Choxie Key Lime Bar

I crave fruit year-round, but with the heat comes the craving for citrus. My favorite citrus flavor is lime. Of course, the fruit itself is a bit tart to eat alone, so I’m constantly looking for recipes that utilize limes, as well as lime-flavored things.

Enter Choxie’s key lime bar. I was wary, partly because Choxie products have been hit or miss with me, but also because fruit and chocolate combos aren’t usually my favorite.

This is a dark chocolate bar filled with key lime flavored white chocolate and studded with graham cracker pieces. The aroma is a mix of dark chocolate and citrus-scented cleaning product… not exactly appealing, but I soldiered on.

The dark chocolate was ashy, but still decent on it’s own, but it doesn’t work well with the filling. However, to be fair, I don’t think anything would work well with this filling. Keeping with the scent, it tastes like a cleaning product — bitter and artificial. The graham bits are more like crumbs, and are fairly evenly distributed throughout the bar. They don’t add any flavor, but they give the bar a grainy/crunchy texture, depending if you let it melt or bite right in.

Bottom Line: Ick.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 1/2 bar. There are 200 calories, 13g of fat (9g saturated), 17g of sugar, and 2g of protein per serving.

Rating: 2/10

Name: Dark Chocolate Key Lime Truffle Bar
Brand: Choxie
Store: Target
Price: $2.00
Weight: 2.5 oz.

Pucca Choco Pretzel

The Japanese know how to do cute, and their sweets are no exception. These little fish-shaped pretzel-cookies are filled with “choco cream” — think of an inside-out chocolate covered pretzel. They are absolutely adorable. In addition the the fish, my box contained at least one octopus-shaped cookie. I thought it was deformed at first, but then I noticed that octopus shapes were featured on the box. So, sorry octopus. You’re aren’t deformed; in fact, you’re just as cute as your fish-shaped companions!

Unfortunately, my infatuation with these starts with the cuteness and abruptly ends with the flavor.

The pretzel shell is nice and crunchy, but it’s really nothing but a bland cracker. It has no taste, not even a hint of salt. That’s a shame, because I really love the salty-sweet combo of a chocolate covered pretzel.

The “choco cream” is a mixture of sugar, vegetable shortening, cocoa mass, and powdered milk. I’m not loving it or, well, even liking it. The taste is tolerable — it has a strong dairy component and is slightly malty. The texture, however, is terribly greasy and coats my mouth unpleasantly.

Overall, these are cute, but the taste and especially the texture of the filling killed these for me. I believe they also come in a strawberry flavor.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 4 cookies. There are 80 calories, 4.5g of fat (2.5g saturated), 4g of sugar, and less than 1g of protein per serving.

Rating: 4/10

Name: Pucca Choco Pretzel
Brand: Meiji
Store: World Market
Price: $1.50
Weight: 1.76 oz.

Godiva Easter Eggs

Ah, more post-holiday fare. I just found these last Friday — almost two weeks after Easter! Cost Plus World Market still had a decent amount of Easter fare left over, at 75% off. I picked up a couple boxes of Lindt Chocolate Carrots and these Godiva Eggs.

I usually steer clear of Godiva. I find their products to be good, but overpriced. This box of 16 eggs was regular $16, but I got it for $4 — good deal. The net weight is 6.75 ounces, so I figure that each egg must weight about 0.4 ounces. It’s the perfect little two-bite size.

The box contains four varieties — solid milk chocolate (gold), solid dark chocolate (green), dark chocolate with coconut (pink), and milk chocolate with almond butter (blue).

Milk Chocolate: This is a good, if standard, rich milk chocolate. I don’t have much more to say, but I liked them.

Dark Chocolate: I love dark chocolate, but I can be picky about it. This is good, a little fruity, but not too complex overall. It’s nothing spectacular, but I like it.

Coconut: I love coconut flavor but not always coconut texture. Luckily, the texture here is fine. There are pieces of coconut in the filling, but they don’t stick in my teeth. The filling is sweet, but not cloying, and the coconut and dark chocolate compliment each other well.

Almond Butter: I really liked this one. I love almond butter, so it’s nice to see it used instead of the more classic peanut butter. The almond butter is very thick and slightly gritty, so that it has a more ‘natural’ feel. It’s very nutty and not at all too sweet, so the milk chocolate makes a nice compliment. The outside is a bit greasy, and the whole thing is quite soft. However, that’s partly my fault because they sat in my hot car for a few minutes.

Overall, I liked this mix very much. I wouldn’t shell out $16 dollars for it, but I’ll try to find them on sale again.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 3 pieces. There are 210 calories, 13g of fat (7g saturated), 19g of sugar, and 3g of protein per serving.

Rating: 8/10

Name: Easter Eggs
Brand: Godiva
Store: World Market
Price: $4.00 (regular $16.00)
Weight: 6.75 oz.

Choxie Dark Chocolate Truffle Collection

As you might guess by the heart shaped box, this is Valentine’s Day candy. I picked it up a few days after the holiday — at 75% off I couldn’t really resist. I’ve only just gotten around to reviewing it, but I think it’s sold year-round in a non-heart-shaped box. That’s how I’ll justify this being about two months late, anyway.

I was disappointed to find that the chocolate were slightly ashy. I guess they weren’t stored properly. Aside from that, they’re attractive pieces. That flavors include, caramel, honey, lemon, tea, chocolate, and coffee. Each piece is surrounded by the same bitter dark chocolate shell. It’s rather bland, so the chocolates really rely on their fillings, which also turned out to be rather bland, unfortunately.

Dark Chocolate Caramel: I didn’t eat this one — I shared!

Dark Chocolate Honey: This one is filled with a milk chocolate ganache with a small reservoir of honey at the top. The ganache is very light — almost mousse-like — but it’s really lacking in flavor. However, the sweet honey offsets the bitter chocolate shell nicely, so it works in the end.

Dark Chocolate Lemon: The one is filled with a white chocolate lemon ganache, which is light and refreshing. It tends toward sweet lemonade more than zesty lemon, which contrasts well with the bitter dark chocolate. I liked this one.

Dark Chocolate Tea: Yikes. It’s acidic and medicinal. I might expect something bitter and slightly acidic, but the medicinal edge is more reminiscent of cough syrup than tea. This one went into the trash.

Double Dark Chocolate: While the other pieces in this box tend toward a light, almost mousse-like ganache, the dark chocolate ganache is very thick. The filling is actually rather tasteless — it’s slightly sweet but not really chocolate-ty at all. Another bust.

Dark Chocolate Coffee: When I bit into this, I was surprised to find that it was crunchy. Then I checked the description — there are cacao nibs in here. It’s a nice touch. The filling is light in both texture in flavor. It has a mild mocha flavor, which is fine, but isn’t the “full-bodied coffee” flavor promised.

Overall, you can see that I found most of the chocolates to be pretty bland. Even the pieces that I liked were uninteresting. If I had paid the full $7 for this, I’d feel ripped off. It’s more than overpriced. But it was under $2, so it’s okay — worth the try anyway. I’ve been pleased with some of Choxie’s other products, but I’ll definitely steer clear of their boxed chocolates from now on.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 4 pieces. There are 210 calories, 14g of fat (9g saturated), 12g of sugar, and 3g of protein per serving.

Overall Rating: 4/10

Name: Belgian Dark Chocolate Truffle Collection
Brand: Choxie
Store: Target
Price: $1.75 (regular $7.00)
Weight: 1.9 oz.

Nestle Easter Eggs

Here are more molded, filled eggs, this time by Nestle. I know that the Wonka Egg has been around the past couple seasons, but I’m not sure about the other two.

Butterfinger Crème Egg: I almost passed this up because I thought it was a solid chocolate egg studded with Butterfinger pieces, ala the Nestle Christmas fare. But no, it’s filled with “Butterfinger pieces and peanut butter crème.” The filling is grainy and, well, a bit too solid to be called a crème, I think. The peanut butter crisps add a nice touch.

For as much peanut butter filling as there is, this didn’t have a super-strong peanut butter taste. I think my taste buds may have been whacked, as I did eat this just after recovering from a bug. In the end, I don’t care for Nestle chocolate, and I’d rather have a Reese’s Egg. Rating: 5/10

Nestle Crunch Crème Egg: This one contains chocolate crème, caramel, and of course, crisped rice — that’s what makes it a Nestle Crunch! Again, I think the crème is too solid to be called so. It’s like a light, maybe aerated, chocolate that doesn’t differentiate itself much from the shell. It‘s quite sweet, and the pocket of caramel adds to that. The caramel is salty and buttery, and I quite like it. However, it’s not enough to save this for me, I’m just not a fan of Nestle chocolate. Rating: 6/10

Wonka Golden Crème Egg: This piece has a little more novelty. It’s a tie in with Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, in which Veruca Salt demands the goose that lays the golden eggs… and subsequently takes a trip down the garbage chute.

It contains chocolate crème, caramel, and graham cracker bits. Hmm. Wait a minute. It’s the Nestle Crunch Egg all over again! Disappointing chocolate shell? Check. Not-so-crème-like chocolate crème? Check. Butter, salty caramel? Check. The only difference is that the crisped rice is replaced by graham cracker bits, and to be fair, there is a noticeable graham flavor. I love graham crackers, so I like this change, but it’s not enough to really change my opinion. (Though I do wish more candy would use graham..) Rating: 6/10

Name: … more eggs!
Brand: Nestle
Store: Walgreens and Target
Price: $0.50 each
Weight: about 1.1 oz each

A Russell Stover Easter

When I first saw these I thought, ‘Russell Stover duped the Cadbury Crème Egg!’ I should have given them a little more credit, as these are bit different.

However, these do bear some resemblance to the Cadbury Crème, so I’ll preface this roundup with this statement: I’ve never liked Cadbury Crème Eggs. They’re too sweet for me. While I enjoy sweet chocolate, I’m not one for straight up sugary-sweetness. So, if you like the Cadburies, you’ll probably disagree with my assessment of these.

(I do, however, love that clucking bunny.)

Vanilla and Chocolate Crème: This is a milk chocolate shell filled with a sticky, liquefied vanilla fondant and a chocolate “yolk.” The filling is sugary-sweet — so much that it burns my throat. It doesn’t scream vanilla to me; it just sort of whispers it after assaulting me with sweetness. The chocolate yolk blended with the vanilla so that I couldn’t discern any distinct flavor.

The chocolate shell is good, and not too sweet, but is really overpowered by the filling. If you like Cadbury Crème Eggs, this might be for you, but it’s a bit too sweet for me! Rating: 4/10

Chocolate Crème: I hoped that the chocolate crème would be less sweet, but it’s still throat-searing. It’s not particularly chocolate-ty, just slightly fudgy. It reminds me a bit of chocolate syrup.

The texture of the filling is nice and thick. It’s quite viscous, so you don’t have to worry about it dripping all over you — unless it’s hot, I guess. It’s also very shiny, and I like shiny things. :P Rating: 5/10

Dark Chocolate Crème: This contains the same chocolate crème, but with a dark chocolate shell and a vanilla yolk plopped inside. The chocolate shell is good — not too sweet or bitter — and has a nice snap. Still, it’s not enough to tone down the sweetness of the filling. I think this would benefit from thicker sides. I ended up scooping a bit of the filling out with my fingers and eating the remains — it was pretty good that way, but my fingers were all sticky. Rating: 5/10

Marshmallow and Caramel: Don‘t worry, I’m actually quite fond of this one! The marshmallow filling is, surprisingly, not very sweet. It’s quite moist; in fact, it feared it would be greasy, but the mouth-feel was just fine. The yolk is a dollop of sweet, buttery caramel. All of the flavors — the marshmallow, caramel, and chocolate — work very well together.

Russell Stover also makes an enrobed Marshmallow and Caramel Egg, but this is very different — I like it better! Rating: 7/10

Cybele at Candy Blog also reviewed these.

Name: …Eggs.
Brand: Russell Stover
Store: Walgreens
Price: $0.50 each
Weight: 0.9 oz (marshmallow) and 1.2 oz. (the others)

Choxie Kona Coffee Truffle Bar

Ah, coffee. The word means Starbucks for many, but for me it means a grinder and a French press. I have friends that find this impressive. That’s funny, because trust me, I am far from a coffee connoisseur. I can’t differentiate between different types of coffee, so I can’t tell you if this Kona coffee bar has a true Kona coffee flavor.

I can tell you that it’s very reminiscent of a Starbucks drink. It’s rich and dessert-like – indecently sweet, but very good. The white chocolate center is flecked with ground espresso beans and is surrounded by milk chocolate. It tastes like coffee loaded with yummy creamer – specifically, vanilla and hazelnut creamers.

Most of the Choxie truffle bars have quite good, if a bit sweet. My problem with them is that they’ve lacked promised ingredients: no pretzels in the Peanut Butter Pretzel bar, not enough gingerbread in the Gingerbread bar. This bar doesn’t promise any bits and pieces, so there is no disappointment! That’s good, because I really enjoyed this bar and want to give it a high rating. Note, however, that it may be too sweet for some.

This is first of three bars from the Coffee Lover’s Gift Collection that I picked up around Christmas. The others are Coffee Toffee and Dark Chocolate Espresso, which I’ll review in the coming weeks. I’m pretty sure that all these bars are available individually.

Ingredient Watch: Clear.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 1/2 a bar. There are 200 calories, 14g of fat, 18g of sugar, and 2g of protein per serving.

Rating: 8/10

Name: Milk Chocolate Kona Coffee Truffle Bar
Brand: Choxie
Store: Target
Price: $1.66 (in a set of 3 for $5.00)

Choxie Creme Brulee Truffle Bar

First off, sorry for the crummy picture.

Choxie describes it’s Creme Brulee Truffle Bar as “dessert to go.” It is white chocolate truffle with toffee bits, covered in milk chocolate. Or at least, that’s what it’s supposed to be.

Like the Peanut Butter Pretzel Bar, the Creme Brulee Bar is missing its bits and pieces – the toffee. The two pieces of toffee I came across were wonderfully buttery and crunchy. Too bad there weren’t more.

The white chocolate filling is supposed to be infused with vanilla and caramel. It does taste strongly of vanilla bean. Coming out of the freezer, this might taste like vanilla bean ice cream. I also picked up a hint of almond. However, I’m missing the burnt sugar and caramel notes that I expect from a creme brulee bar.

The flavors are pleasant, but I’m not comfortable calling this creme brulee. Also, the whole thing is overwhelmingly sweet. A single piece is fine, but any more and it’s just too sweet.

Ingredient Watch: Nothing suspicious.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is half the bar. There are 200 calories, 14g of fat, 18g of sugar, and 2g of protein per serving.

Rating: 5/10

Name: Milk Chocolate Creme Brulee Truffle Bar
Brand: Choxie (Target)
Store: Target
Price: $1.66 (in a set of 3 for $5)

Choxie Fiery Truffle Bar and Cadbury Irish Creme

Here are the other two pre-Christmas reviews, sans nutrition info. They’re short so I bundled them together.

Choxie Fiery Truffle Bar

This bar is spiced with ancho pepper, cinnamon, and chipotle powders. It’s a truffle bar, but there is no visible difference between the coating and the center. However, it melts very quickly in the mouth, which is a sign of a truffled center (or at least the addition of palm kernel oil).

It does taste spicy – like red pepper flakes – but it doesn’t burn my mouth. It’s also smoky, though not the same smoky that I associate with chipotle powder. It doesn’t taste very much like chocolate though. In fact, I think it tastes a bit like plastic, or a crayon. No, not appealing at all.

After this and the Frey Hot Chili Pepper, I think that spicy chocolate may not be for me.

Rating: 3/10

Name: Fiery Chocolate Truffle Bar
Brand: Choxie
Store: Target
Price: $1.80

Cadbury Irish Creme

This is your typical sweet, dairy Cadbury chocolate. The bar is split into 18 little squares, each filled with a thick creme. The creme is viscous and beige-colored. It has notes of vanilla and caramel with a kick of alcohol.

I didn’t care for the creme on it’s own, but it did work well with chocolate. It’s not something I would buy again, but it’s not bad.

Rating: 5/10

Name: Cadbury Irish Creme
Brand: Cadbury (by Hershey’s)
Store: Walgreens
Price: $0.79

Choxie Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffle Bar

Another Choxie truffle bar! (Oh, and there are many more to come..) Today we have the Peanut Butter Pretzel Bar, which is milk chocolate and a peanut butter center with bits of pretzel and roasted peanuts. This came in the Milk Chocolate Lover’s Gift Collection.

The bar smells strongly of peanut butter, and that’s because there is a lot of it. It’s super creamy and smooth – too smooth to be pure peanut butter, in fact. I’m sure it’s mixed with white chocolate, which is listed among the ingredients.

So, the peanut butter is nice, smooth, and sweet. The bar is quite enjoyable. But there is a serious problem: there are no pretzels! I came across only two pieces of pretzel, both too small to add any flavor. There were a few more peanuts, but those were sparse as well.

This is a real shame. The peanut butter is very sweet, being mixed with white chocolate. Salty pretzels would have been the perfect crunchy compliment.

So, this bar was enjoyable but disappointing. Were this called the Peanut Butter Truffle Bar, it would get a 7 or 8. But Pretzel is in the name, so it’s docked to a 6.

Ingredient Watch: This contains palm kernel oil, which is not a trans fat, but is high in saturated fat. Oh, and the non-existent pretzels contain partially hydrogenated oils.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is half a bar. There are 210 calories, 15g of fat, 14g of sugar, and 2g of protein per serving.

Rating: 6/10

Name: Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Pretzel Truffle Bar
Brand: Choxie (Target)
Store: Target
Price: $1.66 (in a set of 3 for $5)