Those of you who have been paying attention will know that this year is Thorntons’ 100th birthday. They’ve been working on a raft of new products to celebrate, and this spectacular egg is one of them.
The egg and the box of 36 chocolates underneath comes to a whopping 735g, yet it sells for a surprisingly modest £24.99, which given how good it looks is pretty great value – especially given some chocolate companies’ usual trick of jacking prices way up for anything in egg form.
The egg itself is large, and although the chocolate isn’t particularly thick, it’s a very enjoyable nibble. If you want to see how the patterns on the outside of the eggs are made, then take a look at my video of the Thorntons factory from last year.
The chocolates are pretty good too, with 8 of the 36 being special limited editions. I’m not going to get into individual reviews of them, but there’s plenty I liked, along with a few that were a bit too sweet for my tastes. But with so much choice, there really is something for everyone.
I’m going to keep this review short and let the pictures speak for themselves. There may be more spectacular Easter Eggs out there, and there are definitely cheaper ones. But this one gives you more for your money than any other egg I’ve seen this year. Highly recommended for those who want to make an impression but don’t want to spend the earth on an egg.
When I looked at the first couple of items from Philadelphia Candies, I established this as a confectionary company. With that thought in mind, I approach now a one pound box of Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Truffles. Given the context I have placed, I will more or less ignore the word “truffles,” treating it more as a placeholder than a strict description. In any case, I don’t think one would approach this orange-bordered box with its rather simple photography expecting a sumptuous and exclusively gourmet truffle.
Inside the box nestle thirty chocolates, which is a sizable amount. Although they appear small next to each other, this isn’t the case–they’re normal size. The chocolate is quite light in color, no doubt of a low cocoa content. There also isn’t a very large quantity of it in comparison to the peanut butter filling, which is plentiful.
Philadelphia Candies has an approach to the peanut butter that is more like that of Rocky Mountain than of Reese’s. There is not the high saltiness; rather, there is a creamy and buttery center. Of course, it is thicker than what Rocky Mountain uses–while very soft, it isn’t near-fluid like theirs is. What all this means is that these chocolates have an almost-fluffy texture that makes them pleasant to munch away on; the mildness of the flavors, embedded with a taste of peanuts, makes any sweetness, for me at least, not take over too strongly.
Now I come to what I find rather important: the price. With the box being $14.75, three chocolates come out to about $1.50, which isn’t so much more than you would pay for candy bars off the shelf. When so often, simply packaging things in a box will hike up the price, I’m glad to see that Philadelphia Candies haven’t done this. As it is, a box of these is a nice enough sweet to enjoy over a few days or to share.
As a child in the UK, I grew up on Bounty bars and Marathon (now known as Snickers), and it’s only in the last few years that my tastes have changed to the point where I feel slightly ill when I look at the confectionery-stacked newsagent shelves.
But I still have fond memories of how all that cheap chocolate used to make me feel as a child. The exotic coconut filling in a Bounty and the satisfying nougat in a Marathon. So I was particularly excited when I learned that one of the world’s greatest chocolatiers was recreating some of my childhood memories using real ingredients.
I picked these up from the recent Easter Chocolate Festival and stashed them carefully in my bag to take home to review. Unfortunately, I stashed everything else I bought carefully on top of them during the course of the day and as a result, my Bounty bar became a little… distressed.
I paid £3 each for these bars, which would be rather a lot for an ‘original’ Bounty or Snickers, so I was interested to see if they could recapture some of those childhood memories and still be worth the money.
In the case of the Bounty bar at least, the answer is a resounding yes. The 70% Amedei chocolate is maybe a little thin for my preference, but it works so well with the fresh, creamy coconut. It’s definitely a Bounty, but it’s a million miles away from the original. The off-white colour of the coconut immediately looks more natural and the texture is soft and smooth. I could eat these all day.
The Marathon bar is a little less like the original, primarily because the nougat actually tastes of nougat. In fact, it brings back memories of buying huge blocks of pink nougat in my local sweet shop as a child, something I have equally fond memories of.
The peanuts are fresh and crunchy, and the caramel adds a nice chewy element without bombarding your senses with sugar. So despite not being quite as close to the original, I enjoyed it just as much as the Bounty.
So now all that’s left for William to do is recreate the TV ads…
httpv://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dfPum7kZWuI
Time for another Easter Egg! This one is from one of my favourite chocolatiers, Gorvett & Stone.
As with most Gorvett & Stone products, it’s a simple and elegant looking affair. Inside the clear plastic box is an unassuming 250g egg wrapped in gold foil.
Inside the egg is a bag containing three large chunks of milk chocolate covered cinder toffee (honeycomb). Three pieces might not seem a lot, but they’re sizeable chunks, and pretty much fill the inside of the egg.
From the outside, the shell is smooth and glossy, but inside is lumpy, thanks to more chunks of cinder coffee embedded in the egg itself.
The milk chocolate in question is from Valrhona and 29% cocoa solids. That’s not a particularly rich chocolate, but it works very well with the honeycomb flavour.
The honeycomb is thick and at least as crunchy as a Crunchie, while the milk chocolate is creamy and a little reminiscent of (much better quality) Galaxy. This would make the perfect gift for someone who likes those old favourites, but deserves something a bit special for Easter.
Make no mistake, this is an egg for those with a sweet tooth. But it’s made with care from quality ingredients, and I quickly managed to scoff my way through far more than I should have done.
Despite this egg being a little sweet for my usual tastes, I really did enjoy it. It looks and tastes great, and would make a great gift for someone who deserves a bit better than a run of the mill mass produced Easter Egg this year.
