Tuesday, December 1, 2009

Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate CrispsThese new Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Crisps aren’t exactly a holiday item. They look like an all-year round treat and perhaps more appropriate for an upscale football watching party than a Christmas get together.

The package says: We’ve got a delectable sweet treat. Our Dark Chocolate Crisps are wisps of rich, Belgian chocolate, curved for visual interest, and infused with crunchy bits to add some texture. These Crisps are definitely in! (Honestly, I don’t know what they’re talking about, it’s like the regular Fearless Flyer crew was on vacation and they let some word-mashing robot put this together. Curved for visual interest? Just to make it interesting? That’s one of those politically correct ways of saying “compelling but not attractive”. Infused with crunchy bits? Ever try to infuse something with a crunchy ingredient ... that’s not how infusing works.)

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate CrispsThe tall package holds a strange little tray (tipped up on its side for the upright box) sealed in cellophane. It has three sections that cradle the three servings of the crisps (12 in each slot).

I found the tray odd because it doesn’t sit level very easily. Also, for some reason it reminds me of little amusement park train cars. I want to take a series of them and hook them together and put them on some HO Scale train tracks. Make of that what you will.

Even without wheels, I enjoyed driving the tray around on my desk, it did a great job of protecting the candy in question. All of my chips were in great condition. Not only were they whole, but they were barely scuffed by rubbing against each other in transit. The only issue I had with them was putting them back in the cellophane and then into the box ... which went fine initially, but sometimes when I pulled it out of the box it was upside down or I got it turned around. This known as a chip loss level event in the HO Train Candy Train world.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Crisps

Each little flick is two inches long and an inch and a half across, so a bit smaller than a Pringles potato snack. They smell fantastic, like deep cocoa, smoke and a little like dried mushrooms. The little crunches of rice cereal make the surface a bit bumpy, not quite as much crisp as I was hoping for, but still of interest. The chocolate itself has a nice snap and melt. It’s quite dry and a little bitter as it’s 57% cocoa solids but the malty and crunchy rice bites add a little mouth interest.

They’re quite rich so even though a full stack was the supposed serving, I found five or six was quite enough for me. (Well, then about an hour later I’d want some more.)

Oddly enough, these Dark Chocolate Crisps aren’t such a bad choice as a snack if you’re going to compare them to actual Pringles.

Pringles Serving Size: 1 oz (approx 14 crisps); Calories: 160, Total Fat: 11g, Carbs: 14g, Protein: 1g
Dark Chocolate Crisps Serving Size: 1 ounce (approx 8 crisps); Calories: 148, Total Fat: 8.75; Carbs: 15g, Protein: 2g

The price difference between Pringles and Dark Chocolate Crisps isn’t even that big. They’re a fun item to snack on, I like how they make a portion seem so large. Dieters may find it helpful when they want a treat and want to make it seem huge. Six chips are just 110 calories. I also thought they were pretty cute and would make excellent garnishes for ice cream, cupcakes or even a creme brulee.

Dark Chocolate Crisps are all natural and appear to be vegan (though made on shared equipment with milk products). However, they’re not Kosher. They also come in a Milk Chocolate Crisps variety.

Related Candies

  1. Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Hazelnut Delights
  2. Trader Joe’s PB & J Bar
  3. Trader Joe’s French Truffles
  4. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites
  5. Daffin’s Candies Factory & World’s Largest Candy Store
  6. Trader Joe’s Mini Peanut Butter Cups
  7. Idaho Spud
Name: Dark Chocolate Crisps
    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 (3rd & LaBrea)
Price: $2.49
Size: 4.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 148
Categories: Chocolate, Cookie, Belgium, Trader Joe's, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:07 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. Its so ironic how always when I find a new favorite chocolate at Trader Joe’s, the review ends up here, haha.  First is was the Chocolate covered pretzel nonparells, now these.  I actually prefer the milk chocolate variety, which is excellent.  This things are quite addicting and remind me a very thin nestle crunch bar with better tasting milk chocolate.  if you put one on your tongue it will literally dissolve in 20 seconds.

    Comment by Michael Perlman on 12/01/09 at 12:18 pm #
  2. These look a lot like Hershey’s Swoops?remember those?

    Comment by Frances on 12/01/09 at 1:09 pm #
  3. It’s a good thing we don’t have Trader Joes in Florida - they’d find me dead of a sugar coma with boxes of chocolate crisps strewn everywhere.

    Comment by Niloc on 12/01/09 at 3:10 pm #
  4. You shop at the same TJ that I was shopping at all weekend while visiting my sister in the LA area! And somehow, I missed these, despite them being exactly what I was looking for!

    Comment by Margaret on 12/01/09 at 5:51 pm #
  5. Funny, I was just eating those when I saw the blog entry! Not too bad. I just got the Holiday ad from TJ. I am looking forward to getting some the their dark chocolate covered caramels with sea salt! If they are as good as the ones I got there last year I will expect to gain a couple of pounds!

    Comment by Marilyn on 12/01/09 at 7:47 pm #
  6. Cadbury UK produce a very similar product called ‘Snaps’. I wonder how they would compare to these?

    Comment by Laura on 12/01/09 at 10:28 pm #
  7. I have seen that usage of “infused” all over the internets in the last few months. It drives me crazy.

    Comment by Travis on 12/02/09 at 8:44 pm #
  8. I tried these some years ago and loved them.  Glad they’re still making them.

    Comment by Pam Walter on 12/03/09 at 2:54 am #
  9. They do look like Pringles but there isn’t enough different flavor to make me want to buy it.

    Comment by (( Ms. K. ) on 12/04/09 at 5:38 pm #
  10. I’m laughing picturing you driving the little train of crisps around on your desk, having the time of your life.  Love your writing.  Too bad these aren’t Kosher.  Would you consider saying which company puts their kosher symbol on them in your reviews?

    Comment by Rabbis wife on 12/06/09 at 3:31 am #
  11. Cybele's avatar

    Hi Rabbi’s Wife - I do note if any candy is Kosher in the stats box at the bottom of the review. If it says Kosher there, it’s also a link to all candies that I’ve reviewed that are Kosher. Trader Joe’s tends to be hit and miss on Kosher status.

    Comment by Cybele on 12/06/09 at 7:12 am #
  12. there is a kosher counterpart by Gross chocolate. Not only is it kosher-the dairy ones are chalav yisrael and there are pareve ones too-all OU. The dairy ones include a hazelnut one. They look identical to these.

    Comment by alyssa kaplan on 12/06/09 at 11:55 am #
  13. Wow, this is rather bizarre.  I picked up a box of “Chocola’s Milk Chocolate Crispy Belgian Chocolate Thins.”  I thought they looked familiar—with the exception of the appearance of the outside box, they’re identical to these.  I’ve never heard of this “Chocolas” name (They’re very adamant about being imported from Belgium), but then, I’ve never seen a Trader Joe’s here in Canada, either.  smile

    Comment by Jilliterate on 1/05/10 at 2:24 pm #
  14. i picked up a box today because of this post. can’t wait to have some tomorrow…excercising self control so i don’t snack on chocolate before bedtime.

    Comment by bagnatic on 2/06/10 at 6:58 pm #
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