Dr. Bronner's - Magic Crunchy Hazelnut Butter Oat Milk Chocolate (bar) - Dec. 12, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

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.

Good King - Arise Mocha Crunch Snacking Cacao - Oct. 6, 2023

Chocolate of the Day

Good King
Arise Mocha Crunch Snacking Cacao
Good ++ - Good +++
Weight: 1.06 oz. (30 g.) / 2.12 oz. (60 g.) in total package
Calories: 130 calories in 1 serving (1/2 package)
Cost: $6.00 (sale) for 1 package
Purchased from: Zak's Chocolate (Scottsdale, AZ), online order

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.

Today's Good King "Arise" Mocha Crunch Snacking Cacao was manufactured by Cocoa Future, SPC (Seattle, WA). 

Aroma notes included: fruit, chocolate (cocoa), coffee, caramelized date/coconut sugar, and very faint, fleeting (almost there) whisp of sweet mushrooms sauteed in coconut milk and butter. 

Texture: There was a lot of fiber with each gently crunchy cacao bean and coffee based morsel. Happily, while while the cacao beans are fairly intact (in the original cacao bean form), these flavorful snack pieces weren't too dry or fibrous. 

Flavor notes for this 65% snacking cacao included: authentic, flavorful and well-balanced cacao (bean), with tasty coffee, caramel (and/or caramelized ingredients), coconut milk, cocoa butter and a tiny bit of salt. One of the best "coatings" for cacao beans I've tasted.

This was a perfect snack (and possibly breakfast); and I'd happily eat this again. Unfortunately, Good King offerings may be unavailable at the moment. I hope they return soon.

The ingredients used were thoughtfully sourced. The single origin, USDA Organic, Fair Trade  International (direct trade) cacao beans were from Coagricsal Co-op, Honduras. And the single origin, USDA Organic and Fair Trade for Life coffee was from Cafe Feminino, Peru.

Ingredients: Cacao Beans*, Cane Sugar*, Coconut Milk Powder*, Cacao Butter*, Coffee Beans*, Salt (* = Organic).

Allergen-related information: "Contains: Coconut" ("Vegan, Non-GMO, Dairy Free, Gluten Free")

 

Crunchies - Freeze-Dried Strawberries in Milk Chocolate - Apr. 18, 2021

Chocolate of the Day

Crunchies

Freeze-Dried Strawberries in Milk Chocolate

Good

Weight: 2 oz. (57 g.) / 5 oz. (142 g.) in total package

Calories: 300 calories in 2 servings

Cost: $3.49 for 1 package

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

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and RSTU Theme Week, featuring items with origins and/or flavor inclusions that start with the letters R, S, T and/or U.

It was impossible this week not to include both raspberries and strawberries. Both these berries have a long history of being combined in sublime ways with chocolate.

Today's Freeze-Dried Strawberries in Milk Chocolate were from Crunchies Natural Food Company, LLC (Calabasas, CA). The company offers a variety of freeze-dried fruit and vegetable snacks.

Freeze-dried* fruit pieces and powders have become popular* flavor inclusions for chocolates. They offer bursts of concentrated, authentic fruit flavor and a unique texture. 

The resulting pieces/powders are bright and flavorful, but they need to be sealed off from air and moisture to retain their light, airy, crunchy texture. Today's strawberry Crunchies achieved this level of protection in two ways: by being 1.) covered in chocolate, and 2.) stored in a (re-sealable) air-tight pouch. Both measures helped preserve the berry freshness. 

These thickly-coated/glazed milk chocolate pieces gave off the aroma of a sweet, strawberry milkshake. The milk chocolate + the concentrated sweetness of the strawberries were on the sweet side, but were tasty nonetheless. The strawberry pieces on the inside retained their tart-sweet berry flavor and naturally bright, rosy red color.

Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk chocolate liquor, soy lecithin, vanilla), freeze-dried strawberries, natural flavor, arabic gum, sugar, confectioners glaze. 

Allergen-related information: Contains milk, soy. Made on equipment that also processes peanuts, tree nuts, wheat and eggs.

*The Incas (who knew their way around cacao) practiced an early form of freeze-drying at higher altitudes. Food reserves were frozen by cold, dry climate. And at high elevations these frozen items would also have dried out.

Modern freeze drying of foods began over a century ago. Later in the 1900s, pictures of astronauts eating freeze-dried ice cream appeared; and light-weight, freeze-dried food entrees in silver pouches became more widely available for outdoor enthusiasts. For backpackers and climbers with 50+-pound (22.67-kilogram) packs on their backs, this was welcome news. (I still remember (happily) buying those pouches freeze-dried food and ice cream from army surplus/outdoor stores.)

Fast forward to today's high-end examples of freeze-dried culinary items (exotic, sublimated vegetable bits in five-star restaurants; or, closer to home, craft chocolate maker Dick Taylor's first limited edition raspberry bar), and I'm grateful for this medium and to the creative chefs, taste-makers and chocolate makers who have used this technology to bring us great food.

Bakeology - Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookie Bites - Mar. 28, 2019

Chocolate of the Day: 

Bakeology, LLC
Formula 1: Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookie Bites
Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 6 oz. (170 g.) in total package
Calories: 130 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #9 of Chocolate and Starches Theme Week. Some starches are delightful, in the cake and cookie form. When creating gluten-free baked goods, alternatives to wheat flours and starches often play an important role.

For example, today's "Formula 1: Chocolate Chip Crunchy Cookie Bites," manufactured and distributed by Bakeology, LLC (Malibu, CA), had organic rice flour and organic tapioca starch to thank for their success.

These small crunchy, gluten-free chocolate chip cookies were also vegan and contained no trans fats.