Hotel Chocolat 100% Cocoa Easter Egg

Okay we are really past Easter now but I've always been one to hoard my Easter eggs and eke them out over a longer period rather than demolish them over the Easter weekend. I was really lucky to receive one of the new 100% cocoa Easter eggs from Hotel Chocolat. This is a pretty unique offering being the only Easter egg I've ever seen that is sugar and sweetener free plus it's pure 100% cocoa status. Those who don't like dark chocolate look away now.

I don't eat milk chocolate these days and 70% dark chocolate is my minimum with 85% being my preferred. I've enjoyed Lindt's 90% bar before but never ventured beyond that. Is a completely unsweetened dark chocolate going to be too much.

Like all Hotel Chocolat products, it looks premium, beautifully packaged and very sleek. Inside you get the 100% cocoa egg which is studded on the inside with raisins and roasted almonds and you also get a little tray of hazelnuts panned in 100% St Lucian cocoa as well. This egg picked up a lot of press attention as its dairy free, sugar free and suitable for vegans but does it taste any good.

Like I said those who don't like dark chocolate will in all honesty not like this at all and even 70% aficiandos might find it difficult to stomach. It's really quite earthy and the lack of sweetness is really noticeable. It's a raw intense deep and slightly dry taste from the St Lucian chocolate. It's very pure but also quite a complex flavour. I could get hints of slight earthy fruitiness within it and I can understand how chocolate experts can really compare and notice the subtleties like a fine wine. It's got a hint of maltiness and taste utterly different to any chocolate I've had before.

However, as said the lack of sweetness is very noticeable. When you eat it with the studded raisins in that natural sweetness for me is enough to elevate it but the bites without although very tasty don't feel as much of pleasure as 70-90% chocolate. I still enjoyed it however and I think it is all about how you train your palate and reliance on sugar. As I've eaten this more over a few days I've liked it more. The roasted almonds add crunch and the raisins sweet chewiness. I remember when I found 70% chocolate just right and 90% too earthy but now I find 70% a little sweet so it's all taste perception.

No, I don't quite like this as much as 85% and 90% chocolate but I did like it and would like to have one of these again next year. However I'll stick to dark chocolate with a little sugar.

Price: £15
Bought at: Hotel Chocolat

Hotel Chocolat Vegan Gianduja Egglets

I have to say the sheer amount of vegan Easter options this year has been phenomenal. It’s not in any way niche, obscure, difficult to find or more expensive with every supermarket having a good choice of diary free eggs. Hotel Chocolat always excel in dark chocolate so these gianduja dairy free vegan egglets had high expectations.

Priced at a fairly hefty £8.50 for 8 egglets they are presented very nice well in a high quality and attractive tube. These are described as super smooth pralines sealed in dark chocolate and dusted in cocoa powder. They’re fairly substantial feeling, bigger than a mini egg with a bit weight behind them. You probably could eat it in one but this is more of a two/three bite hob.

As soon as you bite in you just taste pure high end chocolate. The praline is properly hazelnut flavoured, really nutty, rich and roasted and creamy. The dark chocolate casing is your usual high end Hotel Chocolat affair,  rich, dense and very dark. I just think dark chocolate is so much nicer nowadays, it’s just so more interesting.

These are super rich and creamy and sinfully indulgent. I ate two and that was pushing it, there was no way I could have a third but the two I had were just pure bliss. Rich, nutty and super chocolatey, these are real high end chocolate treats. You would never guess they were dairy free or vegan and they are also much lower in sugar than other chocolates. Utterly divine, it just shows how delicious vegan options can be.

Price: £8.50

Bought at: Hotel Chocolat

Score: 9/10

Marks and Spencer Spirit of Summer Brazil Nut, Chilli,Cocont and Chocolate Florentines

I'm still working my way through a few last Spirit of Summer goodies from M&S even though it's October and we're fast approaching Halloween! I'd wanted to try these since I first saw them but even I can't justify £4 for a box of 8 florentines. But as they were half price, I couldn't resist. Everything about this sounded right up my street - Brazilian dark chocolate, coconut and brazil nuts with a twist of chilli sounded a simply delightful and really interesting combination.

The first thing you can't fail to notice as soon as you get the florentines out is they are super generous with the chocolate - it's so thick it's basically a solid coin of chocolate with a florentine under coating and seems to be more chocolate than anything else! It smelt wonderfully rich and dark and I could already get the hint of chilli.

And to be fair all the ingredients are pretty generous - the biggest amount is the dark chocolate at 32% but actually Brazil nuts make up 22% and the under side is lovely mish mash of coconut, chewy caramel and the nuts. However, it's the bottom side that lets the florentine down.

The flavour is fantastic, rich, dark chocolate that is of the highest quality with a nice little kick of chilli and hints of exotic coconut. The problem is the texture  it's just a little too soft, sticky and chewy. It just needs a bit of firmness and crunch to make it feel more biscuity as I found it so chewy and sticky, I just wanted to gulp it down to stop it sticking to my teeth.

The top half is great and I would happily eat a biscuit covered in this fantastic flavour but the bottom just needs to be made with less caramel and syrup and needs a bit more firmness. I'm glad I didn't pay £4 for these as although I did enjoy them they certainly weren't worth that.

Price: £4
Bought at: Marks and Spencer
Nutrition per florentine: 111 calories, 8g fat, 3.9g sat fat, 6.1g sugars, 0.05g salt

Elephant Food Superfood Snack Nuttin' But Energy Megamix

You can't beat a good bag of trail mix for just carrying around for a little munch on when you're out and about or just something you can dip your hand into at the office or at home. However, I'm fed up of those standard boring bags of just raisins, sultanas with a few nuts (usually cheap peanuts) thrown in. So when I saw this mix by Elephant Food, the combination blew my mind,

This instead is the far more exotic sounding mix of raw cacao nibs, raw brazil nuts, cashews, roasted tamari almonds, sunflower seeds and toasted buckwheat clusters covered in 70% cacao dark chocolate, What an absolutely intriguing and original idea. The Elephant Food superfood snack range comes in little 30g individual satchets for eating in one or, as I bought, larger 100g bags that are also resealable.

Looking into the bag I was really impressed by the wide range of things going on. This is one bag where they haven't skimped and there's a really even mix of the ingredients. All the nuts and seeds are good quality and it's a really fantastic mix of textures and flavours with no two handfuls being the same. The star of the show I have to say is the dark choc coated buckwheat clusters - they are seriously good and addictive. Buckwheat is a low GI grain and it's crunchy texture pairs perfectly with the 70% cocoa choc which has just the right level of sweetness but also a dark intensity that marries beautifully with the buckwheat but also when you eat a piece along with the nuts and seeds. Frankly I could really happily buy a bag of these just by themselves.

The tamari almonds have a slight saltiness to them which also works fantastically with the other flavours. There's just so much going on with these and I found as well as eating from the bag by the handful it made a nice topping for yogurt or porridge as well. It's a genuinely healthy snack with the magnesium and minerals from the nuts and seeds, great for boosting your energy, and even with the choc buckwheat clusters, the product is only 6.3% sugars or only 3.2g per serving. It's also a good source of fibre and plant protein.

The bag is also resealable which I appreciate helping keep things fresh but also making it perfect to carry out and about with you without the fear of fishing seeds from the bottom of the bags. This is a top quality snack and really quite unlike any other trail mix I've seen. I'd be interested in trying more from Elephant Food

Price: £2.49
Bought at: Holland and Barrett
Nutrition per serving: 269 calories, 18g fat, 5.5g sat fat, 3.2g sugars, 4.3g fibre, 7.7g protein, 0.01g salt

Score: 8/10