April 11th: Midweek Mini(s) Japanese Kit Kats

This Midweek mini post today sees the continuation of Japanese Kit Kat week here on JCM and the products in focus really are miniature!!

We all know that the Japanese aren't afraid of releasing every flavour known to man, but additionally when it comes to repackaging old ones into new formats they appear to be rather keen on doing that as well. The two Kit Kat variants I'm showing off today are in actual fact to flavours that have previously appeared on the site in one form or another, just scaled down to mini versions.

If you want extended reading in to both these flavours I suggest hitting the review links under the pictures   to get the full scoop and my detailed musings on both of these. Just remember if either or these tickle your fancy you can always pop along to JList where they can be found on sale will a host of other crazy and limited availability flavours.

Kit Kat Dark Bitter Minis - See Review HERE - Buy HERE

Kit Kat Green Tea - See Review HERE - Buy HERE

April 9th: Kit Kat Rilakkuma Hotcake

Kcal 69 Fat 4.0g Carbs 7.7g (per 12.3g Kit Kat)

Before we kick off the review today please allow Wiki to answer the question that I'm sure a good 99% of you are thinking right now ...

Rilakkuma (リラックマ Rirakkuma, a combination of the Japanese pronunciation of relax and the Japanese word for bear) is a Japanese character produced by the San-X company who debuted in 2003. Rilakkuma and Tarepanda, another San-X character, have been described as "huge hits in Japan" by The New York Times. As of May 2010, Rilakkuma ranked as the fifth most popular character in Japan in a survey of the Character Databank.

 A Japanese snack based around a popular Japenese character!? That can only mean one thing right!? Indeed JList have been at it once more and yet again the JCM household is stocked full of weird and wonderful Japanese snacks. You can find these Limited Edition Kit Kat Rilakkuma Hotcake on the J-List website HERE, where you can buy yourself a box of 12 mini Kit Kats like the one I got sent for this review. I'm not sure my amateur photography will have done it justice, but the box itself was beautifully decorated and the friendly, fun looking presentation of the packaging was really top-notch even for a Japanese Kit-Kat product. I've not always been a fan of the mini Kit Kat format but as you will go on to learn, the smaller size worked favourably for this particular variant.

Judging by the taste of these white chocolate Kit Kats, Hotcakes appear to be Mayple syrup pancakes - that's what these tasted like anyway! Indeed, these white chocolate Kit Kats were sweet as they come, but in the small 12.3g doses they were a tasty little option to park alongside a nice cup of tea. The white chocolate had a sugary, dried milk taste that as it melted released a set of syrup drenched buttery pancake flavours. Only the brave would dare try eat one of these in say a Kit Kat Chunky form due to it's sugaryness but as stated above in the miniture form the flavour intensity worked.

Overall I'm not for one minute going to even pretend like I have the remotest interest in Rilakkuma, what he does? who his little chicken friend is? or frankly what he is all about :D One thing to say however is that it does appear like me and Rilakkuma have a shared passion for these splendid Hotcakes of his :D Kit Kat flavours are ten-a-penny in Japan but I can honestly say these are one of the most unique I have tried in recent times. I think we all know that white chocolate isn't my favoured chocolate type due it's usual overly sweet nature, however these proved that even I can enjoy it when it is done cleverly with flavour depths more developed that just sugar. I can't say these Kit Kats have me convinced to find out more about Rilakkuma but I'll happily eat some of his hotcakes :D

8.0 out of 10

April 6th: Happy Easter!!!

Happy Easter one and all! Have a great few days off and enjoy all the chocolates that come your way.

My plans, aside from going to watch my beloved Manchester United <3 <3 <3 are to tuck in the generous bundle sent to me by my pals at Nestle! Yes indeed, Nestle sent me these three Yorkie, Kit Kat and Munchies packages to celebrate them becoming the first major confectioner to use 100% recyclable packaging across all their Easter Eggs. This move to recyclable packaging will save 726 tonnes of plastic waste from going to landfill this year - that's a damn lot when you stop and think about it. If you want to read more on this I suggest you take a look at the Nestle site HERE.

Right! Enough of that I'm off to eat some chocolate and sip some tea from my awesome chocolatey mugs :D (I love a good mug me!!) Enjoy Easter folks!

JIM - p.s. Keep an eye on @ChocMission this weekend! Competitions inbound!!

April 4th: Bits & Bobs: Easter Special

I have to say the 'new' products this Easter haven't been all that exciting here in the UK. As you will see below in my many mini reviews, a lot of the chocolates aren't really new at all - just simply repacked or slightly adapted offerings from last year. Apologies these might not be the most exciting reviews ever, but hey, I can only work with what these companies put out there :D

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MaltEaster Mini Bunnies
Kcal 62 Fat 3.5g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs(sugars) 6.2g (per Bunny)

Up until the Cadbury Caramel Bunnies showed up on the scene in 2010, Mars's MaltEaster Bunny was the holder of the 'Battle of the Bunnies' title (See HERE). Three years on from the original release (Review HERE), Mars have seen fit to introduce these MaltEaster Mini Bunnies. These Mini Bunnies came in a 58.0g packet which contained 5 individually wrapped bunny chocolates. As one would have hoped for, these were exactly as you would have expected i.e. there were no changes in content proportions or presentation- everything seemed to be just scaled back to accommodate the smaller size. With that said I'm sure it will come as no surprise at all to anyone to hear that I did indeed like these. The milk chocolate was sweet as always, but it suited the inner malty centre and the honeycomb bits added both crunch and pleasant notes of honey to create the Malteser experience. I guess my only gripe with these is the fact you only get 5 in the packet - that's neither enough to share or to last one person a reasonable amount of time before the bag is empty. The fact everywhere seems to be doing two of the original MaltEaster Bunnies at 2 for £1.00 does make a recommendation to buy these a little harder.

7.2 out of 10


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Nestle Aero Mint LambKcal 146 Fat 8.3g Carbs 16.3g

This is by no means a complaint but it feels like I've been reviewing so called 'New' Aero products for like the past year. If you have a look back across the last 12 months, to just name a few we've had the resurgence of the Aero Orange (See HERE), the limited edition Aero Dark (See HERE), the Aero Biscuit (See HERE) and of course last Easter's Aero Lamb (See HERE). In my 2011 review of the Aero lamb I concluded by saying that there was "really nothing too special about these lambs. They are simply Aero milk chocolate, shaped as lamb figurines". Well one of two things happened ... circumstance 1) The Aero team read JCM and saw the error of their ways ... circumstance 2) The Aero team got feedback from everyone bemoaning the lack of ingenuity - lets just say it was a combination on the two eh :D Now credit where credit is due, Nestle have listened and have adapted the Aero Lamb for 2012. As you will have gathered we now have a mint flavoured Lamb on our hands and I personally think that has benefited the product in two main ways. As is the case when it comes to the normal Aero bars, I prefer the extra depth to the taste that the peppermint brings to the party, and there's no doubting the Lambs look a bit funkier with the dayglow green centre. The Nestle Aero Lamb Mint is still no life changing chocolate, but it's an improvement on last years effort.

7.7 out of 10


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Galaxy Bubbles EggKcal 155 Fat 9.5g Carbs 15.3g (per egg)

If you've made it this far down the review today congratulations!! The bad news is your now looking at what is probably the most boring 'New' product for Easter 2012 :D Indeed enter stage left the magnificently innovative (/sarcasm) Galaxy Bubbles Egg. This 28.0g bad boy is the latest in the seemingly endless supply of new aerated chocolates here in the UK. I understand times are hard for manufactures and they are having to look at maximising profits, but come on guys give us a break with all the chocolates containing 'added air' please. Boy what on earth can I say about this egg to make it sound exciting!??? ... sorry I've failed! This was your standard Galaxy milk chocolate with yes, you guessed it ... a bubbly inner centre. Don't get me wrong you wont be offended by this at all should you buy or be given one, but I can only sum this up by saying you can certainly find more exciting chocolates to feast on this Easter.

7.0 out of 10


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Thorntons Caramel Melts EggKcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) Carbs ???

'Take an existing product, shape into an egg/bunny rabbit design and stick a 'NEW' sticker on it!??' ... Thorntons couldn't miss out on the action could they now!? ... No is the answer! Indeed displayed in all it's glorious form above we have this Thorntons Caramel Melts Egg. The Melts range has been out for the best part of two years now (Reviews HERE) and I'm frankly surprised they have lasted as long as they have. Whilst I'm surprised we haven't seen any spin-off limited edition flavours for the Melts range, I guess Thorntons just couldn't resist squashing them into an egg shape and giving it the 'Easter 2012' treatment. Last years Praline Melts Egg (See HERE) has now been joined by this Caramel Melts Egg, one that comes described as 'gooey caramel in a milk chocolate shell'. Bought on a 3 for £1.00 deal I thought it represented pretty good value for money and the milk chocolate had a noticeably slower, smoother melt compared to the more sugary chocolates of the more common brands above. Unfortunately I thought the caramel wasn't as tasty as some of the more commonplace options on the market. Compared to the Galaxy and Cadbury caramel eggs the golden filling here lacked the butteryness and depth of flavour. These aren't a bad little option but not offering anything above or below whats out there already.

7.5 out of 10

April 2nd: Hotel Chocolat You Crack Me Up Extra Thick Egg

As has now come tradition, Hotel Chocolat this year sent me one of their big 'Extra Thick' Easter eggs for me to get my lips around. Last year I had the absolutely delightful beast that was the Hotel Chocolat Extra Thick Purist Egg (See HERE), that one managed to get itself a huge 9.2 out of 10 and of course a big JCM recommendation. This year I decided to go for something a little less serious, and requested their 'You Crack Me Up' Extra Thick Egg. On the site this came billed as 'An irrepressibly upbeat egg cast in 40% milk chocolate and bursting with our cheeriest chocolates' - I couldn't resist the smiley faced chocolates that came with it :D they looked hilarious.


I will of course be 'pinning' all of these photos on the JCM Pinterest page (See HERE), so if you have any comments for the 'old man' I'm sure he would appreciate them. Now I'm not belittling his mastery photography here, but it would have taken a monumental effort to make this egg look unappetising on the eye. Quite simply the presentation was just first class with everything from the ribbon decorated outer box, to the foil wrapped egg and 'cheery' inner chocolate pieces looking every bit as fancy as you would come to expect from Hotel Chocolat. Profit margins must be forever being stretched at smaller companies like Hotel Chocolat, but there were no savings here I assure you.


Enough about the packaging - what was the chocolate like!?? Well come on now - do you really need me to tell you how lovely the 40.0% milk chocolate was again!? The egg was just as billed and had varying levels of thickness ranging from the 'Extra thick' outer portion, to the thinner middle egg section. The taste was what you would expect - rich cocoa mixed with a touch of sugar sweetness, and with the thickest, creamiest, smooth flowing double cream like flavour experience - just magnifico!


The tweleve count strong truffle line up was also fantastic with options ranging from the terrifically hazelnut noted smiley faced pralines, to the plainer option solid milk chocolate bunny shapes. There could of perhaps been a little more variety added to the mix with say a potential caramel offering, though the white chocolate 'soldiers' did at least bring a little colour to the party.


Overall my general preference for dark chocolate over milk lends me to score this a little under last years Purist Extra Thick Egg, but I think the 8.8 out of 10 rating tells it's own story. This was simply another superb chocolate offering from Hotel Chocolat and it delivered in line of all expectations. As noted in all my spiel above, the presentation was top grade and the chocolate was of it's usual impeccable standard. The egg was as promised 'Extra Thick' and the selection of truffles, albeit for those with plainer tastes, was still a delightful little mixture of fun looking chocolates. I'll leave you with the comment of 'stylish and tasty' - I doubt you need anymore convincing.

8.8 out of 10

March 30th: Hotel Chocolat Recommendations Easter 2012

This week I've been giving you a run down of some of the 'new' Easter products out this year. Whilst it's always nice to see new ideas and products, I think it's only correct to look back at some of the high quality products that have returned in 2012. This weekend I would like to take the chance to remind you of some of my favourite Hotel Chocolat Easter products. It's not all a blast from the past - there are some new photos courtesy of the 'Old Man' for you guys to drool over.

You should also make note of the promotion Hotel Chocolat are running at the moment (See ABOVE!!). You can get yourself a FREE 'Taste of Spring' chocolate selection when you spend over £35.00 (an all too easy thing to do trust me!) Enjoy your weekends and the pictures/reviews below.

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Pick from 2009 - Hotel Chocolat Rocky Road to Carramellow - Review HERE
This is one of the longest standing Hotel Chocolat Easter eggs. It must be popular considering it returns year after year. I can't say I'm surprised - caramel and rocky road fans need look elsewhere - Buy HERE.
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Pick from 2010 - Hotel Chocolat Eggs & Soldiers - Review HERE
Rejoice in the new pictures shot by the 'Old Man'. These now 'Classic' Eggs & Soldiers provide the ultimate chocolatey breakfast :D '5 praline milk chocolate half eggs with a troop of white chocolate dipping soldiers' - Buy HERE.

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Pick from 2011 - Hotel Chocolat 'A dozen Quail Eggs' - Review HERE
These were one of the best things I tried last year for Easter. Scoring a massive 8.9 out of 10 it comes as no surprise to me that they have returned for another year. The selection includes caramels, pralines and truffles galore. Highly recommended -Buy HERE.

.... more to come from the 2012 range next week :D

March 28th: Midweek Mini(s) Lindt Excellence Coconut Intense / Wasabi

You get a real treat today as I've lined up the first ever Midweek Mini double act with me bringing you my views on these two new Lindt Excellence bars. Lately on the site I've been moaning away about how all the 'NEW' products this year from our nearest and dearest (Cadbury, Mars, Nestle etc) have been disappointing, uninspired remakes of existing or previously seen products. Well this is something that cannot be laid at the door of Lindt today - I'm sure you have gathered that from the title :D

Kcal 508 Fat 35.0g Fat(sats) 22.0g Carbs 47.0g (per 100.0g)

Lindt Excellence Coconut Intense - This came described as 'fine dark chocolate with caramelised coconut flakes' and I had big expectations for it given my previous love for the white chocolate variation I had reviewed from Germany a few years ago. Splitting the bar in it's foil wrapper the coconut influence was evident from the outset and a wonderful plethora of sweet coconut smells set upon my senses straight away. With expectations dangerously sky high I will say they were met to a good standard by the taste. The bar might have benefited from being a stronger dark chocolate recipe (47.0%) however it still set a lovely Lindt like earthy richness with it's cocoa flavours, and the coconut played delightfully into this. The coconut was crunchy, yet not rough and the sweet, milky nut flavours grew in intensity as the melt progressed. This was a chocolate I enjoyed immensely - big time recommendation for all dark chocolate and coconut fans.

8.7 out of 10


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Kcal 492 Fat 30.0g Fat(sats) 18.0g Carbs 50.0g (per 100.0g)

Lindt Excellence Wasabi - Now I'm sure this was the one you were all most interested in seeing today and I was equally as excited for trying it. I remember the time when Lindt were seen as the pioneers of the chilli and chocolate combination - they were certainly the biggest brand to try it at the time they released the Lindt Excellence Chilli (See HERE). The word 'wasabi' will no doubt have disengaged over half of you already - the hot as fire horseradish condiment is hardly universally popular :D Personally, though I'm no great lover of the stuff, I do dabble in it when I eat sushi so I was curious to see what it would do for me paired with chocolate. Like the bar above the dark chocolate here was Lindt's 47.0% recipe and it brought on the same earthy cocoa flavour experience that I described above. As the melt of the chocolate developed on my tongue, this initially mild bitter undercurrent grew in stature, bringing about a raised mouth temperature along with it. This warming sensation was pleasant, however the herby, grassy flavour developments were a not to my liking. The wasabi influence was not to my taste I'm afraid and it spoilt my enjoyment of the chocolate at hand. Ho-hum, these things happen and I can't offer a recommendation based on the taste. What I will say is that it's great to at least see a well known brand attempt something new. Ultimately this was a fail, but brownie points at least for giving it a go.

5.8 out of 10

March 26th: Hotel Chocolat Pink Collection

See great offers from Hotel Chocolate? - CLICK HERE

Easter is fast approaching so it's about time I thought I get down to the business end of the sampling package I got from Hotel Chocolat this year. If you check out the HC range for 2012 (See HERE) you will see that rather than focus on making new propositions, they have chosen to create some great value bundles of existing products - a good decision if you ask me given the economic times. An example of one of these selections is this Hotel Chocolat Pink Collection- a bundle comprising of a mini bottle of sparkling rose, a box of champagne truffles and a Eton Mess mini-slab.


This grand selection of items came packaged in a lovely looking pink coloured box and was sealed with a black bow to add extra finesse. Though I've commented before that I think the cellophane wrappers used for the slabs are a little tacky, I think it worked better here as it allowed full visual of the pink coloured Eton slab which played into the whole pink colour scheme they had going on. Additionally the box containing the truffles looked classy as ever and the chocolate truffles inside both looked and smelled tremendously appetizing.


For my full in depth reviews of the Eton Mess Slab - See HERE and the Pink Champagne Truffles - See HERE. To be succinct and to the point I think both are near best in class for what they are. I've tried many a fruity white chocolate in my time, but the Eton Mess Slab is one that stands out in my memory which is always a good indication of something being rather special. The score of 9.0 for the truffles will also tell you I rate them tremendously highly, they are very much a 'go-to' gifting option when I can think of nothing else to buy for my mother or sister for holiday gifts.

See great offers from Hotel Chocolate? - CLICK HERE

Overall when I first heard of what this Pink Collection comprised of I knew we were going to be heading for a score in the upper end of the JCM rating system. Both the Eton Mess Slab and the Champagne truffles are fine examples of what Hotel Chocolat do best - quality chocolates made with high-end ingredients and with no gimmicks attatched. As aforementioned the Eton Mess Slab is one of the most delicious white chocolates you will find, and the Champagne Truffles in the words of my mother 'are to die for'. What about the bottle of Rose I hear you asking!? Well I'm not much of a drinker so I will leave that for the 'experts' to decide. One thing I can comment on very confidently however is the quality of this total package - it's outstanding!

9.2 out of 10

March 24th: ChocolateMission Pinterest

In a desperate attempt to stay 'down with the kids' I've launched the new JCM Pinterest page!!! See HERE

From now on I will be adding the photos from the reviews each day! Feel free to leave any comments you have there! You will also notice I've started a Pinterest 'JCM newsboard' - this will replace the current news page and will be updated often!

Let me know if you like it or not!

JIM

March 23rd: Nestle Yorkie Honeycomb

Kcal 274 Fat 14.5g Carbs 32.4g

I know at the start of the year I said I would be cutting back on the number of reviews, but the number of new products we keep seeing appear on our shelves I'm finding the temptation to write about them just a little too much :D The latest in the long list of 'New' products I found was this Nestle Yorkie Honeycomb bar, a product which was sat innocently minding it's own business on the shelf in my local newsagent. To my knowledge the Yorkie Honeycomb was a bar that was withdrawn from the UK market in 2008 - seemingly without even the provision of a press announcement, it's back!

The bar cost £0.45 which I thought was pretty reasonable given that these companies normally try charging a little more for 'Limited Editions'. Compared with it's blue wrapper orginal sibling, this Honeycomb variant was much smaller in size and weighed in at 51.0g (the normal one is 68.0g!!). When it comes to the wrapper I have to give a thumbs up to Nestle here - it was the bright gold colour that chaught my eye when I passing the shelf, and had it not been for that I likely would have been none the wiser knowing the bar existed.

Since I've already made mention to the fact that the bar was much smaller in size, I'm sure it will come as a surprise for you to hear that it was broken down in to a greater number of blocks. Indeed this Honeycomb variant was split into 6 blocks, as opposed to the traditional five enormous ones. Although this was done probably to cover up the smaller size, I actually preferred it as each block was a far more manageable mouth size. Popping the first chunk in my mouth my palette was greeted by familiar Nestle milk chocolate flavours - with light milky cocoa flavours treated with highly generic sweet milk powder undertones. Dispersed throughout the chocolate, the 'honeycomb' pieces gave both the bite and eventual chew a sugar crystal like crunch. To be frank they disappointingly tasted of pure sugar too, and it was because of these added brown sugar flavour bursts that had me struggling to eat the bar in it's entirety - I could feel the horrible throat scorch sensation building up by block three.

Overall this was not quite the Honeycomb experience I envisaged and I was left disappointed by this limited edition. From what I've described I'm sure you can all tell that it was the poor integration of the honeycomb pieces that has led me to give the bar as poorer score as it has received. When it comes to Yorkie bars I don't expect the worlds best chocolate, but I just felt that the additional honeycomb could have been a lot better. When you consider there are other mass produced offerings like the Cadbury Crunchie which offer a far superior honey taste, I see little reason why any one would choose this bar if it is that sort of proposition they are after. I think this is going to be one of those bars that people will buy once and then probably realise why it was axed in the first place. My recommendation is to buy only for the sake of nostalgia if you must.

6.2 out of 10

March 21st: Midweek-Mini Oreo Birthday Cake Cookies

Kcal 140 Fat 6.0g Fat(sats) 2.0g Carbs 21.0g (per 2 cookies)

It's that time again for another Midweek-Mini review and today we have cause for celebration. What do we have to celebrate I hear you ask!? Well one of the world's most well known brand of cookies is celebrating their 100th birthday - Congratulations Oreo! That really great news is that Oreo are marking their landmark birthday with the introduction of these limited edition Birthday Cake Cookies. These cookies are currently available in the US and many of my fellow US blogging friends have been writing their own reviews in recent weeks - Marvo @ The ImpulsiveBuy, Jess @ FoodetteReviews, JunkFoodGuy and FatGuyFoodBlog.

Given how much I love Oreo cookies there was no way I was going to let our American friends be the only ones to get in on the celebrations so I got in contact with Oreo on Twitter and wollah a 297.0g pack was sent my way. Upon receiving the pack I knew these were going to be something rather special as soon as I opened up the seal. At this point the most glorious array of cake icing scents emerged - I genuinely can't describe how tempting these were. Disbelieving that they couldn't taste as good as they smelt I was to be further disproved. The proportion of outer chocolate cookie to inner creme was nigh on perfect and together they tasted sensational. Building on the traditional vanilla hinted flavours of the originals, these birthday cake cookies had additional flavour elements reminiscent of sprinkles and cake batter. Amazingly enough these actually tasted like cake - no gimmicks here!

Overall I can't recommend these enough if you are a fan of Oreo cookies. I've recently been trying a fair number of the new Oreo variants (more on that soon ;D) and I would genuinely rank these up there as one, if not THE, best of the lot I've tried. Admittedly these aren't going to be the easiest cookies to get hold, especially for us here in the UK. If you do get the opportunity to try these make sure you grab it with both hands. I can say with a great degree of confidence you wont regret it.

9.0 out of 10