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Surprises by William Curley

 

 

My yearly delivery of William Curley has arrived thanks to my mate Angelo, and this time I called ahead to see if Mr. Curley could put something together that I have never had before. Outside of having their fine pastries in their shop, I have had a good round of delicious treats from them over the years. This time he sent over some new treats.

On top of 3 boxes of truffles plus some other gems, there were two unlabeled boxes. I opened them to find candy bars! 3 treats from his Nostalgia line. A version of a Mounds Bar, A Snickers Bar, and a Jaffa Cake. Excited be thy name. All awesome and all things I like!

 

Nostaligia Coconut Bar: White chocolate and toasted coconut ganache coated in Toscano 70% dark chocolate.

A sophisticated version of a Mounds Bar. Amedei Toscano 70% dark chocolate shell with white chocolate and coconut center.

I am in love with coconut. I grew up on Mounds and Almond Joy's. They are still a favorite. But this was super rich and decadent with real dark chocolate. All coconut center. Meaning it does have white chocolate in it, but it's good and meaty with the coconut too. An Almond Joy is for a Halloween basket, this Nostalgia Bar is for a coconut lover you truly care about. It's ridiculously good. It defines rich from the dark chocolate and the insanely good coconut center.

 

Nostalgia Jaffa Cakes: Our version of a Jaffa Cake. Genoise sponge topped with homemade seville orange marmalade and chocolate ganache, coated in Toscano 70% dark chocolate.

Now, I never grew up with Jaffa Cakes. We had similar things in the US in terms of jelly rolls and things like that. But I like all the things in it. Sponge cake with jam dipped in Amedei chocolate. I am totally down with this. Also, this just looks 1000x better than the store bought ones.

Tangy and bright marmalade, bitter and perfect with the Amedei Toscano 70% shell. Soft spongy cake. It's a good balance of a lot of elements here. The tangy oranges, the bitter chocolate, sweet sugars in the marmalade and cake. I liked it.

 

 

Nostalgia Peanut Nougat Bar: Peanut and chocolate nougat topped with a salted peanut caramel and coated in Toscano 70% dark chocolate.

This would be a supped up version of a Snickers bar. Even better with it being dipped again in Amedei Tsocano 70% and with a salted caramel inside. Snickers is one of my all time favorite candy bars. It's right up there with Kit Kat bars. Previously I have tried Liddabit's version of a snickers. Handmade candy bars from Brooklyn. They set a very high bar, but didn't load it up with enough peanuts. This bar has plenty of peanuts.

It's a little sugary, but the nougat was soft and packed with lots of peanuts. The salty caramel gets a bit lost, but it is in there and there is a slight peak of it when you bite down into the bar. You get more of the buttery flavor than the salt. Again it is very sweet but I'd take this any day over a snickers.

 

Why do you do this to me William Curley?!?!?!?! Why do you make everything so awesome?

Charbonnel et Walker ~ Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles

 

 

 

The London chocolate tour continues thanks to my friend Angelo bringing me just about 40 boxes of truffles on his trip to the US. From Twitter, I asked chocolate pals, what else would be good from London aside from the already requested Paul A. Young and William Curley items? One person suggested Strawberry truffles from Charbonnel et Walker. Looking at their website, I saw Banoffee truffles instead. I love bananas and Banoffee pie more than I love strawberries. I had to request those. Those will be in the next post. But with that truffle assortment came a little heart shaped box of champagne truffles.

About Charbonnel et Walker:

Founded in 1875, Charbonnel et Walker is one of Britain’s earliest chocolatiers. Encouraged by Edward VII, (then the Prince of Wales), our company first formed as a partnership between Mrs Walker and Mme. Charbonnel, the latter from the Maison Boissier chocolate house in Paris. Our original shop opened at 173 New Bond Street in Mayfair and has remained in Bond Street ever since. It is now housed in one of London’s elegant arcades, the Royal Arcade on Old Bond Street. We feel much pride and privilege to be endorsed by the Royal Warrant as chocolate manufacturers to Her Majesty The Queen.

Charbonnel et Walker chocolates are hand-made according to traditional recipes. We are particularly renowned for our dark chocolate, made from the finest dark couverture, which has a luscious richness and unforgettable silky taste. Our luxurious hand made boxes, satin ribbons and complimentary gift-wrapping complete the perfect gift for every occasion. We are certain that a beautifully presented box of Charbonnel et Walker chocolates will delight any recipient as an exquisite expression of your care and affection.

 

 

 

Pink Marc de Champagne Truffles

Pink milk chocolate truffles with butter and champagne coated in powdered sugar.

Buttery and milky truffles. Incredibly sweet and boozy flavor. The aroma is very boozy, and it has a big boozy kick on the taste. It envelops the palate with boozy esters. Soft milk chocolate center. They kind of have a strawberry-ish taste on them from the milk, butters, and thick white chocolate and powdered sugar shell around the truffle. It finished with a lingering milky taste that is cloying like white chocolate. Artificial tasting, and cloying milky flavors drown out this truffle. But the champagne is a high point.

Very rich and sugary. Too sweet for me but I do appreciate a good boozy truffle. They did not go skimpy and for that alone I give these high praise. They are not handmade quality and taste manufactured, but the strong boozy champagne in it is a winner.

These get a D+ for over all cheap tasting truffles. But they get an A on the side for good booze flavor with the milk chocolate and champagne. They say handmade on their website, but unfortunately they taste very artificial. I wouldn't recommend them for a true chocolate lover, but they are cute and packaged prettily for a nice little gift for perhaps your co-workers or the boozer in your family you want to get a gift for but not go over the top on.

 

  score
D+