More Fruit and Chocolate

Let's get back to chocolate!  But still fruit!!  As you all know, I am not a big drinker.  But when I saw these, I wanted to try them.  That's part of my problem - I see a new chocolate candy (or cookie or cake or ice cream or frosting) I want to try it.

These are chocolate-covered wine grapes by Bissingers:

The verdict?  If you like wine, you'll like these.  I think I was hoping for something a little more grapey and a little less winey.  But wine lovers will love these and Bissinger's does chocolate right.  They're also unique - I've never seen them anywhere else.  And I love unique!

Bissinger's also makes these Fig Truffles:

They look pretty good, (white chocolate drizzle is a nice touch) but they reminded me of fruitcake.  Not chocolately enough.  They also have cognac in them - ugh.   Where's an alcohol-loving boyfriend when you need one? 

Lindt has a so delicious raspberry truffle:

You just can't go wrong with Lindt.  So creamy, so delicious and this has just the right amount of raspberry and chocolate - LOVE them!!

These little treats are AMAZING!!!  This one is Wildberry Yogurt Eisdessert - a mix of blueberries, raspberry and blackberry filling over yogurt covered in smooth milk chocolate (Eisdessert means ice cream dessert - Lindt suggests you slightly chill these):

This is raspberry:

These are sooooo good - they taste like little fruit and chocolate cheesecakes!  I'm telling you - get to a Lindt store and buy a few - soooo worth it!

This is dark chocolate covered strawberry:

While WAY better than orange, after the awesome baby cheesecakes, why bother with these?  I actually thought the dark chocolate overpowered the strawberry.

Ghirardelli has a dark chocolate square with raspberry filling:

It was okay.  Nothing earth shattering.  Lindt truffles kick Ghirardelli butt.

Lindt also has a raspberry bar:

Lindt's bar has a liquid center sealed in that amazing creamy milk chocolate.  It has a good flavor, but I don't really love the liquid center.  I'd rather have a raspberry cream  filling.

Perugina has a raspberry bar:

It has an interesting center - almost like a raspberry jelly.  I liked it better than the liquid, but I don't love the jellyness.  But what I really like is a creamy raspberry filling (like the filling in the strawberry Lindt above).  So I can't really suggest you run out and get any of these bars.  Get the yogurt/cheesecake eisdessert!!!  Do it, do it!!

One of the big flavors at Candy Expo was black currant (some kind of weird berry).  Lindt has a dark bar in their Excellence line with it:

The bar also has almonds (yum!).  When you open it, all you smell are the weird black currants - a grapey, berryish smell.  I'm not big on blackcurrent (as you heard with the purple bear cookies).  Too bitter.  Don't like it.

This one I got at the Anthon Berg booth at Candy Expo - most of their chocolates are infused with alcohol:

This one was super sweet with just a hint of the blackcurrant bitterness.  While not bad, I don't really want to eat another one.  Not really a rousing endorsement, huh?

Go with the amazing, awesome cheesecake (yogurt, whatever) eisdesserts!  They are fabulous!!!!!  Oh - and if you need some motivation - keep a couple in the fridge!  Yay!!

Chocolate and Orange - I Say No

Godiva's orange sherbet concoction got me thinking about the whole chocolate/orange combo.  I like orange, I like chocolate.  But do they really need to be together?

This is Lindt's Arancia (Italian for orange) truffle:

Holy cow it's strong!  That filling tastes like Tang!  Whoa!  This might be a little too much.

This is the famous Lindor truffle in orange:

This is better - that great creamy Lindt chocolate with a taste of orange.  Is it my favorite combo?  (With peanut butter and hazelnut in the mix?)  Not really, but this is a better balance.

This is a awesome milk chocolate bar with creamy orange filling:

Now that filling doesn't really look like the filling in the picture, does it?  Taste wise, it's pretty heavy on the orange.  I gotta tell you, this combo just doesn't really work all that well for me.

New Tree has this combo - Bitter Orange and Crisped Rice:

While I like the crisped rice, I'm not a fan of bitter orange.

Chocolove has orange peel in dark chocolate:

I like the dark chocolate, but I don't think orange PEEL really adds anything.

Seattle Chocolates at least adds CANDIED orange peel:

Love the wonderful dark chocolate truffle bar - was not thrilled by the chewy orange peely chunks.
Look at this giant box of Orange Sticks:

The picture doesn't really show it, but that's a jellied orange center.  I don't really love those jellied centers, but these are scarily addictive.  If you like those creepy orange slices, you'll adore these.  By the Sweet Candy Company http://www.sweetcandy.com/.  I got the box at Candy Expo - thanks Sweet's!

This is by Harvest Sweets and after I ate some......

I discovered they were milk chocolate covered orange PEEL!  EWWW!!!  Too bitter and I don't like that peel texture.  Even a chocolate coating can't save these.  UGH!  The worst of the lot.

These just say Orange and are by Lindt:

Dark chocolate with a hint of orange - I liked these best.  More to the chocolate end of the spectrum than the orange and the chunks aren't so bitter.  Maybe they aren't orange PEEL.

This exotic bar is by B.T. McElrath Chocolatier and it is dark and white chocolates infused with passion fruit and tangerine:

Look how pretty!

I really wanted to like this bar - it's so pretty, the chocolates swirled together.  But......it really didn't do much for me.  Passion fruit tastes kinda weird to me and the flavor combos just didn't wow me.  For $5.00 I want a bar to wow me.

Chocolate and orange - I say no.  I think each is way better without the addition of the other.  Maybe a slight hint of orange in some confections, but overall - nah.  What do you think, dear readers?

And orange peel - really?  Just leave that be. 

Nobody Knows the Truffles I've Seen

Back to Candy Expo!  I had to stop by the Palmer booth and tell them I thought they were the Michelangelo's of chocolate.  They seemed unimpressed.

I've never seen any of these in the stores - Palmer peanut butter cups and candy bars:

Look at these - remind you of anything?  Looks like they're trying to imitate Lindt's Lindor truffles:

These are Palmer's Twists - brown is double chocolate, red is peanut butter, and aqua is white chocolate:

Well - they are about as you would expect - that waxy, too sugary Palmer chocolate.  But once again, there is something about their peanut butter that I really like.  It's good and salty.  But these ain't got nuthin' on Lindt!

At the entrance to the Expo, Lindt had their giant golden bunny - I love this guy!

At their booth, they had one of their master chocolatiers and she hosted a chocolate tasting.

We got to try a 90% dark bar from their Excellence line - designed with a thin profile to melt in your mouth.  It was good - but WAY too bitter for me.  I much preferred the 47% dark with roasted almonds.  Very good. 

See the little bags to the right of the picture - near the bunny?  That's their new little three truffle bag.  Here's a display of them:

The bars we got to try:

We also sampled their new hazelnut truffle:

This is one fabulous truffle - delicious creamy milk chocolate and crunchy hazelnut - YUM!  A+++

Now just to compare some Lindor Truffles with those Palmer things:

 

Really, Palmer?  Why even go here? 

Can you see just from the picture how much more fabulous these truffles are?  Creamy, awesome chocolate - that's Lindt's dark truffle on the left, peanut butter in the middle.  So amazing!!

This is a Whisper Bon Bon from Arcor and all I have to say is bleech:

That wafer layer around the peanut butter tasted stale and the peanut butter and chocolate were lame.

This is the Madelaine Chocolate Company booth - look at all these colors of malted milk balls!!

This is what they look like in when packaged:

But these these are the really exciting things!!  Duets double-filled chocolate truffles!!  I'm not sure where to get these - I've found Madelaine's chocolate in Kohl's before.

They come in four flavors:

Peanut butter and raspberry:

This is pretty damn good - I mean you can even tell just from looking at the picture!  What a great idea!! 

 

This is milk truffle and white truffle:

This one I didn't like - there was a weird aftertaste of some kind.  And why buy this one anyway when you can have peanut butter and raspberry?

Here's raspberry and white truffle:

This one was good, if a little too sweet for me.  I liked it, but I liked the peanut butter combo better.  But damn, this raspberry filling is GOOD!

Ah - this one is peanut butter and caramel:

Whoa - this one was pretty damn good too.  I still like the peanut butter and raspberry best, but this was a close second.  Overall these Duets are very good and very different from anything else out there.  Yum!!

The two halves aren't divided by chocolate, but they stay separate - very cool.

Now here's something about them that kind of makes we want to puke - they are aimed at female consumers ages 25 to 50 (no problem there).  But their VP of sales and marketing said that Duets hold special appeal for those involved in planning bridal and baby showers because "such events are about bringing two things together, much like Duets."  Oh dear God, you have GOT to be kidding me! 

Since when has peanut butter and jelly represented man and wife, mother and child, or anything other than just two damn good flavors together? 

But they are so good, I'll forgive a weird stretch from the Madelaine marketing department.  Yay for truffles!!