It’s not that I didn’t want to try them, it’s that I’m always wary of purchasing a big container of something I haven’t tried before. What if we absolutely hate them? That $10 could have easily gone toward something else and I’d kick myself for having wasted it.

In this case, though, the $10 on the 38oz container was not wasted. As you can see from the picture above, the container that I bought Tuesday morning already has about 1/3 missing. My kids love them (they’ve request them for snacks and as today’s treat in their lunchboxes instead of a piece of Halloween candy), my husband loves them, and I’ve got it sitting next to me right now, for informational purposes, of course.

They’re roasted with the cocoa and not coated in chocolate, so the chocolate taste is very subtle and the sweetness, which the label says comes from sucralose, is very light (though sucralose always leaves a little bit of a weird aftertaste to me, I almost wish they’d just use sugar). To me, almonds can start tasting kind of bland after a few, but the cocoa bumps it up to more of a treat, and if I’m not careful I may be making an extra run out to Sam’s this month for another one!

Though I know they’re just covering their behinds, I always get a kick out of nut labels that declare the product contains nuts.

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This past week I was sent a bar of Lindt Excellence A Touch of Sea Salt. Though it’s not new, I haven’t seen this on shelves yet and I was instantly intrigued. It’s no secret that I’m a big fan of chocolate and salt together, and it had never occurred to me that a chocolatier might actually combine just the two (without, say, peanut butter or something else with it).

The label says A Touch of Sea Salt is made dark chocolate, though at 47% it’s not too dark, and 3% Fleur de Sel, a premium French sea salt. When I tried the bar I let it sit in my mouth for just a minute and the salt doesn’t come through at first.

After melting just a bit the salt flavor is unmistakeable, but it’s not at all overpowering. It’s really an excellent combination, and I wanted more after the first square, which doesn’t happen terribly often after having some dark chocolate (a little goes a long way!).

My daughters loved it as well and we had to be careful not to devour the whole thing before my husband could try some too! Overall, this was a hit.

Have you tried Lindt’s A Touch of Sea Salt? What did you think?

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Raisinets are milk chocolate-covered raisins. Pretty simple, but usually pretty satisfying!

Sadly, my little sample packet of the Cranberry Raisinets showed up completely melted, so I have no pictures of the candies themselves, however if you’ve ever seen the regular raisin ones then I’m sure you’ve got an idea of what they look like anyway!

Because they were so melted I don’t have a terribly accurate review of them either, but I did cut a pack open and scraped out some of the mess. The cranberries were nice and soft, which is always a bonus (who likes hard dried fruit?).

The chocolate, unfortunately, was pretty unremarkable. In fact, it was downright grainy and almost waxy, but I’m not sure if that’s normal or because it was melted and mixed up with the cranberries. I’ll have to see if I can locate a “fresh” pack at the store the next time I go.

Raisinets are launching the Cranberry Raisinets campaign with some dried fruit drama, which you can check out at Raisinets.com.

[image used with permission from raisinets.com]

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This is what I pulled out. Kept cool by an ice pack and Styrofoam insulation, I had a pretty organza bag with four bars of various Lindt chocolate. But it was the one top that made my jaw literally drop.

Do you see that? 90% Cocoa. 90%! Are these people mad?, I thought. Am I supposed to eat this or bake with it? The answer, of course, was eat it!

I was actually surprised at how well the molded bar had held its shape. We’re still in the low 100’s here, temperature-wise, and the ice pack in the box had given up the ghost probably a few hours before it hit the delivery truck that morning. Usually when chocolate shows up on my doorstep it has to go immediately into the fridge before I can even open the packaging. This bar has been at room temperature for two days.

Now, the highest percentage of dark chocolate that I enjoy is 70%. I like that it tastes so rich and decadent and that I don’t need a lot of it to get a fix, but there’s still just the slightest bit of sweet.

I knew this 90% bar was going to not be as sweet, but I wasn’t expecting it to be so smooth. We’ve all taken a nibble of baking chocolate, right? Even though we knew it was going to be nasty and chalky? Well, this, while not nasty, was definitely not chalky either. It was surprisingly smooth and had a nice mouth feel, and of course didn’t melt right away like a milk chocolate would.

While it’s not necessarily bitter, the best way I can describe it is that there is a distinct lack of sweet. This won’t appeal to many people, however if you like really, really dark chocolate you won’t be disappointed with this one. It’s about as pure as you can get without nibbling on a chunk of baking chocolate, and to be honest, I do think this would be really tasty chopped up in cookies or melted down to add to brownies!

Have you had a chance to try Lindt’s 90% Cocoa Bar? What did you think?

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The Micro S’mores pretty much serves one purpose: to keep the s’mores components together during a round in the microwave, and it accomplishes this task perfectly.

Made of (dishwasher safe!) plastic, the lightweight unit is impact resistent and even has a little “handle” on the base which makes it easier to pick up off the counter or lift out of the microwave.

Now, for the s’mores purists, I will readily admit that nothing compares to a genuine s’more with marshmallows roasted over a fire. But I’ll also say that this was a lot of fun (especially for those of us who lack a campfire!), and my kids had a blast with it. We only did traditional s’mores this time, but the unit comes with a recipe book that’s packed with literally dozens of other ideas and it’s probably safe to say we’ll be trying all of them! (Did I mention the kids had fun?)

Using it couldn’t be easier: you just put down one graham cracker square, a square of chocolate, a marshmallow, and top off with another square of graham cracker. You then put the clear plastic top on and position the plunger so it rests on the top graham cracker and keeps everything in place. The instructions say to put it in the microwave for 10 seconds, but we found that that made the marshmallow a little too gooey, and ended up putting it in for seven seconds.

As the marshmallow heats up, the plunger applies just the right about of pressure to keep it from going everywhere, and forces it down onto the rest of the ingredients. The s’mores all came out perfectly gooey but not too hot. The unit itself also stayed cool and was perfectly fine to handle right out of the microwave.

The verdict?

I think that speaks for itself!

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First off, the bar is delicious! I’ve been a fan of Cadbury’s Fruit & Nut Bar (which I couldn’t help but compare it to!) for years, so this was right up my alley. The Lindt bar contains Swiss milk chocolate, raisins, and roasted hazelnuts and almonds. The additions are distributed generously throughout the bar, making for a very satisfying treat!

And I know I’m an oddball for not being crazy about hazelnuts, but the amount in the bar is perfect and compliments the almonds nicely, and together they make for a pleasant, light nutty taste. Another bonus is that the raisins also all “felt” fresh — sometimes products with raisins in them will get a chewy or inedible bit here and there, but my bar had no such issue.

The milk chocolate is classic Lindt — smooth, tasty and mild. I think milk chocolate always goes best with additions like fruits and nuts — dark chocolate is too tasty on its own and usually renders add-ins unnecessary.

The Lindt Classic Recipe Raisin & Nuts bar is 4.4 oz and retails for about $3.50. Look for them on your grocery store shelves, or check them out at LindtUSA.com.

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Thankfully, they’re pretty tasty! The pack is only 1.5 oz, and contained about 23 candies. The candies themselves are about the size of a peanut butter M&M (slightly bigger than a plain but smaller than a peanut), and come in dark brown, green and white.

Maybe they put Miss Green on the package to make up for the fact that there are very few greens inside? (I’m kidding – fewer greens makes sense and is actually pretty visually appealing against the white and brown.) Some of the candies are printed with cute little umbrellas, suns, palm trees and flowers with the M.

Now, I liked these to the point that if I had a pack I’d snack on it, but I don’t know that I’d seek them out again like I do the peanut butter or peanut varieties.

The coconut, I think, is right on and is balanced perfectly with the chocolate, which is the standard M&M’s milk chocolate. There is a lingering aftertaste that, while not unpleasant, sticks around for a bit. Thankfully, these have the standard hard candy shell and not the weird soft shells that the Premium M&M’s have.

The kids really liked them, though, so even if they’re not a candy I’m gaga over, the kids will finish the box for me!

These supposedly won’t be available in stores until August, but like I said, I picked this box up at Sam’s Club last week for about $8.

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Art has perfected two new single-origin milk chocolate bars: Ocumare (the dark chocolate version of which I really liked) is made with beans from the Ocumare Valley in Venezuela, and the Jembrana is made from beans from the southwestern coast of Bali.

Though they’re both milk chocolate they each have distinctly different flavors. And though none of Art’s chocolates have anything but milk and a little vanilla added to each bar, the regions the beans are harvested from definitely lend each variety its own unique, not-entirely chocolate flavor:

Jembrana: Beautiful rich chocolate flavor that is yet gentle and beautiful. Hints of licorice, spice, and honey — naturally found flavor components of the special cocoa beans from Bali that naturally exhibit themselves when combined with the milk when we create this chocolate.

Ocumare: Rich and smooth chocolate flavor with natural flavor notes of red fruit (such as plumb or cherry) — a natural flavor component of these special Ocumare cocoa beans.

My favorite of the two is the Jembrana, which doesn’t seem to have as much of a flavor punch as the Ocumare (which I did enjoy, just not as much as the Jembrana!). I prefer my milk chocolate to be a little understated, though, so take that how you will! If you like your milk chocolate with a little something extra, without the addition of actual fruits or nuts, you’ll love these bars, and I’d definitely get them again.

[images: amano chocolate]

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Oreo Strawberry Milkshake Creme

The 12 oz package was $2.75, not too bad considering the usual 18 oz package usually runs about $3.50 here.

Don't mind the missing row...

Upon opening you see it’s not the same packaging setup that the usual Oreos have, with the three long rows. This one has three shorter rows with 8 cookies in each row, for a total of 24 in the package. There was really no strong smell, which to me is a good sign.

The cream filling, of course, is pink. It seems to be a little bit thicker than the usual cookies, and it’s definitely a lot smoother and creamier.

I found the taste to be very pleasant — not too sweet but just enough strawberry to know that’s what you’re eating. The chocolate cookie is the same old Oreo (which has always been the best part, to me!) and neither flavor overpowers the other. The regular white filling usually leaves me feeling like I’ve eaten Crisco, but the strawberry filling in these leave no unpleasant mouth-feel, and even the aftertaste is nice.

In all, I’d say it’s worth the money, especially if you’re an Oreo fan, and I hope maybe it’s one they’d consider taking off “limited edition” status! I’d definitely buy these if they stayed in stores.

Have you tried the Strawberry Milkshake Oreos? What did you think?

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But now they’ve gone and done it with Peanut Butter Dove. I was sent a bag this week and I’m not ashamed to say that it doesn’t seem to be lasting very long. The Dove chocolate is as rich and smooth as it always is, and the creamy peanut butter center is absolutely perfect.

One of the complaints I have with other peanut butter-filled chocolates (even See’s) is that there isn’t enough salt in the peanut butter. Reese’s seems to be the only one who’s gotten it right over the years, but I’ve noticed that even they seem to be cutting back, and that distinctive little bite from the salt in the peanut butter isn’t as noticeable anymore.

It’s a weird thing to complain about — not enough salt in my chocolate — but without it the peanut butter usually tends to fade into the background, which is just sad.

However, this is not the case with the Dove Peanut Butter chocolates. The amount of salt in the peanut butter is perfect — in fact, when I tried the first one I looked at my husband and said “They got it right!” and he agreed.

Each 8.5oz bag contains individually wrapped little squares wrapped in foil with the trademark Promises inspirations printed on the inside. Though they’re technically not set to be released until May, I’ve already seen them on the shelves at my local WalMart and a grocery store for about $3 a bag.

Check back over the next few days — I’ve got a few bags to give away!

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