Lily O’Briens Honeycomb Crisp

January 17, 2011 · Filed under chocolate · Tagged , , , , , , ,

Usually I’d say, honey and chocolate is no combination for me. I’ve tried it a few times and I find it way too sweet most of the time. But as I’ve already tried a really well produced chocolate treat by Lily O’Briens, I am looking forward to trying this treat.

As expected, the smell of the chocolate is really sweet. The milk chocolate smells rather unfamiliar for a whole milk version, there is some vanilla added which you can slightly sense and of course there is the honey. The sweet smell of honey is not as dominant as I expected it to be, but it definitely is very intensive. I like it.

The bar got a little damaged on its way to Germany, but the pieces still look great. You can see they put a lot of effort into their chocolate, it looks really smooth and has a nice midbrown, a little darker than typical milk chocolate. While the top is really smooth and even, you can see the honeycombs and crisps coming through on the back.

Wow, this chocolate gets me as well, just like their toffee version. The milk chocolate is milky but not sickly, it melts less well than usual milk chocolate, but that’s just perfect, as it goes perfectly well with the fillings that you have to chew anyway. The rice crisp don’t have a remarkable own flavor, and the honey adds a nice amount of not just sweetness, but actual honey to the bar. Still, the chocolate remains the dominant taste in there, and this combination is really delicious. The crisps are really crunchy. The rice crisps and the combs are tiny and the amount of the pieces in the chocolate is really balanced.

So, all in all this one totally exceeded my expectations!

9 out of 10

Name: Honeycomb Crisp
Branch: Lily O’Briens
Price: ??
Size: 30g
Calories: 501.4kcal per 100g, 150.4kcal per bar
Fat: 27.9g per 100g, 8.4g per bar

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Ritter Sport almond-nibs

January 13, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Ritter Sport, Uncategorized · Tagged , , , , , , , , ,

Ritter Sport’s organic chocolate line has caught me indeed. I like the idea of a higher quality cocoa-wise, even though I think the organic part is a little unnecessary. But: There are people (like my granny) who highly believe in this kind of ingredients. Of course, artificial flavors or colors are strictly forbidden, which definitely is a good thing, but here in Germany, non-organic products do have a high production and test standard.

But you can tell the difference between the common and the organic product. Not only production-wise (the testing is way stricter!), but also taste-wise. The almond nib chocolate contains a nice amount of 35% of cocoa that provides an amazingly smelling aroma in connection with the almonds. The clicking noise is rather firm for a milk chocolate, but as you know, there are almond nibs of every size in it. They put in some bite, while the chocolate is soft and smooth and tends to melt very soon.

There is a nice sweetness coming with the melting process; and when you chew on the almond nibs at the same time, you have a good amount of cocoa, a nice milky-sweet flavor combined with those nutty and juicy almonds.

After I was a little disappointed with the other organic chocolate treats, this one is my favorite so far! It is really good and even better than the common almond nibs miniature I’ve already written about.

10 out of 10

Name: almond nibs (organic)
Branch: Ritter Sport
Price: 0.99 Euro
Size: 65g
Calories: 562kcal per 100g
Fat: 40g per 100g

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Lindt milk & Honey

January 10, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Lindt · Tagged , , , , , ,

This bar seems to be a chocolate only available during summer as well. At least it was taken out of Lindt’s range by the end of September, that’s why I guess it is like that. The milk ‘n honey bar is wrapped in a light yellow, honey like wrapper, and just like the other two bars of this range, it is stabilized by a cardboard. “Dream and enjoy” is their slogan.

The milk chocolate is soft and milky, has a good melt and comes with the familiar Lindt-quality.

The inner part reminds me of my early childhood. Some of you probably know this situation: You cannot sleep and your granny or mother makes you a cup of hot milk with honey. Geek, that’s exactly the way the filling tastes without the chocolate part, and I really enjoy this rather sweet honey trip down memory lane!

Dream and enjoy goes very well with this chocolate treat, at least for me. It is a pity I did not find it earlier, as I really would have bought the one or other bar to give them away, as this is a really nice treat, especially if you’re in for honey and milk chocolate!

8 out of 10

Name: Milk & Honey
Branch: Lindt & Spruengli
Size: 125g
Price: 2.24 Euro
Calories + Fat: ?

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Milka Almavel Duo Cocoa-Hazelnut

January 9, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Milka · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

Amavel is an entire chocolate production line by Milka. It comes in a solit paperbox and is wrapped in a golden foil as well. Somehow they remind me of the ‘new’ Lindt chocolate bar design. Amavel duo is made of a milk chocolate shell, which remembers me of Kinder chocolate aroma-wise; filled with two different components. This version comes with a hazelnut crème topped with a viscous cocoa filling.

The chocolate shell is similar to the usual Milka alpine milk chocolate, but I just cannot get rid of this Kinder chocolate surprise egg connection. The hazelnut crème is not as nutty as it should be, and the expected richness of the cocoa crème does not enter the overall-flavor at all. Instead, I taste this sweet and milky alpine milk chocolate all the time, so dominant that the other components hardly have any chance to get through to you.

I was really disappointed by this bar, it sounded promising; Plus, the price and the looks gave me the impression to have something better than the usual Milka chocolate. I only hope the versions filled with some fruit are better. If not, I do not think I’d try the entire production range here! Too expensive in somparison to what you get!

4 out of 10

Name: Milka Amavel Duo Cocoa on hazelnut
Branch: Kraft Foods, Milka
Price: 1.69 Euro
Size: 130g
Calories: 520kcal per 100g
Fat: 30.5g per 100g

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Ritter Sport cookies and nuts

January 8, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Ritter Sport · Tagged , , , , , , , ,

What follows is a review I wrote quite some time ago. I just wasn’t able to find the photo’s I’ve taken of this treat, but now I got them back.

This chocolate looks absolutely awesome. It is only available in a huge 250g bar, but as long as a chocolate tastes well, this is no problem to eat (obviously not in one session). It has a nice light brown color and you can see the nut and cookie pieces a little through the chocolate. On the back you can actually feel and see them coming through the layer. When you break them apart, you see huge pieces of nuts and a little larger cookie balls. Basically, the nut pieces are at the top and the cookies at the bottom of the chocolate.

I smell the mixture of hazelnuts and cookie combined with a sweet milk chocolate; really delicious and tempting. It’s really rare for cookies to have a strong aroma of their own, but they actually have a unique flavor. After I tried the chocolate, I figured that they promised a “unique” cookie taste and the treat really lives up to this promise.

The nuts are delicious; juicy and chewy. There are some smaller and some larger pieces in the treat, some come with a stronger hazelnut-flavor than others.
The cookies are totally crunchy and they are aired which makes them really light. Their taste is similar to the German Leibnitz- buttercookies, but lighter. I’m really impressed by the cookies, something I am usually not.

The cookies and the nuts are randomly mixed, even though the trend is that the cookies are on the bottom. There are even some places at which there is just plain chocolate, which provides a really chocolaty adventure every now and then. Those parts get a little sickly; but fortunately, that does not happen too often.

Yes, I can say I enjoyed this treat; it’s definitely one of the better Ritter Sport candidates! But please…I want a smaller size!

8 out of 10

Name: Cookie and nuts
Branch: Ritter Sport
Price: 1.99 Euro
Size: 250g
Calories: 535kcal per 100g
Fat: 33g per 100g

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Lindt Cresta

January 7, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Lindt · Tagged , , , , , , , , , , ,

It took me quite some time to buy this chocolate bar, simply because I wasn’t too sure of the composition: Alpine whole milk chocolate filled with almond brittle on a praline mousse. Praline mousses are often made of hazelnuts and I thought in combination with the crispy almond brittle this would not be the best combination. Then, after searching for a crunchy chocolate treat these days, I went for it.

On the outside the bar looks just like all the other flat Lindt chocolates: 12 milk chocolate container, each coming with an imprinted “Lindt” writing. I needed to get used to its smell which mainly consists of the sweet milk chocolate aroma; mixed up with a nougat-like scent probably coming from the mousse. The almonds are not too intensive here, but I can see some rests of pieces in the brittle. The crème has a slightly lighter shape than the chocolate and the brittle is bronish-golden; I really enjoy its inside looks.

As a whole, the texture is beyond amazing! Why, you ask? We have a crunchy brittle that provides a nice chew, while the chocolate has an amazing melt though not being too smooth before hitting the mouth; and the mousse? The mousse is the soft part of the treat. Mixed up, this is a perfect combination for a well done chocolate treat.

Now, let’s turn to the most important part, the taste: I am totally positively surprised by the chocolate. The milk chocolate itself is typical Lindt quality: Sweet but not too sickly, rich of milk but not too rich of cocoa. The praline filling seems similar to nutella to me, a nougat-like, rich of hazelnuts crème which is not too sweet to my surprise! And the brittle? Here we have an outstanding production of almonds, really! Almonds are by far not my favorite nuts, but this brittle made from almonds is really good, even though a little sweet, but that comes usually with brittle, as there is a lot of sugar in it.

9.0 out of 10

Name: Cresta
Branch: Lindt & Sprüngli
Price: 1.99 Euro
Calories: 537kcal per 100g
Fat: 31g per 100g
Size: 100g

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Meybona Cocco

January 5, 2011 · Filed under chocolate, Meybona, organic stuff

Meybona is an organic chocolate branch which sells some unique chocolate bars. A whole-milk treat containing coconut flakes is one of them. The treat has a darker color than typical milk chocolate and despite from the top layer, white coconut flakes can be seen through the entire chocolate.

The scent is milky but the coconut aroma fights very well against the milky smell and tends to be more intensive most of the time. I fear a somewhat powerful coconut flavor that is too intensive and ruins the chocolate (I am still a little reserved when it comes to coconut, even though I got to like it!)

The flavor is really cool; and even though I am not much of a coconut fan, I do enjoy this chocolate treat! Basically, the treat is really milky, but not as sweet as usual milk chocolate. It is comparably rich of cocoa and therefore one of the better whole milk chocolate treats. Meybona is a really good branch; and organic as well, and you can really taste it is worth the money. The milk is dominant in there as well and this mixture of milk and cocoa go really well with the coconut flavor coming only from the flakes. They add an enjoyable amount of coconut, neither too much nor too less coconut. There is less coconut than in chocolate treats like e.g. Bounty, but more would be rather disturbing than a good addition.

This was my first Meybona chocolate bar and I will start to look for some more variations soon! I’d always recommend this treat, even if you’re not too much of a coconut freak. The plain chocolate is worth trying!

8 out of 10

Name: Cocco
BRanch: Meybona
Price: 1.99 Euro
Calories: ???
Fat: ???
Size: 100g

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Exquisite Pistachio

December 15, 2010 · Filed under chocolate · Tagged , , , , , ,

Well, this one is what I should have posted before I released the white Heidelberry review… But here it is, the other one I’ve tried. It is from a store brand from Rossmann, a German grocer. Being priced about one Euro per 100g, it is priced somewhere between Milka or Ritter Sport and Lindt chocolate. I am curious whether you can taste that! There are only four or five different bars, and I started with the pistachio version (even though it is made with whole milk!) because I simply love pistachio nuts.

The chocolate is light brown and you can only see the nut nibs on its back. They seem tiny, but okay compared to the thinness of the chocolate bar. The bar itself looks nice, it hasn’t taken any damage in its paper box. It’s smell is intensely nutty! Woah! As soon as I opened the carton, the nutty aroma starts floating through the air. The scent seems a little sickly, but I am really surprised by the high amount of nuts in there (even though there are only 6% pistachios, the aroma is awesome rich!). While the top of the bar smells a little more like milk and sugar, the bottom, on which you can see the nuts, contains this awesome nuttiness.

The texture is smooth and the only bite comes from the nuts in there. The chocolate has a smooth melt, but it is not creamy like milk chocolate treats that contain cream powder. And yet, it is very viscous. I’m afraid the nuts are not too crunchy, they add a small bite, but that’s all. Between all this chocolate you can hardly tell whether they are dry or not, they really drown inside the mass of chocolate.

Well, the flavor is…average. At first I thought I get a sugar rush because this treat is _really_ sweet. Then, I sense a really intensive pistachio flavor mixed up with a large amount of milk. The pistachio soon is the strongest flavor in the mixture, and I like that even though there are not too many nuts in there, the nuts dominate the flavor. It is not that the milk chocolate and the sugar are eliminated by it, the pistachio just wins with a narrow, and certainly pleasant margin. The chocolate itself is milky, just as it is supposed to be. Personally, it is way too sweet for me, especially in combination with nuts; and therefore it turns sickly after only a few pieces.

It is nothing I’d buy again, not really good but nothing too bad as well. One can eat it, but I believe you can do better with this combination of whole milk and pistachios!

4 out of 10

Name: pistachio whole milk
Branch: Das Exquisite, Rossmann
Price: 0.99 Euro
Calories: 559kcal per 100g
Fat: 36g per 100g
Size: 100g

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White chocolate with blueberries

December 11, 2010 · Filed under chocolate

Nope, these are no poppy seeds, these are blueberries embedded in this thin white chocolate bar. The branch is the same one I tried the whole milk pistachio chocolate from which is not too long ago, and as I wasn’t too satisfied by my last try, I hope this version is better.

But my first impression isn’t too great. The chocolate isn’t white at all. Blue-black dots everywhere and only on the bottom I can find a little place of plain white chocolate, which seems to have a yellow-greenish color, even though there is no vanilla in there, guess it comes from the blueberry powder used for this chocolate. No cream in there as well, but step by step…

The scent is fruity, a little artificial but still fruity. The closer you get to the bar, the stronger the milky aroma, coming from the actual white chocolate, gets. The mix up is alright, but the slightly artificial smell remains disturbing.

When I break this chocolate, there is a small crack, but basically it is rather smooth. The texture is alright, but hardly average. The white chocolate lacks a good melt and creaminess, and the blueberries are similar to soft brittle pieces: they add a hint of crunch to the bar.

Basically, this chocolate treat is an under-average white chocolate filled with artificially manufactured fruit. The white chocolate is not as milky as I hoped and I find no sign of real chocolate. Then there are those first sweet, then sour-turning blueberry-pellets that add a little fruit, fortunately less artificial than its smell; but both, the milk and the fruit seem only bytastes, the main flavor in there is simply…nothing.

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Lindt Summer Mood vanilla-stracciatella

December 8, 2010 · Filed under chocolate, Lindt · Tagged , , , , , ,

While I am writing there is a storm raging outside that is really heavy. I am used to rain over here, but this is way beyond what I am used to – as well as the temperatures we had last summer.

The vanilla aroma is really strong and you can sense the bitter chocolate beneath the vanilla, and even the cocoa nibs that are embedded in the vanilla part add some cocoa to the smell. It is really well done and the vanilla is kept from getting too overwhelming by the bitter chocolate.

Damn, this one is really delicious! At first I sense a bitterness from the bottom of the chocolate which mixes up with the white chocolate pretty soon; that’s where the sugar comes into the game. Also, the vanilla-flavor sets in and the mixture is really unbelievable. The vanilla flavor isn’t as intensive as the aroma is, but that is perfectly nice as the treat stays really balanced. The dark cocoa nibs add a roastiness to the treat that is totally stracciatella like and that breaks up the vanilla-flavor and occasionally take away some of the sweetness coming from the white chocolate, again.

Texture-wise the chocolate is a little boring as you cannot feel the cocoa nibs in there and the plain chocolate is chewy, while its melt is really nice and tempting. The white-yellowish vanilla part has a slightly better melt. This little difference saves the bar in my opinion; because when I think of stracciatella icecream, I think of soft milk ice filled with crunchy dark chocolate nibs; and this is the part which is missing for me.

I’d give the bar a ten, but I just cannot due to the texture which is not good enough for a 10. Also, the bar tends to turn sickly after a while, even though it is not too sugary. I think that’s the vanilla flavor in there.

9 out of 10

Name: Summer Mood vanilla-stracciatella
Branch: Lindt & Sprüngli
Price: 1.99 Euro
Calories: 552kcal per 100g
Fat: 36g per 100g

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