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Zotter ~ Hand-Scooped Bacon Bits

 

 

Zotter "Hand-Scooped" Bacon Bits bar. Artwork by Andreas H. Gratze.

 

 

 

Bacon Bits

Noble bitter couverture 70%

Contest of nutty flavours. Cracklings roasted in a crispy fashion and then caramelised develop nutty flavours. Hazelnut nougat competes for this nutty taste. Refined with cinnamon and coated in noble bitter chocolate.

 

Type: Filled candy bar, nougat, Noble bitter couverture, 70%

Ingredients: Raw cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, hazelnuts (16%), bacon crackling (7%), full cream milk powder, skimmed milk powder, butter, whole cane sugar, salt, cinnamon, vanilla.

*Fair trade and certified organic ingredients.

Sample Size: 2.47oz or 70g

 

Ashy and bloom-y chocolate coating. Rippled wavy surface pattern from the chocolate being blown and cooled.

Smells like cinnamon and walnuts even though it's ingredients contain hazelnuts. No smokey or bacon aroma. Cinnamon dominates everything even the chocolate.

Hazelnut and cinnamon taste, very sweet, slightly salty with small bits of crispy bacon crackles, soft chocolate coating, soft nougat-like center, and crunchy, sweet, caramelized bacon.

The namesake simply doesn't hold up. It's called Bacon Bits, and while it does have it in there, it's very disappointing with the amount. I expected it to be more loaded with bacon. It's basically just a cinnamon-y gianduja bar with scant amounts of bacon crunchies in it. This cinnamon and hazelnut also dominate the flavor of the chocolate.

I think this bar tastes very good. It's actually really good and it's texture is very nice and creamy with the crunchy caramalized bacon for added texture contrast. But I wanted more bacon. The bacon is also candy-like. Barely any smokey flavor to it at all. But there is a little bit of a salt kick which helps balance out the sweet bar, but not enough though.

I don't know exactly how to grade this bar. For taste it would get a strong B+ or even an A-. But technically since it's called Bacon Bits it should be more bacon-y and that's what you should be left with when eating this bar. But you don't get left with bacon. And while it tastes great, it should be called something like "Cinnamon Gianduja," to more accurately name this bar.

 

   score
  C+

 

April 5th is National Caramel Day!

 

 

To celebrate this food holiday I have the perfect thing. William Curley's Almond and Orange Caramel Mou and Sea Salt Caramel bar.

When Angelo Scarnera, my London chocolate hook up, came back to the States, he asked me what I wanted and I specifically asked for the William Curley's Sea Salt Caramel Bar. I only had one of these bars before, but I knew I needed more. And this time Angelo came with a different Caramel Mou from Curley that I haven't had had before either. Mou is just the proper name for chewy caramel.

 

This is not something you should cut into pieces. I only did that to illustrate the awesomeness of the soft, runny caramel in this bar. No too runny where it's all over the place, but just right. Soft, buttery, and just about heavenly. Using Amedei Chocolate as the base for this piece of wonderfullness. I am not sure, but I think it's probably the 70% Toscano.

Deeply intense chocolate, rich and bold with lingering coffee notes. Caramel so soft and creamy like sweet butter. And just like the package describes, a hint of sea salt. Not actually salty or blended with coarse sea salt. The chocolate also has some bright berry notes that come through and a tiny hint of acidity.

This thing is just awesome. I once described this as "eyes-rolling-in-the-back-of-your-head-good!" This is sinfully good and the kind of thing that takes you places. Kind of like those old Calgon Bath commercials. "Calgon, take me away!" I know that's corny, but if you were to try this thing, then you would know that makes perfect sense.

Lord have mercy this kind of confection deserves and A+.

   score
  A+

 

 

 

 

 

Slightly dusty surface as you can see my finger print in the chocolate from pulling it out of it's wrapper. Two "Fun-size" bars in the box individually wrapped. Very light orange aroma from cutting one piece in half. And of course rich smells of buttery caramel.

Soft, chewy, caramel, buttery and perfectly balanced with orange flavors. No artificial orange tastes, just lovely orange oils, soft and flowery. Very sweet and rich. Lightly crunchy slivered almonds for added texture depth.

This is how I want to enjoy caramel. Sometimes you get them too chewy, too hard, or too sugary. This is sweet, soft, and wonderful. Both caramel and orange in chocolate are not usually my favorite combinations of flavors with chocolate. But this was fantastic. The orange was beautifully balanced though out the caramel adding the right kind of flowery sweetness to the rich buttery caramel. The chocolate doesn't hold up as much. It's a rich pop of flavor right up front and then gets lost along the way. But chocolate isn't entirely the point with this confection. Elegant and gorgeous.

   score
  A+

 

I have been an admirer of William Curley for a long time now. There is a lot of skill in his work and possibly some of the best confections I have had period. I long for the day I am back in London and I can sit in one of his cafe's and taste all of the pastries they make too. What an awesome way to spend a national food holiday.

Chocolate Truffles And Other Noshes

 

 

Looking at my inventory of chocolate to be reviewed, I asked that if anyone had anything to bring me by way of chocolate that it not be be bars, but rather truffles or other chocolates to be eaten right away. I have a library of over 50 bars. All in due time for those reviews. For now it's nice to break up the reviews with fun things.

 

Angelo Scarnera brought me a nice little collection from London again. If you will remember, he is the person responsible for the British Chocolate Invasion. This time he came through with specific requests. One of those requests were more Milk Chocolate Bars with Welsh Sea Salt from Rococo. With it were two truffle bites.

 

Rococo has become a favorite of mine. That milk seas salt bar is ridiculously good. It snapped me out of this constant string of dark chocolate reviews and reminded me how good milk chocolate can be.

These truffle were lovely and rich raspberry truffle. Really clean finish. It opens up bright, bold and full of tangy raspberry. Follows through with some coffee notes of the rich chocolate but finishes clean. I am not sure of the cocoa percentage but it is a Valrhona single origin chocolate. I would be impressed with myself if I could identify the region, but the raspberry is the dominating factor. Tasty little treats.

 

Ahh Liddabits. Fun makers from Brooklyn, Ny. After having previously tried their pate de fruits and chocolate bar "The Snacker," which is sort of their version of a Snickers, I was given a bar of "Chocolate Doom." These are adult candy bars. Handmade, super rich, and super good.

"Chocolate Doom" is a chocolate sable cookie, milk chocolate ganache, white chocolate ganache, and dipped in chocolate. The cookie is a lot saltier than anticipated but is actually a nice break up to what would be an overly sweet candy bar. It ends up tasting like an Oreo cookie candy bar. Very rich. I could have done without the white chocolate, but that's just me being overly picky about white chocolate. The white chocolate gives off a weird artificial flavor. Again, this is just me being weird about white chocolate. I have never really liked white chocolate all that much except in obligatory things like white chocolate chunk macadamia nut cookies.

 

I liked this bar quite a bit. But I didn't think it was as good as "The Snacker." The peanuts in "The Snacker" end up being a more natural salty break up to the sweet handmade nougat in the bar. Still, anything called "Chocolate Doom" is worth having a go at.

 

 

Another William Curley truffle collection courtesy of Angelo. Can't ever be without a William Curley product within my reach. I've previously reviewed this truffle collection. I had a great time going through these truffles. They were very sophisticated. I had reviewed most of these but there were a few new ones in the box I hadn't tried before. The hand rolled collection.

The House Dark, Cassis and Hibiscus, House Milk, Framboise, Rothschild Champagne, and Yamazaki Malt Whiskey.

"Our fresh chocolates are made without additives or preservatives and have a shelf life of 14 days."

 

 







House Dark: Fairly intense truffle. Handrolled chocolate shell, with a deeply rich, creamy, and bittersweet ganache filling. Dusted in unsweetened cocoa powder.

"William Curley's Classic Truffles are made with a blend of Amedei's 9 and Toscano 70%. It has a fresh soft intense ganache, with a light coating of chocolate and cocoa. The House Dark has won Gold for Best Dark Truffle in 2006, 2007 and 2008."

Cassis and Hibiscus: Very tangy! The coating has a tangy cassis powder with a bump of rich and also tangy ganche right in the center, and finishes with a delicate hibiscus flowery finish. This isn't my favorite truffle, but I thought it was pretty cool. Certainly wakes your palate up.

I don't have the ingredient list for this one but I am pretty sure Amedei Toscano is one of the chocolates used.

House Milk: Much softer center and delicate flavors but still a fairly rich chocolate shell and unsweetened cocoa powder coating the truffle. This is still a very rich truffle it just has a creamier and milkier ganache filling. I liked this one much better than the house dark.

"The House Milk Truffle is another classic, rich and creamy made with a 32% Toscano chocolate. Enrobed in dark couverture and cocoa, this compliments the sweeter ganache creating a perfect balance. The House Milk has won Silver for Best Milk Truffle in 2007 and 2008."

Framboise: Tastes similar to the house dark with a delicate raspberry ganache filling. Mostly you find super tangy and overly flavored raspberry flavors. This is a lot softer and allows for more chocolate interaction.

"Fresh raspberry puree has been blended with Toscano 63% complimenting the acidity of the raspberry, coated with dark chocolate and cocoa. The Framboise has won Gold in 2008."

Rothschild Champagne: Very sweet with powdered sugar coating, and lightly flavored with champagne. You can taste classic champagne flavors but it's so subtle the sugars and chocolate over take it quickly. Still very nice though because of how sweet it is.

"Our Champagne truffles are made with Champagne Moutard which only uses the pinot noir grapes. It is an elegant and subtle light ganache dusted with icing sugar."

Yamazaki Malt Whiskey: Single malt whiskey from Japan. Very subtle. I am not sure what this whiskey is supposed to taste like though it's website mentions honey flavors. It doesn't taste like scotch or American whiskeys. I also don't know exactly what it's coated in but it's a clean tasting powder but a bit chalky.

It's interesting and soft. But perhaps if I knew the flavors better, I would understand what I was tasting. I could taste the Amedei flavors coming through but the the whiskey was so subtle I wish it were more bold.

 

Then Emily Shartin of Formaggio Kitchen, came through with some little noshes. She also brought the Liddabits candy bar. She likes the local Brooklyn food scene as much as do. She brought me a chocolate cluster, a small turtle, and two little truffles. I am not sure of the sources of these bits, but I will be sure to add an update to this post when I find out. Again, keeping with my theme of no more bars for the time being but bringing me small things I can eat and enjoy without deeper reviews.

 

Buttery pecan turtles with candied pecans. Soft chewy caramel with a slight bit of chocolate. This thing is all butter and it's all good. I am usually not a fan of turtles, but these are fantastic. I would love to cut these up in large chunks for the ultimate butter pecan ice cream.

 

The Cluster is chocolate covered nuts and corn flakes!! Simple yet so delicious. I should have saved it for breakfast. Pretty salty and barely sweet at all. This is something for someone who professes they don't have a sweet tooth. I think Jacques Torres had some of these clusters in his DUMBO store.

 

The polka dotted truffle turns out not to be a truffle at all but a chocolate shell filled with the softest, gooiest caramel. Nice little surprise. I almost ended up wearing it. But managed to recover it. The chocolate added some nice rich coffee notes. Sweet, sticky, and delicious. Nice little treat.

 

The dark purple lustered truffle was super rich and made with something from South America, possibly a Rio Caribe or something equally bold and deeply complex. Something coastal of Venezuela. At first I thought it was Madagascar cocoa with the strong wood characters, but it has to be something else based on the big tar, berries, and pen ink characters. I will be curious to see if I was in the right direction when Emily tells me what it is. Sweet caramel center but more of a creamed truffle texture instead of the runny and gooey caramel. The Center isn't the main attraction of this little nosh. It's the strength of the chocolate flavors carrying through to be the last thing you focus on as it lingers on the palate.

 

Update: Emily has advised me that these treats came from Elaine Hsieh in Somerville, Ma. Now I know where to buy in bulk, the Pecan Clusters. (Fresh pecans roasted in maple syrup and a touch of sea salt surrounded with soft Knob Creek Bourbon caramel and topped with E. Guittard’s 65% dark chocolate and a sprinkle of fleur de sel. Each box is 6.5 oz and contains approximately 12 pieces.) I want to large chop them and toss them into an ultra exquisite batch of butter pecan ice cream. It would be dope yo!

She also made those incredible Rochers. (A "haystack" of crunchy caramelized flakes, roasted and candied almonds, covered in dark and milk chocolate. Each box is 6 oz and contains approximately 8 pieces.)

The polka dotted caramel was a Bourbon Caramel. I feel way off the mark with that because I didn't notice the bourbon in it at all. It just means they are getting another day in court. (Bourbon Caramel - Bourbon Caramel - Buttery soft caramel with a touch of Knob Creek bourbon.)

 

Hot chocolate spoons seems to be all the rage in the UK. Large chocolate squares on stir spoons from Melt, and now these chocolate cups with spoons for easy stirring into a hot mug of steamed milk. Angelo, knowing that I wanted more drinking chocolate this time around, spotted this little gem at L'Artisan du Chocolat.

It's called First Crush. Dark chocolate with salted caramel spoon.

 

I scaled a cup of vanilla almond milk for this cup. Scalded vanilla almond milk smells like toasted marshmallows when coming off the stove. Stirring in the chocolate cup, it took a while to melt it all down but it made a nice rich brew. I licked the spoon at the end like advised on the package. It was really good rich dark chocolate and sugary just like the UK likes it.

I didn't get much of a salt caramel taste until the finish of one sip. The almond milk made it taste like I had stirred a peanut butter cup into hot milk. Very tasty. Super rich brew too.The almond milk is sweet already and flavored with vanilla so it added more sweetness to the drink as did the dark chocolate.

After not have a good introduction with L'Artisan du Chocolat's Jamaican bar, I was very impressed with this cup of hot chocolate. Nice and rich and sugary. I am kicking myself however, I should have had this in the morning and not after 5pm. I am going to be jacked for the rest of the night.

One thing I didn't like was the wooden spoon. I had to be very careful licking the rest of the chocolate off. I have a serious aversion to wooden spoons. It's cringe worthy and gag inducing for me like nails on a chalk board. Teeth scraping wooden spoons is a horrible thing and makes my teeth ache just thinking of it. I am not the only one with a reaction like this. My husband has it too. We both cannot deal with doctors office tongue depressors, flat wooden sticks for Italian icees, or Popsicle sticks. I freely admit that this is not their fault but my own weirdo aversions.

 

Just look at that thing. You can tell that sucker is rich and I am in for a long night of being awake. I didn't taste all of this in one day either. Okay, two days is still pretty gluttoness. But these are items with a very short shelf life. I HAD to do it, right?

Liddabit Sweets ~ The Snacker

 

Yeah, I mainly review chocolate bars or tablets, but that doesn't mean I am not interested in handmade candy bars!

Liddabit Sweets is the creation of Liz Gutman and Jen King. Specializing in handmade sweets such as pȃte de fruit, caramels, brittles, lollipops, and candy bars. With a commitment to using local and seasonal ingredients as much as possible, this makes them a step above the rest.

 

 

I like to call these adult candy bars. Unfortunately, when it comes to homemade and locally sourced, things can get a little pricey. $6.50 to $8.50 for a candy bar isn't exactly what you want to toss around in a 12 year olds Halloween basket. But for the adults, it's a small price to pay for handmade gem that doesn't contain a whole list of chemicals and ingredients you can't even pronounce.

They also offer cool varieties like the Pumpkin Pie bar, Pecan Pie bar, S'mores, Lime-in-the-coconut, and The King.

 

 

Right away these candy bars are extremely aromatic. Huge aromas of chocolate and peanuts. It smells like a Snickers bar but 100 times better.

Sweet and super soft texture. The nougat and caramel are very soft and not overly chewy. I would have liked a few more peanuts in my bar to add a bit more of a salty contrast or a bit more salt in the caramel, but this thing really hits the spot. And yes I am writing about this at 4 pm in the afternoon really needing a treat like this to make it through my day. Believe me, I am sold. Alas, the salty peanuts I was looking for were hiding at the ends of the bar. Defintiely makes it more worthy.

If you like Snickers but like to support your local or a small producer, then this is for you. It's a big candy bar, it's tasty, satifying, sweet, salty, and most importantly they nailed how to keep the caramel and nougat so soft.

Kudos Ladies!

Sugar Heaven ~ Boston

I was invited to come to the opening of Sugar Heaven's new store opening in the Back Bay of Boston. Sugar Heaven started in Montreal but has since branched out with five locations and one on the way in Las Vegas.

I was very excited to check this place out because their website has a small clip of Def Leppard's Pour Some Sugar On Me when the website opens up.

Sugar Heaven

They are a full service candy shop with all the classics, and some new favorites. From adult candy toys, to gift baskets, candy cocktails, and event planning like weddings and corporate events to birthday party events held right in their store.

They have an ice cream shop coming soon to their downstairs area. It was set up with food and a second bar for the opening so I didn't get to see what it would look like set up for ice cream. And word on the street is they will have a chocolate conveyor belt of some kind set up in the shop.

I do have one minor disappointment with the shop though. It was still in the process of being set up, but despite how colorful the candy was, it was a lot of mass produced candy. Now, don't get me wrong. It's not like I wouldn't be caught dead eating it. Of course I love candy in all forms. There were some candy classics in this place from Nerds, Fun Dip, even old school candy bars like Charleston Chews and classics like Haribo's gummy coke bottles. I guess I am being a bit of a snob when it comes to how the place looked.

I have this dream of seeing a candy shop opening up that is either a child's dream of a candy shop. Big, bright, bold, gaudy and just a total playground. I don't know exactly how one would achieve that. I willfully admit I am sitting in judgment from afar. But I want to see someone open up a either a huge gaudy European-style candy shop that is laden with gold wrappers, chocolate over flowing from every corner and candy galore. Or a massive fun house of candy. I would like to see a real life version of Willy Wonka's chocolate factory.

I am not saying this shop isn't great by any means, but in my own head I have a dream of a glorious candy shop, one that would put them all to shame. This is not what I had in mind, but it's still fun.

One way this candy shop knows how to appeal to adults was to offer up candy cocktails. These were wicked sweet drinks, but I did like the Jolly Rancher Margarita. It's cool to see a garnish tray of candy for a change. Sour apple ropes and jelly beans. The Jolly Rancher Margarita had a candy watermelon slice in it.






I kind of like that the first thing you see when you walk in is a make-shift bar right at the front and adult candy items like candy necklace nipple tassels and candy cigarettes. We also got a pack of candy cigarettes in our take home gift bags. I thought they stopped making those. They were the best as kids. Puffing away, blowing out powdered sugar like you were really smoking. I know how terrible that is considered today, but I don't give a shit! I loved them.







Random candy shots from around the store. M&M's candy bars, and bins of candy.






Rock Candy.

Lollipop tree.

My husband Todd, models his hand to indicate how big the giant lollipops are.

Chocolate covered everything.







Bins upon bins of candy.










Sugary drinks anyone?

Gift baskets.

This was my favorite part. Chap sticks in cake frostings, brownies, pancakes, and sugar cookie flavors. Even in classic cereal flavors. 

And there you have it. Cocktails, candy nipple tassels, candy bins, and flavored chap sticks. I dug it.