Dr. Bronner's
Magic Crunchy Hazelnut Butter Oat Milk Chocolate 45% Cocoa (bar)
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.465 oz. (41.5 g.) / 2.93 oz. (83 g.) in total bar
Calories: 249 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $N/A - free sample ($5.99 per bar); available online
Purchased from: N/A - Sample received from Dr. Bronner's
Today's Magic Crunchy Hazelnut Butter Oat Milk Chocolate 45% Cocoa (bar) was distributed by Dr. Bronner's (Vista, CA).
The company, well-known for their soaps,* was founded in 1948. Their first line of Magic dark chocolate bars were created in 2021. Today's hazelnut oat milk chocolate was the second of three new Dr. Bronner's oat milk chocolate bars featured this week on Chocolate Banquet.
Organic, Fair for Life Fair Trade, Vegan Certified, and gluten free, today's new Crunchy Hazelnut Butter Oat Milk Chocolate offers food for thoughtful consumers.
The growing selection of alternative "milk" chocolate bars in recent years has produced mixed results. However, this week's oat milk bars exemplify increasingly tasty variations that have become available in recent years.
Aroma notes for this aromatic bar included: roasted nuts (hazelnuts); sweet dark chocolate (that I usually associate with dark milk chocolate); and faint, freshly baked chocolate fudge brownie + shortbread hazelnut cookies with a trace of vanilla (wafting across the hall from someone's kitchen).
The texture was layered--with a slightly softer, flavorful (crunchy nut butter + chocolate blend) layer inside, surrounded by uniform, well-tempered outer chocolate coating.
Flavor notes included: Roasted nut butters (hazelnuts, almonds), and sweet, rich dark (oat) "milk" chocolate. I'm happy to admit I don't know if I could tell this was an oat milk chocolate vs. milk chocolate in a blind taste test.
This 45% cacao coconut sugar sweetened chocolate was fairly sweet; and it may create a "moreish" desire to eat more--i.e., more than an ultra-dark chocolate would. Fortunately, the coconut sugar seemed to slow down the sugar buzz.**
I'm a dark chocolate (and bold, natural flavors) fan. Even though this chocolate was only 45% cacao (more sugar, less cacao), it tasted like sweet, dark chocolate. The quality of the ingredients and nuts (hazelnuts and almonds), and perhaps the oat flour, helped balance out the sweetness. And I really appreciated the depth and richness of these authentic flavor(s).
Ingredients: Fair Trade Organic Coconut Sugar,* Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Butter,* Organic Hazelnuts, Fair Trade Organic Cocoa Beans,* Organic Whole Oat Flour, Organic Sunflower Lecithin, Organic Almonds, Fair Trade Organic Bourbon Vanilla Bean (* = Regenerative Organic Certified)
Allergen-related information: Contains nuts (hazelnut, almond), coconut (sugar). "Made on equipment that also processes almonds, hazelnuts, coconut and soy."
*Full disclosure, I was already a long-time fan of Dr. Bronner's liquid soaps before trying their chocolate. Now a B Corporation, Dr. Bronner's (now run by the descendants of the original founder (Dr. Bronner)) continues to be committed to quality ingredients and social good. That extends to working with farmers in Ghana and creating a Regenerative Organic Certified Serendipalm Project in Ghana.
** Coconut sugar is a bit lower on the glycemic scale than more processed/white sugar(s), i.e. is less likely to spike blood sugar as much.
