Two Truffles A Day: Part II

Let's talk serious chocolates for a moment.

I'll start with the Chocolate Souffle, which is the fourth from the left. I won't lie--I had to restrain myself from eating the other Chocolate Souffle truffle immediately after I ate the first. This little baby was nothing other than pure beauty! The soft inner filling was mousse-like in texture, and rich in flavor even though it appeared to be milk chocolate. Like white chocolate, I often have trouble with milk chocolate unless it is in the right context, and in this context it was absolutely perfect. The darker, outer chocolate shell was equally delightful. I am very impressed. I honestly don't know how it can get much better than chocolate on chocolate!

Next, the Black Forest Torte, which is the first truffle on the right. I think I would've liked a little more potency of the cherry flavor, or perhaps a chewy dried cherry center. The cherry was incredibly subtle, perhaps even too subtle for me to pick up at times. This truffle is still delicious nonetheless. The dark chocolate is pretty dark (I'd say about 65% if I were guessing) but rich and sweet. This truffle has chocolate crunchies on the top but they don't do miracles for it in terms of texture. They are, however, cute visually. It is also not my favorite in the box, but would I turn it down if I were offered one? No! It's damn good chocolate!

The last round of truffle talk is tomorrow!

Two Truffles A Day: Part I

For my birthday I received a 12-piece box of Godiva European Dessert Truffles, which offers a variety of 6 flavors. So in the attempt to stagger my intake of these chocolates so as not to consume them in one or two piggish sittings, I am going to try each flavor (only one or two a day!) and perhaps go back and revise them when I try the flavor again.

Let's begin with the Carmelized Apple Tarte. It's the 2nd from the left in the photo above.

When I took the first bite I thought "This is WILD!" because I had read the card incorrectly and thought I was trying Chocolate Souffle. All was explained when I realized that in fact I had tried something with apple, because that flavor was so distinctly present along with tones of caramel. Very smooth, rich and delicious. I also enjoyed the pleasant texture of the crunchy bits on top. Milk chocolate was a wise choice instead of dark chocolate, since the dark would have definitely overwhelmed the apple and probably would have also simply mixed badly with the flavor. It probably is not my favorite from the box, but it was certainly interesting and worth trying.

To stay on the topic of fruits I'll discuss Lemon Chiffon, which is the third from the left. This truffle was rich and smooth, yet very light with a surprising bite. It's actually quite reminiscent of a well-made key lime pie. It's outer white chocolate layer is nice and sweet, paired with the slightly less sweet dark chocolate layer, and then a tart, creamy, lemony center. I much preferred this to the Apple Tarte, despite the fact that I am not an extremely huge fan of white chocolate. But in times like this I remember that good white chocolate can serve an excellent complimentary function if paired with the right flavors. No grainy, too-sugary, cheap chocolates here-- everything is smooth and velvety, as it should be.

And that is that for now! Stay tuned for more truffles.

PS. Look at that box! Beautiful!

Divine Chocolate Bars

Divine chocolates are made from cocoa beans raised in Ghana, and the company has a good story which I won't re-tell here but encourage you to research through a purchase or their website. The chocolate is highly worth it and there are many flavors to choose from, not to mention the products are fair-trade certified and come in beautiful packaging! The package design has significance to the culture from which the cocoa beans stem, and there is a feature on the website that I enjoyed, which lets you roll over all the symbols to discover their meanings. I love chocolate (and other products) that go beyond what they are and incorporate creativity. I also appreciate the fact that they do what they can to make honest products that somehow benefit both the producers and the consumers.

The first one I tried was the 70% Dark Chocolate, which is both vegetarian and vegan. Some dark chocolates contain traces of milk products, but this one does not, and for those unfamiliar with non-milk dark chocolate it doesn't taste strange at all! There are other natural ingredients that make it what it is, and the lack of milk just makes the flavor stronger and deeper. I guess what I'm trying to say is don't let the words vegetarian and vegan make you think that it's something funky-- in fact, it's pretty much a simple, classic dark chocolate.

The 70% dark bar has a pleasantly smooth, silky texture which is exactly what I want in a chocolate bar. It melts in your mouth if you let it, and is fine to be chewed if you're a chewer. (Personally, I'm a chewer when I'm not busy analyzing the flavor. I can't fight the urge!) The flavor has a strong punch that's very dark, but if you let it melt it has moments of perfect sweetness. With dark chocolate it's all a balancing act, with sweetness on the lighter end of the scale. The strong flavor is great, but it's really enhanced by those surprising moments of sweet. The aftertaste is also pretty strong for a few seconds, and tastes something akin to a coffee flavor. At first I didn't like the aftertaste; that part took some figuring out and getting used to. In the end I decided it's not an unhappy flavor at all, just strong.

The Hazelnut Milk Chocolate shared the same smooth-melting texture but was also a slight bit softer, as most milk chocolates are. It does contain cream so it was still vegetarian (depending on your level of vegetarianism) but not vegan.

It was sweet, but not too sweet, and the hazelnuts added a nice soft crunch to the texture. The hazelnuts didn't add lots of flavor that I noticed, but I liked that they were in there. In fact, I think it could've used a little more hazelnut flavor overall.

Really the reason I purchased this bar was because I saw the words "hazelnut" and "chocolate" paired together and that equated to "Nutella" in my brain. It was nothing close to Nutella in flavor (maybe a much much more lightly flavored cousin if there is a comparison) but I have to say I wasn't awfully disappointed. I very much enjoyed it even though I'm not a huge fan of milk chocolate.

Overall, I enjoyed both flavors I tried and I would definitely recommend them to others! If you'll excuse cheesiness for a moment, I'll say that Divine really IS divine.

Russell Stover

When I think of Russell Stover, I think of the big, red Valentine's boxes you can get in your local supermarket which can sometimes leave you with a chalky or unsatisfying chocolate. (If your religion is chocolate, anyway. Most people probably like it well enough.)

But I don't turn down free chocolate, so I accepted a square of this Russell Stover Internationale German Black Forest Truffle. The wrapper describes it as: Rich, dark truffle with a hint of cherry, enrobed by bold dark chocolate and finished with silky milk chocolate.

After reading the wrapper and having my previous judgments in mind, I decided that this chocolate seems to be a step up. The cherry flavor is syrupy and unnatural though, akin to the flavor of the typical goo that comes inside a chocolate-covered cherry. That said, it's not incredibly potent and adds a little quirkiness. You can also taste the distinctions between the milk and dark chocolate but they also blend pretty well. It's very soft, and smooth, and not exactly the cheap cousin to drugstore chocolates. It's good, not great, and I'll leave it at that.

As for the Russell Stover Private Reserve Vanilla Bean Brulee, it was also a little gift and how can a girl say no to that?

In comparison to the above, it was a little more up my alley being 70% dark. It was however a little grainy, or "chalky" as previously mentioned, but not terribly. It's better than the cheapest chocolate, but not highest quality judging by texture and flavor. It seemed to be a sortof watered down version of 70% cocoa, which could be a result of the layer of vanilla bean goo on the inside.

The goo was pretty creamy, but not especially silky like you'd expect to get from such a fancy package (and as a graphic designer I DO like the package). I have to add that I do think that the dark chocolate was a good pairing with vanilla bean flavor, especially for a Russell Stover kind of audience.

For a not-so-pricey chocolate, I'd say these are pretty decent options if you like your chocolate filled with something. While it may not impress the knowledgeable chocolate connoisseur, it will probably satisfy your sweet tooth or chocolate craving. Sometimes that's enough!

Chocolove

The Chocolate Logs (ha ha!) is a new series of reviews on chocolate I am starting for my own future reference, and you too if you enjoy reading about different chocolates. I plan to review chocolate in many forms, focusing in bars but also including various candies and drinks.

In this entry I will be reviewing three different flavors by Chocolove, a brand I have come to, well, love!


As I perused the chocolate aisle tonight, I knew I was in the mood for dark. When I saw the Chocolove Strong Dark, 70% I thought it would be strong enough but not overwhelming and I was quite right in that guess. It was very smooth in texture and taste, and while it may be strong for the amateur chocolate-goer, for me it was not quite as dark as I'd hoped! Aside from that, it was a pleasant level of dark. It's probably good for anyone who wants to go a step up with their dark chocolate since had a very low level of that particular twang that super darks tend to have. A good solid dark, but not as dark as 70% may suggest. Quite worth the buy!

I felt indecisive about buying just a plain dark, so I opted to purchase this one as well. This is a good medium-strength dark chocolate with subtle cherry undertones alone (without a bite of cherries or almonds in it). The almonds don't provide much flavor as they do a pleasant, softly crunchy texture to the experience. And when you get a bite of the cherries, which are small, they too add something nice to the whole. They're a little chewy, a little sour (not unpleasant), and a very nice surprise. I was expecting this bar to have a stronger general cherry flavor but it's very subtle unless you get an actual one. I enjoyed this because it didn't wind up having that medicine-cherry flavor or that kind of aftertaste. A good bar, but don't expect it to be exploding with cherry flavor.


This kind is one I tried back in August but still see it as worthy of a review. Unlike it's Cherry sister bar, it IS sparkling with orange flavor in the just right kind of way. I liked the flavor crystals because they weren't overwhelming the bar in amount, but were in just enough to add pleasant crunch and flavor. I could be confusing the crunch of the crystals with the bits of orange peel, but it was a good flavor and good smooth chocolate.

Good smooth chocolate is one thing this brand seems to get right. I have yet to be disappointed with the texture or flavor of their chocolate, even if in the 70% it was slightly lacking in burst. It was still a good bar, and I'd buy it again. I'd buy any of them again for that matter.

Also worth mentioning are the details in this as a package. The outside and inside wrappers are designed quite beautifully (coming from a graphic designer, thank you!) in lovely colors and typogrpahy and I enjoy reading the "love poems" they have on the inside. I also like that the impression on each little rounded square of chocolate is of a heart. Very fitting, and cute!

These bars were $2.49 each at Earth Fare, plus tax.

Overall Rating: (considering what it is for its price) 4 out of 5 bars
(I decided not to do individual ratings because lets face it, unless the chocolate is SUPER cheap or shockingly gross... there's usually no way I could give it a low rating.)