Indulgence Chocolatiers - Porter 58% bar + Jelina Chocolatier - Maple Milk Chocolate bar - Dec. 22, 2017

Chocolate(s) of the Day: 

Indulgence Chocolatiers, LLC
Porter 58% Cacao Dark Chocolate with Espresso, Malt and Roasted Barley bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .14 oz. (4 g.) / 3.5 oz. (99.22 g.) in total bar
Calories: 23.5 calories in 1 square of bar
Cost: N/A - gift (thank you Kaitlin!)
Purchased from: N/A - gift

Welcome to Day #3 of Chocolate, Holiday Spices and Maple Theme Week. Today, we're blessed with two holiday bars.

The first bar, a Porter 58% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar with Espresso, Malt and Roasted Barley bar from Indulgence Chocolatiers, LLC (Milwaukee, WI), was a surprise gift—acquired on a vacation trip and generously shared with Chocolate Banquet.

What an intriguing, complex dark aroma this bittersweet chocolate bar had. Espresso powder added some rich depth as did roasted barley and malted milk powder.

I spent an indulgently long time just enjoying whiffs of this chocolate, that also had faint hints of umami, tobacco, leather and spice. And the taste I had did not disappoint.

Jelina Chocolatier
(Galerie au Chocolat)
Maple Crunch (Sucre d'erable) Milk Chocolate bar
Good
Weight: 1.76 oz. (50 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 270 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $ missing information
Purchased from: missing information

Today's second bar was a Maple Crunch Milk Chocolate bar from Jelina Chocolatier (Montreal, QC, Canada).

Holiday childhood memories included real stalks of sugar cane* and maple sugar candy. The sugar cane yielded less sugar than you might expect, but kept children busy as gnawing rodents on Christmas morning.

On the other hand, the maple-leaf shaped pieces of maple sugar candy (imported from exotic Canada or Vermont) were dazzlingly sweet in their final, processed form. They yielded such a super-charged maple sweetness that it was almost impossible to eat more than 1 or 2 pieces at one sitting.

However, the sensation of the slightly crystalline maple crunch and velvety maple melt still lingers. It was also present in today's Maple Crunch Milk Chocolate bar.

This bar appears as a second chocolate today because I've already had a similar maple milk chocolate bar from Galerie au Chocolat. (I discovered Galerie au Chocolat operates with the name Jelina Chocolatier in the U.S.) Thank goodness for Google spreadsheets and search.

*It's harder to get a sugar rush if you have to chew and suck the sugary plant liquid in its raw, diluted form from a large, hard stalk of actual sugar cane. 

Enjoy Life - ProBurst Bites - Chocolate Cinnamon Spice - Dec. 21, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Enjoy Life
ProBurst Bites - Chocolate Cinnamon Spice
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.27 oz. (36 g.) / 6.4 oz. (180 g.) in total package
Calories: 170 calories in 3 pieces
Cost: $7.99 for 1 package
Purchased from Ava's Market and Deli, Mountain View, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate, Holiday Spices and Maple Theme Week.

And Happy Winter Solstice Day. Soon, our darker days will grow lighter again. This thought helps us get through the January to come. That, and chocolate.

Today's allergy-friendly,* Chocolate Cinnamon Spice flavored ProBurst (protein burst) Bites were from Enjoy Life Natural Brands, LLC (Chicago, IL—a city where they really understand Winter and warming spices).

Chocolate was the first ingredient listed, so this snack didn't stint on cocoa content. Other ingredients with protein (rice protein, pumpkin seeds and chia seeds), helped create a balanced (i.e. not too sweet) sugar level.

The Bites had a soft chew and light spice notes (cinnamon with very subtle hints of chili and vanilla).

Enjoy Life also makes chocolate ProBurst Bites in another flavors, including Cranberry Orange, SunSeed Butter and Mango Habanero.

*These Bites were free of all 8 common allergens: wheat, dairy, peanuts, tree nuts, egg, soy, fish and shellfish, and were also made without casein, potato, sesame and sulfites.

Zokoko - Goddess Milk Chocolate with Chai Spice bar - Dec. 20, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Zokoko Artisan Chocolate
Goddess Milk Chocolate with Chai Spice bar
Good ++
Weight: 1.145 oz. (32.5 g.) / 2.29 oz. (65 g.) in total bar
Calories: 172 calories in 1/2 bar
Cost: $9.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Marketplace, San Francisco Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to the first day of Holiday Spices and Maple Sugar Theme Week.

As the Winter holiday season begins in earnest this week, warming spices can take the edge off a cold morning or a frenetic schedule. A hot cup of chai tea is a favorite. Hot drinking chocolate with cardamom and other chai spices is good too.

After seeing frost outside this morning on the leaves piled up on the ground, today's Goddess Milk Chocolate with Chai Spice bar from Zokoko Artisan Chocolate (Emu Heights, NSW, Australia) looked very appealing.

This milk chocolate bar had a creamy, almost velvety, slow melt, and hints of holiday spice cookies. A warm blend* of cinnamon, star anise and other spices in today's bar eclipsed the cardamom (usually the more dominant chai spice); but it was divine.

Sadly, this product was not listed on the Zokoko online store/website, so it may no longer be available.

*Spices in this Zokoko bar included: cinnamon, star anise, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, black pepper and vanilla.

NeoCocoa - Tart Cranberry truffles - Dec. 19, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

NeoCocoa
Tart Cranberry
Good+ - Good ++
Weight: .8 oz. (23 g.) / 2.4 oz. (69 g.) total box of 6 pieces
Calories: 120 calories (estimate) in 2 pieces
Cost: $13.00 for 1 box of 6 pieces
Purchased from: La Cocina, San Francisco Ferry Building, San Francisco, CA

Welcome to Day #7 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week.

How does one blend the delicious, slightly tart flavor of cranberry and orange during the holidays into chocolate? This combination can be found in relish, sauce, salads, energy bars and confections, but is harder to find in chocolates.

Fortunately, the busy elves at local San Francisco Bay Area chocolate company, NeoCocoa, made Tart Cranberry flavored truffles this season. These had well-balanced cranberry and bittersweet chocolate flavor with a hint of orange. The company's cube-shaped "hearts of truffles" were velvety soft truffle insides without the usual hard, glossy outer chocolate shells.

These chocolates shared a holiday snack plate with two festively-flavored snack fruit and nut bars: a Sahale Snacks Cranberry Almond with Black Pepper and Orange Zest bar, and a Sahale Tangerine Cashew with Vanilla and Mango bar. The black pepper added a little extra holiday accent sparkle.

Yves Thuries - Milk Chocolate and Hazelnuts and Raspberries bar - Dec. 18, 2017

Chocolate of the Day: 

Yves Thuries 

Milk Chocolate and Hazelnuts and Raspberries bar

Good

Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar

Calories: 270 calories in 2/5 bar

Cost: $1.99 (estimate) for 1 bar

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

Welcome to Day #6 of Chocolate, Fruit and Nuts Theme Week. 

Today's Milk Chocolate and Hazelnuts and Raspberries bar from Yves Thuries was made in France, and distributed by SALPA Inc. (Greenwich, CT).

This 34% cocoa milk chocolate bar was sprinkled with an attractive array of sweet raspberry and caramelized hazelnut small pieces or "splits." The raspberry splits contained "raspberry puree, sucrose, apple, pineapple fibers, natural flavors, citric acid, sodium sugar, glucose syrup (and) honey."


This chocolate, fruit and nut confection was a bit too sweet for me (sugar was the number one ingredient.) I'd like to taste a dark chocolate version though.

*Today's Milk Chocolate and Hazelnuts and Raspberries bar from Yves Thuries was similar to another fruit and nuts bar from the same French maker, only it also included blueberries and almonds.

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.