I thought I should get into Valentine’s Day mode to see what the local stores had to offer for amorous Canadians. The majority of it was the usual stuff, just repackaged into heart-shaped boxes, but something did catch my eye in Laura Secord – Sex And The City licensed chocolates. After all, who wouldn’t want to eat what Carrie, Miranda, Samantha and Charlotte eat? Exactly.
I picked the smaller of the two logo-emblazoned pink boxes which had four chocolates, each apparently being the favourite of the four main characters in the show. There is also a larger hatbox-shaped box which combines these signature chocolates with various truffles, but my budget couldn’t stretch that far because these are really rather expensive. The small box comes in at just over ten dollars, and considering that is only for four chocolates, they had better be some pretty memorable chocolates.
The whole thing is nicely packaged, with a very substantial box which is barely half-filled by the plastic tray that holds the four chocolates. The actual chocolates continue the theme with appropriate designs like a cityscape, leopard print and, of course, shoes. So it does well in the looks department at least. But let’s move onto the feature presentation – the chocolates.
Carrie’s favourite is a Milk Chocolate Cosmopolitan, and it really is disappointing. The flavour is hardly there at all and the thick creamy filing just disappears amidst the milk chocolate. Most people would be hard pressed to recognise this as a Cosmopolitan, especially fans of the cocktail.
Miranda’s favourite is a big improvement. It is a Dark Chocolate Caramel Almond, with a runny caramel centre that comes somewhere between marzipan and Amaretto on the taste spectrum. Definitely the most interesting of the foursome.
Samantha’s favourite, a Milk Chocolate Champagne, is not significantly different from Carrie’s, with a thick, sweet cream that at least has a champagne-like taste. The sweetness is almost too much though and it isn’t something I feel the urge to eat again and again.
And finally, there’s Charlotte’s favourite, a Dark Chocolate Lemon Raspberry. The filling is rich and definitely finds a good balance between the two flavours, but when combined with the dark chocolate shell, it gets a little lost because that initial burst of sharpness fades away too quickly. Close, but not quite.
Worth the money? Definitely not. This really is a case of style over substance, making it the perfect gift for Valentine’s Day. I guess I’m just a romantic at heart…
I love Chococo. They manage to strike the perfect balance between ‘hand made’ and ‘luxury gift’, and this attractive little box is the perfect illustration of that. This is their medium sized ‘Love Box’ (stop giggling at the back!) which contains a total of sixteen chocolates of six different varieties.
We first reviewed a selection of their wonderful chocolates last October, and Claire Burnet was kind enough to send some samples of their Valentines offerings this year.
When you remove the colourful lid from the box, you’re greeted with this…
The six different chocolates in the box are:
Raspberry Riot
Raspberry & framboise liqueur in a dark chocolate ganache, rolled in freeze-dried raspberries.
Wow, there’s a lot of fruit here! The entire outer layer is raspberry and it literally explodes with flavour in your mouth. The ganache is rich and smooth with just a hint of sweetness to counteract the tart fruit flavours. Perfect.
Tate Heart
A hazelnut praline heart decorated with edible silver leaf.
I’ve seen plenty of edible gold on chocolate before, but I think this is the first time I’ve ever eaten silver leaf. A beautifully smooth and soft praline in delicious milk chocolate.
Dotty Apricotty
A dark chocolate heart with sundried apricots marinated in brandy.
Another wonderful combination of flavours. The subtlety sweet apricot goes with the delicious dark chocolate perfectly. I could eat a whole box of these.
Caramel Kiss
A milk chocolate dome with dulce de leche caramel.
The sweetest chocolate of the selection here by far, but another taste combination that works perfectly. The dulce de leche caramel has the flavour of condensed milk, but the lightness of a truffle. To be taken in small doses only!
Fizzy Duck
A dark chocolate marc de champagne truffle dusted with Paraguayan fair trade sugar.
I’m not the biggest fan of marc de champagne, but this is divine. The truffle is soft and light and the shell has a gentle crispiness to it.. yet it melts away to nothing in the mouth.
Perfect Passion
Passion fruit puree in a milk chocolate square with a flower transfer design.
Another wonderfully fruity chocolate. The passion fruit is a set jelly in the centre of this beautifully decorated chocolate. Sweet and tangy in a creamy milk chocolate package. Yum.
I can’t recommend these chocolates highly enough. The flavour combinations work exceptionally well, the presentation is top notch and the ingredients are so fresh that Chococo won’t even send these out until February 10th. So you can be sure your gift will still be in perfect condition for the 14th.
Without doubt, this is my pick of this year’s Valentine’s offerings so far.
Another offering from those people whü like to mis-spell words in order to get more umlauts on their packaging – yes, it’s Gü time again.
This time I bought a box of three versatile little chocolate tortes. ‘Eat hot or cold’ says the box. I was told that chilled they’re smooth, melt-in-the-mouth and deeply satisfying (only with far more e’s than I’m prepared to type). Warm one up and it’s merely mouthwateringly rich and moreish. Naturally, as I had three, I was free to try one each way and have the third in my preferred style. Result!
Slide one out of the box and tyou have a rather unassuming little pud.
My eye was drawn to the dimpled top – ideal for a blob of cream or ice cream, or maybe for filling with your favourite liqueur?
As I said, they’re not the biggest puds in the world – take a look.
But what they are is dense. Very dense. Cutting into one revealed a dark, sticky interior. They’re made with a quarter chocolate, and that chocolate is 53% cocoa, so they’re not slacking on the chocolate content. When I bit into it I immediately thought better of chewing. It’s very rich, very gooey, and very chocolatey, with an underlying sweetness. Bear in mind that half of this little pud is made up of sugar and chocolate.
Heated up as directed and it’s a different story. They’re designed to be microwaved so that the outside keeps its shape while the inside melts, and that’s exactly what happens. Topped with a big blob of vanilla ice cream, they’re a deceptively filling dessert. Heating releases the aroma as well, delivering a much more satisfying experience in sensory terms. A dash of coffee liqueur (I used Patron XO Café, but other coffee drinks are available) and a blob of cream transformed it into a little gourmet treat.
I can imagine a number of variations one could put together using these little chocolate tortes, and they have enough in the way of rich chocolate flavours to accommodate the odd experimental addition. I’m getting to quite like some of Gü’s desserts, and this shows that they can do more than produce a decent chocolate mousse.
Butlers sent me a veritable shed load of samples following Ashleigh’s review of their 70% Organic Ginger bar the other week. At €2.45 per 100g bar, this range is a little cheaper than the dark organic bar that Ashleigh tried, so I’m guessing it’s part of their more ‘every day’ range of bars.
This is a 32% milk chocolate with small pieces of ‘butterscotch’ embedded throughout the bar. Personally, I wouldn’t call it butterscotch, it’s more of a hard caramel. Like crushed up Werthers Originals.
The bar itself is divided into large flat squares, and as you can see, this particular bar arrived a little the worse for wear. Coincidentally, this is pretty much how it looks in the picture on the wrapper too.
Not the prettiest looking bars perhaps, but as it turns out it’s quite pleasant.
Bite into a square and the first thing you notice is the satisfying crunch from all the little butterscotch pieces. Although barely noticeable when looking at the chocolate, it turns out those little pieces are just the right size to give you that crunchiness.
The chocolate is smooth and creamy and although not as rich as some of the higher percentage milk chocolates I’ve had recently, it’s rather nice. I could easily demolish a whole bar without thinking about it.
The butterscotch pieces don’t add quite as much flavour as I’d like, but what there is is nice enough. A little more smoky, caramelly, buttercotchyness wouldn’t have gone amiss though.
This is a really nice chocolate to enjoy with a cup of tea. It’s not a luxury product, but falls squarely into the “well above average” category.
