Cuckoo for Coconut

Ah - summertime! I hope everyone had a great 4th! The weather here was downright amazing for this time of year - temps in the 80s! Unheard of!  I really thought I was in the islands, mon.

I found these crazy things in T.J. Maxx.  You know, I had no idea TJ Maxx carried such a strange array of gourmet treats.  They have candy, chocolate, cookies - but in random weird quantities and, depending on the store, in kind of beat-up condition.  TJ Maxx stores seem to range from okay to kinda ghetto. 

Anyway, these are butter pecan and toasted coconut Jordan Almonds from Maggie Lyon Chocolatiers:
http://www.maggielyon.com/index.html?cart=12755409484409486

Maggie Lyon is a company in Atlanta, Georgia, and if the rest of their candy is as good as these, we should plan a road trip.  Seriously.  These are not rock hard like a lot of Jordan Almonds and have a really meaty almond center.  And the coconut and butter pecan flavors are good - subtle, not overpowering.  A perfect addition to the almond.  VERY well done - I LOVE these!!

Of course, if we're gonna talk coconut we have to cover the classics:

Now, I actually prefer the Almond Joy to the Almond Joy Egg.  And it's the same reason I prefer the Reese's Egg to the Reese's Cup.  I just love peanut butter WAY more than coconut.

As you can see, the Almond Joy egg has only one almond and more coconut than the standard Almond Joy bar.  I prefer two almonds and less coconut (more chocolate).  The Reese's Egg has a higher peanut butter to chocolate ration than the Cup and I like that!  Peanut butter is way better than coconut in my book.  But again, it's all a matter of taste.

This is the Bounty Bar made by Mars in the UK.  I got this one at World Market.

It's okay.  I found the coconut a little dry.  And no almonds.  I really like the coconut almond combo.

Another classic - Kris - I know you love these!!

Me?  Not so much.  I like milk chocolate better in this case - don't know why.  Like the dark chocolate better with the Godiva Truffles.  I have no explanation.  Maybe it's the almonds.  Maybe it's childhood memories.  Maybe I'm insane.  Another chocolate mystery.

Anastasia Confectioners in Florida specializes in coconut.  They have some crazy flavor combinations - some of which I've reviewed before.  Here's Key Lime:

Regular coconut:

And those two naked with almond at the far right:

I'm not a big key lime person (heresy to some, I know) but in the world of candy, lime just doesn't fall anywhere near the top for me.  But, as I've said before, if you like it, that's all that matters for you.  You can have all my Key Lime pie, cookies and candy from here on out.  Unless that's all there is, then we'll have to negotiate.

My favorite is the regular old coconut.  And you know what, if you are a die-hard coconut fan - this is the "bar" for you.  It is all about the coconut - serious chunks of coconut with chocolate only as an accent.  Kris - you have got to try these - I think you'd LOVE them!  The back of the "slice" is coated in chocolate as well.

Almond is actually pretty good.  The flavor is less overpowering than the lime and the mango and works great with the coconut (IMHO anyway).  In fact, it's pretty hard to choose between this and the plain coconut.  I just love that almond coconut combo!!

I recently found a box of the mango and I didn't like these:

The mango just tastes kind of funky.  I'd much rather have just plain coconut.

Are you enjoying our island excursion?  We have more coconut to come!!! 

Tips for having a great life:

Just remember - what you like best is the best for you.  Your opinion is the most important for you.

Try a lot of different things - the thing you thought was the best might not be that great at all!

Try it even if you think you won't like it - sometimes you will be wrong.  (I find I'm wrong all the time.)

Stay open to new flavors, new experiences, new people - the best is yet to come!

The EU of Hazelnut Eggs

Ah - what came first - the hazelnut or the egg?

I saw these at Candy Expo and I happened to have some I found at World Market.  They are pretty clever - it's a real eggshell, decorated and filled with a hazelnut truffle egg:

They are made in Germany - aren't they pretty?

It really is an eggshell!

Pretty clever!  I'd like to see the process of making these!

They also taste delicious!  Smooth creamy milk chocolate with a good hazelnut flavor.  Dreamy!!  And gorgeous!

These milk chocolate nougat filled eggs were also made in Germany:

These are delicious too - there is a good hazelnut flavor here also and the milk chocolate coating is rich and creamy.  They are made by Niedergger, a German confectioner known for marzipan (I've reviewed some of their creations).  Europeans are bigger on hazelnut in their chocolate than Americans, but I really have developed a tasted for it.  (Chalk that up to Nutella.)  I like these WAY better than marzipan.

The Italians also got in on the hazelnut egg action - I got these at A Southern Season in Chapel Hill.  They had a huge barrel of them and you could serve yourself.

They were very creamy and delicious, but I could barely taste the hazelnut.  Fantastic for milk chocolate truffle eggs, not too impressive for hazelnut cream eggs.  Seems hard to believe the Italians would be subtle.

This is Lindt's Lilliput Egg Bag:

And the eggs are assorted - blue and pink are milk chocolate solids, purple is a dark chocolate solid and gold is hazelnut.  The autopsy photos are weird - this is a milk chocolate cut in half lengthwise:

This is a hazelnut cut in half width wise:

I liked the hazelnut better than all the solids.  The solids were just too boring in comparison.  The chocolate is good, but still - zzzzz.  And, compared to the Italian and German eggs, Lindt didn't fare so well.  Those were better.  Sorry, Lindt - I still love you.  Just maybe a little less than yesterday....

Okay, this is a creative way to offer chocolate and it does look like a carrot (or an umbrella):

But I didn't like it that much.  I don't like eating chocolate off a plastic stick - it seems to alter the experience (and not in a good way).  And again, not so good with the hazelnut.  The German eggs are so, so much better!

However, I really do love Lindt's ladybugs:

It's the creamy hazelnut with the crisps - love that textural mix!  And they are just so damn cute!!

Neuhaus is a Belgium company and has been kicking some chocolate butt in my reviews.  Expensive as heck, so far they have proved worth it.  In blue foil is a milk chocolate coated speculoos (a spicy cookie - like gingerbread flavor) and the pink is milk chocolate with gianduja (a hazelnut paste):

I really liked the speculoos (see, we learned a new and utterly useless Dutch word!) - it has a crunchy brown sugar texture and was really tastey - hard to describe - not too strongly of gingerbread, but a lovely spice flavor. 

And - shockingly enough - I liked the German hazelnut eggs better than the Neuhaus!  Wow!  The hazelnut flavor was just too faint.

Here the green is a dark chocolate with a praline nougat and the red is a dark chocolate with hazelnut paste:

I found the Neuhaus dark chocolate - which is absolutely delicious dark chocolate - overpowered the fillings and I could hardly taste them.  I think part of the "problem" is the Neuhaus eggs have a layer of chocolate between the two halves - meaning a higher chocolate to filling ratio.  And in this case - it's too much, offsetting the flavor of the filling.

Neuhaus had a lot of other eggs flavors - one that was new this year was a milk chocolate and creme brulee.  It got crushed in the autopsy photo - sorry!  But it was way too sweet for me.  But I like that they offer so many different flavors, although next year I might buy them individually so I can pick my favs.  This year I bought an assortment.

Thanks for visiting a few European countries with me today!  As always, taste is up to you - some of you may prefer the subtle hazelnut to the stronger flavor that I like.  And some of you may hate hazelnut altogether.  The key is to keep trying new things and figure out what YOU like.  Life is an adventure - both culinary and otherwise.  The key to good adventuring is:

1.) keeping an open mind

2.) trying things you've never tried before

and 3.) following your bliss.

And chocolate can definitely be your bliss!  Have some adventures this summer!!

White Chocolate - the NonChocolate

White chocolate is the red headed step child of the chocolate family. It's really not chocolate at all, (no cacao) but I still like it and I think we should keep an open mind. 

Can you believe I still have some Easter candy to review? I know, I know - time gets away from me! So much chocolate, so little time!

Lindt made a white chocolate Lindor truffle egg:

I can't say anything negative about this - sweet, delicious with that creamy truffle center.  Wow!

Neuhaus also did a white chocolate egg and this one is a solid "chocolate" egg:

 

This is also a great white chocolate egg - it's not as light and fluffy - not a truffle, but it's delicious.  It's hard to compare the two - both have great flavor, but are in such different consistencies I can't make a choice!

Now you all know I love Hershey's Kisses, but this white chocolate can't hold a candle to the Lindt or the Neuhaus - it has a waxier quality.  Nowhere near as good.  And the orange flavor is soooooo not my fav.  I could never eat another one of these again and be happy as a clam.

 

This is Lindt's Straccitella truffle egg:

It's the white chocolate truffle egg with some cocoa nibs on the outer layer.  The sad thing is, you can hardly taste the nibs at all.  Maybe if they were mixed all the way through?  I dunno - seems like they need more...something...maybe CHOCOLATE?

I found these at Harry and David:

They have a white chocolate outer layer, a dark chocolate layer and then the malt ball.  These didn't do anything for me.  The malt flavor seemed to offset everything else - kind of yucky.

These beauties are anything but yucky.  They are by one of favorite chocolatiers - Knipschildt.  And at $10.00 for five little eggs, they are not cheap.  But DAMN, they are delicious!

They are about the size of a robin's egg and are filled with a milk chocolate hazelnut paste that is amazing.  These are some of the best of the chocolates I had this Easter. 

These cuties are from L.A. Burdick and are the most adorable little white chocolate bunnies:

Each has an almond and a delicious chocolate and hazelnut truffle filling.  They also have a dark chocolate base:

L.A. Burdick makes the most gorgeous and delicious chocolates.  They also made this egg:

This delicious guy has our new friend white chocolate, then a layer of corn flakes (very crispy, very delicious!) and then a Gianduja filling (a sweet chocolate paste containing about 30% hazelnuts).    Not only is it totally cute, the combination of flavors and textures is wonderful.

So what did we learn?  White chocolate may not technically be chocolate, but it adds a lot to the family.  (Let's all join hands and sing "We are the World.")  It's mighty sweet, but it makes a great coating and has a lighter taste than milk chocolate.

Also - sometimes really great chocolate is completely worth the money.  There are artists who work in chocolate.

And finally, no chocolate is too cute to eat.

Have a great week - I'll be reporting from Candy Expo!!