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April 2011

Friday, April 22, 2011

Aldi Choceur Flame Egg & Chocolate Rabbit

DSC_2693rbThe Choceur Milk Chocolate Flame Egg is 12.4 ounces of chocolate for only $3.99. It’s an impressive presentation of chocolate. The packaging is a paperboard sleeve over a huge blue or pink mylar wrapping. The egg is about six inches high and made as two separate hemispheres. Each side is wrapped in gold foil then taped together with a pretty sticker with red butterflies on it. Inside the egg is a little cellophane bag with candies. In the Pink Flame Egg is a bag of milk chocolate eggs with vanilla creme wrapped in gold foil. In the other egg is a little assortment of hazelnut chocolates.

The candy is made in Germany. The package says that it’s all real milk chocolate and has no artificial flavors or colors

Choceur Milk Chocolate Flame Egg

They traveled quite well, considering the fact that my mother bought them in Ohio, then took the train to Philadelphia then all the way back to Los Angeles. One of the eggs had a little dent in it, like someone put a thumb through it, though none of it damaged the packaging, so I felt it was still good to eat.

The milk chocolate shell is, well, milky and sweet. It’s European style milk chocolate, so the milk flavors echo that of dried milk a bit, so there’s a little malty note. It’s smooth, but not silky like Dove or Lindt. The tempering is good, everything was shiny and crisp.

DSC_2715rb

The Pink Sleeve version had a small assortment of chocolates inside. There were four different candies with an elegant presentation. They were a little scuffed up here and there, since they were inside a bag inside the egg instead of a little tray.

The dark chocolate faceted piece is Nougat in Milk Chocolate. It was a milk chocolate cream with hazelnut paste and hazelnut pieces in a very mild dark chocolate shell.

The star for me was the Soft Caramel Covered with Crisp Rice and Milk Chocolate piece that looks kind of like a miniature 100 Grand bar. And it was rather similar. The center was a milk chocolate cream nougat which was covered in caramel then the crisped rice mixed into the milk chocolate. It was sweet but had a lot of texture, a little chewy and a little crunchy.

The Hazelnut Trio was a little row of hazelnuts inside what looks like a mountain range. The white chocolate topping was sweet and quite milky while the fresh but small hazelnut at the center of each mountain lent a large crunch to the whole thing.

The red foil wrapped chocolate is Milk Chocolate with Apricot Flavored Center. I didn’t read the package before I ate the first one, so I really didn’t know what it was. The center is a very soft and creamy ganache with a fruity flavor that I thought might be some sort of fruit liqueur, but I couldn’t put my finger on it. It’s sweet but has a light melon or actual apricot note to it.

DSC_2723rb

The second egg in the Blue Sleeve had more than a dozen large gold foil wrapped eggs inside. The package calls them Cream Filled Milk Chocolate Eggs.

DSC_2726rbThe eggs are very long and narrow, a little over 1.5 inches long. The matte foil is quite pretty and I have to say that nestling the eggs into the half of the chocolate shell and placing it on a platter is a lovely presentation.

The center is soft and creamy with only a slight grain to it, like a good vanilla buttercream frosting. The flavors aren’t intense though the milky notes of the chocolate do take over. It’s a lot of sweet at all once, but thankfully there’s a light salty note to it as well. The center is made from palm fat, so I’d suggest a little moderation on that front and perhaps stick to the milk chocolate egg shell.

While I don’t think I’d just buy these for eating, I loved the look of them and for less than $4 for 3/4 of a pound of actual chocolate, I’d call it an excellent value. It’s a great option for a household with children, who are more likely to dig into the sweeter sides and of course everyone like gigantic versions of everyday items.

Choceur Milk Chocolate Bunny

The Choceur Milk Chocolate Bunny is 5.29 ounces and made of German chocolate. It resembles the Lindt chocolate bunny quite a bit, though when unwrapped it has some little molded details that the Lindt rabbit lacks. At $1.99, it’s an excellent deal. It’s sizable and easy to eat, as it’s a hollow bunny.

The foil decorating is charming and nicely done to accentuate the shapes like legs, ear contours and mouth.

DSC_2677rbThe bunny looks great. Again, these little friends traveled all the way across the country by rail protected only by their foil and placed inside another bag.

It’s absolutely charming as well, and by that I mean the little collar it wears has an actual metal charm with a rabbit silhouette on it. The elastic gold band is sized about right for a child or small adult (I had it around my wrist for a few hours this morning without any loss of circulation).

DSC_2681rb

A Lindt Rabbit is about twice the price (I saw them for $3.99 this season) and weighs only 3.5 ounces. This rabbit is 5.29 ounces. It should be noted that this is not Lindt chocolate. Choceur, Aldi’s house brand of chocolate, is made in Germany. It’s the same, as far as I can tell, as the egg shells of the Flame Eggs. It’s sweet and milky and with only the slightest cocoa notes to it. Still, it’s pleasant and if you’re presenting this to a child, they will not be disappointed. It’s a beefy looking, rotund little rabbit with thick walls and a good shape. So if you’re going for true chocolate quality and flavor, go for Lindt (or even more upscale with Lake Champlain or See’s). The value here is certainly better than the American options but the flavor profile is certainly in the European style.

Related Candies

  1. RM Palmer My Little Bunny
  2. The All American Chocolate Bunny Battle
  3. Happy Christmas Sweet Friends
  4. Riegelein Confiserie Hollow Chocolate
  5. Lake Champlain & See’s Bunny Battle
  6. See’s Hollow Eggs with Novelty
  7. Upscale Hollow Chocolate: Michel Cluizel & Hotel Chocolat
  8. Palmer Hollow Chocolate Flavored Bunny
  9. Russell Stover Hollow Milk Chocolate Bunny


Name: Choceur Flame Eggs
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Aldi
Place Purchased: Aldi (Cleveland, OH)
Price: $3.99
Size: 12.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Easter, Aldi, Chocolate, Nuts, 7-Worth It, Germany


Name: Choceur Milk Chocolate Rabbit
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Aldi
Place Purchased: Aldi (Cleveland, OH)
Price: $1.99
Size: 5.29 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Easter, Aldi, Chocolate, 7-Worth It, Germany

POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:54 am     All NaturalCandyEasterAldiChocolateNuts7-Worth ItGermany

Eat with your Eyes: National Jelly Bean Day

Mooncake Jelly Belly

It’s National Jelly Bean Day and it’s fun that this year it falls on Good Friday, just before the high holy day of Jelly Beans, Easter.

These jelly beans are from Jelly Belly. I got them at the ISM Cologne candy fair and they’re a little different from something you’d get in North America, they’re Mooncake Jelly Belly.

Mooncakes are little Chinese pastries, a filled cake that sometimes has lotus seed paste but I’ve seen them more often here in the Los Angeles Chinatown with red bean paste. These jelly beans have an odd flavor to them that took a while to describe. They’re sweet and have a toasted marshmallow component but also have a floral musk melon and watermelon note. Then the red bean flavors come out with the center of the bean, an earthier flavor. As far as jelly beans go, this combination is a winner for me.

Jelly Belly not only makes gourmet jelly beans for the American market, they’re quite easy to find in large metropolitan areas. I saw many candy stores in Amsterdam and Cologne had them. Jelly Belly has one factory outside of the United States, in Thailand, where I think these were made. I was told that they’re not available in the United States. I guess it’s just one more reason to travel the world.

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:44 am     CandyJelly BellyHighlightPhotography

Thursday, April 21, 2011

Eat with your Eyes: Mini Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs

Koppers Mini Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs

Koppers Chocolates just introduced these cute little Mini Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Eggs.

These little gems are simple but unexpected. The center is a lightly vanilla marshmallow, a coating of milk chocolate and then a candy shell. They look like bright blue robin’s eggs. They’re an ideal Easter candy and I’m quite surprised now that I think about it that no one has made these before. (How long before this is the new M&Ms flavor?)

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:22 pm     CandyEasterHighlightPhotography

Wednesday, April 20, 2011

Tony’s Chocolonely Chocolate Easter Eggs

Tony's Chocolonely EggsTony’s Chocolonely is a rather funny name for a chocolate company. They make fair trade chocolate in the Netherlands and can be found in much of Western Europe. (I saw them in department stores in both Amsterdam and Cologne.)

The packaging is eye catching with its bold use of primary colors and large friendly typefaces.

The issue of slavery, particularly child slavery, in cacao growing regions of Africa has been well documented. You can read more on Tony’s website. The aim of Tony’s Chocolonely is to source their cacao directly in Ivory Coast and Ghana from fair trade plantations in order to create a more responsible supply chain model and provide living wages for farmers. But really, it can’t happen overnight and this sort of widespread change needs more than just niche producers, it requires the involvement of the price-conscious, major chocolate buyers like Hershey’s, ADM, Mars, Kraft, Nestle and Cargill.

Tony's Chocolonely Chocolate

The packaging of Tony’s Chocolonely is friendly and casual, and probably a lot more attractive to children than many other fair trade options out there. So it’s a great choice around a holiday when you want to give kids a treat that might include a lesson but also include, well, the actual goodness of the treat they expect. The chocolate levels are not as intense, I’d say we’re close to the family chocolate range instead of the gourmet intense end of things.

The Easter Egg range that they gave me as a sample comes in this cute little egg carton that holds a full dozen eggs, which are about 1.5” inches high - a little larger than the size of a quail’s egg.

Tony's Chocolonely Milk Chocolate Egg

The Milk Chocolate Eggs are quite decadent. The chocolate is definitely kid friendly, but not without its appeal to candy lovers of all ages. The bite is soft, like a Cadbury though the cacao density is much higher at 30%. The milky flavors are in the Belgian style, clean but rather thick and sticky.

Tony's Chocolonely Dark Egg

The Dark Chocolate Egg has a great snap, though in this size it’s a little hard to bite. (So just let the whole thing melt in your mouth.)

The flavor profile is very mild. There are light fruity and woodsy notes, but it’s overall a very sweet chocolate. It’s a dark chocolate for children who can’t have milk products or perhaps vegans.

Tony's Chocolonely Praline Egg

The Milk Chocolate Praline Eggs are probably the most luxurious of the bunch, perhaps it’s just me because this style is not as common in the United States. The milk chocolate shell looks the same but is easier to bite. They’re filled with a hazelnut paste, which is sweet and nutty ... there’s a light and fresh floral note, a little like the fresh feeling from jasmine tea. I like them, though they were really very sweet and I couldn’t eat more than one at a sitting.

For every day consumption Tony’s Chocolonely also makes milk chocolate and dark chocolate bars. It will be a wonderful day when there are more holiday and special occasion options available and this set is a good start. I’m still a little more inclined towards Green & Black’s for my ordinary chocolate needs, but for folks who want something a little sweeter or kid friendly, this might be the stuff.

Related Candies

  1. Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups
  2. An Easter Dash - Reviews in Short
  3. Sun Cups
  4. Sweet Earth Chocolates
  5. Madelaine’s Foiled Milk Chocolate
  6. Divine Fair Trade Chocolate
  7. Theo 3400 Phinney Bars


Name: Easter Eggs, Milk & Dark Chocolate Bars
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Tony’s Chocolonely
Place Purchased: Samples from ISM Cologne
Price: 2.20 Euro ($3.20 US)
Size: 5.64 ounces
Calories per ounce:
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Easter, Chocolate, Ethically Sourced, Nuts, 7-Worth It, Netherlands

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:57 pm     All NaturalCandyReviewEasterChocolateEthically SourcedNuts7-Worth ItNetherlands

Monday, April 18, 2011

Russell Stover Cookies ‘n Cream Nest

Russell Stover Cookies 'n Cream NestOne of the final Easter candy products I picked up from Russell Stover this year is the new Cookies ‘n Cream Nest.

Russell Stover makes a coconut version of the nest, which is kind of like a milk chocolate coconut haystack. This purple mylar package features a life sized image of the candy on the front, and I have to admit that this is one of their least attractive packages I’ve seen.

The ingredients are pretty clear that this is a pastel coating confection studded with crushed chocolate cookie pieces (a la Oreos). The first ingredient is sugar, the second is fractionated palm kernel oil and partially hydrogenated palm oil.

Russell Stover Cookies 'n Cream Nest

I went into this knowing that there was no real cocoa butter in here (which at least Hershey’s still uses as a portion of their white confection these days). The scent of the product smells a bit oily and a lot like Easter, sweet with just a touch of milk and fake vanilla.

The piece is exactly two inches around. Though I think it’s supposed to look hand crafted and random like the original Coconut Nest did, it’s molded, which gives it a glossy shine but an indistinct shape. I mean, if they’ve gone to the trouble to create a mold, I think it should look like a nest, not a lump.

The confection is pure throat searing sweetness. There’s a touch of milk flavor to it and a reasonably smooth melt. But mostly it’s a sticky sweet fake white chocolate wax. The cookie bits provided the only respite, but were far too few. They’re cheap enough that I think there should have been more of them.

I was glad to try their version of the cookies ‘n cream genre and I’m glad that I’m only out fifty cents instead of being forced to go for a couple of dollars for one of the flat rabbits made of the stuff.

If someone is a die hard oiled sugar fan, this might be a good option. I know that Russell Stover is capable of better when it comes to White Chocolate because they did a really admirable job with their Peppermint Bark Snowman last year. I think Hershey’s C’n'C is better, but I’m holding out hope that some day, someone is going to make a real white chocolate version of cookies ‘n cream again. (Green and Black’s would do a fine job of it.)

Related Candies

  1. Russell Stover 42 Chocolate Mini Bunnies
  2. Russell Stover Peppermint Bark Snowman
  3. Russell Stover Giant S’mores Bar & Mint Dream
  4. Russell Stover Color Me Candies
  5. Wonka Exceptionals: Chocolate Waterfall
  6. Russell Stover White Chocolate Peanut Butter Rabbit
  7. Ritter Sport White Chocolate with Hazelnuts


Name: Cookies ‘n Cream Nest
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Russell Stover
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $.50
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 150
Categories: Candy, Easter, Russell Stover, Cookie, Mockolate, 5-Pleasant, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:35 pm     CandyReviewEasterRussell StoverCookieMockolate5-PleasantUnited StatesTarget

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