ZOMG, Candy!

Here’s another Ritter Sport bar that I picked up in Europe: the Ciocco-Duo. Aka chocolate duo (my personal guessed-at translation, thank you very much).

The wrapper also claims, “delizioso cioccolato al latte extra e squisito cioccolato bianco.”

My guess at that translation? Delicious extra milk chocolate and exquisite white chocolate. But that’s just a guess. Probably close enough?

The bar was beautiful – 16 two-toned squares of a logo-stamped white chocolate top on a milk chocolate base. When I first opened it, the chocolate had an okay snap. Then a heat wave hit, and it softened some but managed to retain its shape.

The white chocolate portion had a creamy, thick melt. It tasted lightly floral with strong vanilla flavors. It was a tasty white chocolate, reminiscent of a nice vanilla frosting.

The milk chocolate base had a similarly thick and creamy melt. It tasted of caramel and cocoa with a light sweetness and some coffee notes to the finish.

I found this bar to be a well-made, tasty, and attractive addition to the Ritter Sport line-up. There’s nothing exotic about it, but it’s well-made and well-flavored. An OM.

These Goetze Double Chocolate Caramel Creams arrived in my Sweets and Snacks Expo press pack/goodie bag full of samples. The DCCC is a fairly recent addition to their line-up (along with a refresh of the licorice caramel cream), which also includes caramel creams, chocolate creams, and cow tales.

Like the other caramel creams, the DCCC is comprised of a wheaty chew around a circle of cream – hence the Bullseye nickname. In the DCCC, both the chew and the cream are chocolate.

The outer ring was somewhat reminiscent of a Tootsie Roll, but with a slightly different texture and flavor. The DCCC’s texture while chewy, was less sticky, with a thicker flour paste feel.

It had deeper cocoa flavor and less sweetness than a Tootsie Roll. I didn’t notice any prominent caramel flavors. I’m guessing that the caramel component of the name is more for texture than taste.

The bullseye center was a chocolate cream that tasted exactly like store-bought chocolate frosting. It was grainy yet airy and instantly melted on the tongue.

I appreciated the solid, not too sweet flavors of the DCCC. I don’t think I would go out of my way to buy them, (well, maybe I’d throw a couple in my bag if I were bulk bin shopping) but I’d eat them if they were laying around in an office candy bowl or something. A commendable O.

I bought this Ritter Sport Olympia bar when I was in Italy. It’s been fairly recently featured on Candy Blog and Jim’s Chocolate Mission, so I thought I’d throw my two cents.

The wrapper notes that it contains “joghurt, honig, nuss, and traubenzucker”.

What, that’s not immediately self-explanatory? Thankfully, Cybele has revealed that it’s yogurt, honey, hazelnut, and grape sugar. I’ll admit – the grape sugar component still leaves me confused.

The milk chocolate coating was sweet and thick with a slightly sour tang that was probably helped along by the yogurt.

The filling was chock full of tiny bits of hazelnuts and what I initially thought was toffee. After reading the translation of the components, I think the toffee was actually bits of honeycomb crisps.

The nuts and crisps were similarly sized and colored. They made the bar as a whole sweet and interesting.

The yogurt brought a seriously sour tang that added to the richness of the bar. I love yogurt in my chocolate, and I enjoyed this Olympia quite a bit.

One caveat: it was maybe a tad too busy. I could’ve been just as happy, if not happier, without the hazelnuts. Sometimes simpler can be better. Just ask Coco Chanel! Still, it was a uniquely fun and tasty mix. An OM.

I’ve never been shy about proclaiming my love for Trader Joe’s nor lamenting Rochester’s lack of one. These Trader Joe’s Black Cocoa Almonds only underscore those points.

They’re described as “fresh California almonds dipped in dark chocolate and rolled in black cocoa.” They’re beautifully dark and smooth and matte, like velvet pebbles.

They’re covered in a Dutched cocoa powder that’s so dark that it’s nearly black (hence the name). It’s also flavorless on its own.

The dark chocolate coating is nicely mellow – sweet with notes of raisin and a cool finish that really lets the nut come through. The melt is thick and smooth with a muted cocoa essence.

The nut inside was nice and crunchy. I would’ve preferred it with a tad more roastiness, but all in all, it served as a great foil of texture and flavor for the chocolate coating.

They reminded me of Charles Chocolates Triple Chocolate Almonds but far cheaper (though not as nicely packaged). Trader Joe’s version was also crazy addictive. A ZOMG!

I got this Twix Java in my Sweets and Snacks Expo press pack. It’s not a new bar; instead, it’s been on and off the market as a limited edition since at least 2007.

I, unfortunately, had never been lucky enough to catch it in the wild in any of its previous incarnations, so this was my first time trying it. My packaging made no mention of limited-edition-ness. Perhaps that means it’s here to stay?

The wrapper describes it as “chocolate cookies bars; coffee caramel; milk chocolate.” The back of the wrapper proudly proclaims it to be made with Mars’s real chocolate.

It’s like a regular Twix bar, only the cookie is chocolate and the caramel is coffee tinged. If you’re not familiar with Twix, they come in “fingers”, with a bottom layer of cookie and a top layer of caramel, with the whole thing covered in milk chocolate.

The caramel was sticky yet smooth with a candied coffee flavor. It had a beautiful pull.

The coffee flavor was dry and roasty, with burnt caramel and cocoa notes. As the flavor progressed, it got darker. I was pleasantly surprised by the depth of the coffee flavor.

The chocolate cookie was soft and dry, and it crumbled rather than crunched. The milk chocolate coating was just so-so, sweet without any distinction.

I give this an OM. I wish the cookie were just a tad crunchier, but otherwise, I thought it was a great mix of flavors and textures. In fact, I like it better than regular Twix, as it’s less sweet and more interesting.

The new Milky Way Simply Caramel bar was included as a free sample in my Sweets and Snacks press pack delivery. They officially launched in June of this year as “a decadent blend of Milky Way Bar’s pure smooth caramel covered completely in Mars’ real milk chocolate.”

It’s far easier to launch a new confection under a familiar brand than it is to build a new brand from the ground up. Thus, while the Milky Way Simply Caramel is a pretty significant departure from the original (I would argue that a Milky Way’s defining characteristic is its chocolatey, malty nougat), it makes sense from a marketing standpoint.

While the Milky Way Simply Caramel looked fairly standard on the outside, the inside was an oozy, decadent looking caramel mess. This was not a treat you’d want to give to small children, unless you want them getting caramel everywhere.

The outer shell was made of a snappy chocolate that turned sweet and sour in my mouth. Hooray American mass-produced chocolate!

The caramel inside was sticky, thick, and chewy. It was sweet and bright with a buttery creaminess. I prefer my caramel with dark, complex, scorched sugar flavors, so it wasn’t really my style. I have to admit, though, that it was luxuriously sticky-sweet.

My beef with this bar was basically what I have with most mass-produced checkout aisle/vending machine bars: too sweet and too one note. I prefer the extra malty hit of regular Milky Ways.

Still, it wasn’t bad, and it’s totally harmless unless you’re susceptible to sugar shock. I think I’d like these best in fun size form. An O.

If you’d like to try one of these for yourself, stay tuned! More to come tomorrow…

Today’s review is a continuation of Wednesday’s review of the second set of mini Ritter Sport bars that I bought in Italy.

To recap, the set of seven contained Marzipan, Knusperkeks (butter biscuit), Knusperflakes (cornflakes), Vollmilch 30% Kakao (milk chocolate, 30% cacao), Joghurt (yogurt), Haselnuss (hazelnut), and Nugat (nougat). I’ll be reviewing the final two today.

Haselnuss had tiny bits of hazelnuts sprinkled throughout the milk chocolate squares. They brought a pleasant crunch and nuttiness.

I think the milk chocolate base was the same as the plain 30% bar. It tasted thick and full of caramel notes.

I appreciated that it was nicely sweet without being cloying and was clearly made with good quality ingredients. Still, it wasn’t terribly exciting and not my favorite from the Ritter Sport line, so an O.

Nugat was a soft hazelnut praline. If you look carefully in the below photo, you can just make out the change in color as the praline filling shifts to milk chocolate coating.

Though the difference was visible, it was difficult to discern by mouthfeel. Everything just melted together in my mouth into one deliciously sweet, nutty, thick, and gooey blob. Believe me, that’s not necessarily a bad thing.

An OM. I am so jealous of the Germans. Their default chocolate line ranges from pretty good to spectacular.

I’ve now tasted my way through a wide array of Ritter Sport bars, and I’ve yet to find a dud. Guess that means I’ll have to keep trying by eating more Ritter Sports!

Last week, I did a 2-part (I and II) round-up of Schokowurfel, a set of 7 tiny Ritter Sports that I bought in Europe. Today and Friday, I’ll review the second set of somewhat larger mini Ritter Sport chocolates that I purchased on the same trip.

Unlike the single-squared Schokowurfel, these mini Ritter Sports were comprised of four connected squares. Basically, they were a quarter of the size of a regular 16-square Ritter Sport bar.

The set of seven contained Marzipan, Knusperkeks (butter biscuit), Knusperflakes (cornflakes), Vollmilch 30% Kakao (milk chocolate, 30% cacao), Joghurt (yogurt), Haselnuss (hazelnut), and Nugat (nougat).

I’ve already reviewed the first three (hence the above links), so I’m only reviewing the latter four here. Vollmilch and Joghurt today; Haselnuss and Nugat on Friday.

Vollmilch turned out to have a nicely snappy break at the demarcated partitions, which was surprising for a 30% cacao milk chocolate. It had a tongue-coatingly thick melt, which I love in milk chocolate.

The flavor was rich with caramel notes and a sweet fruitiness to the finish. All in all, a solidly enjoyable milk chocolate. O.

I was excited about the Joghurt/yogurt bar. I gorged myself on the intoxicating tang of yogurt gelato while in Italy, and I loved the Milka Joghurt bar.

The Ritter Sport version did not disappoint. It had a soft break, and the sweet and creamy milk chocolate coating enveloped full pods of luscious yogurt filling.

The tangy yogurt was delicious, with a just-shy-of-sour finish, but I felt that it fell short of the Milka Joghurt bar’s exhilaratingly sour filling. Thus, the Ritter Sport version gets “just” an OMG.

Despite the comparatively lower rating, I still loved the bar and wish that it was readily available in the U.S. Can we make that happen? Please?

My friend, the newly minted Dr. Neil (congratulations, Neil!), is soon moving from Rochester to the Netherlands for a post-doc position. This makes me very sad because Neil is one of my favorite people, and I will miss him lots when he’s gone.

Neil is one of my favorite people because he’s now gone to the Netherlands twice, and both times, he brought me back Dutch candy. I should note that it’s not the candy-bringing itself that makes Neil endearing (I’d like to think that my affections are not so easily purchased); it’s that the candy-bringing is just one example of how Neil is a kind and thoughtful friend.

On his last trip, he brought me back a Nestle Bros bar. I had never heard of the Bros bar before and was initially confused at Neil’s email with the subject line, “Delivery” and the body, “Bros.” Was Neil going to bring me Dutch frat boys?

Nope. Turns out that the Bros bar is an aerated chocolate bar, pseudo-separated into six segments, each with a cute little bubble imprint on the top.

The wrapper touts the bars relatively low calorie count (131). This was both unsurprising – aerated chocolate is full of air, hence the lower caloric density – and surprising – low cal doesn’t quite fit my mental image of a Bro (FYI, Keystone Light is not actually lite). Though now that I think about it, I think the calorie count marking is just a difference in European nutrition/packaging laws.

The chocolate has a beautifully bubbled interior. I love the look of aerated chocolate so much! And I love the way it feels against the tongue, when the bubbles smoosh away and dissolve in the mouth.

It tasted thick and sweet, brightly fruity, with dusky cocoa notes. I wouldn’t call it dark or milk; instead, it fits the semisweet bill. In fact, it reminded me of semisweet Nestle Tollhouse chips.

I managed to eat the whole thing in one sitting. Fortunately, the aerated factor meant that I felt no guilt for scarfing a whole candy bar in one quick go. An OM, and my repeated wish that aerated chocolate was more bountiful in the U.S.

Here’s the continuation of Monday’s review of Ritter Sport’s Schokowurfel. Monday, I reviewed the Creme Coco, the Mandel Split, and the Caramel Crisp.

Today, I’ll review the rest of the set: Crocant, Cappuccino, and Edelnugat.

I’m not exactly sure what Crocant means in German, but the onomatopoeia made me think of crunchiness. And I was right!

Crocant turned out to be a solid milk chocolate square with toasted rice crisps. It was basically like an uber Nestle Crunch bar, but it distinguished itself with a bit of extra sweetness to the crisps’ finish, like the crisps had been candied or caramelized. So it gets an OM.

Cappuccino was pretty self-explanatory. I appreciated that its outer wrapper was a beautiful cafe au lait color.

It was a milk chocolate bar with a creamy, lighter brown ganache inside. The square was very, very soft and very, very thick when melting in the mouth.

The cappuccino flavor did capture the essence of coffee, but I found it far too sweet, more Starbucks Frappuccino than Italian espresso. It could’ve been a great bite of chocolate had it not been so cloying. An O.

Edelnougat is the last of the set. I know what nougat is, and I know what edelweiss is, but I didn’t know what Edelnougat could mean.

It turned out to be a thick hazelnut ganache inside a milk chocolate shell. Like a good praline, this was mouth-coatingly thick and wonderfully nutty – a classic done well. An OM.

All in all, I was pretty impressed by the quality of this set. When I taste candy for reviews, I often limit my tasting to just a few bites, so this set was perfect for my needs. And I had enough leftover to share with friends, making this a highly recommended souvenir.