Tuesday, January 22, 2013

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar & Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar & Glorious Coconut Hocus PocusThe world of gourmet candy bars is not limited to North America. The United Kingdom has The Grown Up Chocolate Company which currently makes four upscale and unique candy bars. I was able to procure two of them on my trip to New York City late last year.

They’re packaged well in boldly graphic boxes with fun typography. Inside the box is a rather large candy bar, made with all natural ingredients. The bars are 65 grams, which is about 2.29 ounces. Inside the box the bars are held within clear trays and then sealed in cellophane. Each had expiry dates of late January 2013.

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar

The bar that I found most intriguing was the Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar. The package said: Caramelised wafer enticingly slathered in sumptuous praline encased in real milk chocolate, a true wonder bar!

The package had two of these little bars, which is great for me, because a little over an ounce is a perfect portion especially for something that seemed so decadent.

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar

The little bar has an interesting center. It’s a milk chocolate ganache filled with crunchy, flaky and malty bits of wafer. There’s a little hint of hazelnut paste in the filling, but there’s not much to it. It’s the kind of wafer that would make up an ice cream cone. The cereal taste to the bar and the milkiness of the chocolate makes the whole thing taste an awful lot like a chocolate ice cream cone.

One little bar is extremely filling. I liked this quite a bit and would likely buy it again if I ever saw it, even though it’s about $6.

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus

The Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus is a rather interesting bar. It’s not merely a retread of an Almond Joy, instead they’ve done quite a bit of work to create something a bit more uncommon. The description is: Creamy coconut ganache luxuriantly topped with an indulgent fruit and nut jumble enrobed in decadent milk chocolate.

The milk chocolate then has a little zig-zag drizzle of dark chocolate as well.

The Grown Up Chocolate Company Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus

The first thing I noticed after biting into it, aside from the coconut flavors, was the lemon zest. It’s quite a different profile, it’s sophisticated and cuts the sweetness of everything else. The ganache center is dry, it’s not a chewy coconut but has a good balance of milky and coconut luxury. The jumble of nuts and fruits is truly that. I got a lot of almonds and a few pieces of zest as well as a piece of apricot at one point.

It’s odd and inconsistent. I wanted more of the fruit and for the nuts to be chopped up just a little more. Biting into a big almond just made a mess. The milk chocolate is sweet, but doesn’t have enough counterpoint for all the other sweet things. I would have preferred a little dark chocolate contrast and actual chocolate flavor. Still ... it’s a really promising bar. I had to pick the right time to eat it, late in the day the sweetness was overwhelming and made me sleepy. Mid morning seemed to work better for the second half of it.

According to their website they have mini bars, which are probably more my speed. I don’t know much about the sourcing of their cocoa or other ingredients, as they don’t say on their website or the packaging. The bars contain wheat, soy, dairy and nuts and may contain traces of peanuts.

Related Candies

  1. Liddabit Sweets - Candy Bars
  2. Snow Angell Organic Candy Bar
  3. Eat with your Eyes: The Most Awesome Chocolate Bar Ever
  4. Zingerman’s Zzang! Candy Bars
  5. Zotter Candy Bars
  6. Ritter Schokowurfel
  7. Lake Champlain Five Star Bar


Name: Crunchy Praline Wonder Bar
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: The Grown Up Chocolate Company
Place Purchased: Zabar's (New York City)
Price: $5.95
Size: 2.29 ounces
Calories per ounce: 150
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Chocolate, Cookie, 8-Tasty, United Kingdom


Name: Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: The Grown Up Chocolate Company
Place Purchased: Zabar's (New York City)
Price: $5.95
Size: 2.29 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Chocolate, Coconut, Nuts, 7-Worth It, United Kingdom

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:28 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewChocolateCoconutCookieNuts7-Worth It8-TastyUnited Kingdom

Comments
  1. Wow I’ve never heard of this company before and I’m in the UK lol. These bars both look very interesting, I especially like the the look of the Glorious Coconut Hocus Pocus. It’s on my “to find” list!

    Comment by Grocery Gems on 1/23/13 at 5:28 am #
  2. I would love to be able to try either of these. I kept looking at the Hocus Pocus bar’s pic though: it looks like a mummy on a slab!

    Comment by Denise on 3/12/13 at 8:57 pm #
Commenting is not available in this channel entry.

Next entry: Sockerbit Swedish Candy Selections

Previous entry: Mast Brothers Stumptown Coffee




 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

ABOUT

FEEDS

CONTACT

  • .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  • Here are some frequently asked questions emailed to me you might want to read first.

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

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

 

 

 

 

Facebook IconTwitter IconTumblr IconRSS Feed IconEmail Icon

COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2578 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

image

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

image