Buddy's Chocolate Peanut Small Batch Nut Butter + thinkThin - Peanut Butter Banana Smoothie - Dec. 17, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Buddy's
Chocolate Peanut Nut Butter
Good
Weight: 1.15 oz. (32 oz.) in total packet
Calories: 180 calories in 1 packet
Cost: $0.99 for 1 packet
Purchased from: Sprouts, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week.

Buddy's (Minneapolis, MN) nut butters are sold in both jars and in single-serving pouches. Today features the latter. The Little Buddy's Chocolate Peanut packet was made with roasted peanuts, semi-sweet chocolate and cocoa powder (with sea salt and sugar).

Nut butters offer several possibilities. They can be enjoyed as a spread, a mix-in with ice cream or a smoothie, or enjoyed plain. How about all three?

The pouch/packet was carefully squeezed out and used in a peanut butter and fresh banana protein drink smoothie mix, on a cracker with apricot jam and by itself.

True, peanuts are legumes, not true nuts. However, the protein smoothie mix used also contained cashews and almond protein. The fresh banana and Little Buddy's Chocolate Peanut nut butter helped to liven this thick protein drink up.

My favorite use for this Chocolate Peanut spread was, however, the second option: spread on a red rice quinoa cracker with apricot jam.*

*Buddy's also makes a Cinnamon Raisin spread which would have been happily co-featured today as the "fruit" in Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Week. But there was no time to search for this flavor in local stores.

Zachary Confections - Milk and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Cremes - Dec. 16, 2017

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Zachary Confections

Milk and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cremes

Good

Weight: 1.48 oz. (42 g.) / 11.87 oz. (336 g.) (per label) in total container

Calories: 180 calories in 1 serving

Cost: $N/A part of a Candy Club subscription

Purchased from: N/A - taste of someone else's (subscriber's) candy

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week. 

Today's Milk and Dark Chocolate Raspberry Mini Cremes were made by Zachary Confections (Frankfort, IN). The company got its start in 1950, making novelty items in Chicago (the self-proclaimed Candy* Capital of the World in the early 1900s). 

The company now turns out thousands of chocolate creme pieces (and many other candies, including at least 10 flavors of candy corn) in its 300,000 square-foot, modern facility in central Indiana.

Each of today's round, milk and dark chocolate pieces were filled with a light colored, creamy but solid, raspberry-flavored sweet center. These were eaten with walnuts.**

*Most chocolate items featured on ChocolateBanquet.com are classified as chocolate, not candy; that is, sugar is listed below/after cocoa/chocolate in the ingredients. Today's chocolate was part of a Candy Club subscription box, and the #1 ingredient was sugar.

**Because there's not much protein, fat or fiber to slow down the absorption of the sugar in candy, I eat candy with nuts—like the roasted walnuts pictured with the Raspberry Mini Creme pieces here.

Yves Thuries - 70% Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Oranges bar - Dec. 15, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Yves Thuries

70% Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Oranges

Good

Weight: 1.16 oz. (33 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 180 calories in  4 squares, or 1/3 bar

Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 bar

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

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week. 

Today's 70% Dark Chocolate with Almonds and Oranges was produced by Yves Thuries (Product of France, and distributed by SALPA Inc., Greenwich, CT).

This bar follows hot on the heels of yesterday's dark chocolate, blood orange pairing with slice almonds.

The cacao used for most Yves Thuries bars, including this one, is grown on their San Fernando plantation in the Guayaquil region of southern Ecuador.

Cacao originated in Central and South America. Oranges are from Asia, and almonds got their start in the Middle East, India and North Africa. Despite their different origins, they blend very naturally together. This happy fusion may have first surfaced in southern Europe or the Mediterranean, before spreading across the globe.

This bar was a nice mix of 70% dark chocolate, and natural tasting bits of caramelized almonds and orange bits (orange pulp, sucrose, apple, pineapple and orange natural flavor).

Godiva - Dark Chocolate Blood Orange bar - Dec. 14, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

Godiva
Dark Chocolate Blood Orange bar
(Chocolat Noir A L'Orange Sanguine) bar
Good
Weight: 1.03 oz. (30 g.) / 3.1 oz. (90 g.) in total bar
Calories: 147 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week.

Some chocolate and fruit combinations seem to beg for the addition of nuts, and vice versa some chocolate and nut blends are great with fruit(s).

I felt compelled to pair today's Dark Chocolate Blood Orange bar from Godiva Chocolatier, Inc. (New York, NY) with a small handful of sliced California almonds.

The 50% cacao bar had a smooth and even sweet dark chocolate flavor.* And tiny bits of Italian blood orange yielded a rich, high-end Creamsicle** aroma and provided a sweet, slightly tangy citrus sparkle in each bite.

The almonds, orange and chocolate were tres good together. The nuts helped balance out the relatively high level of sugar.

*The bar was made with cocoa processed with alkali (which tends to result in a smoother, less acidic chocolate).

**A Creamsicle was a frozen Popsicle-like treat with an orange ice covering over vanilla ice cream. Now owned by Unilever.

Sahale Snacks - Banana Pecan with Cocoa Nibs & Cinnamon bar - Dec. 13, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Distributed by Sahale Snacks
Banana Pecan with Cocoa Nibs and Cinnamon Bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) in 1 bar / 5.6 oz. (160 g.) in box of 4 bars
Calories: 200 calories in 1 bar
Cost: $?.?? for 1 box of 4 bars
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week.

Today's box of 4 individually-wrapped Banana Pecan with Cocoa Nibs and Cinnamon Bars were distributed by Sahale Snacks (Seattle, WA).

These bars were natural tasting and well-balanced, with a hint of banana bread and nuts. They had a pleasing chew to them (not too soft or too stiff). They had a rich flavor; the first ingredient listed was cashew butter (dry roasted cashews, date paste, brown rice protein).

Despite the sweet ingredients (bananas, dates) and tapioca syrup, caramelized sugar, they were refreshingly restrained in terms of sweetness. The dark chocolate flavor was supplied by cocoa nibs. Again, not too sweet, but flavorful. Light hints of cinnamon and vanilla gave the bar a slight warmth—a nice touch in the cooler months.

The Banana Pecan snack bar contained 5 grams of protein; and it was a satisfying bar for breakfast and as an any-time-of-day snack.

Praim Confections - Gelt-y Pleasure Dark Chocolate bar - Dec. 12, 2017

Chocolate of the Day:

The Praim Group/Praim, LLC
Gelt-y Pleasure Dark Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: 1.75 oz. (50 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 245 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $4.00 (estimate) for 1 bar
Purchased from: missing information

Welcome to Day #8 of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week.

This week we've covered a variety of different snack items: protein bars, granola bars and cookies with chocolate, gluten-free snack mixes with chocolate—even an organic, single-serve chocolate mousse.

But, this week wouldn't be complete without a few holiday-related, novelty chocolate items.

Today's Praim Confections Gelt-y* Pleasure Dark Chocolate kosher bar (from The Praim Group/Praim, LLC, Salem, MA) appeared in a local store just in time for Hanukkah (Dec. 12-20 this year).

The outer wrapper was adorned with the drawing of "The Mensch on a Bench"** and images of chocolate gold foil wrapped "coins."

The inner gold foil wrapper contained a fairly mild (chocolate liquor processed with alkali), sweet dark chocolate bar (that contained cocoa butter, milk fat, soy lecithin and vanilla). The bar had even taste and consistency.

**"Mensch on a Bench" is a Registered Trademark of Monkeybar Consulting LLC and is used under license here.

Urban Remedy - Raw Cacao Mousse - Dec. 11, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Urban Remedy

Raw Cacao Mousse

Good ++

Weight: 4.06 oz. (115 g.) in 1 container

Calories: 240 calories in 1 container/package

Cost: $N/A - gift from family member 

Purchaesed from: Draeger's Market, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate Snacks Theme Week.

Today's Raw Cacao Mousse from Urban Remedy (Richmond, CA) may be one of the healthier snacks featured this week.

Many popular snack items contain a long list of processed ingredients. Today's mousse, not so much: "Almond milk (filtered water, almond), date syrup, coconut oil, date, cacao powder, vanilla extract, Irish moss, sunflower lecithin, Himalayan pink salt."

For creamy dessert lovers who are unable to eat gluten, dairy or soy and prefer organic foods, Urban Remedy may offer something appealing for you, such as this single serving container* of (refrigerated) organic, creamy and flavorful mousse made with raw cacao and almond milk.

*The container and packaging are made from 100% recycled ingredients.