Organic Crispy Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Good ++
Weight: 1.32 oz. (37 g.) in total package of 2 cups
Calories: 210 calories in 1 package (2 cups)
Cost: $2.29 for 1 package
Purchased from: The Market at Edgewood, Palo Alto, CA
In 2006, my daughter bet I couldn't eat a different chocolate each day for a year. I enjoyed that year so much that, after 20 years, I'm still eating a different chocolate every day. Happily, even after 7,300+ chocolates, there are still more to try. Thank you to the cocoa farmers, chocolate makers and distributors that have made this global adventure possible.
Chocolate of the Day
Nectar Foods, Inc.
Honey Mama's Peanut Butter Cup Cocoa Truffle Bar
Good ++
Weight: 2.5 oz. (70 g.) in total bar
Calories: 390 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $6.49 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Whole Foods Market, Los Altos, CA
Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate and Honey Theme Week.
Today's Honey Mama's Peanut Butter Cup Cocoa Truffle Bar was from Nectar Foods, Inc. (Portland, OR). The company produces a line of Cocoa Truffle Bars, all sweetened using honey, rather than refined sugar.
Aroma notes for these refrigerated truffle bars included: chocolate nut butter and honey cookie; peanuts.
This hearty soft chewy, fudge-y bar was a cross between a rich, soft chocolate cookie and a chocolate bar. It had smooth cocoa, peanut, and faint soft, sweet (pleasing) green floral (honey, vanilla), and very faint coconut notes.
I liked the natural honey flavor, and that the overall sweetness level wasn't too high (thank you!).
Ingredients: Organic Roasted Peanuts, Organic Raw Honey, Organic Unrefined Coconut Oil, Organic Alkalized Cocoa Powder, Organic Coconut Flour, Cocoa Butter, Vanilla Extract, Himalayan Pink Salt.
Allergen-related information: Peanuts and Coconut. (Maker's note: Do not feed honey to infants under one year of age.)
Chocolate of the Day
Ragged Coast Chocolates
Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
Good ++
Weight: (Not listed on package)
Calories: (Not listed on package)
Cost: $11.95 for 1 package of 5 cups
Purchased from: Ragged Coast Chocolates, online order
Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate and Peanut Theme Week--featuring a variety of different high-end chocolates, confections and a few protein/snack bars.
Today's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from Ragged Coast Chocolates (Westbrook, ME) garnered a 2023 Good Food Awards win in the Confections category.
Aroma notes included: dark chocolate, faint nuts, and very faint aromatic (jasmine) rice.
Texture: very smooth dark chocolate with silken peanut butter center(s).
Layered flavor notes for these cups included: smooth dark chocolate; the aforementioned, silky, peanut butter center; and light sparkles of (Maine) sea salt.
I loved that these peanut butter cups were not overly sweet (thank you!). I also appreciated the short list of ingredients, the layered flavors and the use of single origin dark chocolate. The levels of salt and sugar were both in the Goldilocks* zone for me.
Ingredients: "Directly traded and sustainably grown bittersweet chocolate from Ecuador (cocoa mass, cocoa butter, sugar, soy lecithin, natural vanilla extract), organic peanut butter, organic cane sugar, cocoa butter, Maine sea salt."
Allergen-related information: "Allergens: Peanut, Soy" ("Dairy Free")
*The Goldilocks zone is a reference to a European folk tale. In the U.S. version of this tale, a girl (named Goldilocks), breaks into a house belonging to three bears and she eventually finds items inside that are, for her, just right. (The first bowl of porridge left on the table was too hot, the second bowl was too cold; but the last one was just right. The same sequence of events were repeated with the chairs and the beds she found.)
You might also hear a version of the Goldilocks zone reference from astronomers; e.g., that planet is too hot and that planet is too cold. But conditions on this planet may be just right to sustain life, water or other favorable conditions. (Earth is a great example of being in the zone, and why I've been able to write about a different chocolate every day for almost 18 years now.)
Chocolate of the Day
Niagara Chocolates
Peanut Butter Cups
Good +
Weight: .89 oz. (25 g.) / 4.5 oz. (128 g.) in total package
Calories: 140 calories in 2 cups
Cost: $3.99 for 1 package
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA
Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate and Peanut Butter Theme Week.
Today's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups were manufactured by Niagara Chocolates (Cheektowaga, New York). The company was founded in Buffalo, New York in 1956 and offers a variety of chocolate bars, cups and confections.
Aroma notes for these peanut butter cups included: chocolate green, nut (peanut), and warm floral spice (vanilla).
Texture: Creamy, buttery milk chocolate with a smooth peanut butter filling.
The milk chocolate cup/shell had a confection level sweetness, while the smooth, uniform peanut butter filling was not overly sweet--the opposite of a dark (less sweet) chocolate shell with a sugary peanut butter interior. The nutty, peanut butter core helped balance the sweeter chocolate exterior to create a tasty overall treat.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter*, skim milk powder, chocolate*, butterfat (milk), soy lecithin, natural flavor), peanut butter (dry roasted peanuts, sucrose, palm oil and sea salt), sugar, palm kernel oil, cocoa powder*, whey powder (milk), nonfat milk powder, soy lecithin, vanilla.
Allergen-related information: Contains milk, soy, peanut. May contain: egg, wheat, tree nuts.
*Rainforest Alliance Certified
Chocolate of the Day:
Purchased from: Piazza's Fine Foods, Palo Alto, CA
Chocolate of the Day:
Purchased from: Gracie Jones Gluten Free Bake Shop, Palo Alto, CA
Chocolate of the Day:
Today's Organic Mini Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups from Justin's (Boulder, CO) were a yummy, adult version of a childhood milk chocolate classic.
Chocolate of the Day:
Purchased from: missing information
Chocolate(s) of the Day:
Cost: $3.50 for 1 bar
Chocolate of the Day:
Chocolate of the Day:
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA
Wait, what is that apparition coming out of the candy mist? As it materialized, this spooky Butterfinger Halloween skull from Nestle seemed to say: "Arrgh. Dead men tell no tales." (Well, they don't after you bite off their jaws.) And, how kind this grinning skull was to let me feast on its chocolate bones and peanut butter and crunchy, peanut toffee brains.
Chocolate(s) of the Day:
Calories: 150 calories in 1 oz. (28 g.) serving
Cost: $8.99 for 1 package/bag
The "Strider's Snack Trail Mix" was a blend of raisins, unroasted and unsalted almonds, cashews, hazelnuts and, you guessed it...walnuts. Together they were great.