can't recommend you go out your way to buy them.

6.8 out of 10