As the festive season draws ever closer I thought I’d have a look at some of the slightly cheaper alternatives to the more extravagant Christmas Collections, and what better place to start than the UK’s favourite budget supermarket?
Yep, Aldi’s Moser Roth brand has a few speciality chocolates on offer, and this tin of Artisan Chocolates neatly bridges the gap between standard and expensive chocolate assortments. As you can see, the packaging has been very well thought out, with the design on the tin being carried over onto the cardboard sleeve. The tin is pretty (and deep) enough to make it worth keeping once you’ve scoffed the contents as well.
The chocolates themselves are rather pretty. The more observant among you will have noticed a lack of any dark chocolates here – something that left me slightly disappointed – but as you can see these are very attractive looking chocs.
They’re not run of the mill chocolates either. Within the collection you will find things like a Sea Buckthorn and Cassis white chocolate and a Prosecco Raspberry Ganache, as well as a Creme Brulée chocolate which has a rather lovely runny caramel hidden away at its core.
I’ve had a Sea Buckthorn chocolate before (from Helsinki, as I recall) but this version definitely scores big on presentation. It was always going to be a sweet little thing but the choice of Cassis means there’s a sharp little fruit hit in there to balance the sugariness.
It’s a similar story with the ‘Lady Marmalade’ – white chocolate balanced with raspberry – and the Kir Royale.
There’s even a prize winner in there. The Crunchy Dream chocolate won a Chocolate Of The Year award in Germany in 2006.
For me the lack of anything dark in here means I’d be unlikely to buy these for myself, but the reasonably high cacao content of the milk chocolate (35%) and the overall quality and presentation of this £5.99 tin of chocolates make them a surefire hit as a gift item, or just to have lying around for casual nibbling over Christmas. Definitely worth checking out.
Christmas is nearly upon us, and if you’re looking for some last minute festive chocolate treats, you can’t really go wrong with Chococo. And what better time to try them – after 11 years in Swanage, this week, Claire & Andy Burnett opened their second shop in Winchester.
But even if you can’t get to Hampshire or Dorset, you can still get your hands on some fabulous festive gifts via their website.
These little clusters, for instance, are particulalry moreish. Made with dried cherry & Italian amaretti biscuits covered in 70% Grenadan dark chocolate, they’re insanely crunchy and tangy. In fact, they’re almost more biscuit than they are chocolate.
What I like best about them is that they’re not too sweet. The 70% chocolate is the perfect counterpoint to the slightly sour cherry, so despite being quite difficult to stop eating, they never get sickly… and you always want just one more.
With the help of a friend, I managed to demolish this 100g bag in no time at all. They’re the perfect stocking filler this Christmas – but that could be said for just about everything Chococo make.
It was almost purely by chance hat I came across Booja Booja’s stand at the Speciality & Fine Food Fair in London. I was doing my usual long meandering walk out when I spied their logo and went over to see what had been happening in Boojaland lately.
These Booja Booja truffles are all organic, dairy and gluten free, which puts them in something of a minority, and it would seem that this has informed their retail distribution to some extent. If you look at their web site you’ll see that most of the retail outlets that stock Booja Booja products are health food shops.
As you can see, these truffles come in a more refined package than either the poplar box or the cardboard enclosure we’ve seen in previous incarnations. A thick cardboard box in a rather lovely shade of whatever colour you’d like to call it (I’m saying purple) is home to a plastic foil sealed tray (oddly enough harking back to Beryl’s dark chocolate from Malaysia) which in turn houses twelve truffles in four flavours.
“Which flavours?” I hear you cry.
‘A whimsical medley of melt-in-the-mouth melty truffles and quirky, puddingy delights’, that’s what.
“Which means?” you ask your screen.
It means Rhubarb & Vanilla Fool (one of the new flavours I sampled at SFFF), Hazelnut, Banoffee Toffee and Almond Caramel.
Every one of these truffles is physically identical, dusted with bitter cocoa powder, with a thin shell and a melting, delicate middle. Flavour-wise, they couldn’t be more different.
The Rhubarb & Vanilla Fool takes that smooth, soft melting chocolate and adds vanilla to make it extra smooth, then spikes it with zingy, super-sharp little hits of rhubarb. It’s he sort of chocolate that makes me smile when I taste it, and that sharp acidity works as an excellent palate cleanser although to be honest having tasted one I more or less immediately wanted a second!
Of the four the Hazelnut truffle sounded the least exciting. Hazelnut truffle – big wow, right? Wrong. These organic hazelnuts are really something special and in combination with the soft, rich chocolate they put me in mind of a good Italian gianduja.
The Banoffee Toffee truffle is, I suppose, a cousin of the Flambéed Banana truffle I first reviewed, but in reality it’s a less boozy, more pudding-y affair. There’s a slightly darker, burnt sugar undertone to the toffee which precedes the lingering (but thankfully still subtle and well balanced) banana. Another winner.
Finally, the Almond Caramel. This is the one you’re going to want to hide. Seriously. At the heart of this rich, nutty little beast are fragments of (as described) ‘chewy, gooey caramel’, so as the chocolate melts away you suddenly find you have some seriously rich, very naughty caramel to toy with.
If you know anyone – anyone – with a dairy or gluten problem, who is probably fed up with not being able to eat proper chocolate, buy them a box of these. They’ll love you forever.
If you know anyone who likes rich, gooey, deliciously naughty chocolate truffles with a great pedigree, buy them a box of these. They’ll love you forever as well. I just wish they made bigger boxes!
Like it or not, Christmas will soon be upon us. Time to start looking at what special treats are available for chocolate lovers, starting with this rather lovely looking selection from Hotel Chocolat.
The Signature Christmas Collection is Hotel Chocolat’s “grandest selection of exceptional Christmas chocolates”. Nineteen (yes, I’m afraid there’s at least one argument in there!) very festive looking, seasonally themed chocolates which are (as one might expect) in turn boozy, spicy, fruity and indulgent.
The majority of the chocolates are duplicated but there are three that only appear once, including the ‘centrepiece’ which is a Praline Pistachio Crunch. I’m happy to report that it tastes as good (if not better) than it looks. The addition of cherry pieces and a hint of rose to the praline really does take this up to the next level. Creamy, rich praline which exudes light, sweet fruit and rose flavours, sat in a rich milk chocolate cup. It’s a bit like the best Turkish delight you’ve ever had, only better.
Also worth a mention is the Christmas Mess (Dark). Ordinarily a Cranberry Ganache with Strawberry Mousse wouldn’t really arouse my interest but the balance of flavours between the sweet strawberry and sharper Cranberry is superb, and putting the whole thing into a (surprisingly deep) dark chocolate cup makes the whole taste experience very grown up and very enjoyable.
The other two ‘single’ chocolates are a Hacienda Iara Dark Salted Caramel (get in there quick!) and a 63% Milk Ganache. The rest of the box contains some very imaginative combinations which make great use of ‘Christmassy’ flavours. Ports, marzipans, spices and fruits are all used to great effect. The only chocolate I had any sort of problem with was the Nutmeg & Almond Praline. The filling seemed to be somewhat at odds with the chocolate, but I am not a fan of nutmeg at the best of times so that is obviously just a personal thing.
It’s also worth noting that these are not small chocolates. The two star shaped chocolates are particularly impressive but none of them could be described as a ‘quick mouthful’. They’re designed to be enjoyed slowly and savoured, like all premium chocolate.
Overall, I would recommend this to anyone looking for something seasonal and indulgent. It might not be the cheapest box of chocolates you’ll find but I believe it represents good value considering the quality of the ingredients (and the size of each piece!). I wouldn’t expect the box to last too long though!
