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Christmas

Monday, January 7, 2008

Smooth n Melty

Smooth n MeltyThere are a few candies that I like against my better instincts. Smooth n Melty Mints are just such a candy.

I was at the grocery store and saw these “petite mint chips” on post-holiday sale. At only $1.24 for a 12 ounce bag, I could hardly resist. Sometimes I find myself spending six or eight dollars a pound for these little beauties in pastels at a candy shop when I get one of those strange cravings. They come in two different sizes, the regular which are the size of a squat Hershey’s Kiss and these that I picked up are the petite size that are like little chocolate chips.

Smooth n Melty

What are Smooth n Melty? Sugar, partially hydrogenated oils and mint ... and a few nonpariels thrown in for a little crunchy texture.

While that doesn’t sound good, they’re simply buttery melting mints. They’ve very sweet but not too minty. There’s a milky component to them, but it’s not an overwhelming dairy flavor. They’re completely unsatisfying in the sense that I have to eat them one after another until the whole bag is gone. (Well, there are a few left in the bag right now.)

The only thing I didn’t like about this “baking chip” variety over the pastels is that I had that little bitter taste from the red nonpariels (red dye #40 again).

Smooth n MeltyBack in ‘06 when Hershey’s introduced their Candy Cane Kisses I was so excited. They were Smooth n Melty, only made with cocoa butter instead of partially hydrogenated tropical fats. Sadly Hershey reformulated those seasonal Kisses so they are no longer made with just cocoa butter so I didn’t buy them this year.

Now if the partially hydrogenated thing puts you off, I did talk to Gary Guittard about Smooth n Melty. He said that they are working on reformulating them to include no trans fats. (But Guittard has no plans to make a real cocoa butter version, drat!) You can also get the mint disks without the nonpariels on them (usually for melting & candymaking) but I prefer the little crunch.

Related Candies

  1. Jo’s Peppermint Crunch
  2. Craves Chocolate Sticks
  3. Junior Mints Pastels
  4. Head to Head: Cookie Joys vs Cookies n Mint
Name: Smooth n Melty Petite Mint Chips
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Guittard
Place Purchased: Von's (Hollywood)
Price: $1.24 (on sale)
Size: 12 ounces
Calories per ounce: 151
Categories: Mint, United States, Guittard, Kosher, Christmas

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:05 am    

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

Trader Joe’s Irish Cream Chocolates

Irish Cream ChocolatesThis box of Trader Joe’s Irish Cream Chocolates was suspiciously inexpensive. I was on the prowl for an item they had last year, which were infused vodkas in chocolate. This was the only alcoholic chocolate I could find. When I say alcoholic, I mean that these do contain alcohol, 3.8% by weight. That’s enough for the register to ding when I bought them to make sure that I was of the legal age to purchase an alcohol product (I am).

The dark green box shows the little rectangles in nearly full size. Inside the box are three rows of five chocolates (15 total).

Irish Cream Chocolates

They’re a milk chocolate shell with an alcoholic “Irish Cream” syrup center. It’s quite thick and flowing, very sweet and rather odd. I didn’t care much for it at first, it tasted more like a slightly minty cough syrup, but the alcohol bite is certainly apparent. After a few of them, the creamy notes of the center came forward and I found myself reaching for one after another. (Not before driving.)

The milk chocolate isn’t the highest quality. It’s sweet and has a slight grain to it, but it contains the syrup center well. I only noticed two that had a leakage problem. There are a few ways to eat these. I prefer chomping off a short end and then slurping out some of the throat-blistering goo. But you can also just pop the whole thing in your mouth or probably nibble away at opposite corners to suck out more of the Irish Whiskey laced cream center.

Though they’re called Irish Cream Chocolates, they’re made in Germany.

Interestingly enough, this is the previous format of these chocolates, circa 2004.

Related Candies

  1. Romanego Dragees, Cordials & Fondants
  2. Rum Cordials
  3. Anthon Berg Filled Chocolates
  4. K Chocolatier
  5. Ritter Sport Capuccino and Rum Trauben Nuss
Name: Irish Cream Chocolates
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Trader Joe's
Place Purchased: Trader Joe's
Price: $2.99
Size: 5.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 132
Categories: Chocolate, Germany, Trader Joe's, Christmas

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:06 pm    

Thursday, December 20, 2007

Snickers Nutcracker

Snickers NutcrackerWhat does Snickers mean? Simply, it’s the act of stifling a snide laugh. Oh, how true it is.

If I bought a product that was simply named Snickers Nutcracker and given no other information, I would assume that it was a Snickers bar in the shape of a nutcracker. And what would I think a Snickers bar is? Nougat covered with a stripe of caramel with embedded whole peanuts and then covered in milk chocolate.

Of course I did buy a product name Snickers Nutcracker and I did not get a Snickers bar in the shape of a nutcracker.

Snickers Nutcracker

Instead I got a nutcracker chocolate shell filled with caramel creme with crushed peanuts.

Snickers EggThis is in stark contrast to the Snickers Egg I had back in March 2006, which was pretty much a Snickers bar in elongated hemispherical form.

But expectations and disappointments aside, this product is a little one ounce bar shaped like a squat nutcracker soldier. Inside is a caramel creme with crushed peanuts in it.

The center caramel is salty and tastes strongly of peanuts, not like peanut butter, but actual roasted peanuts. It’s not quite chewy, instead it’s a bit more flowing but still pretty smooth. The milk chocolate is sweet and contains the caramel well (no broken oozes in any of the nutcrackers I’ve had so far) and in good proportion.

It doesn’t have that “satisfaction” element to it that the heavy nut-ratio a Snickers bar has. I thought it was kind of fun, after all, how many gooey peanut caramel products are there? But I was really hoping for a Snickers.

Related Candies

  1. Snickers Almond Dark
  2. Snickers Xtreme
  3. Dove Truffle and Snickers Eggs
  4. 100 Grand with Peanuts
Name: Snickers Nutcracker
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Ralph's (Glendale)
Price: $.50 (on sale)
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: unknown
Categories: Chocolate,Chocolate, Caramel, Peanuts, Mars, United States, Christmas

POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:51 am    

Wednesday, December 19, 2007

Trader Joe’s The Art of Chocolate

The Art of ChocolateThis is one of those times where I missed the boat when photographing a selection of chocolates. This eentsy-weentsy box holds 1.76 ounces of chocolate. The box itself is about 3 1/2 inches square. There are nine pieces of molded Belgian chocolates.

So for the same calorie count that you’re used to with a candy bar, you can indulge in these cute little bon bons. They’re a perfect little stocking stuffer, especially when you see that the price is $1.99.

The Art of Chocolate

There’s even a little guide to each of the pieces (I’ll go kinda clockwise starting at the top with the biggest piece):

  • Cream and Vanilla Truffle - a milk chocolate shell with a stiff white chocolate truffle cream filling. Sweet but super-smooth.
  •  

  • White Chocolate Praline - The white chocolate coating has a little dab of dark on the top and a dark chocolate base. The inside is a hazelnut praline paste, a little crunchy with crystallized sugar bits in it.
  •  

  • Dark Chocolate Mocha Praline Tuffle - a sweet hazelnut and coffee praline center with the nice offset of a bittersweet shell. One of the true winners in this box.
  •  

  • White Chocolate Mocha Praline Truffle - what a difference the shell makes, this one was far sweeter overall and the coffee notes lost in the milkiness of the white chocolate.
  •  

  • Milk Chocolate Crisp Hazelnut Paste - this is a lovely little heart-shaped piece with a hazelnut on the top. A nice, well rounded hazelnut flavor, not really that much crisp to the praline, but tasty.
  •  

  • Milk Chocolate and White Chocolate Nougat - pretty much the same thing as the above hazelnut paste but with half a white chocolate shell. Again, making it kind of sweet, but adding a milky quality to it.
  •  

  • Milk Chocolate Crisp Chocolate Truffle Cream - a little triangle with a buttery milk chocolate truffle center with a light caramelized sugar crisp to it.
  •  

  • Milk Chocolate Praline - little roses are embossed on the top of this in dark chocolate, but the rest is milk chocolate with a hazelnut paste center. The simple ones, as usual, are the best.
  •  

  • Dark Chocolate Cream and Pistachio Truffle - a very buttery white creme center with a strong pistachio flavor to it. The texture is wonderful, the flavor rather floral and slightly medicinal.
  • Though you could just pop each piece into your mouth whole, I bit each in half while eating them, so there are 18 bites total ... a nice way to slow down and enjoy such a small portion.

    The selection is a little sweet and hazelnut-focused for an assortment for me. I wanted a bit more dark chocolate (and the dark ones were good). As a change from the normal Toblerone or tube of Droste as a stocking stuffer, party favor or office gift, these are pretty spectacular. As something I’d grab to satisfy me, they don’t quite make it.

    Update 1/10/2008: It looks like these may be made by Duc d’O, check out Chocablog’s review.

    Related Candies

    1. Trader Joe’s Designer Chocolates
    2. Pralines Leonidas
    3. Equal Exchange Miniatures
    Name: The Art of Chocolate (Belgian Miniatures)
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Trader Joe's
    Place Purchased: Trader Joe's (Silverlake)
    Price: $1.99
    Size: 1.76 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 167
    Categories: Chocolate, White Chocolate, Nuts, Belgium, Trader Joe's, All Natural, Christmas

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:55 am    

    Tuesday, December 18, 2007

    Hershey’s Mint Truffle Kisses

    Mint Truffle KissesAs I tried to document back in October, there are about 100 different varieties of Hershey’s Kisses, all issued this year in celebration of the 100th anniversary of the Kiss. Some are inventive new flavor combinations, some are rather poor executions of good ideas and still others are just different wrappers.

    While it appears that Hershey’s has not reintroduced their seasonal favorite, the Mint Kisses, they did do a wide release of the Mint Truffle Kisses. They’re obviously a winter or holiday item with the snowflakes on the package. While I’ve been looking around for the vexingly hard to find Malt Crunch, I’ve had no trouble finding the Mint Truffle, so I waited to buy them at the best price.

    image

    The Kisses come in either a silver foil with green writing or green foil with silver writing. Inside there’s a minted dark chocolate shell with a light green minted truffle filling.

    As with many of the other filled Kisses, these are a little greasy on the outside. (The Coconut Creme were huge offenders on this front.) They feel a bit cool on the tongue, that could be the huge dose of peppermint going on there but they also melt pretty easily as well. The truffle center isn’t super smooth, it’s more like a really soft and creamy mint frosting. It has a bit of a salty note to it, much more noticeable than the chocolate shell, this cuts through what would probably be a super-sweet Kiss. I like the little pop it gives it.

    There are no partially hydrogenated oils in here but 40% of your RDA of saturated fats in just 9 Kisses. This bag also seems to be more generous than some. It has 11 ounces in it, most recent bags of limited edition Kisses are 8.5 ounces (of course that could just be the size that the other stores I frequent choose to carry).

    Related Candies

    1. Candy Corn Kisses
    2. Kisses Coconut Creme
    3. Kisses Chocolate Truffles
    4. The Mint Kisses: Chocolate Mint & Candy Cane
    5. Peanut Butter Kisses
    6. Cherry Cordial Creme Kisses
    7. Head to Head: Rolo vs Caramel Kisses
    8. Short & Sweet: Caramello /  Mega M&Ms / Orange Kisses
    Name: Limited Edition Mint Truffle Kisses
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Hershey's
    Place Purchased: KMart (Torrance)
    Price: $2.00 (on sale!)
    Size: 11 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 145
    Categories: Chocolate, Mint, United States, Hershey's, Christmas, Limited Edition, Kosher

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:29 am    

    Monday, December 17, 2007

    Nestle Toll House Mint Holiday Gems

    The winter holidays seem to be a time of mint. Peppermint candy canes, mint marshmallows and of course all manner of minted chocolate. That’s why I wasn’t surprised to see these Nestle Toll House Mint Holiday Gems at KMart last week.

    Mint Holiday Gems

    They’re pretty much self-explanatory,  but for the record the package says, “Mint Semi Sweet Morsels with Red and Green Nonpariels.”

    The only quibble I have is that the nonpariels don’t look particularly red to me. They look kinda pink. Hot pink, or fuschia or something.

    Other than that, they’re little chocolate chips with colored nonpariels pressed into them. The semi-sweet chocolate is heavily minted, enough to create that cooling sensation in the mouth. There is a little bit of room for the chocolate flavor and the texture is pretty much that of a chocolate chip (a little more grainy than a chocolate bar). They’re strangely addictive, I chomped down most of them with my morning coffee. (The nonpariels do have a light bitter taste to me because of the red dye #40, your mileage may vary.)

    It’s a nice change up from eating chocolate chips but the thing that puzzled me about them is that Nestle went with the Toll House brand for these and not the SnoCaps. As far as similarity to the SnoCaps line, these only differ by the fact they have the mint in them. As far as Toll House morsels go these have the addition of mint, the addition of nonpariels and they’re sold in a box instead of a 12 ounce bag.

    They are Kosher but the chocolate contains milkfat and means they’re not vegan.

    Related Candies

    1. Jo’s Peppermint Crunch
    2. Craves Chocolate Sticks
    3. 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate
    4. Short & Sweet: Butterfinger Jingles and Mint Miniatures
    Name: Nestle Toll House Mint Holiday Gems
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Nestle
    Place Purchased: KMart (Torrance)
    Price: $1.19
    Size: 3.1 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 128
    Categories: Chocolate, Mint, United States, Nestle, Christmas, Kosher

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 6:09 am    

    Friday, December 14, 2007

    Trader Joe’s Peppermint Bark White Chocolate Bar

    I’m not sure what the precise name of this item is, as there are lotsa different things on the package, different sizes, different fonts. I’m going to go with Trader Joe’s Peppermint Bark White Chocolate Bar. The description clears this up, “White chocolate covers a bar of dark chocolate & peppermint bits.”

    image

    Though the bar looks kind of like some sort of yogurt-covered meal replacement bar, it’s actually high-density candy. It’s pretty hefty at 2.25 ounces. It’s all-natural, with the pink coloring coming from beet juice. The white chocolate is real, with the first ingredients being sugar and cocoa butter. So be prepared, this is a fatty, fatty bar. The recommended dosage for some reason is 2/3 of the bar which clocks in with 36% of your daily RDA of saturated fats (though none of them trans).

    But it’s the holidays!

    The core of the bar is a solid plank of semi-sweet chocolate with a light peppermint essence in it. Then it’s coated in a generous layer of white chocolate studded with crushed peppermint candies.

    If you’re a fan of peppermint bark, this is a good, portable option. High quality ingredients. Nice packaging (the bar is sealed in plastic/foil wrapper inside) and a decent price at $1.49 (this works out to about $10.50 a pound). I wanted more texture difference, more crunch, maybe not quite such a thick chunk.

    It’s a good stocking stuffer or just a little treat for yourself when you don’t want to buy a huge tin of peppermint bark.

    Related Candies

    1. Jo’s Peppermint Crunch
    2. Andes Mints & Dessert Indulgence
    3. Craves Chocolate Sticks
    4. The Mint Kisses: Chocolate Mint & Candy Cane
    5. Short & Sweet: Butterfinger Jingles and Mint Miniatures
    Name: Peppermint Bark White Chocolate Bar
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Trader Joe's
    Place Purchased: Trader Joe's (Silverlake)
    Price: $1.49
    Size: 2.25 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 149
    Categories: Chocolate, White Chocolate, Mint, Trader Joe's, United States, Christmas, All Natural, Kosher

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:54 am    

    Trader Joe’s Designer Chocolates

    Trader Joe's Designer ChocolatesThe Trader Joe’s Designer Chocolates come in a lovely red, matte pinstripe box with a little clear cellophane window to view the sassy morsels.

    The box heralds that there are “Six Stylish Varieties” and that they’re “Imported from Belgium.” While I like my chocolates to be attractive (and perhaps even stylish), I’m much more interested in them tasting good. The back of the little sleeve goes on to say, “Our hand-decorated chocolates are crafted by a European chocolatier who was among the first to create designs directly on the chocolate’s surface. Our collection contains six distinctive styles with exotic fillings such as Grand Arabica and Cardamom & Orange.”

    Trader Joe's Designer ChocolatesLike most of the other chocolates at Trader Joe’s, these are nestled in a plastic tray with no fluted cups for the candies. While the tray does a great job of protecting each piece, it does make it a little harder to just pluck the pieces out and put them on a plate for serving. I guess we’re supposed to bring the whole box to the table or something.

    The inside of the lid provides the key for the chocolates. The varieties include: Cardamom & Orange, English Toffee, Winter Spice, Grand Arabica, Yucatan and Double Hazelnut. While half of them feature a dark chocolate coating, all have a milk chocolate center of some sort. This was not communicated on the exterior of the package, so I was a bit disappointed. However, the pieces are a generous “two bite” size. Not too big so that you can’t have a nice variety to taste and not too small that you don’t get a good burst of the flavors.

    Trader Joe's Designer Chocolates

  • Cardamom & Orange (Milk Chocolate) - this was by far the flavor combo that made me purchase this box. The orange is very strong and the cardamom makes a good show as well. It’s sweet and milky but I really enjoyed it. My biggest problem was that the flavor infected the rest of the box. So I took out the remaining piece and let the rest of them sit without it in the box for several days before continuing my tasting. All still had the orange note to it, but I’m going to ignore that in the rest of the review.
  • English Toffee (Milk Chocolate) - I thought this might be actual toffee or caramel of some sort. Instead it’s a milk chocolate center with a toffee-flavored center. They could have told me it was rum flavored and I would have believed that, too.
  • Winter Spice (Milk Chocolate) - this is the milk one that has the little dark “leaves” on it. The spices are gentle, a little dash of cinnamon and maybe some extra vanilla. I’m not sure why they couldn’t just call it cinnamon. It’s sweet and pleasant.
  • Grand Arabica (Dark Chocolate) - this one had a slight grain to the center, it was a little bit like a hazelnut praline but with a strong coffee component (the crunches turn out to be coffee beans). It was tasty.
  • Yucatan (Dark Chocolate) - this one is billed as milk chocolate, hazelnut and cacao nibs. I really wished the center was darker. The nibs gave it a little extra boost of chocolate though the hazelnut flavors were a little lost. The nibs weren’t big, just a little bit of a light grain.
  • Double Hazelnut (Dark Chocolate) - this was the surprising winner of the box. I was dubious when it said double hazelnut, but the center has a lovely caramelized hazelnut crunch along with a milk chocolate hazelnut paste filling. Smooth and melty, wonderfully nutty and complemented by the dark chocolate enrobing.
  • I’ve always preferred enrobed or dipped chocolates to molded ones, so these win on that mark. The flavors aren’t as adventurous as some others that look similar and they’re not really that distinctively different from each other. I’d love to have some darker experiences (or at least know that it wasn’t to be).

    The packaging is by far the most appealing at Trader Joe’s as well. Just slip off the little sleeve and it’s a sassy looking presentation box. As far as value goes, at $6 for 7 ounces ($13.59 per pound), this is nice stuff with real ingredients. If you know you’re never going to be able to afford the stuff at thrice the price (well, more but saying quintuple doesn’t rhyme) such as MarieBelle, Recchiuti or Richart, this is fun “pretend” chocolates to simply enjoy but not necessarily savor. They definitely come in on the winner side of hostess gifts.

    Related Candies

    1. Trader Joe’s Espresso Chocolate
    2. Pierre Marcolini Chocolates
    3. Head to Head: Target vs Trader Joe’s
    4. Cha-Cha-Cha Choxie
    5. Boule Chocolates and Fruit Pate
    Name: Designer Chocolates
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Trader Joe's
    Place Purchased: Trader Joe's (Silverlake)
    Price: $5.99
    Size: 7.05 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 148
    Categories: Chocolate, Coffee, Nuts, Belgium, Trader Joe's, Christmas

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:53 am    

    Page 15 of 19 pages ‹ First  < 13 14 15 16 17 >  Last ›

    Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

     

     

     

     

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