by 8chocolate on July 13, 2009
Chocolate and peanut butter. Two flavour combinations that are meant to be together. Jer’s Handmade Chocolates sent me a few of their tasty treats to try and I have to say it was a bit nostalgic in taste. I remember having Nestle Crispy Crunch and Hershey’s Peanut Butter Cups growing up but now older, I find myself gravitating to the premium dark chocolate blends you find at independant chocolatier shops. You don’t usually see peanut butter in their mix of chocolate pieces.
I think Jer’s has found the best of both worlds and makes me wish chocolatiers would use peanut butter more. If you are need of a peanut fix, then picking up a box of Jer’s should do the trick. All the chocolates are made in small batches without any added preservatives or fillers.
They sent me two kinds of their Peanut Brittle Bites – Yippee Cayenne and Pretzo Change-O. Four bites of goodness in each at about 55 calories per serving. Enough to have a taste to subside your cravings without breaking the calorie bank.
The Yippee Cayenne was first up with spicy cayenne pepper mixed with brittle and milk chocolate. It was very sweet and you could smell and see the pepper in the one inch chocolate square. I didn’t find the pepper very spicy but had a subtle heat to it that came on a little after the first bite. It was a nice combination however I like things spicy and would have preferred a good kick from the cayenne.
The Pretzo Chango-O was next with a mix of salty crushed pretzels, milk chocolate and sweet brittle. Right away it was a crunchy bite of brittle and pretzel pieces. Very yummy and you could really taste the pretzel. I didn’t find them overly salty and the blend of chocolate, brittle and pretzel is a perfect bite sized combination of sweet and salty. It was hard to stop at just one…ok, two.
Last but not least, Jer’s award winning Gourmet Peanut Butter Confections. The box they come in feels like a throwback to another era and reminds you these chocolates are handmade. The box is really well made and the bow adds a nice touch. It’s rounded on each end giving it a distinct look. The colours and designs on the box change with the seasons and holidays with their blue box being their signature package. It makes a really nice presentation.
But let’s get down to the more important stuff – the chocolate! The box contained three large chocolates each one with its own unique center made from all natural peanut butter. There was a range of sweetness between the three pieces depending if it was milk, dark or white chocolate on the outside.
The Incrediball piece was creamy with a crunch to it. It was very peanutty and encased in dark chocolate. The Toffee Break piece was super sweet. Not sure if that was because of the white chocolate on the outside or the toffee bits throughout the center. Sugar rush coming on. And finally, the Pretzo Change-O piece which had a saltiness to it because of the pretzels with a center that reminded me of crunchy peanut butter. Enveloped in milk chocolate, this was my fav.
All the chocolates were decadent with added bits of nuts, pretzels or toffee mixed into smooth, velvety peanut butter centers. Don’t want to know the calories on these babies. Some things are just on a need to know basis and all I wanted was to finish up the last bites of Jer’s chocolates without any guilt. Mmmm!
by 8chocolate on June 25, 2009
Can Willie make an encore performance? Earlier this month I reviewed the Willie Harcourt-Cooze Peruvian 70 bar and fell in love. You can imagine my delight when my good friend, ERGagit, sent me a Venezuelan 72 bar from the same Forgotten Flavours collection.
Willie Harcourt-Cooze has created his own chocolate destiny. He bought land in Venezuela, planted, farmed and harvested the beans, and then sent them to his own chocolate factory in the UK where he turned them into his amazing chocolate. How cool is that? What a journey it goes through to become this rich chocolate morsel melting in your mouth.
The ingredient list on the box is only three ingredients - Cocoa mass, Cocoa butter and Cuban raw cane sugar. That’s it. And he believes the less meddling you do with the chocolate the better. Well, he must not have meddled too much with this chocolate because it tastes so good.
The Venezuelan 72 is so creamy with a smooth full-bodied flavour similar to the Peruvian 70. However, the chocolate has a more bitter taste and has a sharp edge to it. Its fruity undertones are not as dominant as the Peruvian 70 but they reach through with each bite you take. Note, that’s not a bite out of the bar in the photo, it had already broken off…REALLY. If I had to pick between the two, I still prefer the taste of the Peruvian 70 bar.
Willie is definitely doing something right with his chocolate. He takes you beyond chocolate and makes you wonder why we ever changed the way we did things. Oh for the good old days when chocolate was chocolate. I promise you you’ll find it in his Forgotten Flavours.
by 8chocolate on June 22, 2009
Who said chocolate dipped coconut macaroons aren’t for breakfast? Truth is after having three of them first thing this morning, I felt I was done with any breakfast caloric intake I had left.
I recently found @BrownEyedBaker on Twitter when she posted her recipe for Chocolate-Dipped Coconut Macaroons. I’m usually not that big on macaroons but my beau is big on coconut. Since these were dipped in chocolate and her photos made them look so good, I thought I would gave them a try.
The recipe has only a few ingredients and is great for those who need a wheat-free, nut-free or dairy-free dessert. (I have many friends in one or more of these categories) It’s also VERY easy to make so a good recipe to make with the kids.
I have to warn you that they are very sweet. For some, I realize this is not an issue but a welcome advantage. My coconut macaroons didn’t turn out as well as Brown Eyed Baker’s did in her photos. Maybe I needed to have my macaroons in for longer to get a little darker on top or my convection oven creates a different result.
At any rate, I’m sure they tasted just as good because mine were also delicate, two-bite coconut pyramids of sweetness and chocolatey goodness. I admit in my inhaling of these macaroons that some became one-bite morsels.
Visit Brown Eyed Baker’s post for the complete recipe. It makes three dozen so there’s plenty to share.
by 8chocolate on June 17, 2009
A recent chocolate purchase from Bovetti Artisan Chocolatier of France brought together the popular combination of salt and sweet in their Caramel and Fleur de Sel bar. What stood out to me first was the packaging. While other companies go for richness and gloss in their look, this company goes back to basics.
Their packaging is similar to kraft cardboard with an envelope look complete with postmarks. It has a clear window on the front teasing you with the chocolate waiting inside. The melted caramel bits resting on the naked chocolate caught my eye. It was very raw looking and honest. No foil wrapping, no where to hide.
The milk chocolate bar is made very thin to get the maximum amount of ‘underside’ for the caramel and salt to rest. The salt was not as visible on the bar I had and in some bites there was none and in others it clearly came through in the taste. I wondered if this was because the salt is tossed randomly on the bar by hand and not machine?
The sweet caramel was just enough flavour, not too sweet. It gave the bar a chewy texture in my mouth and the larger caramel bits added a quick crunch now and again. The milk chocolate was a definite backdrop to the strong play of caramel and salt and didn’t stand out as extraordinary chocolate. The additional ingredients were what raised the level of the bar.
When I purchased the bar at the retailer, they had only five different flavours to choose from. I was surprised to learn that Bovetti has over 100 bar flavours including Apricot, Anise, Cranberries, Lemon, Fennel, Cocoa Bean, Dry Fruits, Ginger, Blue Mint, Honey, Hazelnut, Crystallized Orange, Poppy, Sichuan Pepper, Pistachio, Sesame and Lavender. All of these have their ingredients added to the underside of the bar so it’s hard to know how to serve it. Maybe we are not meant to share it and we are to keep these yummy chocolates to ourselves. We wouldn’t want to create a faux pas now would we.
The Bovetti website is naturally in French and they do have an English language selector however the translation doesn’t appear to be working. I wish I could have learned more from their website but photos of their chocolate would have to suffice and that’s not such a bad thing.
by 8chocolate on June 8, 2009
Whenever I think of caramels, I think of the chocolate covered caramel squares you normally find in a box of chocolates. Well, no longer since experiencing Amella Caramels sent by Artisan Cocoa.
These caramels have no preservatives, have all natural ingredients and come in three flavours: Passion Fruit, Black Forest and Carrot Cake. Not the usual names when you think of for caramels. The names do grab your attention to further discover what these are all about. Each flavour comes in a box of three caramels with a peek-a-boo window on the top.
The first one I tasted was the Passion Fruit as it’s a favourite flavour of mine. I had never seen this combination together so I wasn’t sure what to expect. You can taste the tang of the passion fruit right away. It had a sour/sweet blast of flavour: the very fruity sourness of the passion fruit combined with the sweetness of the caramel and milk chocolate. The caramel is very smooth and buttery, not sticky and stringy like some caramels can be. It was all good but wondered what it would taste like topped with bitter dark chocolate instead of milk chocolate.
Next up was the Black Forest Caramel. The classic black forest cake combines chocolate and cherries and these caramels carried on that tradition even including shaved chocolate on top. I thought these would be heavy on the dark chocolate but it’s the Amarelle cherries that stand out both in taste and in texture. There must have been a whole cherry in that caramel. As the chewy sour cherry mixes with the bitter dark chocolate and the smooth sweet caramel and white chocolate, it provides a symphony of flavours and textures in your mouth. I was expecting a strong chocolate flavour but the other ingredients hold their own and share the taste equally. You can’t go wrong with this flavour combination as it has something for everyone.
The final flavour was Carrot Cake. Yes, carrot cake. I thought this was odd and wondered how this would turn out as a caramel. Well surprisingly, even to me, it turned out to be my favourite. A mix of fresh carrots and pecans with a white chocolate top reminiscent of cream cheese icing. These tasted just like a morsel of carrot cake indulgence. Again texture came into play with real carrot strands mixing with the rich smooth buttery caramel and white chocolate. I’m not even a fan of white chocolate but the Carrot Cake caramels won me over.
In the end, all the caramels were very unique and were quite a different caramel experience than I’ve had in the past. Unique is good because it makes you stand out however with any new business, it takes a lot of work to get your new brand out there. I felt a little confused with this branding as Amella seemed to be the brand but equal weight was given to the company name itself, Artisan Cocoa. In my opinion, if Amella is the name people should remember, use it predominantly throughout your packaging, print and online and use the other very sparingly.
I thought the graphics on the packaging were lovely and suited the product well. I was a little confused when I saw the brand name upside down on one end of the package and the printing on the lid opposite to what it should be when opening a box. I understand now when I view how your counter packs are displayed but may be perceived as a printing error if receiving a box on its own. I wish people could see the sides of the caramels, as they look scrumptious stacked and out of the box. Is there room for a photo of stacked caramels on the counter displays? A turn on the Packaging Launch website may provide feedback on packaging ideas for future options.
Amella Caramels is a fairly new company that has proven to me that they offer a unique and delicious product that will get you rethinking what a caramel is. They may even have created a new category within the confectionery industry. With so much excellence and creativity presenting itself, only goodness can follow them.
by 8chocolate on June 4, 2009
There truly is a chocolate factory owned by Willie. That would be Willie Harcourt-Cooze, a UK chocolatier who has turned back time, producing amazing chocolate with his antique chocolate machinery.
He has been farming cacao beans for more than a decade in Venezuela. The cacao trees are not sprayed with pesticides, fertilizers or chemicals, and once harvested and fermented they head off to the UK to be turned into delicious chocolate bars at his chocolate factory.
If you have the luck of finding his chocolate, snatch it up quick. It’s in quite high demand and there have been long line-ups for it at Selfridges in the UK.
What’s the big deal? That’s what I wondered and thanks to a fellow tweep on Twitter, ERGagit, I was able to get a special delivery of the Peruvian 70 bar. The bar is from their Forgotten Flavours collection and the beans come from the province of San Martin in Peru.
In each box, there are two slim dark chocolate wafers (70%) individually wrapped. The box notes: one for now – one for then. I have to say I’ve not tasted chocolate quite like this. It really is different.
When I let it melt in my mouth, I picked up a sour fruity taste as the sweetness came through to the top. It was incredibly smooth and rich like a full bodied wine.
I’ve been rationing it now because I know once it’s gone it will be a very long time before I’ll be able to get a hold of another bar. I’m starting to understand why people lined up. He has raised the bar to new heights.
by 8chocolate on June 2, 2009
Great news! 8chocolate blog has made the Top 10 List for All-About-Chocolate blogs on the web.
Blogs.com is a service of Six Apart, a blogging company that creates blogging tools such as Movable Type and Vox. They create Top 10 lists for all kinds of categories but chocolate has to be the sweetest – well, next to candy blogs of course!
It’s an honour to be part of such a great group of chocolate bloggers. Thanks!
by 8chocolate on May 28, 2009
I Love Chocolate. Simple statement, simple title of a delightful book recently sent to me from Tundra Books. I Love Chocolate is a children’s book written by Davide Cali and illustrated by Evelyn Daviddi. At the end of the review, you’ll learn how you can have the chance to win this book for your child.
The story is about a boy’s love of chocolate and he tells us just how much. He enjoys eating chocolate whether he’s happy or sad, bored or scared, any day of the week. Sound familiar? He questions the reader asking what type of chocolate eater you are - nibbler or monster muncher?
All around it’s a fun, humorous book full of excuses why you should eat chocolate. We sympathize with him when he realizes the hardest part about loving chocolate is eating too much. I know the feeling. I found myself following along his chocolate journey relating to his observations and love of chocolate. When you are reading this book with your child you must have chocolate nearby.
It would have been fun to include a scratch and sniff chocolate patch in one or two places to spark that sense of smell. What child wouldn’t want to read a book about chocolate SMELLING like chocolate?
The book is beautifully illustrated. The boy is brought to life on the pages and you immediately take a liking to him. The colours throughout only enhance the chocolate and there’s so much to discover on every page. There’s even a poster cleverly printed on the inside of the book cover to post on their wall.
The marketer in me tells me it’s a book that would do well in a chocolate shop as an accompaniment to a chocolate purchase or gift basket. Every time the book was read with their little one, they would be reminded that they must stop off at your chocolate shop again.
I’m giving away my copy of this delicious book, I Love Chocolate. To enter, leave a comment on this post why you love chocolate by Tuesday June 3rd. I’ll include those names for a random draw to be done next Wednesday June 4th. Good luck!
UPDATE: We have our winner. It’s ALLY in WA. Congratulations and thanks to all who entered!
by 8chocolate on May 27, 2009
I have good news and bad news about my visit to Jean Philippe patisserie and chocolate shop at the Bellagio hotel in Las Vegas.
Lets get the bad news out of the way. I lost the chocolates I bought from Jean Philippe’s shop so I can’t provide a review. Not sure where they went but my best guess was I left them out in the 94F weather when we stopped to look at something on the Vegas strip. The person that found them would have had some very melted chocolate. I realized too late and wasn’t able to go back for more.
There is good news. I did take photos of the shop to share with you. The chocolate fountain at the front of the shop is what gets the most attention from us tourists.
It’s the largest chocolate fountain in the world at 27’ high. The milk, dark and white chocolate streams down resting momentarily on sheets of thick pieces of etched glass. At first you don’t believe its real, as the chocolate doesn’t appear to be moving.
As the chocolate winds itself through the maze, you can finally see the stream of chocolate lapping the bottom layers of the fountain and disappearing at the bottom where it will repeat the journey. There’s twenty one hundred pounds of chocolate flowing through the fountain. What I wouldn’t do to jump through that fountain alas it is encased behind glass so you can’t even dip your finger in the chocolate flow for a taste.
The shop is full of desserts and pastries and fruit and chocolate crepes are made fresh topped with whipped cream.
There are plenty of boxed chocolates to tempt you. Custom decorated cakes are suspended on clear shelves that twirl so you can view these pieces of art at every angle.
I’m hoping some of you have tried Jean Philippe chocolates and can weigh in with your reviews. If you are visiting Vegas anytime soon, check them out at the Bellagio hotel. To get to the shop, you walk through the Bellagio lobby with the ceiling of Chihuly glass, detour through the botanical gardens in the conservatory and stop when you see the chocolate fountain.
A mini tour that is free but a rich experience for your senses!
by 8chocolate on May 19, 2009
Tomorrow I head off to Vegas with my beau to celebrate his birthday. There are so many travel deals out there right now that it was almost cheaper to leave town than stay in it.
I feel a little like the princess and the pea. This chocoholic will be sleeping in a room up above knowing that Jean-Philippe patisserie and chocolates are below me downstairs. They have a delicious video online that shows their chocolate fountain and inside the patisserie. I look forward to sharing my chocolate dreams with you when I return.
