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It's about time we got down to serious business with this years Christmas reviews so kicking us off this week we have one of Hotel Chocolat's newest seasonal offerings. Taking centre stage this fine Monday morning we have these Hotel Chocolat Alternative Mince Pies which have been developed entirely for the new 2011 season. Hotel Chocolat caramel and praline chocolates have come in for some serious praise here on ChocolateMission in the past, so the billing of 'milk chocolate cups filled with layers of praline and salted caramel' filled me with great excitement and anticipation.
I'm going to endeavour to factor price increasingly into my reviews this year as I understand its significance has grown considerably as of late. These six chocolates came in a pack that weighed 95.0g in totality and are listed up on the Hotel Chocolat site (See HERE) priced at £7.50. I wouldn't say value for money was a strong point of this product given the £/Kg ratio looking rather lopsided on the £'s side of things - for only six chocolates even I think Hotel Chocolat are pushing things here. Pricing issues aside I liked the look the packaging and presentation. I don't think it can be argued that these didn't look very appetising - just look at the photograph the 'Old Man' captured with the caramel ooze.
With Hotel Chocolat's 40% and 72% recipes being involved here, I never had any qualms about how delicious the chocolate was going to taste - in a nutshell both were of course simply delightful. Indeed both types provided rich tasting initial base flavours - the milk obviously more cream and sugar derived, and the dark a little more subtle with it's strong cocoa tones and more refined sweet milky undertones. Whilst both chocolate types provided compelling flavour journeys, full expression of the woody praline and salt noted butterscotch caramel fillings were allowed to take steer of the taste. The flavour experience provided by these chocolates was one of luxury and progression, and these were given the rubber stamp of approval from all those lucky enough to nab one before the six count packet was fully scavenged.
Overall these were some high quality chocolates, though they were not received without a few pretty relevant questions being asked by the JCM tasting panel. Firstly the name of the product was called to question - why were these called 'alternative mince pies'? On reflection I have to agree the name is partially misleading, as apart from their shape these weren't anything to do with the aforementioned festive treat. Secondly the small sized chocolates (10p coin size) proved to be sufficient served as after dinner coffee chocolates, but the issue of price at £7.50 was seen to be an area of potential contention with some wanting a little more 'bang for their buck'. Those minor issues aside these were received well for what they were i.e. tasty chocolate praline caramels. Judging them on that basis alone I would be prepared to give them a JCM thumbs up.
8.1 out of 10
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62 comments:
I was expecting mince pie flavoured chocolates not just caramel ones. I think you are quite correct these are very misleading imo.
Your dad did well capturing the middle bits as per norm. I hope you are rewarding him for doing this work for you J. It's rare to hear of a son hiring his own Dad lol.
Oh brilliant these were one of the things I had been looking at and I was awaiting what you had to say.
Im less convinced about buying them now I've read your Pov. I had assumed they were going to have christmassy spices like cinnamon and nutmeg in there, but it appears not the case unless you forgot to write about that bit. Just hearing they are caramel and hazelnut praline is boring if anything.
Thanks for the review Jim. It may not sound like it but you have helped me out.
Dx
Choccie mince pies would be a fab idea. Why someone like cadburys hasn't given them a go yet is crazy. They do enough other crap.
Its brilliant timing Christmas coming up. I think the whole country could do with a pick-me-up. All the news is always so dreary.
I was dreading hearing about them doing something silly like making traditional MPs coated in chocolate so I'm glad to hear they haven't done anything gross like that.
I can't see why anyone would be disappointed that they aren't like normal mince pies. That would just be sick.
I think these would be the first mince pies I would ever like :) Its handy they don't have mincemeat. I hate the stuff.
Don't forget to review the Christmas selection box Jim!
Hey J
Quality footie this weekend wasn't it. Man U were so lucky to get away with that win at Swansea. That chance that young lad missed in the 1st half was crazy. I thought Swans were going to get a draw out of you for sure but you did that thing you always do and flukely win 1-0 :P Did you see the Liverpool game :) :) :) We are so in the hunt for 4th now.
Awesome review here btw. Hotel Chocolat Mondays have been few and far between as of late :) Nice seeing you get back in to good habits and all that lol.
Cheers
N
You gotta be kidding me Jim. How can you seriously believe that +£7 is good or just six chocs????
You are mad man! Get a grip on reality please.
What a cheek eh!? One part of me thinks we all shouldn't be presumptious, but the other thinks it's a fair shout that if you are going to put the words 'mince pie' in the mix then you should at least have some redeeming feature that makes them bare some sort resembalance to the fine things.
<3 <3 <3 Hotel Chocolat
I want I want I want!!!!!!!
xoxoxo
Even when Hotel Chocolat aren't on form they out score the rest lol.
Wow this is why review sites like CM are so useful man. I would never have thought twice about these if I hadn't been made aware there was no mincemeat involved lol.
I hate mince pies so much I was instantly turned off by the name. I didn't even bother looking up what they were tbh with you, I had zero interest.
Its still way to early to be eating mince pies folks!! it isn't even December yet.
Trust you to find the faults in these.You should really have just enjoyed them for what they were and not what they weren't if you get me.
You've done a good job scoring them here I think. They don't do the Ronseal job 'exactly what it says on the tin' LOL but im willing to see how they might just be tasty as regardless. They should have just named them caramel praline star cakes or something. Referencing mince pies wasn't the most sensible thing to do in hindsight.
Ooooh la la
I like the sound of these lovely little things. I know everyone else will disagree but I like these sort of things much more than the huge slabs.
Yes the chocolate you get is the same with both but these mini chocs are so much more refined and cute. The slabs are so blokey and masculine.
Rarrrrrrr I want a slab of chocolate. Lol I find it so phillestine.
Rxxx
It's difficult to determine what you made of these. You seemed to like them but not be totally convinced at the same time.
Hotel Chocolat have really buggered things up for me :( I now find all other chocolate not half as nice anymore. I just always end up comparing them all to Hotel Choc and they are never as good. I wish I was the naive sole I used to be lol. It would make life a lot cheaper.
You better be reviewing the big box of christmas flavours they have this year. I wanted you to do it last year but you never did.
Excellent review big man. I should never have doubted you that this was the place to go to get the 'know how' on all things HC this year.
I don't think these mince pies things are going to be one I buy but I'm sure you will have something down the road that you can tempt me with.
Cripes talk about taking things alll a little too literally people. Things aren't always as they appear! Never judge a book by its cover ;)
It sounds almost silly to say but I was expecting a much better score than 8.1 for these. It sounds on the lowish side for Hotel Chocolat to me.
These review right here gives me the impression that your Christmas stuff this year is going to be the best yet. Your reviews get better and better each year so I see no reason why they shouldn't do.
You have no excuses really when everything you are reviewing look as lush as these do :P
Omg these sound amaze. I could do without the dark chocolate on them but I'm sure if push came to shove I could deal with it lol.
Hotel Chocolat seem to have just created the first ever mince pies I would like.
If I put these on a Christmas list I think it would surprise some people. Most ppl I know are aware of my utter disgust of anything with mincemeat in lol.
LMAO at the people who thought these were going to be actual mince pies. Since when have Hotel Chocolat made pastries etc? Get a grip guys. you are very quick to give them hassle over something you should never of ever been assuming about them.
Not wanting to be unkind to HC but yeh it could be argued that the name they chose here was a little misleading.
Perhaps if they had called them 'Chocolate Caramel Alternative Mince Pies' that would have been better??? Lor' I dunno how peoples minds work. The names misleading yeah but it didn't bother me in the slightest.
Its great to see the HC reviews coming in Jim. I'm glad you started with these aswell. They were one of the ones I was wanting to hear what you thought about.
Not quite what I had in mind but still very yummy looking. Well done to Jim snr for the lush looking pictures again. I hope you tell him how much we all love his photos Jim.
x
x
I thought I was all safe today because I hate regular mine pies :-P How was I to know they weren't at all to do with them lol.
Wheres the mince? Wheres the pie?
Sheesh what a let down.
I don't think I was as surprised as some of you other people were by these because I read about them on the website first. If you were to just see the name and a picture of the box then I can see why you would expect something different. TBH with you I think it's better they gave us these salted caramel chocs. Chocolate flavoured mince pies do sound disgusting if you ask me.
These aren't what I was expecting at all. :S They aren't like mince pies at all man.
These look so darling. I don't think you have played up how cute they are Jim. I saw them on sale in the shop in Oxford and I thought they looked so beautiful. It's probably because you are a smelly boy. You wouldn't appreciate that sort of thing :P
Mince pies without all the fruit nonsense? Show me where to sign up please lol :) I hate mince pies normally but these ones I might be able to stomach lol.
Have you got a lot of Hotel chocolat reviews to come? I hope they are all as lush looking as these bad boy mince pies. Mmmm.
So you find two very strong bones of contention yet they still get 8.1???
Either their chocolate is just immense or you are just very very biased towards giving them high scores all the time.
Yum. My Christmas list just got a +1 on it lol.
This is going to be a full on few months of tease isn't it :-)
All the photography is going to be excellent if your Fathers done it all. It's going to be torture coming on here each time seeing food porn like this.
Its days like these where you wonder how people can work at Hotel Chocolat everyday surrounded by chocolates like this all day.
What were you all expecting? I don't get how people can be so disappointed that these weren't actual chocolate mince pies. Am I the only one here that thinks they would taste disgusting if they were.
These chocolate caramel pralines are right my thing. Its torture seeing and reading about them and not being in a position to be able to buy them. Send me your leftovers Jim lol.
Please tell me at some point you are reviewing the mini boxes of dessert chocolates? You can't miss them out they look stunning. If you weren't planning on doing so please take this as a formal request.
I was telling myself I wasn't going to go on a 'see-food' diet like usual this Christmas and try and be more careful with all the snacking I do. Things like these aren't going to help me with that. Lol oh well. Dieting is for January isn't it lol.
8.1 and you spend the whole closing paragraph having a go at them. You need to either adjust what you focus writing about or adjust your score. You certainly need to do one of the two as it's not making a whole lot of sense the way it is at present.
Hmm. I don't know about you guys and girls but I never find hotel chocolat's salted caramels salty enough. It's one thing saying they are salted but if they turn out not to be it makes it doubly disappointing if they aren't. I do love a good salted caramel me lol.
I had a box last week and enjoyed them, although, as Jim says, the price is OTT at £7.50 for 6 chocolates.
The criticism of the chocolates themselves is that they need way more salt- the caramel, praline and chocolate is delicious for the first mouthful, but then it becomes too rich and needs another flavour to limit the sweet and creamy elements a little. This is where the salt should come in, as is the point of salted caramels as a combo. But there is is virtually no salt in the taste at all, either in the mouth, or the after taste.
Don't get me wrong, they are still very good chocolates, and perhaps they tried to limit the salty taste for fear of putting people off (which i can understand- a lot of people can't imagine salt going with chocolates and won't touch them.)
I like them, but i was just expecting that little bit more from Hotel Chocolat- sure, they're an 8 out of 10 as Jim suggests, but i was expecting (for the price, and because of the brand) to be a 9 out of 10.
Hi All,
Thanks for the wealth of comments already today, it seems gagging you guys at the weekend got you all keen to come back to the site Monday :D I think I will do that again this weekend :D
Whilst I'm hear thank you all again for the nice comments about the photography. These are indeed Old Man specials and these are just the start of what is to come later in the next month and a half. (Steven - I don't 'hire' him. We are more a tag team :D )
Looking across my own thoughts on the review and your reaction to it I guess the area of contention is whether the name is misleading!? I'm still split down the middle on this one. Frankly they aren't anything at all to do with mince pies but at the end of the day like some of you have fedback it's hardly difficult to look up what they are before you buy them so there is that side to the argument.
Thanks again to you all for your participation on the blog. I hope you all see fit to rejoin me on Wednesday when there will of course be a new review posted.
Thanks
Jim
Thanks for reviewing my request, Jim. They sound delicious, but £7.50 is ridiculous, that's over £1 a chocolate. I won't be buying them at that price.
I get what you mean about the name confusing people, but I think its not meant to be taken so seriosuly.
Its just the look of them that I think they intended to be like mince pies. From then on it's all about HC.
Why all the complaints people? These still sound gorge. No one in their right mind would order anything without checking up on what it/they are anyways. You have to be really stupid to just assume these were going to be chocolate flavoured mince pies
Yay its good to see that the HC Xmas reviews are under way. How many more left to come then Jim?
For a minute there I thought you had got your hotel chocolat and your heavenly cakes mixed up lol
I see Hotel Chocolat's insistance on putting nuts in everything they make continues then :( When are they going to learn that they seriously limit the amount of their products that i can even consider buying :( :( :( They use nuts so often I always feel cautious about eating the ones that say they are nut free. They must be around the bloody things so often what with everything seeing to have some sort of praline or nut in it.
Jimbo jones you have rendered me useless. After all this time asking you to put price info in your reviews. lol it only took a year of nagging for you to finally do it huh!?
Oh well it may be pointless me posting now but still i'm glad you are finally seeing it from our side of the fence with what we have to pay now.
I think I need to get out more. I just spent like half an hour looking back at all your xmas reviews of the years before. In 2009 you did the most amazing coverage for Lindt, have you got anything to do with them this year or are they off the JCM popularity list?
Oh no I can just tell its going to be impossible to pick a sensible amount of chocs I want from Hotel Choc this year. I always feel so bad asking for chocs from there because before I just used to get one of those cheapo cadburys bumper backs. You could say that my tastes have become a little more expensive now ;-)
That's a very lush looking photo love. I want to reach into my screen and spoon out the caramel with my finger mmmm.
LMAO sorry I was stop fantisizing and embarassing myself. I was bassically trying to say that they look very nice and you did a sparkling review =)
Rxxx
Wouldn't it be fantastic if both HCs hooked up and did make real chocolate mince pies.
Hotel chocolat to provide the chocolate and Heavenly Cakes to provide the mince pies.
Best idea ever?
I think these are great for under 8 pounds. They sound like they could be a well decent stocking filler or smaller gift for someone you want to give something special to but without going over the top.
THANK YOU!!! I so appreciate this site. This is the information I was looking for.
For the record can I just say I e-mailed telling you to review these ages ago ;) I knew you would like them you see. You should listen to me more often Jim.
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