Friday, April 27, 2007

Dove Caramels & Chocolate Covered Almonds

imageI tried the Dove chocolate last year and was pleased with it. It’s kind of a slick chocolate, both in packaging and in texture. They market this as silky, and I’m not sure if it’s the level of fat in it or the size of the particles of cocoa solids ... or perhaps both.

While I’m not that keen on the plain bars, I got a note from some marketing folks offering me some of their other products and I figured, “what they hey!”

The Dove line is built around their plain dark and milk chocolate, sold in single-serve bars and the more popular “Promises” which I think of as a hybrid of Hershey’s Kisses and Perugina Baci (pure chocolate plus a little note in the wrapper).

image

These aren’t called anything ... just Smooth Milk Chocolate with Caramel. The bronzy foil holds a little rounded chocolate square with a filling of a caramel-like goo.

The wrappers also have little notes inside. Mine said things like Smile at yourself in the mirror and Sing along with the elevator music ... honey, I don’t need my candy telling me to sing out loud in public. I’m sure the folks at the Ralph’s on Glendale Blvd. are well aware of me belting out the 80s tunes when I visit and would probably hide these candies from me if they knew what they were telling me to do.

The chocolate here is smooth and creamy, perhaps a little sticky and sweet. The caramel filling doesn’t really have enough of the true caramel qualities I like, such as a burnt sugar taste or soft chew. I wanted more salt. But the whole thing is tasty and certainly worth the price of admission (free with my comp). But the thing that’s most appealing to me was how photogenic they were.

6 out of 10

image

The second item that’s much more up my alley is the Smooth Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds. I think the publicist who sent these to me intended to give me the dark chocolate ones, as there were two bags of milk chocolate in my little box. Oh well. The almonds are rather good, not as large and choice as the Trader Joe’s version that I often pick up, but there wasn’t a bad one in the bunch. They’re nicely toasted and crunchy. The chocolate is sweet and offsets the almond’s toasty flavors pretty well.

7 out of 10

At a regular price of $3.50 a bag, I don’t think I’d get these, except maybe if I was stuck in an airport and looking for something to bring on the plane. Both bags are easy to open and reclose, which is always a plus. I would probably pick them up on sale if I could get them for something like $2.50 though.

Related Candies

  1. Dove Desserts Bananas Foster
  2. Dove Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate Bars
  3. Hershey’s Heart’s Desire
  4. Sconza 70% Dark Chocolate Toffee Almonds
  5. Cocoavia Chocolate Almonds
Name: Dove Caramels & Milk Chocolate Covered Almonds
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Dove (Mars)
Place Purchased: samples from Dove
Price: retail $3.49
Size: 6.21 ounces & 4.5 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142 & 160
Categories: Chocolate, Caramel, Nuts, United States, Mars, Kosher

POSTED BY Cybele AT 10:29 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. You sing at Ralphs? Did you follow the other instruction and do the smile thing?

    (BTW, great mention in the Wash Post article!)

    Comment by Russ on 4/27/07 at 11:33 am #
  2. i’m so glad you covered these, I have been wondering but not curious enough to buy them without a full report! you rock.

    Comment by liz on 4/28/07 at 4:55 am #
  3. I am SO happy to hear someone else rag on the stupid injunctions on the Dove foil packaging.  “Get a foot massage” indeed.  I’m eating the damn chocolate, am I not?  I think I KNOW how to indulge myself without taking advice from a damn candy wrapper!

    Ahem.

    Can I just use this space to say also that I love the fact that you factor price into your evaluations?

    Comment by good enough cook on 4/29/07 at 7:07 am #
  4. My husband LOVES Dove, I myself am not a big chocolate fan. (I prefer fruity things or toffee, toffee covered almonds are my very fav but hard to find)But I digress, I will have to buy these for him and see how they rate. Thanks as always!

    Comment by Amy on 4/29/07 at 9:15 am #
  5. A friend tells me that Dove chocolate comes from Haiti. Apparently the Haitian government would like them to promote that fact, but they won’t.

    Comment by Tricia on 4/30/07 at 4:56 am #
  6. Cybele's avatar

    Russ - does grinning at yourself to see if you have anything in your teeth count as smiling in the mirror?

    Liz - thanks!

    good enough cook - I’m glad you agree on factoring in price, sometimes I worry that I’m not factoring it in enough when I get the samples. I still haven’t opened the second bag of almonds.

    Amy - the almonds should be good for him (I feed dark chocolate ones to my husband ... his hair is so shiny).

    Tricia - you mean that’s where they grow the cocoa beans?

    Comment by Cybele on 5/03/07 at 7:09 pm #
  7. A friend of a friend of a friend made some yummy brownies with a Dove bar icing.  I think it had some carmel in it?  maple syrup> butter>?  anyone have any experience with icing brownies with some of these ingredients?

    Comment by PJ on 2/04/08 at 5:46 am #
  8. Target has discontinued your chocolate covered almonds.  Walgreens was the only place that i could find them, and paid their high price of almost $4.50 a bag.  Now, Walgreens are in the process of discontinuing them.  Very unhappy.  Is it your company that will no longer be making this product?

    Comment by SHARON PAVEY on 7/15/14 at 8:40 pm #
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