Brown-Haley - Mountain Thins Peanut Butter - Aug. 31, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Brown-Haley
Mountain Thins - Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter
Good
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 5.3 oz. (150 g.) in total bar
Calories: 210 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.45 for 1 package/bag
Purchased from: Safeway, Alameda, CA

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and the Wild West and Day #2 of Chocolate and Peanuts Theme Week.

To all you cowboys and cowgirls out there: sadly, this Wild West week is ending too soon. There are still so many good wild west themed chocolates and western towns not covered yet. There will have to be another Western week sometime in the future.

One thing we like about the west, and it's worth mentioning again this week, are the mountains: Sierra Nevada, Cascade Mountains, Rockies, Alaska Range and many more rugged peaks and valleys.

Today's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Mountain Thins were from Brown and Haley (Brown-Haley) (Tacoma, WA), a company probably most well-known for their Almond Roca confections. (On a clear day, company employees may see Mount Rainier (formerly known as Mount Tacoma), the tallest mountain in Washington state and in the Cascade Range, and an active volcano to boot.)

The name "Mountain Thins" is a tie in with the Brown and Haley Mountain Bar line that first debuted with the Mount Tacoma Bar in 1915. (In 1923, the name Tacoma was dropped.) Conventional chocolate "thins" are generally flat rectangles or squares; but today's thins had a more, well, mountainous surface.

Chocolate and peanut butter are natural partners in edible crime. Together, with some crunchy peanuts and the right dose of sea salt and sugar, these Mountain Thins formed a potentially addictive snack.

The Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Thins had a roasted peanut aroma and well-rounded peanut flavor. And the sweet milk chocolate had a touch of creamy touch of peanut butter-like melt and consistency.

Brown and Haley - Peanut Butter Mountain bar - Sept. 18, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Brown and Haley
Peanut Butter Mountain bar
Good
Weight: 1.6 oz. (45 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 230 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $1.79 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Rocket Fizz Soda Pop and Candy Shop, Palo Alto, CA

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate and Peanut Butter Theme Week.

This chunky Peanut Butter Mountain bar was from Brown and Haley (Tacoma, WA) -- the company most famous for Almond Roca buttercrunch confections.

The mound-shaped bar contained, as advertised, "a mountain of chocolate flavor with crunchy peanuts over a creamy peanut butter center." The layering of flavors and textures was effective and tasty.

I didn't care for the hydrogenated oil, corn syrup, gum, soy lecithin, etc. in this (and most other) traditional candy bars, but sometimes these bars are fun to eat.

To paraphrase theater critic Walter Kerr (circa 1954): Of course, (some of the ingredients were) terrible. But apart from that it's not so bad. I enjoyed this bar that was in one generous bite -- creamy, chocolatey, nutty and crunchy.

ChocolateBet: January 19, 2011

Chocolate of the Day:

3 pieces
Brown and Haley
Mocha Roca
Good +
Weight: 1.27 oz. (36 g.) / 8 oz. (226 g.) total container
Calories: 200 calories in 3 pieces
Cost: $7.99 for 1 container
Purchased from: Bed Bath and Beyond, in Mountain View, CA

It smelled like I'd opened a fresh can of coffee when I unsealed this tin of Mocha Roca from Brown and Haley. The foil wrapped pieces of Mocha Roca inside contained buttercrunch toffee centers that were embedded with bits of ground coffee and covered in chocolate and cashew bits. A winning combination of flavors overall. Like many chocolates that incorporate ground coffee beans to impart real coffee smell, taste and texture, the trade-off was having to chew on a few coffee grounds at the end. A small price to pay really.

Today was Day #4 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.

ChocolateBet: December 25, 2010

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

1/3 lump of chocolate coal
Maramor Chocolates
Premium Milk Chocolate - "You Deserve a Lump of Coal!"(R)
Good +
Weight: .41 oz. (11.5 g.) in 1/3 pc. / 1.25 oz. (35 g.) total package
Cost: $ (need to find receipt)
Purchased from: Blockbuster, in Palo Alto, CA

Maramor Chocolates "You Deserve a Lump of Coal!" was another example of a theme that was too limited for its own theme week in 2010: chocolate and minerals/carbon. There are chocolate diamonds; but those aren't edible. And I doubt chocolate covered anthracite would be a big hit.

It's also a little depressing to think about deserving only a lump of black foil wrapped coal in your stocking on Christmas Day. So, in addition to a few bites of "coal," I ate a Chocolate Banquet's worth of other goodies today.

As a child, we could count on finding candy canes and tangerines in our stockings. So, I felt obliged to sample a bit of Brown and Haley's Candy Cane Roca as well. And, yes, tangerines are good and refreshing as a palette cleanser between chocolates.

I hope Santa was good to everyone.

ChocolateBet: September 26, 2010

Chocolate of the Day:

1 serving
Brown and Haley
Almond Roca - Buttercrunch Toffee
(chopped, with vanilla ice cream, nuts, whipped cream, nuts, other additions)
Good + - Very Good
Weight: .4 oz. (9 g.)/ 1.2 oz. (35 g.) total package of 3 pieces
Calories: 400 calories (estimate) for sundae
Cost: $?
Purchased from: Longs Drugs (now CVS Pharmacy)

Today was Day #6 of Chocolate and Toffee Theme Week.

It was also very hot outside, with temperatures well in into the 90's (in degrees Farenheit that is). This called for extreme measures -- adulteration of chocolate with ice cream. The result: an Almond Roca sundae, made with vanilla ice cream, topped with chopped pecans, cocoa, whipped cream, and a few whole raw almonds (for something healthy).

ChocolateBet: June 6, 2008

Chocolate of the Day:

4 pieces/1 serving
Brown and Haley
Roca Buttercrunch, Dark Toffee Thins (60% Cacao)
(Buttercrunch Toffee with Almonds and Dark Chocolate)
Very Good
Weight: 40 grams in 4 piece serving/2.8 oz. (79 g.) total box/package
Calories: 210 calories in 4 piece serving
Cost: $2.49 for total box/pkg.
Purchased from: Fry's Electronics, in Palo Alto, CA

These Roca Buttercrunch Dark Toffee Thins from Brown and Haley were similar to their Almond Roca brethren, but with no chopped nuts on outside; the dark chocolate was nice.