If you don’t like chocolate, click away

Remember a few weeks ago when I was giving away a Chocomize gift certificate?  The winner, Missy of Filed under Missylaneous, kindly wrote a review of her goodies.  Helping her was her most precious young taster/assistant, Miss Abby.  Wait until you see her photo!  Is it wrong of me to want to smooch some adorable toddler cheeks if I’ve never met the child in question?

Try not to drool over your computer/iPhone/Crackberry as you read this and see the photos.  Seriously.  Go grab a towel or something.

I was soooo excited when Jen told me that I won the Chocomize gift certificate! I thought the site sounded like lots and lots of fun and I couldn’t wait to get started. The certificate arrived by email and I was all set to go shopping for some yummy, yummy chocolate.

I went to the website and started clicking around. It’s really easy to put your customized chocolate bar together. Start by selecting your base chocolate (dark, milk or white) and then go through the tabs selecting ingredients to throw in. There are tabs for nuts, fruits, candies and more. Some are a little weird (Corn flakes? Edamame?? No thanks). I decided my best course of action was to start with a milk chocolate bar and add crap to it until I was satisfied.

My first bar was one that I affectionately dubbed “The PMS Special.” A milk chocolate bar with dark chocolate chips, mini pretzels and toffee bits. Sweet, salt, crunch and chocolate – sounds like heaven! The process was so fun (and I saw so many more fun ingredients I wanted to try) that I went ahead and made 3 more bars, effectively spending double the value of the gift certificate. Still $30 for 4 customized chocolate bars doesn’t sound too bad, especially if you give one or more bars away as gifts. You can even include “banners” in your bars – big pieces of chocolate that say things like “Happy Birthday” and the like.

My chocolate arrived only a couple of days later. Granted, I live about 45 minutes from the distribution center, but still, it was a nice quick turnaround. However, when my chocolate arrived, I was out of town on business. (Insert sad face here.) So it was in my personal possession a day after it was delivered. The box was HUGE, but that was to accommodate the ice packs that helped keep the package at a consistent temperature. Each bar was packaged in its own yellow Chocomize package. The back label included my name for the bar, the type of chocolate and the inclusions.

Now there are a few things you need to know in the spirit of full disclosure. Did I order this chocolate under the influence of PMS? Yes. Did I start eating the chocolate at 9:30 on a Friday night after a day of airplane travel? Yes. Did I wonder about pairing my chocolate with a fifth of bourbon? Yes, yes I did. Because I am a market researcher who does a lot of food testing, I decided bourbon might change the flavor profiles too much. So instead I tried my chocolate along with a Dunkin Donuts decaf coffee. With milk and sugar.

So how was the chocolate already?? I’ll tell you. I tasted each bar separately (and my Mom helped judge the first 3 bars before she gave up and went to bed).  I gave each bar some number of stars out of a possible 5. The results are below.

PMS Special – milk chocolate with dark chocolate pieces, mini pretzels and toffee bits

5 Stars!

This was my first taste of the “premium Belgian chocolate” and it did not disappoint. The milk chocolate was sweet and creamy. The pretzels added a nice salty crunch and the toffee was on the salty side too (pleasantly so, I should add). Taster’s notes: “This bar is not long for this world.”

Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch – dark chocolate with Oreos, caramel and toffee bits

3 Stars

My first thought was “Ummmm, this is not dark chocolate.” Somehow my order got messed up and I received milk chocolate in this bar too. The caramel was pleasantly chewy and lasted a long time and the Oreos were a rather inspired choice (if I may say so myself). This bar would have been *much* better in a dark chocolate bar – the milk made it just too sweet.

Peppermint Bark – dark chocolate with white chocolate chips and peppermint candy pieces

4 Stars

The first bite was inconclusive so I was forced to take a second and then a third to make sure I really liked this bar as much as I thought I did. Conclusion? Yes I did. The dark chocolate was EXCELLENT and the peppermint was nice and crunchy. This tastes like Christmas to me with the chocolate and peppermint playing together. A bit more mint flavor would have made this 5 stars, easy. (And this made me wish for the Dark Chocolate Caramel Crunch that might have been. Sigh.)

S’Mores – milk chocolate with graham cracker pieces and mini marshmallows

3 ½ Stars

Fun! The graham crackers got a little soggy sitting in the chocolate, but this was a reasonable approximation of a really chocolaty S’more. All it needs is a campfire. Once again the milk chocolate is a *touch* too sweet with the candy in it. I think it stands up better to salty/crunchy inclusions. My three-year-old tasting assistant gave it an enthusiastic thumbs up. This has now become Abby’s bar.

All in all, this was a totally fun experience. I’d definitely order these bars as Christmas or birthday presents if I knew the tastes and personality of the recipient. It’s a little pricey to keep on hand for everyday chocolate, but the quality is very good. Thanks, Jen for turning me on to the wonder of Chocomize!