Blue Stripes Cacao - Whole Cacao Chocolate Bar 70% Cacao Almond Butter (bar) - Aug. 17, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Blue Stripes Urban Cacao
Whole Cacao Chocolate Bar 70% Cacao - Almond Butter
Good++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.05 oz. (30 g.) / 2.1 oz. (60 g.) in total bar
Calories; 360 calories in 1 bar
Cost: (Part of a larger $31.99 assortment box order)
Purchased from: Blue Stripes, online order 

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Nuts Theme Week.

Today's Whole Cacao Chocolate Bar - Almond Butter (bar) was distributed by Blue Stripes Cacao LLC (New York, NY). 

Aroma notes included: light chocolate; sweet, green botanical; diffuse fruit; and nut (almond, almond butter).

I loved the texture. It was a satisfying blend of very creamy chocolate and crunchy almonds--and, presumably, tiny bits of cocoa pod/fruit, as this was "100% upcycled chocolate" made with not only cacao (beans), but also cacao shell flour and cacao fruit sugar.

This very creamy, smooth (luxe melt-in-your-mouth) 70% chocolate and nut butter bar was like enjoying an almond gianduja* chocolate--comparable to some of the best hazelnut gianduja chocolates from Italy, with some additional pleasant and gentle cacao flavor complexity.

Ingredients: Whole Cacao Blend (70% Dark Chocolate* [Cacao Mass*, Coconut Sugar*, Cacao Butter*], Cacao Shell Flour, Cacao Fruit Sugar), Almond Butter, Almonds, Cacao Butter*, Coconut Sugar*, Almond Oil, Sea Salt. (*Organic)

Allergen-related information: Contains Almonds, Coconut. "...product is produced in a facility that also processes tree nuts, soy, peanuts, and wheat." 

*Gianduja is a smooth blend of chocolate and 30% hazelnut paste, that first appeared in northwestern Italy (Turin) during Napoleon's reign (1796-1814). This Piedmont region of Italy is known for these chocolates made with special, high-quality hazelnuts as well as white truffles and various other nuts and fruits.

Ethel's Baking Co. - Turtle Dandy - Aug. 16, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Ethel's Baking Co.
Turtle Dandy 
Good +
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42.45 g.) / 10 oz. (283 g.) in total container
Calories: 235 calories in 1/2 of 1 bar
Cost: $6.59 for 1 container (3 bars)
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Nuts Week.

Today's Turtle Dandy confections were from Ethel's Baking Co. (Shelby Township, MI).

These gluten-free bars were a stacked blend of rich shortbread cookie and chocolate "turtle" confection (thick, oval-ish shaped caramel and nut filled chocolates--often with pecans sticking out that resemble turtle limbs). Now imagine that concept translated into a rich cookie-pie hybrid.

Aroma notes include chocolate, shortbread cookies, nuts and fruit (very faint brown sugar and peach jam), and very faint vanilla. (These did not contain any peach, fruit or jam.)

These very generously-sized Turtle Dandy cookie bars had a thick, pie pastry-like butter cookie bottom, and were topped with layers of caramelized brown sugar chocolate and pecan nut pieces.

These were incredibly rich and buttery. (Butter was the number one ingredient.) I'd advise sharing a bar with someone (and eating these over a plate or napkin to avoid getting crumbs on your lap).

It's nice to see gluten-free confection and cookie/pie-like bar options like this; even if they're quite rich. That same rich, buttery quality could provide an interesting crumble over cooked fruit (plums, apples, peaches).

Ingredients: Butter (sweet cream, salt), brown cane sugar, Ethel's gluten-free flour blend (brown rice flour, modified tapioca starch, potato starch, corn starch, corn flour, white rice flour, xanthan gum), semi-sweet chocolate chips (sugar, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, soy lecithin or sunflower lecithin, vanilla), pecans, cane sugar, honey, eggs, water, vanilla extract (water, ethyl alcohol, extractives of vanilla beans), leavening agent (sodium acid pyrophosphate, sodium bicarbonate, corn starch, monocalcium phosphate).

Allergen-related information: "Contains: eggs, milk, soy, pecans. Made in a facility with other tree nuts, may contain pit or shell."