Tuesday, February 7, 2006

Choxie Champagne Truffles

I get a lot of questions about Choxie here at CandyBlog.net. And with good reason ... there aren’t that many places to find out about Choxie. There’s certainly no info on the Target website. I haven’t spent much time with Choxie, but I have to say that the products I’ve tried are always good quality, nicely packaged and feature interesting flavor combinations.

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I picked up a few things last week, including the highly rated Champagne-Flavored Truffles. (I actually hadn’t seen them before.) They’re stunning looking little baubles of chocolate. Shiny and dark, the package highlights their gorgeous sheen. They smell rather spicy - of chocolate and a hint of wine. The truffles are about the size of a hazelnut in the shell (smaller than a malted milk ball).

These truffles are panned chocolate. Panning is when you take a solid nugget and tumble it, adding layers of coating on it. Panned candies can range from jelly beans to Gobstoppers to chocolate coated nuts to Lemonheads. Panning is usually done in large turning pans that look like cement mixers and can hold hundreds of pounds of candy. The coating can double the weight of each candy as each successive layer is added and then the final “polish coat” to seal them and give them the high gloss shine. In this case it’s called “confectioners glaze.”

The centers are made of white chocolate (made with real cocoa butter, not hydrogenated oils). The chocolate outside is sweet and smooth, a little on the sweet side but it’s definitely buttery and has a good smoky quality to it. The center is smooth as well and has a raisiny hint to it. Not really a champagne flavor in my mind, just a nice “boosted” vanilla flavor. The small size of them and their glossy appearance makes them easy to pop and of course easy to share.

As Valentine’s gifts go, the Choxie line has some really nice, inexpensive options. At less than $10 a pound for many of their offerings, they’re a really good way of expressing yourself without breaking the bank. The “shareable” nature of them is also a bonus. They also make nice hostess gifts or just a nice treat for yourself. Choxie has done a good job of bringing upscale into the realm of affordable. Their variety is also pretty stunning and it always seems like there’s something new when I check out the Choxie section. The ingredients also appear to be top notch, using real vanilla instead of vanillin and cocoa butter instead of palm oils.

Interesting note from the box: confections made in the USA, packaged in Mexico.

Name: Champagne-Flavored Truffles
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Choxie
Place Purchased: Target (Carson)
Price: $5.00
Size: 8.2 ounces
Calories per ounce: 132
Categories: Chocolate, White Chocolate, United States, Choxie

POSTED BY Cybele AT 9:45 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. I was seriously considering the Choxie while at Target (when I picked up the Hershey’s White Chocolate and Strawberries) because we had gotten a gift cert from someone so we were looking to splurge…

    Comment by Bryan on 2/07/06 at 6:05 pm #
  2. I found a pile of Christmas Choxie at 90% off in mid January - still mixed in with the standard Choxie, which is probably why they were overlooked by post-holiday bargain shoppers. Sadly, though, only one container of the [mixed variety] truffles remained. My goodness, though, they were a treat! And it means I’m willing to pay Valentine’s Day Choxies at 50% off middle of next week, if anything is left…

    Comment by Tricia on 2/07/06 at 8:05 pm #
  3. http://sites.target.com/site/en/spot/page.jsp?title=choxie

    Comment by Chariet on 2/08/06 at 12:59 am #
  4. This story about Chicago’s shrinking candy production is not choxie-related but seems right up your alley.

    Comment by tg on 2/08/06 at 7:21 am #
  5. but ack it requires registration

    Comment by tg on 2/08/06 at 7:21 am #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Thanks tg! I put up a long list of cool stories on the big newspapers about candy and included that one.

    Chariet - thanks for the link! I’ll update the post with that.

    Tricia - holy moly! you scored! I’ll have to keep my eyes out next time I’m there (and yes, I’m definitely hitting the stores next Wednesday).

    Comment by Cybele on 2/08/06 at 9:42 am #
  7. I tried the Choxie spicy caramels and they were jsut wrong. A starnge flavor to have in the texture of a caramel.

    Comment by zerodoll on 2/08/06 at 10:08 am #
  8. i tried the spicy caramels with zerodoll and even though i finished off the whole container, i wasn’t impressed. the flavor wasn’t worth the price. that won’t stop me from trying the dark chocolate ginger though…

    Comment by jayfish on 2/08/06 at 3:31 pm #
  9. Cybele's avatar

    Zerodoll & Jayfish - I’m really sorry you didn’t like the spiced caramels. I liked the kick they gave them. I haven’t tried any of the other panned items like the ginger, which looked a little iffy when I was there last time (some smashed the tops a bit on all the containers).

    Comment by Cybele on 2/09/06 at 9:26 am #
  10. Hmmm, I’m tempted to try these champagne truffles… But I had my first choxie experience last week and it was not a good one. I should have tried the well-reviewed spicy caramels. Instead I went with the spicy nut toffee sticks… This is the only chocolate I’ve ever experienced that I had to let “breathe” before eating.

    At first I thought the horrible taste was from the chocolate, but then I realized it was the individual plastic bag that the sticks are wrapped in. It’s either the plastic itself, or some chemical reaction between the chocolate and the plastic. Either way, it was gross, but if I let the chocolate sit unwrapped for 10 or so minutes, it was much better.

    Comment by sallie on 2/10/06 at 3:52 pm #
  11. Cybele's avatar

    Sallie - I’m beginning to think that Choxie’s line is not all that consistent. I got some mints in a little tin that were sub-par. I’m guessing since they use several different suppliers, it’s possible they’re not getting the best quality out of all of them.

    I have the same problem with “plastic smell” from some kinds of plastic wrap often found on sandwiches, cheese or plastic wrapped produce.

    Comment by Cybele on 2/10/06 at 4:04 pm #
  12. You guys are trying the wrong choxie products! I received a 3 pack of Choxie Chocolate Bars for Valentine’s Day. They were amazing! There was a peanut butter pretzel one, a raspberry lemon crunch one, and a dark mocha chocolate one. My roomate and I were immediately astounded at how delicious they were. I went back to target this weekend and bought a mint cookie crunch bar and a coffee toffee bar. They are amazing too! These could be the best candy bars I’ve ever tasted. I highly recommend them to anyone.

    Comment by Lane on 3/06/06 at 12:49 pm #
  13. I just tried to purchase Choxie at Target and was told they have been recalled. Any story on this?

    Comment by Jeff on 3/08/06 at 9:14 am #
  14. Yes! I just heard that yesterday. They’re recalling many of their products because they failed to list the presence of peanuts or trace peanut oils. I don’t think this is due to a particular case or incident of anyone with allergies, but it’s just precautionary.

    Comment by sallie on 3/08/06 at 9:21 am #
  15. Cybele's avatar

    Jeff - not all Choxie was recalled. Choxie is made by at least three different manufacturers and packaged for Target under the Choxie brand.

    The Double Dark Truffles were recalled because of undeclared possible peanut content (in the packaging stage some of the peanut butter balls may have gotten into the double dark packages). As a precaution they also recalled their other truffles: Milk Chocolate Truffles, Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Balls (which, um, do contain peanuts) and Milk Chocolate Caramel Balls.

    These were manufactured by Ross Acquisition Co. Inc. which goes by the name Galerie.

    You should still be able to get the rest of the Choxie line at the local Target, but some stores may be extra cautious and may have removed all of the product from shelves until it’s all sorted out.

    You can read the full release from the FDA here.

    Comment by Cybele on 3/08/06 at 9:25 am #
  16. can you PLEASE tell me how i can find or get the choxie COCONUT candy…i looked everywehre and cannot seem to find them..and if anyone had them..are they really good and would oyu buy them again? thanks..please email me .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address) thanks agian

    Comment by m.j. chimokosky on 5/14/06 at 5:15 pm #
  17. After reading some of the reviews on Choxie today, I promptly headed to Target after work.  I got two items (hot chocolate bar and Aztec Thin), which were pretty good.  I could not find the Champagne Truffles! 

    However, I have to say that I’ve had the Teuscher Champagne Truffles and I seriously doubt that Choxie would come close to that fresh-from-Switzerland sinful goodness. But, in an interest to save $50 or so, I’m willing to hunt for Choxie’s version.

    This is an awesome blog!  I’ve got several dentist visits lined up due to cavities.  Wish I could eat more chocolate!

    Comment by Sonya on 9/26/06 at 12:35 pm #
  18. I know you reviewed these last year, but ever since, I’ve been looking for them everywhere and still cannot find them.  I love white chocolate, and the fact that you rated them a 9…..taunts me.  raspberry Have you tried the Godiva white chocolate? I noticed you don’t have anything Godiva reviewed on here. Also the Endangered Species White Chocolate w/Macadamia Nuts is pretty good.

    Comment by Catherine on 3/06/07 at 3:10 am #
  19. Every single thing Choxie has made that I have eaten, quite literally, made me want to vomit. I will never buy their nasty junk again. <_>

    Comment by Meghan on 4/02/08 at 2:46 pm #
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