ZOMG, Candy!

These Caramel Almond Sticks are the last of my free samples from Charles Chocolates. Sad, as I really enjoyed munching my way through their wares!

The sticks are their “Fleur de Sel Caramel, enrobed… in 65% bittersweet chocolate and coated… in toasted almonds.” I loved Charles Chocolates’s Fleur de Sel caramel chocolates, so I had high hopes for these - and they really delivered!

The pack of 9 sticks came packaged in a little cellophane bag with a pretty gold bow. Each stick was about pinky finger-sized, covered in dark chocolate, and rolled in chopped almonds.

The caramels were buttery soft but also chewy. They stuck around my molars a bit, but I can forgive them because they were so decadently buttery flavored as well.

As you can see, the almonds had a tendency to fall off. They brought a bit of grit to the texture of the sticks, and I wish they were even more roasty flavored. If the website hadn’t said so, I wouldn’t have guessed that they were toasted.

The chocolate flavor was pretty dominated by the buttery caramel and the nutty almonds. I was able to notice its nice cocoa notes.

The caramel is really the star here. It’s so decadent and delicious and addictive. I just wish the nuts were a tad toastier. Still, I chomped and chewed my way through these at a frightening pace. They get a hearty OMG.

Today wraps up New Zealand review week (here’s day one and two), brought to you by ZOMG, Candy! reader Saskia. And Schoc Chocolates, I suppose, as I’m reviewing a second item from their line: Lime Chili (they spelled it Chilli) in rich dark chocolate.

I’m a chili chocolate addict and love trying different takes on the mix, but this was my first time trying lime and chili and chocolate all together (lime and chocolate I’ve had before, but it was never memorable and/or poorly executed; I thought I’d never had it until I searched my archives). Schoc calls this bar a way to “push flavour with a balanced interactive taste sensation”.

The first thing I noticed about the bar was the scent. It smells just like Rose’s lime juice! In other words, bright, sweet, citrusy, and concentrated.

The lovely dark chocolate was speckled with bits of lime crystals - actually minuscule shreds of zest, I believe - that left flashes of intense lime flavor and sweetness on the tongue. The chili factor brought an underlying burn to the whole experience.

I found this bar zingy and delicious! The lime kept my taste buds alert while the chili burn smoldered in the background, and the dark chocolate tied everything together. I hope I can find a more easily accessible version in America! An OMG.

A final thanks to Saskia for putting together a much appreciated and enjoyed package of New Zealand goodies, and a final plug for Cybele’s Candy Swap forum, where candy lovers the world over can share their favorite candies and find new ones!

After I noted TCHO’s off packaging, they sent me fresh samples with their new packaging. In the months since my roommate bought the pack that I first tasted, TCHO had switched from an inner paper liner (which probably contributed the nasty paper flavor) to an inner foil liner.

It seems like they’ve also reformulated the chocolate a tad as well. This time, only the Chocolatey was 70%. Citrus was 67%, Nutty was 65%, and Fruity 2.0 was 68%. The latter three are made from organic beans, and “Nutty” and “Fruity 2.0″ are fair trade as well.

The etchings on the mold have changed too - I much prefer the current line graph markings.

“Citrus” tasted dusky at first, then became brightly sweet and fruity/citrusy. It totally hit its mark.

“Fruity 2.0″ had a darker sweetness to it. It tasted of cherries and strawberries and carried a brightly fruity finish. There was no duskiness, and the bar had a thin melt.

“Chocolatey” was by far my favorite. It was initially sweet, then gave way to a strong nuttiness with a fruity undertone. It had a thicker melt and mouthfeel than the other bars.

Nutty had a darker nuttiness than the Chocolatey did - more reminiscent of hazelnuts, I think. It had a strong, jammy sweetness that lingered in the finish.

I greatly enjoyed this set of TCHO bars. A little packaging change made a huge difference! I’m impressed at how well the bars hit their flavor marks. These would be great bars to use for a chocolate tasting party. They’re all similar percentages, yet their flavor profiles are distinct and easily discernible. Chocolatey gets an OMG, while the others get OM.

Up until now, my food-related experience with Etsy has been with the myriad mini food jewelry pieces you can find there; I had no idea you could buy actual food - and more importantly, candy - there!

Word of warning: It looks like there’s a sidebar link for candies on the Etsy homepage. It’s actually candLes; disappointing. You want to click on the link for Plants and Edibles.

Kettle Confections is an Etsy maker of Almond Nougats that’s been featured on Martha Stewart Weddings’s website (as of writing time, they’re #47 in this list). I was fortunate enough to receive a free sample of their original and coffee flavored almond nougats.

The nougats were cut into thumb-sized rectangles and wrapped in edible rice paper. The rice paper will dissolve in your mouth without affecting the flavor.

It sticks to the candy but not to the wrapper, making it a smart packaging choice by Kettle Confections (also smart that they noted that it was edible on the package; not everyone grew up eating White Rabbit candy as I did, so not everyone thinks nothing of popping “paper” right into my mouth along with the candy). Though one or two of my un-rice-papered ends stuck to the wrappers, I had no trouble unwrapping my nougats.

Maybe a little trouble would have been a good thing. These nougats were delicious and disappeared all too quickly!

Both flavors were generously packed with almonds. I’ve been on an almond kick lately - I baked three batches of macarons and Dorie Greenspan’s Chocolate Amaretti Torte when I was home for the holidays - so these arrived at a good time. The whole almonds were super fresh and nicely roasted and thus packed with delicious roasty-nutty flavors.

The nougat was just chewy enough to get my jaw going, but not so chewy that it stuck to my teeth. The textures of the crunchy nuts and chewy nougat played off each other well, creating a texturally varied and addictively interesting treat.

The original nougats were sweet and tasted of milk and vanilla, which balanced well with the stronger roasted almond nuttiness. The coffee nougats had a strong coffee flavor but not of strong coffee - it was more cafe au lait. There was a slightly bitter coffee bite, but the nougat still tasted strongly of milk.

I loved both flavors and managed to polish off half of my bag all on my own. I would’ve eaten the whole thing, but I put some out in the living room for my roommates, and they got snatched up pretty quickly.

I didn’t know that I was a white nougat person until I tried these OMG-worthy treats. I’m now inspired to try more white nougats. Kettle Confections has certainly set the bar high!

Remember when I reviewed Hedonist truffles that were maybe no longer for sale? That’s because they replaced them with new truffles, their Holiday Collection, comprised of Champagne Pomegranate, Egg Nog, Fig, Ginger Molasses, and Orange Clove. I was lucky enough to get a free sample box to try (and managed to pick up a hidden away cardamom truffle while I was there!).

Champagne Pomegranate is a molded dark chocolate shell with a milk ganache. It smells lightly fruity. The truffle contains definite fruity notes of red fruits, but I wouldn’t place it as pomegranate, exactly. I get some light, boozy undertones from the champagne (though that could be my imagination). Finally, the light sprinkle of granulated sugar on top was a nice textural touch.

Egg Nog is a dark chocolate shell around a creamy white chocolate ganache. The flavor profile is nearly all nutmeg, with a light eggy-ness below. It tasted super fresh, but it was too much nutmeg for me.

Fig smells absolutely lovely, of fresh cinnamon. The ganache is chock full of figgy-ness, as in actual bits of figs. The figs impart a light chew and grit that blend so well with the duskiness of the dark chocolate and the strong cinnamon notes. It works really nicely!

Ginger Molasses was a dark chocolate shell with a super creamy molasses ganache, topped with bits of candied ginger. I love that topping and the ganache. The latter tastes like creamy brown sugar with dark notes of molasses and goes well with the dark chocolate couverture.

Orange Clove is yet another dark chocolate shell, this time topped with a bit of candied orange peel. It has strong clove notes with a citrus undertone; the clove comes through first, then a light citrus/orange oil essence comes through. It’s too much clove for me, but clove is in the name, so it’s not unexpected.

The ginger molasses and the fig are my favorites and merit OMGs. Champagne pomegranate gets an OM, and orange clove and egg nog, while well made (like everything Hedonist does), gets an O. All in all, a lovely, seasonally-themed set.

I’ve previously sung the praises of Hedonist Artisan Chocolates on this blog, and today, I’m adding to the chorus. Unfortunately, because they shake up their line up so much, I’m no longer sure these truffles are even still available. Oops. On the plus side, that also means that they’ve got new flavors out!

These are a custom assortment that I chose (and, unlike the previously reviewed autumn collection, paid for) myself. I love that Hedonist lets you write down your order and then turns that into your chocolate guide. From left to right in the above photo, I’ve got cardamom, peanut butter and honey, imperial stout, ginger pop rock, and sesame.

Cardamom, a rolled truffle, is by far my favorite of the bunch. There’s an intense, almost savory note to the truffle that makes it wonderfully earthy. It’s a great flavor pairing that’s astoundingly delicious.

Peanut butter and honey (above) is a molded milk chocolate truffle with a fun skull stenciled on top. The peanut butter inside is dry, with a slight grain to it (similar to the texture of a Reese’s).  It’s super peanut-y, with a tinge of sweet and a slight saltiness to the finish. The honey and the milk make it a little too sweet for my taste, but it’s otherwise good.

Imperial stout is another rolled truffle (below). It tastes of cocoa with a dark yeastiness, with a finish that’s reminiscent of the scent of Guinness. Ever since I had Guinness for breakfast as a college freshman, I’ve generally avoided dark beers, so this wouldn’t be a truffle I’d pick out again, though I did enjoy tasting it.

Ginger pop rock was a hollow, heart-shaped dark chocolate shell filled with flavorless pop rocks and bits of candied ginger. It adds a fun effect to the fairly familiar (to a candy blogger, at least) combination of chocolate and ginger.

I tasted this one about 2 weeks after I’d bought it, so the pop rocks had softened a bit from moisture. They were still poppy and fun, but I’ve now learned that pop rock truffles should be consumed as soon as possible for maximum crunchiness.

Last, but not least, the sesame truffle was a molded milk square sprinkled with sesame seeds. Unsuprisingly enough, it tastes similar to the bark, just creamier because it’s a ganache, and maybe a tad heavier on the salt and sesame oil. I think I prefer it in bark form because you get a bit more crunch that way, but the truffle incarnation is nice as well.

All in all, I’m happy with the five truffles that I chose. As I write this from my notes, weeks after I first tasted them, I wish I had more of the cardamom, so that gets a ZOMG! Sesame merits an OMG for its surprising and surprisingly delicious flavor combination, while the rest hover around an O/OM. While all are expertly crafted and well-made, they do run the ratings gamut solely based on my personal flavor preferences.

Here’s part two of my review of my free sample of Derry Church Artisan Chocolates (continued from Monday). Today, we’ll review the Plymouth, Savannah, Tangier, and Veracruz. [Note: All text in quotes is taken from the website descriptions]

The Plymouth “is a smooth, creamy pumpkin caramel with just a hint of pumpkin pie spice, then piped into an excellent, intense European bittersweet chocolate mould.” The mould itself is a gorgeous swirly square with two-tones of chocolate.

It smells like pumpkin pie spice. The soft, creamy ganache inside tastes just like pumpkin pie with a strong clove finish. I love all things pumpkin (including pumpkin chili - seriously, it’s delicious!), and I greatly enjoyed this.

The Savannah “starts with fresh, ripe peaches (whenever possible) [that’s] reduced to a thick, sticky-sweet puree and blended into a fine European white chocolate ganache [and piped] into a fine European bittersweet chocolate cup, [all] topped with a brown sugar and toasted oat crumble mixture, and drizzled with… more white chocolate.” Phew!

This tastes just like dessert - a wonderful peach crumble or sweet peach jam. The oat crumble topping tastes just like an oatmeal cookie, and the flavors play off nicely against the cute little chocolate shell. It made me rethink what a truffle could be, and that’s a good thing.

The Tangier had an “African honey and tangerine juice reduction… ground, toasted cumin, and the zippy heat of the cayenne chili.”

If I remember correctly, the inside of this has two layers, a gooey honey/caramel and a creamy chocolate ganache (my tasting notes say caramel plus ganache). It tastes sweet with overtones of orange oil. The chocolate and orange flavors went together nicely, but I didn’t get any cumin or spice notes, which could’ve elevated this to another level.

Last, but not least, the Veracruz: organic cream infused with vanilla beans, which is then turned into a white chocolate ganache that’s piped into a bittersweet base. As the website description brags, “You can actually see the vanilla seeds throughout the ganache!”

The ganache has a thick frosting-like texture to it. It tastes strongly of genuine vanilla, but it’s also rather cream cheesy. Unexpected, but appreciated (in addition to loving all things pumpkin, I also love all things cheesecake). The chocolate base brings a sweetly fruity finish to the piece.

I’d give the Tangier an O, the Veracruz and the Plymouth an OM, and the Savannah an OMG. Derry Church Artisan Chocolates is doing some nice work. I only reviewed 8 truffles; they’ve got 27 in their line-up!

Chocoblog tasted a wider variety than I did, so be sure to check out their review as well.

The continuation of Monday’s Mama’s Goodies nut brittle reviews:

Cashew Nut Crunch

This has the same thick brittle base as the pecan nut crunch. Cashews, however, are a much lighter flavored nut than pecans, and the cashews here are chopped up into tiny bits, so their flavor winds up totally overwhelmed by the brittle base. Still, the base is goooood. An O, mostly because the pecan incarnation is better.

Macadamia and Coconut Crunch

The brittle base here is sweeter and more toffee-like in texture. That is, it still cleaves but doesn’t quite dissolve into the same pseudo-caramel chew. As you can see, it’s got shredded coconut and whole macadamia nuts.

The flavors here are amazing. It’s just a hint of genuine, not at all artificial coconut flavor that pairs wonderfully with the rich and buttery essence of the macadamia nuts. And the brittle-ness negates the usually stringy texture of shredded coconut that is sometimes off-putting. An OMG.

Almond Nut Crunch

Almonds are a strong nut, and I think this is the nuttiest of the brittles. Again, the lovely brittle is fairly thick and cleaves like toffee, but this somehow avoids the turns-to-caramel-in-your-mouth thing. The almonds make the brittle duskier and darker, which is nice, but they also add a lightly bitter aftertaste. An OM.

I covered Yummy Earth’s organic gummy worms on Wednesday. Today, I’m reviewing their organic gummy bears.

Since the gummy bears share 2 out of 3 flavors with the worms, I expected them to be pretty much the same. Nope!

First of all, the bears have a much, much stiffer chew. It’s almost unpleasantly stiff. They’re softer than Jujubes and are still definitely gummies, but they are reminiscent of Jujube-ness and sort of get stuck in my teeth.

On the plus side, they taste AMAZING! The flavors are uber-concentrated, making Yummy Earth’s bears taste even better than Yummy Earth’s worms.

Sour Apple Tart is still clear and still tastes like a granny smith, but it’s darker, with more complexity than its worm counterpart. There’s a nearly imperceptibly slight bitterness that’s reminiscent of apple peels.

Strawberry Smash is lightly orange/pink. It tastes sweet and fruity, like a usual strawberry flavored gummi but with a slightly more concentrated flavor.

Pomegranate Pucker (red) is by far my favorite. It’s much more tart in bear form and tastes more deeply red, with a little astringency on the finish. A lovely sweet fruitiness lingers on the tongue after the bear is gone. This one definitely tastes authentically of pomegranate, and it’s wonderful.

I had trouble deciding which I liked more. The worms are texturally more pleasant with great flavors. The bears’ texture is just a bit too firm for me, but their concentrated flavor profile blows the worms out of the dirt. In the end, the bears win out and get an OMG.

Yummy Earth, can you mix up a batch of gummy something elses (llamas?) that combines the best of both worlds?

Hedonist gave me this bag of milk chocolate sesame bark as a free sample, along with their current Autumn Truffle Collection that I reviewed on Wednesday. I had seen their bags of bark in their shop before, but I’d always dismissed them as being not nearly as exciting as their truffles. Boy was I wrong!

If I remember/heard her correctly, when Zahra at Hedonist packed this sample for me, she told me it was their best seller. At the time, I found that a bit odd, as milk chocolate sesame bark doesn’t sound like it should be a best seller - it’s an unusual flavor combination that I’d never heard of before, and I’d expect best sellers to be more generic in order to be crowd pleasing.

And then I promptly forgot about that oddness, as I was distracted by trying to pick out a variety box of truffles for myself.

On the surface, this just looks like milk chocolate slabs floating white and black sesame seeds. Once I opened the bag, however, I realized that it was much more.

For starters, it smells strongly of sesame oil. I actually first thought it was soy sauce because soy sauce and sesame oil are often used together in Asian cooking, so I guess my scent memories/references got crossed.

Tastewise, there’s a noticeable saltiness to the bark that’s the first flavor to hit the palate. It’s not always evenly distributed; some bites were saltier than others, though none were unpleasantly so. I actually enjoyed the occasional changes in saltiness, as it perked up the palate.

Immediately after the saltiness comes a rush of sesame oil flavor. It’s super aromatic - that’s the best word I can find to describe it. Finally, you get a roasty, nutty sesame seed bite every time you hit a seed, which is fairly often, as you can see.

The milk chocolate is a bit player in this, as the bark mostly tastes of sesame oil, but it does add a sweet, thick melt, a slight dusky flavor, and a touch of fruitiness to the finish.

All in all, Hedonist’s milk chocolate sesame bark is an amazing, complex, who would’ve-thunk-it-would-work flavor combination. It’s not the most delicious chocolate that I’ve ever had (though it is delicious), but it does have an extra intrigue factor that puzzles the tastebuds and kept me reaching for more. And more. And more. A hearty OMG.