chrisurban.com » milk chocolate

2 Chicks with Chocolate – Cocoa Tiles and Chocolate Pops

Chris Urban — Fri, 06 Aug 2010 01:42:02 +0000

As regular readers are probably aware by now, I’m on a simple quest to try and find the best spicy chocolates I can find. Dark, milk, whatever, as long as it’s gots some of dat heat!So, I spent the last weekend in Atlantic City at the Food & Wine show, surrounded by free samples of crabcakes, beer, wine, more wine, more beer, spicy barbecue sauces, more wine, and, (wait for it) chocolate.
Down the back aisle from my booth, were a group of chocolate ladies handing out free samples, led by an awesome chick named Elyissia. When asked if I would like to try some chocolate, I responded by asking if they had anything spicy. One of the girls handed me a milk chocolate pop – a truffle-sized chocolate on a stick, with beautiful red and gold flecks. One bite, and twenty seconds later, I’m overcome with a blissful sensation of creamy milk chocolate interspersed with cinnamon and cloves, a playful bite of ginger and the warm reassurance of cayenne. Then, to smooth things out, there’s the sensation of sea salt.
Let me tell you, these little suckers are simply awesome. But wait! There’s more! (inside joke…)
The chicks at 2 Chicks with Chocolate, from northern New Jersey – yes, that is their name, and they are awesome – make the same chocolate in an even more convenient and addictive bar size – packed in a box called, unobtrusively and deceptively simply, Cocoa Tiles. Intrigued? you can visit them online.
While they are not as visually stunning as the flecks on the pops, you get all the flavors, and get to enjoy them a little longer than the pops. And, a minor correction: the spicy chocolates are in fact called Spicy Tiles.
Now, I’ll be the first to admit, I’m partial to darker chocolates; I think they’re best at around 60%. But these are milk, at 38% cocoa. But in this case, I think the creamy milk fares better, especially with the sea salt on the finish. I’d be really interested to try a similar mix with darker chocolate – it’d be more austere, more earthy, and I think it’d have a wider spectrum of flavors…
I also managed to get a Signature Collection box, full of yummy chocolates, but my true favorites were the spicy tiles and pops!
I hope I run into these ladies again at the next food-oriented show!

B.T. McElrath Chile Limón Chocolate

Chris Urban — Tue, 23 Feb 2010 02:39:37 +0000

The more chocolates we try, the more I seem to think that the further north (colder) they come from, the better the chocolate. Case in point: B.T. McElrath’s Chile Limón bar, from Minnesota.
This is a chocolate bar that wants to be a truffle. In terms of our rigid criteria in meeting awesomeness, this one has it: dark chocolate – not too bitter, not too sweet, nice crisp finish; milk chocolate – creamy, sweeter – again not too sweet. As far as the extras, they through in two of our favorites: chili peppers and lime.
However, as we are apt to criticize, let this not escape a similar fate: we think the chili is masked a little bit too much by the milk chocolate. It should be allowed to flourish a little more, especially on the finish. Similarly, the lime comes through, but not strong enough. I get the higher notes, but the challenge with lime is to get the full spectrum of its flavor across. Lime has a broader citrus range, and it tastes like some of it is missing here.
Finally, as much as I love the name, I hate its outer package. It looks like a Target-branded chocolate bar, with trying-to-be-cool Freehand typeface…

Dolfin Chocolat Au Lait Au Hot Masala

Chris Urban — Thu, 17 Dec 2009 03:34:20 +0000

Dolfin is a fantabulous Belgian chocolate maker. They have a number of interesting sounding chocolates, so on a recent trip to NYC we picked a couple up to try. Two words made this an easy pick: hot masala.
For the uninitiated, what exactly is hot masala? It’s essentially a spice mix: start with ginger, add cloves, black pepper, cardamom, and cinnamon.
What an awesome flavor combination: creamy, vanilla-y milk chocolate, and then the flavors creep in and take over.
I need to make a mention of the fantastic gourmet packaging, too: this chocolate is packed exactly like a pouch of rolling tobacco. Inner plastic pouch, wrapped in a plastic wrapped paper wrapper. An absolute pleasure to open and handle! This was not too expensive either, $3.95 for a 70g bar.
Needless to say, if you come across this bar, try it.

Nestlé 100 Grand

Chris Urban — Fri, 02 Jan 2009 01:39:22 +0000

With the onset of a New Year, I thought I’d take it upon myself to make a resolution to not be so freakin’ high-falutin’ with our reviews, or at least in selecting the chocolates we end up good/bad-mouthing here.
Bearing this in mind, here’s probably my all-time favorite chocolate candy bar: the humble 100 Grand bar(s). I continue to marvel that Nestlé always packed this as two candy bars, not one single bar, and for good reason: it’s just too much to ingest as one single piece.
So what if this is merely milk chocolate, with caramel and rice-krispie-infringing Crispy Crunchies? This is about as close to the perfect combination of ingredients to substantiate an impulse purchase. There’s just enough caramel to keep everything lingering in your mouth as you crunch up the crunchies, and the milk chocolate provides a decent amount of foundation to keep the caramel from singing too loudly.
There, I did it. I wrote a review about a plain ol’ ordinary candy bar. Take that, chocolate snobs, and happy new year! And don’t panic, I got over a dozen new chocolates to work through in the weeks ahead, and some of them sound fantastic.
Final note: a word to the wise for gift ideas for next year – Vosges chocolate truffles. Go all out and get the box of 32: simply awesome.

E. Wedel milk chocolate

Chris Urban — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 17:38:02 +0000

Just how I remember this: milky, rich chocolate. 30% cocoa, 15% milk solids, here’s a nice milk chocolate bar. It’s not as rich as some other Cadbury milk chocolates that tend to linger in your mouth and give a bit more texture and flavor (clearly, we are influenced by a sincere favoristism for Flake bars). I would say that this is the milk chocolate that tastes like the nicest chocolate Easter bunnies you’ve ever received. This also has a touch of hazelnut, that makes it taste more upscale, and not as plain-jane as some of the more generic milk chocolates we’ve encountered.
Side note: E. Wedel, which makes this chocolate in Poland (home to some of the better confectionaries in Europe, IMHO), is a division of Cadbury.
Five year old’s comments: “Little milky, tastes like lemony fruit. Smooth, I like it ’cause i want to have it again.”

3400 Phinney Coconut Curry Milk Chocolate

Chris Urban — Fri, 29 Feb 2008 01:56:49 +0000

We’re not sure where we found this, this interesting chocolate from Seattle. Nope, we remember: thanks to Theo Chocolates (see post on Aphrodisiac chocolates). Tumeric, cumin, mustard and curry (“you know, because of the curry…”) embedded into milk chocolate and coconut so intensely, the coconut lingers (in your mouth, in your teeth, against the mini bar) and facilitates the curry and assorted spices across the subcontinent of your mouth. The curry is even and fair – just the right amount of heat.

This is certified organic chocolate, and we certify that it is on the brink of too-exotic for most. But we like it, definitely worth trying as an experiment in interesting combinations of flavors.

Lake Champlain Organic Bars: Milk Sea Salt & Almonds

Chris Urban — Sat, 26 Jan 2008 02:07:13 +0000

As Lake Champlain Chocolates puts it, “let chocolate change your world,” and their organic bars are an excellent starting point for your chocolate travels. With a subtle touch of crunchy almonds, the gray sea salt adds just the right amount of savoriness to a creamy smooth milk chocolate bar. The label says 38% cocoa content, but it tastes like more, a credit to Lake Champlain’s craftwork.

It’s an interesting combination of the almonds and sea salt, pockets of saltiness forming in your mouth and as you chew down you get the crunch of the almonds. We’re not talking about an Almond Joy bar, overwhelming amounts of large obnoxious almonds, it’s much more elegant, smaller, tasty morsels of nuttiness.

Finally, a reliable measure of how good a chocolate bar is how a four-year-old likes it: “Salty tastes a little bit crunchy. Lightish hostess, tastes a little different than peanuts, a good taste, but I don’t know the taste.” And from the two-year-old: “Elmo! Cookie tastes like.”