February 10th: Hotel Chocolat Head Over Heels

Three Hotel Chocolat reviews in a week! You guys do get spoilt nowadays :D You are getting an extra treat today as ChocolateMission's resident 'Old Man' has been on another one of his photo frenzies. Indeed I'm going to let the photos do the 'talking', and keep my spiel to a bare minimum - I think the chocolates themselves speak volumes to how good they were.

It's been a fair while since a selection box has got a look in here on JCM but today it's Hotel Chocolat's 'Head Over Heels' collection that get's his moment in the spotlight. If you look on the Hotel Chocolat site you will see that this box comes with this epically cringe worthy product description:

'Loosen the ribbon and let the true romance begin because there’s something for everyone to fall in love with inside – from silky soft truffles with champagne, mouth warming amaretto and fruity raspberry, to melt-away praline and mellow milk chocolate mousse.' .... those desiring more of a factual based billing should be aware that this was a 210.0g box containing 19 chocolates (8 different varieties).

Praline Truffle - Previously reviewed HERE - Superb.

Raspberry Rapture - This was a sensational truffle that combined a milk chocolate outer shell and a raspeberry flavoured white chocolate filling. The thing I love about Hotel Chocolat's fruit truffles is that always taste so 'real' and non-artificial. Once again here the raspberry element was perfectly embedded in the creamy truffle center. Very Good.

Black Cherry Truffle - Once again we had a perfectly balanced truffle here, with an outer dark chocolate portion hiding a soft fruit flavored white chocolate center. As with the other fruits, the cherry was spot-on, though it has to be said I found the more subtle, less sharp, strawberry and raspberry truffles a little more to my liking. Good.

Strawberry & Black Pepper - This was a new and intriguing chocolate that I was looking forward to trying. The outer dark chocolate shell broke with a crisp snap and nicely substantiated a rich, unsweetened cocoa base taste. The revelation of the sweet jam textured center brought lovely real tasting strawberry tones. Disappointingly I sensed no presence of black pepper, but ttill, worthy of a Very Good.

Bakewell Tart - Previously reviewed HERE - Very Good.

Champagne Truffle - Previously reviewed HERE - Superb.

Simple Milk Truffle - I needn't say much about this one. A crisp, whipped shell hid a lovely truffle filling that had an incredibly soft mouth feel. Basic yes, but still Very Good.

Amaretto Armour - As usual I save the best until last. This amaretto dashed truffle was absolutely Superb in every sense. From the gorgeous milk chocolate shell, to the brandy noted centre and biscuit topped crunch on top - it was a pleasure in taste and texture. This chocolate just oozed creamy almond deliciousness :D Superb.

Overall this was a collection of chocolates that contained some superb fruit flavored truffles and if you, or anyone you know, are a fan of them I would strongly recommend it. One thing I should also mention is that I've become so accustom to Hotel Chocolat doing a good job with their presentation that I've almost forgotten to mention the fantastic look of the box and chocolates. The standout pieces for me were the Amaeretto Armour and Praline Truffles - my mother as ever was a strong advocate of the Champagne Truffle. I never shy away from recommending Hotel Chocolat selection boxes and I wont be making a change here. This was another of great quality.

8.6 out of 10

February 8th: Hotel Chocolat Lips & Hearts

If your start to 2012 has been as hectic as my own, you'are probably still wondering where the month of January disappeared to. Luckily for you guys, your researching of Valentines Day gifts need be of little stress this year - JCM has you covered :D

My Valentines Day coverage started with my take on one of Hotel Chocolat's newest slabs the 'You Smoothie' (See below!). New Chocolate Mission readers will also want to bare in mind that the archives contain reviews of several other Hotel Chocolat goodies that I've reviewed done the years - just take a look HERE.

Getting put under the JCM spotlight today we have these Hotel Chocolat Lips & Hearts. Both of these mini-boxes of chocolates come at the more affordable end of the Hotel Chocolat product spectrum and cost only £5.00 each (See HERE). Though both look the same sort of offering there is a slight variation between the two - the Lips are plain 'milk chocolate truffles' and the Hearts are 'praline filled truffles'.

Now, you probably know where I'm going to go with this before I even say it, so I won't labour the point. Given my love for nuts, in particular hazelnuts, you will find it of little surprise that the Heart chocolates were indeed were my favoured out of the two. Whilst both had the same indulgent sweet creamyness to the milk chocolate constituents, the Hearts just had more of an interesting overall taste with the woody hazelnut coming through within the divine, soft feeling ganache centres.

Overall if you are looking for a Valentines option that wont have your bank manager in tears, but still looks and tastes the part, then these Hearts and Lips truffles are well worthy of your consideration. In my opinion these are great for a person looking to impress, yet at the same time not go excessive.

Hotel Chocolat Lips - 8.0 out of 10
Hotel Chocolat Hearts - 8.2 out of 10

February 6th: Philadelphia with Cadbury

Kcal 86 Fat 4.0g Fat(sats) 2.5g Carbs(sugars) 10.0g (per 30.0g)

Correct me if I'm wrong, but when the whole Kraft/Cadbury takeover went down, wasn't this one of the things we all joked about?

New Philadelphia with Cadbury or 'Choccy Philly' (as they like to call it) launches February 2012. According to the pamphlet that accompanied my sample, this new chocolate flavoured cream cheese is set to 'cause a new taste sensation, as people experience the brand new, unique taste of Light Philadelphia and Cadbury chocolate - blended together'.

We've seen and tasted some odd things here at JCM, but chocolate flavoured cream cheese wasn't one that we had tried before. It was going to be interesting to say the least. Here are our thoughts and photos ...


I don't eat cream cheese all that often, but when I do it tends to be with either crackers or in ham sandwiches. With option b firmly out the question (no.... just no haha :D ), I decided to whip up the spread on some cream crackers - chocolate cream cheese and cream crackers, a dream combination right!?


Aesthetically and aroma wise this stuff didn't come across too badly at all. It had a smooth, paste like texture that looked pleasing on the eye, and it smelt more sweet and chocolatey than it did cheesey. In regards to the taste I think it would be best described as offering an unindulgent, chocolate cheesecake type of experience. It was creamy, yet ever so slightly sour with a natural yogurt like tang underlying it's sweet chocolateyness. This play on the dairyness of the taste meant that it was by no means a typical tasting Cadbury chocolate product. Unfortunately I didn't feel that it provided the usual creamy Cadbury indulgence, which I thought was a little bit of a let down.

Overall this Phildlphia with Cadbury wasn't quite the disaster one suspected it might be and it was at the end of the day a fair tasting spread option. If desired as a 'lighter' alternative to normal chocolate spread then I think this stuff presents a fair few upsides with it's adequate chocolate flavour hit provision and it's relatively impressive nutritional garb. However, and this is a big however :D if it's a Cadbury chocolate experience you are after I think you are in for a let down as it simply doesn't deliver in that regard. Personally I doubt I will be buying this myself anytime soon, though I can see it causing quite a stir when it hits the shelves later this month. It's worth giving a try if you like trying new things.

7.0 out of 10

February 4th: Superbowl Weekend

This may seem like a blatant shout out for one of my site sponsors American Soda..... that's because it is :D

This weekend is Superbowl weekend, and I like many other Brits will be watching the 'Big Game' with a few tasty American treats close to hand!!

For breakfast I will be starting off with my new favorite cereal - Quaker Instant Oatmeal Maple & Brown Sugar. I'm almost tempted to say don't buy this. If you get half as addicted to this stuff as I'am then you're in trouble :D

Snacks for the game!?!? Well you need only look as far as the Snyders Pretzels and Root Beer to wash it all down with (20% off on both of these atm btw - See HERE!!!)

Whatever you end up doing this weekend, have a good one! See you Monday for another chocolate review!!!

JIM

February 1st: Hotel Chocolat You Smoothie

Listen up folks!!! It's now February and that can mean only one thing! Yes you guessed it ... it's time for some Valentines Day chocolates you lovebirds :D

As has come customary with every holiday season, Hotel Chocolat have filled my boots full of their latest offerings. Some of their Valentines favourites are back with avengence (See HERE), though I'm sure you will be glad to hear that I've been sent some of their new items they've created for 2012.

Starting things off with the JCM Valentines coverage I present to you the 'You Smoothie' slab. This 200.0g chocolate behemoth came described as *draws in breathe* 'a fusion of strawberry white chocolate and milk chocolate. Decorated with solid white chocolate mini-hearts, freeze dried strawberry pieces, a white chocolate truffle and naturally coloured white chocolate swirl' ... *exhales*. The description was a little long-winded but it looked and smelt sensational. Fruity, colourful and just straight up nice to look at - it was again one of those chocolates I felt guilty breaking apart.

Funnily enough my guilty feelings didn't quite put my family and I off tucking in :D So what can I say about the taste that I haven't attributed to Hotel Chocolat previously!? Well ... nothing - in line with all expectations it was utterly delicious. The milk chocolate was creamy, and the white chocolate even more so! The strawberry flavouring and freeze dried pieces established a delightful red fruit juicyness and importantly in a manner that was refreshingly natural. Now, though I would love to say it was all good, but it unfortunately wasn't quite so as the bane of confectionery life made a very unwelcome appearance - popping candy. Indeed, just to spoil the amazing mouth feel of the thick melting chocolate, the unnecessary aforementioned created that horrible crackling, fizzy sensation at the back of my throat. It wasn't a total spoiler by any stretch of the imagination, but had it not been in there I would have enjoyed this slab a whole lot more.

Overall if unlike me you aren't sensitive to the popping candy you will likely be very pleased with this slab. Unsurprisingly the chocolate is great quality and the strawberry is implemented as well as it could have been. Add in to the mix that it looks fun and is reasonably priced at only £7.50 (See HERE), and we have ourselves a valentines day winner. I would happily recommend.

7.9 out of 10

January 30th: TABASCO® Spicy Chocolate-McIlhenny & Company

Kcal 537 Fat 30.8g Fat(sats) 15.4g Carbs 53.8g (per 100.0g)

Before I kick off this review I have to say a big thank you to my friend Liz from Foodstufffinds (See HERE). Liz aka @Cinabar on Twitter, was kind enough to send me this chocolate today as a Christmas gift last December. With the ridiculous amount of chocolate sent my way last December, I've only just got the time to sit down and write a proper review on it - considering the proposition I felt it was one that deserved some full attention.

According to Wiki 'TABASCO® sauce is made from tabasco peppers (Capsicum frutescens var. tabasco), vinegar, and salt, and aged in white oak barrels for three years. It has a hot, spicy flavor'. Indeed, TABASCO® sauce is something that I frequently use as an ingredient and as a condiment to add a bit of spice to food ... savoury food that is :D It isn't something that I think any of us would naturally have assoiciated with chocolate, however the US company 'The Chocolate Traveller Inc' obviously had other ideas.

The chocolate came packaged in a tin bearing the traditional McIlhenny & Company Tabasco sauce branding and contained eight segmented 'spicy dark chocolate wedges' within. The chocolate had a relatively sweet cocoa smell that reminded me of hot chocolate powder and showed no indications of containing anything untoward. The experience however really started upon tasting the chocolate, and the TABASCO® content was certainly not withdrawn or lacking. To speak firstly of the quality of the dark chocolate, it wasn't anything remarkable, though it was step up from my expectations and had a richer, earthy cocoa taste than the expected mass consumer friendly unsweetened milk chocolate I had predicted. To be honest all thoughts regarding the quality of the chocolate were rendered an after thought once the TABASCO® influence came in to play, which was around the time of mid-melt. At this point a pleasant heat sensation was created in the mouth, and the taste took on a more bitter peppery focus that lasted until the end melt and for a little duration after. Consultation with my fellow taste testers revealed that they were split right down the middle on whether it enhanced or spoilt the chocolate.

Overall if you posed me the simple question of whether this chocolate was a thumbs-up or thumbs-down I would give you the very unhelpful answer that it was a thumbs-in-the-middle :D Frankly I was pretty ambivalent towards it. It was fine for what it was, though I'm not sure it was as flavoursome or subtle as say something like the Lindt Excellence Chilli. One thing I can 100% confirm though is that it was a chocolate that was very interesting to try and it created a great deal of talkability amongst us all that tasted it. For that reason I would categorise this chocolate with a lot of the Japanese Kit Kats I try. Just like flavours such as the Wasabi, Green Tea etc they aren't always the best tasting, but they are always a good bit of fun to see what they are like, and how a brand has attempted to integrate them into chocolate. I would give this TABASCO® Spicy Chocolate a recommendation, but on it's novelty factor rather than it's chocolate quality.

7.3 out of 10

January 25th: Midweek Mini Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly

Our 'Midweek Mini' today comes courtesy of our pals at Cadbury UK and their new 'Bubbly' chocolates. I first heard of these new bars about two weeks ago (See HERE), and it didn't take me long to track them down in my local Tesco supermarket on sale for their RRP £1.42 each. Described as 'Milk chocolate with an aerated milk/white chocolate centre', I have to say I found the prospect of these so called 'New' chocolates rather unexciting. Given the presence of the blocked Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly bar and Cadbury Wispa already on our UK shelves, I found it somewhat surprising Cadbury chose these Bubbly variants as their first NPDs for 2012.

Kcal 530 Fat 29.9g Fat(sats) 18.5g Carbs 56.9g (per 100.0g)
Kcal 530 Fat 29.8g Fat(sats) 18.1g Carbs 59.3g (per 100.0g)

I wont be handing out any prizes for guessing which was my favoured one of the two, as anyone whose read JCM prior would have been aware of my dislike for Cadbury's white chocolate. Well what can I say to spruce this review up a little!? Unfortunately I'm stumped - these bars were exactly as I expected. Creamy, sweet Dairy Milk goodness, with one of the bars containing a very unnecessary center of sugar laden 'white chocolate'. Admittedly the white chocolate coloured center did look rather cool with the 'Bubble' effect, however it did nothing for me taste wise and negatively effected my enjoyment of the Dairy Milk chocolate. Would I buy them again? No probably not. Would I be disgruntled if someone bought me one? Not at all.

Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly - 8.1 out of 10
Cadbury Dairy Milk Bubbly White - 7.7 out of 10

January 23rd: Kit Kat Strawberry Cheesecake / Yatsuhashi

We started the year looking at two of the latest flavours to be gracing the ever expanding Japanese world of Kit Kats with the Wasabi & Black Honey flavours (See HERE). Well since this time I've been trying out yet another two flavours which you will see reviews for below today. Please do remember, if any of these take your fancy, you can try them out for yourselves by heading over to J-List and paying my friend Peter a visit. Please be warned that some of the content on that site isn't suitable for younger viewers ;) (J-List HERE)

-----
Kit Kat Strawberry Cheesecake (Yokohama Edition)Kcal 69 Fat 4.1g Carbs 7.6g (per 12.3g Mini Kit Kat)

I'm guessing there is a portion of you reading today wondering what the 'Yokohama' and 'Kyoto' Editions mean tagged on the end of the names. Well folks these are not only Kit Kats from Japan, but they are Kit Kats that can only be found in certain regions of Japan - that's got to make them even cooler right!? Well entertaining us from the Yokohama region, this Strawberry Cheese flavour was admittedly one I wasn't looking forward to trying that much. Fearing being confronted by an overly sugary artificial strawberry confection taste I was happily surprised by what I got here. The white chocolate lacked the cheese factor of the cheesecake billing, though it creamy milk focus that far less sugar focused than expected. Amongst the wafer, a light, thin layer of creme established a subtler hint of strawberry than I expected, but all things considered less was probably more given how badly strawberry confectionery can be done. The culmination of these with the wafer made for a taste I would more accurately describe as Strawberries and Cream, whatever these were nice enough and I have made my way through a fair load of the twelve pack I was sent.

7.6 out of 10

-----
Kit Kat Yatsuhashi (Kyoto Edition)
Kcal 69 Fat 4.0g Carbs 7.7g (per 12.3g Mini Kit Kat)

Hailing from the Kyoto region, this Yatsuhashi Kit Kats had me straight away consulting my favourite online resource (Wikipedia :D ). According to Wiki Yatsuhashi is 'a Japanese confectionery sold mainly as a souvenir sweet (miyagegashi). It is one of the best known meibutsu (famous regional products) of Kyoto. It is made from glutinous rice flour (上新粉 jōshinko?), sugar and cinnamon' .... ahh this all makes sense now! These had all the promise of being rather good and I'm glad to report they were. Like our Strawberry Cheesecake friend above, this flavour was also a white chocolate Kit Kat at heart, though they were lightly brown coloured with 'cinnamon specs' - an interesting look it has to be said. Taste wise these reminded me of sweet chai tea with a glorious undercurrent of cinnamon flavours nicely complimenting a base taste of sweet milk. A whole Kit Kat Chunky size version of these would probably be a struggle to eat given the sweetness, though in this mini format these were a real winner. Well worth checking out if you like the cinnamon flavoured confections.

8.3 out of 10

January 19th: Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter

Kcal 260 Fat 15.2g Carbs 26.2g

Anyone who doubted me saving the best until last obviously doesn't know how things work round here :D This was one of the first ever bars I reviewed on ChocolateMission way waaaaaay back in February 2009 - See HERE. At the time I had no idea that the bar would then go on to be axed for the release of the Kit Kat Chunky Caramel - a decision which many of us today still bemoan :D

'Crispy wafer finger with a creamed peanut topping, covered in milk chocolate' - this not only sounded the business, but the familiar peanut scents smelt just as lovely as I remembered. With all indicators pointing towards things staying true from the old Peanut Butter Chunky it came as no surprise that the memories came flooding back when I took my first bite. The sweet milky chocolate, the malty wafer and the salty peanut topping made for a progressive and beautifully contrasting flavour journey. As ever I still thought the peanut butter lacked the quality of Reese's without the more textured mouth feel and nut intensity. Reese's comparisons aside this was still an extremely satisfying chocolate bar and I savored the taste from the first block to the third.

Overall this is my Kit Kat Chunky Champion of the week. I always think a product should be judged on whether you would buy it again, and this Kit Kat Chunky Peanut Butter is a bar I can see myself buying frequently. That coming from a guy who has reviewed 1000+ chocolate bars in his time should indicate how highly I rate this bar. I don't like changing previous scores but having been in the situation where we have been denied it for the past two years, I think this was a perfect case of not knowing what you have until it's gone. I will be very surprised (and disappointed) if this flavour doesn't win.

8.8 out of 10


Remember the JCM Kit Kat Chunky Week Competition - Follow me on Twitter & Retweet my reviews!

January 18th: Kit Kat Chunky Double Choc

Kcal 256 Fat 14.8g Carbs 28.0g

Our penultimate review this weeks has me taking me a look at another flavour that has never been present here in the UK. Looking elsewhere online I have managed to track this bar down to Australia - See HERE, where it appears to have once made up the triple variant Chunky range over there. Interestingly enough, a quick look at the Australian Nestle website revealed that it has obviously been axed, as it no longer appears listed as part of the range - See HERE.

Described as a 'crisp wafer finger with a chocolate flavour topping, covered in milk chocolate', this flavour didn't sound the most exciting out of the four. That said I was impressed by the look of the bar with it's plentiful chocolate topping, which looked appetizing above the wafer. What did it taste like!? Well this bar did exactly what it said on the tin. The milky sweet chocolate flavours were far more dominant over the wafer and the taste had an intensified chocolate focus. The extra chocolateyness meant the malt and biscuit elements generated by the wafer less of a input in the end taste which wasn't to my own preference.

Overall although I would classify this 'Double Choc' variety as the least exciting, I still wouldn't classify it as a poor chocolate bar. Without doubt this is the 'safest' flavour out of the selection. I can't see anyone disliking it, though neither can I see it having a great fan base due. I would be surprised if it turned out to be the Chunky Champion.

8.1 out of 10


Remember the JCM Kit Kat Chunky Week Competition - Follow me on Twitter & Retweet my reviews!

January 17th: Kit Kat Chunky Orange

Kcal 247 Fat 12.5g Carbs 30.2g

Day Two, and becuase it's a Tuesday I've decided to throw my least favourite of the selection in to the mix (I don't like Tuesdays :D). Today the Kit Kat Chunky Orange takes it's stab at the JCM rating system. As far as I'm aware this is a bar that is new to the Chunky format, and has only previously appeared in it's two finger form - See HERE. I was interested to see how the bar would do in this 48.0g form - Just for your information all of the new four bars weigh in at 48.0g.

Out of the four this the strongest smelling of the selection, the orange scents radiated from the foil confines as soon as the seal was broken. The bar came described as a 'crispy wafer finger with orange flavoured milk chocolate' - this literally was the two finger orange Kit Kat in a grandeur form. Split in to the three blocks, this was a bar that I felt like I'd had enough of by the second. The orange flavours within the milk chocolate were desperately sugary - more so than the white chocolate. Post consuming the third block I felt that horrible throat burning sensation beginning to stir at the back of my mouth.

Overall I can see chocolate orange fans being happy enough with this bar, but I think the average consumer will be happy enough leaving this flavour to the two-finger format. I would be surprised if this 'Orange' variant took the Chunky Champion crown.

7.8 out of 10


Remember the JCM Kit Kat Chunky Week Competition - Follow me on Twitter & Retweet my reviews!