One of my favourite childhood sweet memories is proper old-fashioned nougat. Huge bars of the stuff that were so thick, it was a struggle to bite a chunk off. Bars of nougat with the texture of polystyrene sandwiched between two pieces of card…
Ok, so I’m weird. But I loved the nougat my local sweet shop used to sell in the early 80s. It was nutty, fruity and chewy, and unlike anything else. But I’ve not had proper nougat in years.
Until yesterday, when I saw this box of nougat dipped in chocolate – on the shelf in Thorntons. Those three words – “dipped in chocolate” – gave me an excuse to buy them. They obviously had to be reviewed on Chocablog.
As you can see, the box contains nougat pieces two varieties of nougat, half-coated in chocolate. The darker one is flavoured with chocolate, orange, cranberry and hazelnuts, and the lighter one with almond and honey.
The front of the box says the chocolate is a “blend of milk and dark”, but the back of the box calls it milk chocolate. Either way, it’s quite tasty and definitely adds something to the nougat.
Of the two, I prefer flavours, I prefer the more unconventional chocolate flavoured nougat – not because of the chocolate, but because it has a real fruitiness that comes through when you start chewing it.
Personally, I really liked these – weird polystyrene texture and all – and demolished the box within a couple of hours. If you’re not a fan of hard, chewy nougat, you almost certainly won’t like these – but if you’re the same age as me, they might just rekindle memories of your favourite childhood sweet shop. Sigh.
In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s winter here in the UK and in the run up to Christmas we are being assailed with spiced foods, comfort foods, and of course more and more ‘gourmet’ chocolate.
Well, this is part of a range from Belgian chocolatiers Dolfin, and it seemed appropriate to review this Hot Masala milk chocolate in the chill of wintertime.
In case, dear reader, you are unaware of what exactly constitutes Masala, I shall recite from the package – Cinnamon, Cardamom, Pepper, Clove and Ginger. Hardly something you’d expect to find blended with a good quality Belgian Milk Chocolate, and exactly why I chose to buy it.
This is my first encounter with Dolfin chocolate, although since buying it I have become aware of their philosophy and range of products. A snippet from their website reveals a lot about their approach to their products.
“For more than 20 years, Dolfin has championed an original and inventive approach to chocolate. The company has brought the art of blending – its permanent leitmotiv – to chocolate making; the ingredients are directly mixed into the chocolate mass. Adding exotic spices, subtle flavours or fruity zests to top quality Belgian chocolate provides countless temptations for the taste buds. To convince all the gourmets of its philosophy, Dolfin also revisits the great classics. The idea is to be daring, but remembering to recognize the charm of recipes that have stayed the test of time. This quest for authenticity results in recipes that are not as sweet, favouring instead natural ingredients. To make this know-how accessible to everyone, Dolfin has created a range of 70 g chocolate bars. Because outstanding chocolate deserves outstanding packaging, the original flavours of Dolfin bars are contained in a special, carefully designed wrapper, ensuring the perfect conservation of the chocolate and its aroma. The wrapper can be opened and closed over and over again. It is easy to carry around and share, the Dolfin bar can be taken anywhere.”
The packaging certainly is unique, (bearing more than a passing resemblance to a pouch of rolling tobacco than a choccy bar wrapper) and yes, the chocolate itself is definitely not too sweet, so if (like me) you prefer the tastes of the ingredients and not a big mouthful of sickly sweetness, then the Dolfin range may well be worth tracking down.
So what does Masala taste like when it’s blended with Belgian milk chocolate? Surprisingly good, as it happens. In some ways it reminded of the Stainer Madras bar I reviewed some time ago, but where I found the Stainer bar to have distinct ‘waves’ of flavour from the chocolate, then the spicy finish, this bar gives you a combined hit of dusky cocoa and subtle spices in one go. The balance of flavours is superb – no one taste is allowed to overpower another, giving you a gently spiced, warming mouthful which is surprisingly delicious. This isn’t a bar to attack with vigour, rather something to savour in small bites (indeed, the bar is made up of quite small squares). It’s also rather pricey.
I shall be making a point of trying to find more Dolfin products (I particularly fancy their Sencha Green Tea bar) so expect to see more reviews here in future. Recommended as a special treat or a present for you chocaholic “been there done that” friends.
I found these Belgian chocolates in John Lewis – part of a fairly large display of Christmas chocolates – most of which I ended up buying.
As it’s a small box, I think the easiest way to review them is a quick comment on each individual choccy:
Mokolata
(Milk chocolate with “capuccino essence” and “sweet cream”)
Soft, smooth and creamy with a subtle coffee taste. Great texture and quite tasty, but nowhere near as strong as other coffee creams I’ve tasted.
Mielodie
(White chocolate with a creamy praline / almond butter centre)
I particularly liked this one, although the centre reminded me more of a light peanut butter than an expensive chocolate. The moment I bit into it, the word “Snickers” came into my head, but you shouldn’t hold that against it.
Cherie
(Dark chocolate with a whole cherry soaked in Kirch)
Yummy – fruity with a strong alcohol kick, which slightly overpowers that dark chocolate – but in a good way.
Poirelle
(Pear & cocoa ganache in dark chocolate)
The chocolate is nice, but the pear flavour is not very pleasant at all. I believe I may have discovered the reason there aren’t more pear flavoured chocolates – the flavours just don’t work together.
Coeur
(Praline in milk chocolate)
A large, heart shaped milk chocolate, with a soft praline filling. The blurb calls this Godiva’s signature chocolate – but personally I found it quite average.
Iconique
(Praline in milk chocolate)
Much the same as the Coeur, only a different shape.
Croconoir
(Dark chocolate with soft, Cognac flavoured centre)
This one was just weird – the flavour reminded me of the cough sweets I used to have when I was a kid.
Canelle
(Cinnamon flavoured ganache in milk chocolate)
Like the pear flavoured choc, this one just tastes weird. The flavours just don’t go together.
All in all, I’m a bit disappointed by these chocolates. Godiva seem to be trying a bit too hard to make an “arty” collection, but haven’t paid a great deal of attention to detail. You know, little things like how the chocolates actually taste.
I won’t be buying these again, and the deciding factor for me is the price. At £8.50 ($17.50), they work out at over £1 ($2.10) per chocolate. That’s simply too much for these, rather average chocolates. If you’re buying them as a Christmas gift, you probably won’t get any complaints – but you could do a whole lot better in terms of quantity and value if you get something else.
Linda and Philippa at Cocoapod asked us to let you know about their new shop and web site.
Now we don’t often just post other people’s announcements, but I’ve had a quick look around their site and I think it looks fabulous.
I particularly like their “Build-A-Bar” service which lets you build short messages by picking the letters.
I’ve no idea if the chocolate is as good as their web site, but I’ll try to get some samples for review and let you know.
