Lily's - Peanut Butter Cups Milk Chocolate Style - Apr. 7, 2022

Chocolate of the Day

Lily's Sweets LLC

Peanut Butter Cups Milk Chocolate Style

Good +

Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 8.7 oz. (245 g.) in total package

Calories: 140 calories in 2 cups

Cost: $9.99 for 1 package of 15 individually-wrapped cups

Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate and Peanut Butter Theme Week.

Today's Milk Chocolate Style Peanut Butter Cups were manufactured for Lily's Sweets LLC (Boulder, CO). The company offers a variety of stevia and erythritol sweetened chocolates.

These individually-wrapped peanut butter cups had an aroma with tart green-lemon herb (oxalis) and cocoa that evolved into cookie and vanilla notes.

The milk chocolate cup coating was creamy and smooth in texture.

Flavor traits included: faint roasted coffee, a very faint, slightly odd perfume-y sweetness, milk chocolate, graham cracker and nutty notes.

The sweetness level was satisfying and balanced, and did not taste artificial. The sweeteners used (erythritol and stevia) "felt" different than sugar, which may have been due to the lack of small sugar "buzz" one gets from most cane sugar-sweetened chocolates.

As with many sugar-free chocolates, I suggest eating a small quantity (single serving of two cups) first if you have digestive sensitivities. (These chocolates also contained chicory fiber.)

Ingredients: Milk chocolate style coating (unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, Non-GMO erythritol, chicory root fiber, Non-GMO dextrin, whole milk powder (rBST free), milk fat (rBST free), sunflower lecithin, stevia extract, vanilla extract); peanut butter (peanuts, sustainably sourced palm kernel oil, Non-GMO erythritol, peanut flour, chicory root fiber, coconut oil, sustainably sourced palm oil, salt, sunflower lecithin, stevia extract).

Allergen-related information: Contains milk and peanuts."Produced on equipment that also processes product containing soy and tree nuts."

Lily's - Double Chocolate Crunch bar - Dec. 31, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's
Double Chocolate Crunch bar
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) in total bar
Calories: 110 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $1.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Sprouts Farmers Marketing, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Crunchy Chocolate Week.

Today's Double Chocolate Crunch bar was distributed by Lily's Sweets, LLC (King of Prussia, PA).

The crunch in this bar was supplied by crisped brown rice and the texture was a hearty mix of creamy and crunchy. Tiny chocolate chips were embedded in this bar as well.

This Non-GMO, certified gluten free 40% chocolate bar was sweetened with stevia and brown rice syrup.

Lily's Candy Cane 70% Dark Chocolate bar - Jan. 16, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's Sweets, LLC
Candy Cane Dark 70% Dark Chocolate bar
Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.); 2.8 oz. (80 g.) in 1 bar
Calories: 170 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.19 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to the last day (Day #9) of Chocolate and Peppermint Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Alternative Sweeteners Week.

Cane sugar is the expected sweetener for most bean-to-bar chocolates. However, one sees brown sugar, coconut sugar, honey and a variety of other sweeteners in chocolate bars and confections.

Today's Candy Cane 70% Dark Chocolate bar from Lily's Sweets, LLC* (King of Prussia, PA) was made with unsweetened chocolate (no sugar added). Instead of sugar, it was sweetened with Non-GMO Erythritol (a sugar alcohol) and Stevia Extract (from a plant).**

This gluten free and vegan dark bar broke with a hard snap (a sign of a good temper), and had a fairly creamy texture and melt—although it was slightly gritty in one or two bites. "Natural peppermint flavor" provided the authentic candy cane zing.

Thank you to Toni and Margaret for tasting help!

*The company is named after Lily, a cancer survivor. And a portion of proceeds from Lily's bars go to cancer research each year.

**"Ingredients: Unsweetened chocolate, Erythritol, Inulin, Cocoa Butter, Natural Peppermint Flavor, Stevia Extract, Organic Soy Lecithin, Vanilla."  

Stevia (Stevia rebaudiana) is a naturally sweet plant from South America that has been used for centuries to sweeten teas, medicines and other items, particularly in Brazil and Paraguay, and has been processed and marketed as an alternative sweetener around the globe in more recent times.

Lily's - Dark Chocolate Almond bar - December 28, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's Sweets
Dark Chocolate - Almond bar
Good - Good+
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 g.) / 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 113 calories
Cost: $7.00 total bar
Purchased from: Bridge Cafe, Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA

Today was Day #7 of Chocolate and Almond Theme Week, and Day #1 of Chocolate and Currant Theme Week.

This dark 55% cocoa, non GMO bar with Almonds, from Lily's Sweets (Santa Barbara, CA), was sweetened with stevia rather than with added sugar. Stevia (stevia rebaudiana) is a plant with naturally sweet leaves, a member of the very large sunflower family, that has been used as a sweetener for many years.

As with a previous Lily's (stevia) bar I tried, I found this chocolate to be smooth and dark and because of the stevia, and perhaps the inulin, less likely to give me a sugar rush than other bars. Although stevia is sweeter tasting by weight with fewer calories, some claim it has less of an impact in blood glucose than refined sugar.

Attractively packaged, with colorful art on the label, this bar was also scored into smaller sections, making it easier to split with friends or family.

I enjoyed part of this Lily's Dark Chocolate Almond bar with another interesting plant -- some tiny bunches of fresh, beautiful ruby red currants. Bright red berries of different sorts are a small consolation in winter. We don't see fresh currants that often in the U.S.

Apparently this fruit, and other members of the gooseberry family, were banned some years back to help protect against the spread of a rust infestation that was affecting pine trees. Currants could act as a host or non-symptomatic carrier of the disease, so their cultivation was discouraged and native currant plants eradicated in some areas. Here's to hoping we might see them grown again one day soon.

ChocolateBet: October 11, 2012

Chocolate of the Day: 

Lily's Sweets, Inc.
Crispy Rice bar
Weight: .6 oz. (17 g.)/ 3 oz. (85 g.) total bar
Calories: 68 calories for 1/5 bar (per label information)
Cost: $8.00 (estimate) for total bar
Purchased from: Crissy Field Cafe (now closed), in San Francisco, CA

Thank you to Lily's founders, Cynthia Tice and Chuck Genuardi for coming up with a line of natural tasting dark chocolate bars sweetened with stevia (a low/no calorie, plant-based sweetener).

It was refreshing to taste some chocolate without a sugar punch. This relatively mild and smooth, dark (55% cocoa) bar was made with non-GMO ingredients, and was embedded with pieces of organic, crisp brown rice. Another result of the company's stevia-based formulation: according to the label, the bar had 25 percent fewer calories (than other comparable chocolates one presumes).

In a tribute to childhood memories, the company website stated: "Our Crispy Rice (bar) is a nod to the snappy, crackly, childhood candy bar that made us smile. The one with the savory little crunches mixed in with the velvety chocolate. One bite of our crunchy, stevia-sweetened chocolate flings you back to happy childhood days -- and makes you feel that all is right with the world."

The company name, "Lily's," is a reference to Lily, a young cancer survivor. The company donates a portion of proceeds to related charitable causes.

Lily's 55% cocoa chocolate is Fair Trade Certified. And, this month (October) is Fair Trade month. While not all farmers can afford this certification process, thank you to the many good efforts and to Paul Rice (a name also fitting for Day #3 of Chocolate and Rice Theme Week), President and CEO of Fair Trade USA, for all the good work in this area.