J.D. Gross Mousse au Chocolat

I am working my way thru the mammoth box of chocolate from Germany, and one of the items in there was the J.D. Gross Mousse au Chocolat "bar". I use the word bar loosely as the package includes several individually wrapped mini bars a little larger than a Kit Kat stick. What these bars are is a rich chocolate mousse (38% cacao) enrobed in a layer of dark chocolate (53% cacao).

One of the bars in the package

The outer coating is a slightly hard chocolate that has a strong (slightly bitter) chocolate favor. Think of it as a way of containing the soft mousse inside. The mousse inside is very soft, similar to what you may find in many truffles. Without the outer chocolate container the mousse would not hold any shape. The favor of the mousse is good, and has a slight grit, but the favor of the outer chocolate hides some of the flavor of the mousse. Overall I am glad I got this bar, and I am having a hard time rationing out the servings. The package recommends 1 or 2 bars per serving and I have to agree that it is plenty as the bars are quite rich.

Guittard NonPareils

There is something about NonPareils that I love. Maybe it is the memories of my mom getting them for me, albeit rarely, from the Sears candy counter as a kid. Maybe it is the crunch of the white dots when you eat them.. anyway I just love them. So when I was at Costco and they had a bag of them, into the cart they went. There was a look from Jody that said to me "Do you really need that?", but I left it in the cart anyway.

So the brand that they had at Costco was Guittard, and they are a pretty well known chocolatier, so I expected something good. Needless to say I got what I expected. The discs are a little over 1" in diameter and are just the right thickness and snap nicely when you bite into them. I'll be sad when the bag is gone, but such is life and maybe Costco will have them next time I am there. :)

Next up... working on the sizable stash that arrived from Germany... 

Hammond's Dark Sea Salt and Caramel

Dark chocolate and caramel has been one of my favorite treats since I have been little. On here you will find it as a bar that I try frequently from many different chocolate makers. Hammond's does it right with this bar. The chocolate has a nice firm texture without getting waxy, and the caramel has just the right amount of viscosity and is not super sticky. I had a third of the bar and I kept wanting to go back and eat the rest of it.I finally had to go get a drink so that it didn't drive me crazy.

Recommended!

Hammond's Pigs N Taters

As you all know I enjoy a unique candy bar, so when I came across Hammond's (a Colorado based company) Pigs N Taters I just had to try it. Oliver and Valerie were visiting here from France when I picked up this bar and their initial reaction was that it was going to be gross.

Luckily, Hammond's did not disappoint us at all. This is a great bar, the bacon adds a nice smokiness and salt, the potato chips add crunch and more salt. And you know that chocolate and salt is a great combination.

At $3 a bar this is not something you have as an afternoon snack, but it is something you will want to try.

Venezuela Edel-Zartbitter Edelcacao

Venezuela Edel-Zartbitter Edelcacao, also known as Precious Dark Chocolate, is a 56% cacao chocolate bar. While at the less bitter end of the dark chocolates, this bar has a good flavor . This bar has much firmer texture than any of the Ritter Sports, so the chocolate is not as smooth from the start. But once the bar is in your mouth the chocolate melts and has a little bit of the bitter flavor, which still giving a nice chocolate experience that coats your mouth nicely.

Packaging a little different, and makes it good for not eating it all at once

I really enjoyed this chocolate and would recommend it.

Ritter Sport - Gebrannte Mandel

Today new chocolate is the Ritter Sport Gebrannte Mandel (Roasted Almonds). Like all Ritter Sport bars the chocolate is a smooth, soft, not to dark type of milk chocolate. The only issue I have with the bar is the nuts, no so much in the flavor of them, as they do taste good, but the size of the almond pieces. They are very small and in some cases kinda sharp.

So while this is a good bar, if you have a sensitivity in your mouth or choke on small pieces you may find this a little unpleasant.

Return of the Chocolate Reviews! - Dunkle Nugatcreme

After receiving the Christmas box from Florian's family  I was overwhelmed with new chocolate options. There were a few limited edition items and other things that we don't see in the US. So the first one I tried was the Dunkle Nugatcreme. The snow man on the wrapper is a nice touch.

The wrapper

The chocolate was typical Ritter Sport quality, this is a good thing, and it had a a very good flavor. The dark chocolate in the bar is not very bitter and the chocolate melts smoothly on your tongue, without any grittiness.

Recommended!

Chocolove - Almonds & Sea Salt in Dark Chocolate

As most of you know, I don't care for nuts in Chocolate, but since I really like Sea Salt in Chocolate, especially with caramel, I had to give this one a try. I really like this bar alot, in fact I would definitely get it again. The crunch of the almonds, which are not too big and are dry roasted, and the bit of the salt goes really well with the dark chocolate, which in this bar is very mild. In fact, the chocolate is almost a background note in comparison to the other flavors in the bar. The chocolate is smooth, and so it tends to melt on my fingers.

Recommended.

Found at Whole Foods in Boulder, CO

Cote d'or Lait-Melk

This is a Belgian Milk Chocolate bar, it comes basically in two bars in a single package, each bar is foil wrapped. The texture of the bar is smooth, like most milk chocolates, but not a smooth as the Dairy Milk bar. It has a little grit to it. The bar also does not seem to melt as quickly as other milk chocolates. I can actually hold it in my fingers without it getting all over them. I like the flavor of this bar, not to sweet and not waxy.

Found at: The Cheese Importers in Longmont, CO 

Blanxart Chocolate Negro

It has been awhile since I have found a new bar, but recently I was able to find a new ones that are new to me.

Today's bar is the Blanxart Chocolate Negro bar, which is a dark chocolate bar from Spain. It has a good chocolate flavor and a firm, almost hard, texture. I enjoyed this bar a lot.

Found at: The Cheese Importers in Longmont, CO

Erdnuss-Berge

When Jody and I visited with Florian's parents in Florida they sent us home with more chocolate (I'm still amazed by their generosity). One of the things we received was basically peanuts in dark chocolate. Erdnuss-Berge roughly translates to peanut mountain.

Normally I'm not a big fan of nuts and chocolate, but these are really good and in fact I think Jody liked them more than me and I think I could eat a lot of these. Recommended.

Ritter Sport - Pfefferminz

Well Florian, here it is... the day you have been waiting for... the day I ate the Ritter Sport Mint Chocolate bar... To bad you were not here for it. Actually, I ate it about two weeks ago, but am just now getting around to writing about it.

Florian said this was his favorite bar, and he tried unsuccessfully to get me to open it while he was here. I knew he liked it alot and so that made me a little concerned I would not get any of it. (Just Kidding). Anyway, Florian was right, this is a very good bar and I would pick one of these up just about any time. The mint is strong, but not Altoid string and the chocolate is a nice, crisp, dark chocolate. Recommended if you like mint.

Ritter Sport - Halbbitter

The Ritter Sport Halbbitter is a dark chocolate bar. Even though it is only listed as a 50% bar, it actually tastes like a darker bar, perhaps a 65% one from other vendors.

All this means is that the chocolate the RS uses in the bar is a good quality chocolate and that is hard to complain about. Anyway, this is a good bar and I would purchase one of these again.

Flaky Flix Cookies

The other day I posted about a cookie I love, but that is not made any more, Flaky Flix. So I found a recipe on the web for how to make your own. It basically is getting some wafer cookies from the store, covering them in chocolate and cornflakes. They are not super pretty, but they taste pretty darn good.

The chocolate I used was a mixture of several different chocolates that were kinda left over, Hershey's Dark Kisses, Ghirardelli, Nestle, and some other stuff I'm not even sure what it was.

Ikea - Chocolate

Who buys chocolate from a furniture store? Yup, that would be me.

I ended up get the dark and milk chocolate bars. After all the Ritter Sport bars with Hazelnuts in them, I just could not bring myself to get one this time. Our German exchange student, could not believe I was paying for these bars, as she says they get coupons in Germany to get these for free, I'm guessing to get people to come into the store.

As of right now, I've only had the dark bar and it was a better than average bar, nothing very exceptional, but not near as bad as a Hershey bar. This is one of those bars where if you need a chocolate fix, it will solve it, but not something you would buy to have a really good bar. Enjoy!

Ritter Sport - Milk Chocolate with Cornflakes

When I first saw this bar it really intrigued me. One of my favorite cookies is one called Flaky Flix, unfortunately they are no longer made.

They were a chocolate wafer cookie, covered in chocolate and then rolled in cornflakes. Very light chocolate snack and I could eat a box of them without even trying. In fact I recall my Mom limiting how many sticks I could have at a time.

So anyway back to the chocolate bar from Ritter Sport, which I found at Target and World Market.

This is a great chocolate bar. Everyone here at the house loved it and wished that I had bought more than one of them. So next time I am at Target I'll probably stock up. I definitely recommend this bar as it has a good flavor and a little crunch to it.

3 for 1 Review

Ok, I gotten a little behind on my chocolate posts. So I'm going to post about 3 bars I have recently tried (the sad part is that I have about 6 more bars waiting to be tried). Anyway, the three I am going to talk about here are the Milka Noisette bar, the Ritter Sport Joghurt bar, and the Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with a la Mousse au Chocolat. These are three very different bars and I have to say that I enjoyed them all.

The Milka Noisette is similar to the Alpenmilch bar, but with the addition of Hazelnuts to the bar.

Like the Alpenmilch bar, it was very smooth and had a good flavor. I've moved to keeping the bars in the refrigerator so that they don't melt as quickly, and that turned out to be a good choice for this bar.

The Ritter Sport Joghurt bar has almost a cheese cake like filling in the bar. I found this bar to be quite good.

I don't think Jody's Dad cared for it much since he doesn't like yogurt, but in my opinion it didn't really have a yogurt taste to it. I would purchase this on again, if I were able to find it.

The final bar is the Ritter Sport Dark Chocolate with a la Mousse au Chocolat. A really long name for a candy bar. I found this bar at World Market and Target, so I thought since I am trying other Ritter Sport bars, I might as well try this one. I thought this was a good bar, but Jody didn't care for it much.

This bar had the dark chocolate, with a creamy center, and I just don't think that Jody cares for that. However, I would definitely get this bar again. Very smooth texture with the bite of dark chocolate.

Chocolate Bars - Milka Alpenmilch

Milka Alpenmilch (Alpine Milk), this is one of the non-Ritter Sport bars that Florian brought. I believe it is made by Nestle, under the Milka brand name. Anyway, it is a very smooth, very soft milk chocolate. I can barely hold this bar as it starts melting immediately in my hand. Having chocolate melt in my hands is not new, but this bar seems to be very sensitive. Of course the bar was kept on the counter and here in Colorado we try to keep the house at 77-78 degrees during the summer, so maybe that is just a little to warm for this bar.

Anyway, this is a good bar, minus the melting issue. I would pick up one of these any day.

Ritter Sport - Weisse Voll-Nuss

Ok, it has been awhile since I did a chocolate blog, but I've been traveling and so I haven't been blogging. Before I left I had tried the Ritter Sport - Weisse Voll-Nuss (White Chocolate with Nuts).

 

This is a pretty good bar for a white chocolate bar. Very smooth and the hazelnuts go well with it. It disappeared pretty quick around here, so I guess you can say it went over well.

Ritter Sport - Trauben Nuss

Truaben Nuss translates to Grapes/Raisins and Nuts. Due to the raisins in the bar, it resulted in a different texture. This bar was much chewier but with the crunch of the nuts. The chocolate was the milk chocolate that Ritter is well known for, which is excellent as always.

 

I have to say that this was not one of my favorites either, mainly due to my preference to avoid fruit and nuts in chocolate. Ritter is trying to give people some variety in their bars, and I am sure some people like this one. However, the opinion around here varied from it was ok to this is one of the worst. I still think the peach/passion fruit was far worse than this, but I don't think I would buy this one either.