Tin Pot Creamery - Chocolate Walnut Cookie - June 27, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Tin Pot Creamery
Chocolate Walnut Cookie
Very Good
Weight: unknown
Calories: unknown
Cost: $ mission information
Purchased from: Tin Pot Creamery, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #2 of Chocolate Cookie Theme Week.

What a great gluten-free chocolate cookie I had today.

It was made by the Tin Pot Creamery (Palo Alto, CA), a local 2-shop enterprise (with Palo Alto and Los Altos locations) that is better known as a scoop shop with high-quality ice creams and sorbets.

This individually-wrapped, rich, dark chocolate cookie with embedded pieces of walnut, had almost brownie-like richness. It was substantial, moist, very slightly chewy, and hung together well without being crumbly.

Liz Lovely - Cowgirl Cookie Truffles - June 26, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Liz Lovely, Inc.
Cowgirl Cookie Truffles
Good
Weight: 1.13 oz. (32 g.) / 6.7 oz. (190 g.) in total container
Calories: 150 calories in 1 cookie
Cost: $8.99 (estimate) for 1 container of 6 truffle cookies
Purchased from: SweetE Organic, Mill Valley, CA

Welcome to Day #1 of Chocolate Cookie Theme Week. As with all other chocolate items on this site, these Cowgirl Cookie Truffles—manufactured and distributed by Liz Lovely, Inc. (Waitsfield, VT)—were gluten free.

What are truffle cookies? Well, in this case, these rich confections were thick, soft chocolate chip cookies completely covered in dark chocolate. One was enough to satisfy, so it's possible that this container could be enough to share with five others.

Cookie Truffles (flavors) offered by this company include: Cowgirl, Moose, Sugar and Mint.

These cookies were certified gluten free, vegan and Non-GMO Project Verified.

Lindt - 90 percent Supreme Dark bar - June 25, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Lindt and Sprungli
90% Cocoa Supreme Dark bar
Good++
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) total bar
Calories: 120 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $?.?? for 1/5 bar
Purchased from:

Welcome to the final day (Day #7) of Swiss Chocolate Week.
It would be unfair to exclude Lindt chocolate, for this might be the first Swiss Chocolate that many people in the U.S. taste.

While bean-to-bar aficionados may move on to more bold, hand-hewn bars, there's something to be said for large manufacturing processes that can produce consistent flavor.

Lindt understands this end of the market, and the company has been producing chocolate since 1845. Among the many other accomplishments that Swiss chocolate makers contributed in the 1800s, Rodolphe Lindt has been credited with producing one of the first bars that was creamy and melted in a pleasant way on the tongue.

Today's 90% dark bar had a pleasant, sweet, roasted cocoa* aroma and had a flavor that was smoother and "sweeter" than most other bars that are this dark.

It had a creamy, uniform, chocolate flavor without some of the acidic or bitter harshness* that one might normally expect with a 90% bar.

This is due in part to added cocoa powder that had been processed with alkali. This cuts acidity (and occasional sharpness due to less than optimal fermentation), and also helps boost the cocoa percentage.

There were no spikes* of fruit*, olive, funk or off flavors, except for a very
slight bitter aftertaste, that didn't kick in until about a minute after I swallowed the chocolate.

*"Ingredients: chocolate, cocoa butter, cocoa powder processed with alkali*, sugar, bourbon vanilla beans."

Signature Select - 85% Cacao Dark bar - June 24, 2016

Chocolate of the Day:

Signature Select
(Distributed by Better Living Brands LLC*)
85% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar
Good - Good +
Weight: .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 115 calories in 1/5 bar
Cost: $2.50 for 1 bar (2 bars for $5.00)
Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #6 of Swiss Chocolate Week. When people think of Swiss chocolate they often think of milk chocolate, but in the closing days of this theme week, we'll look at a few ultra-dark bars made in Switzerland.

Today's Signature Select 85% Cacao Dark Chocolate bar (made in Switzerland and distributed by Better Living Brands LLC, Pleasanton, CA*) had a dark, complex but well balanced aroma and flavor profile.

Far from being a one-note bar, there was a bit of earth, a bit of chocolate fudge, and even a bit of a sweet green, floral top note. Flavors unfolded nicely without any huge spikes or "off" flavors.

Speaking of flavor, this five-ingredient** bar did contain some "natural flavor," although that doesn't tell us much. It could be natural fruit or nut flavorings; or it could be almost anything really.

There was a tiny bit of granularity in the texture, but nothing too off-putting. (Given a choice, I'd rather have a slightly shorter conch time and retain more volatile flavor elements than have a sub-micron level smoothness with less flavor.)

I don't know what the origin(s) and supply chain were for this ultra-dark bar, but for $2.50, it was a commendable and reasonably-priced bar for eating; and it might be great in a dark brownie mix.

*Better Living Brands LLC is associated with Safeway (Pleasanton, CA). In 2008, Safeway (large U.S. grocery store chain) unveiled the Better Living Brands Alliance to market health brands (e.g., O Organics, Eating Right product lines). Brand and private labeling strategies have continued to evolve since then. Sometimes it's easier to keep brands floating above underlying corporate mergers and acquisitions; although it does make tracking more difficult.

**Ingredients: Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Sugar, Cocoa Power, Natural Flavor

Menrose - MilkBoy Milk Chocolate bar - June 23, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Menrose GmbH
MilkBoy Milk Chocolate bar
Good
Weight:  .7 oz. (20 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 110 calores in 1/5 bar
Cost: $6.49 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Draeger's, Los Altos, CA

Welcome to Day #5 of Swiss Chocolate Week. Yo-de-le-hee-hoo (as my mom used to say).

Today's MilkBoy "Finest Alpine" Milk Chocolate bar from Menrose GmbH (Zurich, Switzerland) was made in Switzerland and imported to the U.S.

The bar's packaging was adorned with the same charming black and white mountain scenes that were on yesterday's MilkBoy dark chocolate with essential pine oil bar.

This 33% cocoa bar was quite sweet with a thick and creamy mouthfeel. (The bar also contained sunflower lecithin.)

The 24% milk solids portion of this bar was achieved using whole milk powder. Because chocolate is somewhat hydrophobic (fear of water is not correct but will do here), and will seize up if water is added at the wrong time, (dairy) milk chocolate bars are created with milk powder.

It's the first week of summer. Perhaps the cows in Switzerland are already being guided up to higher alpine pastures. As part of a seasonal traditional to celebrate the ascent (and descent of the cows in September), villagers may dress up. Thus the picture of the milk boy (in traditional garb carrying a milk bucket over his shoulder) on the MilkBoy label.

Menrose - MilkBoy Switzerland bar with Pine - June 22, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Menrose GmbH
MilkBoy - 60% with Pine bar
Good - Good +
Weight: 1.4 oz. (40 g.) / 3.5 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 220 calories in 2/5 bar
Cost: $5.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Draeger's, San Mateo, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Swiss Chocolate Theme Week.

Today's 60% Cocoa* MilkBoy bar from Menrose GmbH (made in Zurich, Switzerland) felt a little more authentically Swiss. After all, the packaging was adorned with a black and white illustration** of villagers frolicking through a Tyrolian village somewhere in the Alps.

I'm sure of it. I can almost see the white Edelweiss flowers and smell the clean, pine-scented mountain air. The "MilkBoy"—dressed in traditional gear and carrying a milk pail on his back—is about to lead his cows up to higher pastures for the summer.

So, what was the very subtle hint of mint + mild floral citrus note I tasted in this bar?

I should have guessed. The dark Swiss chocolate bar was flavored with just the right amount of essential pine tree oil: enough to have some fun without being overpowering. So, a few extra points for the creative flavor infusion.

And speaking of fun, look at those goats up in those trees. And what are those two monkeys doing inside the Swiss chalet? Oh, wait, those are two cats with long curling tails. Never mind.

*This bar was made from Utz certified cocoa.

**The image on the packaging was the work of an artist skilled in the traditional art of papercut silhouettes (decoupaging incredibly carefully trimmed black paper shapes on white paper).

Toblerone SnowTop bar - June 21, 2016

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mondelez International
Toblerone - SnowTop bar
Good
Weight: 1.17 oz. (33.3 g.) / 3.52 oz. (100 g.) in total bar
Calories: 180 calories in 1/3 bar
Cost: $0.99 for 1 bar
Purchased from: Grocery Outlet Bargain Market, Palo Alto, CA

It's the beginning of our summer here in California, and I'm already hoping I can make a trip to the cooler Swiss Alps to check out local Swiss chocolates. Maybe next summer.

Welcome to Day #3 of Swiss Chocolate Theme Week. Most of the chocolates I'm featuring this week are Swiss-made for U.S. or International companies. Toblerone, part of Mondelez Global LLC, makes a variety of iconic triangular-shaped bars in Switzerland.

Today's Limited Edition Toblerone SnowTop offering—the Swiss Milk and White Chocolate with Honey and Almond Nougat bar—had the classic mountain range shape, a row of 12 perfectly aligned chocolate peaks fused together. The difference? This bar was topped with white chocolate "snow."

Creamy and crispy, this milk bar was quite sweet.