When I left Rochester, NY, I was sad to leave behind a great local chocolatier in Hedonist Artisan Chocolates. Fortunately, when you’re a candy blogger, candy can follow you around in the form of free samples!
Hedonist sent me a bag of their holiday Candy Cane Bark, along with some holiday truffles (previously reviewed here),?salted caramels, and drinking chocolate (review TBA; it’s still too warm in North Carolina for hot chocolate).
The Candy Cane Bark was made of “shards of semi-sweet chocolate (55%) swirled with white chocolate and sprinkled with crushed candy canes.” It was festively pretty to behold, with the swirl of semi-sweet and white chocolate evoking the candy cane’s red and white twist.
The bark was thin, no more than a centimeter at its thickest and thinner in some slabs. That made it easy to break apart with a sharp snap.
I didn’t find the candy cane’s mintiness apparent in the scent, but its flavor was lightly present in the finish of the bar. The crushed candy cane bits added just the right hint of airy mintiness to meld perfectly with the smooth, dusky pure cocoa flavor of the chocolate.
The white chocolate swirl added just a hint of vanilla and a slight fatty overtone. The cool melt of the chocolate mixed with the slight grittiness of the candy cane bits, which dissolved quickly.
Hedonist excels in its ability to find a great balance in its flavors. It would have been easy for the peppermint to get heavy-handed in a treat like this, but Hedonist treated the mint with restraint and really used it to bring out the best of the chocolate and the mint. An OM.
Varsha