Summer Coconut Continues

Ah - summertime!  Let's keep going to the islands, mon!  I've reviewed these Kisses before, but they are so good, let's look at them again:

They are coconut creme Kisses and you can see in the autopsy photo that the center is indeed creamy.  But there are chunks (or shreds) of coconut in these babies.  And they are damn good.  They would be awesome combined with the macadamia Kisses.  Yum!  Aloha!

Coconut candy seems to be mainly in the following combinations:
1.) without chocolate - like those vile coconut slices we looked at  (why bother?)
2.) coconut creme covered by chocolate - a coconut filling, if you will (this post)
3.) coconut (not cream) coated at least partly with chocolate (like the famous Almond Joy)
4.) coconut mixed with chocolate (not in bar form, but mixed together)
5.) coconut as an ingredient in a solid chocolate bar

You're going to see all of these variations in the next few posts.  You are going to feel like you are trapped on a desert island - one that happens to have a cacao plantation and loads of coconut trees.  Life could be worse. 

Okay, it could be worse if you only had these:

Too much crappy Palmer chocolate, not enough coconut filling.  All of Palmer's cream eggs were terrible. 

You all know how I feel about Russell Stover:

This egg is more like marshmallow cream with some coconut shreds.  Too sweet.  The dark chocolate helps, but not enough. 

I finally discovered who makes this egg!  Gertrude Hawk Chocolates.  I saw this exact design at their booth at Candy Expo.  I bought this egg at the Mast General Store and there is no manufacturer on the label.  (I really AM chocolate CSI!)

I wouldn't claim this egg either.  The base is WAY too thick and the filling has some coconut shreds, but doesn't have much taste at all.  No good. 

See's Cocoanut eggs looks okay:

But also was overly sweet.  It's the cream. Most of these coconut cream things are just too sweet.

The Godiva coconut egg:

This is much better.  Good dark chocolate and a less sweet, more coconutty taste.  One of the best coconut eggs.

Godiva has a coconut truffle:

And it's a little cloying.  I prefer the dark chocolate with the coconut in the eggs.  The truffle is a little too sweet.

Here's the problem with buying unlabeled chocolate.  The first truffle I autopsied (thinking it was the coconut) was this one:

Ooops!  Not coconut! 

This is a roasted almond truffle and it is fabulous.  Not too sweet, the almond center has a slightly salty taste.  LOVE it!!

And here are the new toasted almond gems:

Wow!  I loved these too - they are totally addictive!!  They seemed slightly less sweet than the larger truffle.  They are a sophisticates version of a peanut butter egg.  Amazingly good.  And the whole tube is $10 verses about $2 for one truffle.

Even more coconut to come!!  I figure it's the perfect thing to cover in the summertime. And yes, it's taken me this long to get to the end of the Easter Candy!  Can you believe it?  So much chocolate, so little time.

Eggnog, Pecan Pie, and Gingerbread

Well I've been regaling you with reviews of cheapie chocolate, how about some of the fancier brands? Both Ghirardelli and Godiva did some special seasonal flavors.

Let me just say - WOW! This has a great flavor with that smooth Ghirardelli chocolate. This is more than just chocolate with some pecans tossed in - it smells great, just like real pecan pie and has that special pecan pie taste. I think the pecans are carmelized. Very, very good. and I live in the land of pecan pie, so I should know.

They also did eggnog:

Okay, I don't like this. I like the fact that I can taste the cinnamon, but I don't like this one. Now, I'm not a big eggnog person, so if you like eggnog, you might like it.

Godiva did eggnog (boo!) and gingerbread (yay!):

The dark chocolate one is the eggnog. and yep, I don't like it. Too eggy. I liked the cinnamon taste of the Ghirardelli, which I didn't taste here. But I did like the dark chocolate. The perfect one in my mind would combine dark chocolate and cinnamon with the eggnog. Wait, the perfect one in my mind wouldn't have any eggnog. Yuck.

The gingerbread is much more up my alley:

I actually like this one. The gingerbread taste is fairly subtle. It's good. Is it better than chocolate covered gingerbread? Not in my book? I am standing by my assessement that Godiva is overpriced. $2.25 a truffle? Please! I can get a whole bunch of Archway gingerbread men for that. And they are better!!

Two more gingerbread concoctions - the first from Crate and Barrel. is gingerbread caramels:

I had high hopes for these. I love gingerbread and love carmel. And when I first starting eating one, I thought it was great. BUT over time the spices really came out and were overpowering, leaving a terrible aftertaste. So disappointing! And so NOT good. ARGH! Not cheap and now I have a whole tin full of awful caramels. Don't get these, even if they are half price.

These are by Choxie, Target's chocolate. I haven't tried Choxie yet, so we're going to see more of them. They are not off to a good start:

The box reads: "the home-baked crunch of warmly-spiced gingerbread pieces, dipped in sweet white chocolate swirled with dark." The box lies.


These are spitters. Yep, they are so bad you have to spit them out. They have a weird salty taste that makes me wonder what really is in the middle of them - it sure doesn't taste like "warmly-spiced gingerbread". It's bad. this doesn't bode well for Choxie.

Just because a flavor is good, doesn't mean it needs to be a chocolate (or a caramel or a jelly bean or a martini.) Stop the madness!

Godiva, Schmiva

Yesterday I walked a mile! Oh yeah, baby!! Today I decided I could venture out into the world. St. Tracy carted me to run some errands, and you know I had to secure some chocolate! The Godiva Holiday stars weren't out when I went into the hospital and I didn't want to miss them like I missed some of their Halloween pieces. Am I dedicated to chocolate or what? I do it all for you, dear readers! ; )

But first, let me show you what I found in the grocery store by the Christmas candy:

Andes is at it again! Now it doesn't say these are new or are for Christmas, but I've never seen them before. Let me tell you, these put the mint Girl Scout Cookies to shame!

Like the green layer! These are really, really good. These would be great as a stocking stuffer, an office gifts - less formal than the original Andes mints - and guaranteed to be a hit. Would be fab crumpled over ice cream or dunked in milk. A+++

Now let's check out the outrageously priced Godiva offerings:

Definitely gorgeous - love, love, love the way they look. At $2.25 each, however, they ain't cheap. They are about the size of a 50 cent piece.

The red one is Aztec Hot Chocolate - a chocolate ganache with a hint of habanaro oil in dark chocolate:

There's a very slight hint of habanaro. I think a hint of cinnamon too would have made this better. The ganache is smooth and creamy, but it needs a little more ole'.

Green is Twilight Mint - chocolate mint ganache in dark chocolate:

A nice, sophisticated mint taste - like a real mint sprig. But as I said in the last post, mint doesn't rock my world, so this is only okay to me. Pretty though, very pretty.

Gold is Holiday Spice - chocolate ganache with cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and ginger in milk chocolate. Sounds awesome!!!

Hmmm......apparently my eyes see the world differently than the eyes of the Godiva people. That sure don't look like chocolate ganache to me! This is an interesting flavor - I think it would have been better if that were chocolate ganache. It's really sweet and the spices are there, but they need to be stronger or this mystery ganache needs to be a little less cloying.

And the one I have the highest hopes for - Almond Shortbread - almond shortbread cookies combined with creamy ganache in dark chocolate:

Okay - WTF? Dark chocolate? I don't think so! Godiva must have changed these after they printed their Chocolate Menu. The closest thing these taste like is sugar cookie dough. I don't taste almond at all. And there is kind of a slight aftertaste. Boo! What a let down!

For the price - remember $2.25 each - these are not worth it. Unless you have money to burn and want to use them to impress people. They do look pretty cool and I would be impressed if someone gave them to me and I didn't have to pay the $2.25! Or if they were on my plate after dinner. Maybe if I crash an event at the White House...

Let's see if their holiday truffles are any better:

Peppermint is already sold out at the shop we stopped by. What do I think? Toothpastey - needs some milk chocolate. And maybe some peppermint crumbles. Ghirardelli kicks Godiva's behiney on this one. I don't have a picture of a Lindt truffle, but Lindt does too. They have a dark chocolate Lindor truffle filled with creamy peppermint and it is AMAZING! Godiva is starting to become my high end Russell Stover. If I only had a golf club....

Next is Egg Nog:

I dunno - ZZZZZZZ. This was boring to me. I don't really think egg nog is the greatest thing ever, so maybe if you love eggnog, you'll love this. I'd rather have a Reese's Tree.

Now I'm excited about the gingerbread truffle - I love gingerbread!

This was my favorite of the truffles. It was very good, but I'd rather have gingerbread. But it was a great attempt and I would recommend it. I wouldn't go to the mall with a recently replaced hip for it, but if you are in the mall anyway, really like ginger bread, and are craving a bit of chocolate - get it, baby!!

Woohoo! Are you getting in the holiday spirit? I sure am this year! St. Tracy insisted I have a Christmas tree and went out and got one and decorated it for me. I love sitting here with my sparkly tree. I'm so grateful the surgery went so well, and I'm so lucky I have friends who were there for me. What are you grateful for this year? What fun can you have? What new things will you try and what old traditions will you share? If I have one wish for you it is that you not be too hard on yourself - you don't try to be perfect or do too much - that you take time to feel the joy and the fun. And to eat some chocolate!!