Lindt Vollmilch Mousse Caramel-Vanille

My favorite grocery store is the Edeka just around the corner from my house. The chocolate aisle, and there IS a chocolate aisle is roughly 25% Milka, 40% Lindt, and the rest is everything else. There’s always something new to try when I turn the corner.
Today I bought Lindt’s Vollmilch Mousse bar, flavored with Vanilla and Caramel. It’s one of their thick bars, designed to accommodate a milk chocolate mousse plus a vanilla-caramel layer. Yum! It’s a great combination of flavor and texture, with enough chocolatey goodness to keep you happy for a while.

Since I had large quantities of the Castelain milk chocolate I reviewed yesterday, I decided to do a head to head comparison.

The Castelain is a touch more smoky, but not really smoky, just more so than the Lindt. Smoky is the only word I can think of that makes sense at all.

Both are equally smooth, and I can’t really decide which one is better. They are just different. Ultimately I’ll have to give the edge to Lindt, since I love the added flavors, but the Castelain cannot be downgraded in the least.

Reviewed: Lindt Vollmilch Mousse Caramel-Vanille

Personality: Cuddly like a fuzzy kitten, yet has a better flavor

How to enjoy: Lock it away because it’s way too easy to eat twice as much as you ought to.

Rating:

1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

any major grocery store
http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/

Bernard Castelain Milk

Hot stuff tonight. After a nice long Sunday afternoon nap, I ate a hot and spicy Thai soup for dinner. Perfect time for a soothing cooling dessert. How about a nice piece of chocolate? Sounds good, especially a good 37% milk chocolate.

Dig around in the box for a while, and I came up with a Bernard Castelain Artisan milk chocolate. Another nice piece from Provence – I can’t wait until I return for a hot summer vacation. We’ve had a snowy Easter, and I’m looking for a bit nicer weather.

Hmmm. When I look back on my last Castelain post, it was also snowing. I wonder if Castelain has a bit of magic in his chocolate that makes it snow, or perhaps snow causes Castelain cravings. Anyway.

This is a wonderful milk chocolate. Unlike Some other milk choccies I’ve had, I don’t experience any waxy taste as I bite into it. Normally I don't much care for milk chocolate, but this one hits the spot.

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy: http://www.chocolat-castelain.com/

http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/

Frey Noir Authentique

If you're looking for some fun, try the Frey chocolate personality quiz. http://www.chocolat-frey.com/chocolatequiz/ Turns out I'm a "dark chocolate lover." Who woulda guessed?

This Swiss chocolate is a very dark chocolate at 78%. It's very good quality chocolate, evidenced by the fact that they control the whole process, starting with the purchase of the cocoa beans. As a nice side note, there are no trans fats.

Especially for a grocery store chocolate, it's quite sophisticated, with a good bitter taste without being unpleasant.

For me, this Noir comes in second place of all the chocolates I've ever eaten, with only Michel Cluizel being better. And it's a darn sight cheaper.

Finally, a nice video clip about Frey. Here they call it the only "real" Swiss chocolate. http://www.truveo.com/Chocolat-Frey/id/1776632204

Reviewed: Frey Noir Authentique
Personality: Sophisticated, yet not pretentious. A noble chocolate
How to enjoy: A quarter bar per day ought to be plenty to keep your antioxidants up.

Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Migros
USA: Target

Leibniz Pick Up! Choco

How much chocolate does it take to be a chocolate as compared to a cookie? Leibniz brings this question to a point. By weight, I believe there's more chocolate than cookie, but the cookie is on the outside, versus say, a KitKat, where the cookie is on the inside.

No matter. These are so good they are worth a review, just so I get to buy and eat more of them. Somehow these Pick Ups! have picked me up and are a regular pantry staple for me.

I do prefer the dark chocolate, as I am wont to do, but I happily eat the milk chocolate (pictured) as well. This is serious chocolate.

These little guys are just perfect. At about an ounce apiece, it's got around 100 calories, a good crunch and very smooth chocolate.

Reviewed: Leibniz Pick Up! Choco

Personality: Better than Oreos

How to enjoy: Bedtime snack

Rating:

1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

Germany: major grocery stores

Dr. Oetker Chocolate Chili

Muffin tops are considered by many to be the best part of the muffin. I do enjoy them, although I don't often feel the need to throw away the bottoms.

Well, Dr. Oetker has come up with their very own muffin top mix, this one with chocolate and chili. In spite of my prejudiced views on German baking mixes (I feel they are too dry, and I've not yet been able to adapt a mix to be light and fluffy like US mixes), this one is quite good. Please don't get me wrong - I love German cakes, particularly anything with bisquit. Where I struggle is with the Ruhrkuchen, they tend to be exceedingly dry. On the negative side for the US cake mixes, I really dislike the "cake mix" flavor I can clearly taste from the mixes.

It's actually more brownie-like than cake-like, and the addition of chili is just perfect. After eating, you notice that it's a little spicy, but it's still a cake. There are chocolate bits in the mix, but they are hardly noticeable. I added chopped pecans to kick it up a notch.

One nice addition is that they include the baking cups in the mix. These cups are sturdy enough to just lay on a baking pan and slide the pan in the oven. No muffin pan needed.

Reviewed: Dr. Oetker Chocolate Chili Törtchen

Personality: Ready, steady, go! with a little kick of chili

How to enjoy: Bake up a box and enjoy them with afternoon coffee

Rating:

1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy
Where to buy:
Germany: Any grocery store, pretty much

Update on Lindt Oster Knusper

Remember this posting, in which I noted that one of the knusper pieces wasn't the same as pictured on the box?
I'm not one to leave issues like this on the table, especially since my job as a Quality Program Manager requires a lot of attention to customer satisfaction. Additionally, Germany has a pretty strong reputation for weak customer service.

Lindt Germany is a strong counter-example of German customer service. First, when I noticed that there was a major flaw in the Oster Knusper, I wrote Lindt Germany an email to point this out. In return I received a highly polite thank you for my email, sounding quite a lot like a form letter, but still I was impressed, because it happens too often in Germany that I receive no response at all.

Then Lindt just knocked my socks off. I got a second email, in which another employee gave me an update on the product. First, he acknowledged that the picture was not the same as the product, and proceeded to tell me why. Turns out the candies couldn't keep the granulate on the pieces, because it wasn't sticky enough. So they changed the recipe, incorporating the granulate into the coating itself, which was something I had noticed, and it tastes great.

Lindt impressed me a lot with this response - as a customer I know that they pay attention to detail, and to me. This is the kind of response I expect only from very tiny businesses, not a giant like Lindt. Pretty great.

Happy Easter!

Aldi minis

Not only Lindt makes mini pralines, even Aldi has their little box. Belgian pralines, no less.

No more than that, either, these were clearly a better quality than the other Aldi chocolates I've had, but they couldn't compare to the Lindt.

Reviewed: Aldi mini pralines

Personality: Basic brand name choccies

How to enjoy: A nice quick snack if you want more than a candy bar, but don't want to invest in more luxurious pralines
Rating:

1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy
Where to buy:
Germany: Aldi Süd

Choceur Latte Macchiatto Sticks

On a recent trip to Aldi Süd, I had a chance to pick up some chocolate. One package that looked interesting was this one from Choceur.

The box is quite interesting. You open the bottom, then fold down the ends down and let the sticks fall out. The sticks need some arranging to look as nice as the photo on the box.

Flavor? Oh yea, they're ok, but just ok. I won't bother to buy them again, but I didn't hate them.

Reviewed: Choceur Latte Macchiatto Sticks
Personality: Halloween candy dressed up in a clever box
How to enjoy: Pop open the box and let the sticks fall where they may
Rating:
1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

Germany: Aldi Süd

Lindt Mini Pralines

Lindt simply has a brilliant product in their mini series. I love a variety of chocolates, and Lindt's mini pralines are a great way to get several different flavors in just a few bites.

Reviewed: Lindt Mini Pralines

Personality: Elegant and creative, the Martha Stewart of chocolates

How to enjoy: These are so cute, you could stick them on toothpicks and serve them like an hors d'Oeuvres

Rating:

1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: major grocery stores

USA: Target and Long Drugs

Cote d'Or Mignonnette

Tomorrow I have the dubious privilege of taking a class to develop my professional skills. An online class (saves money). An 8 hour online class. I've got 3 phones charging, just so I can stay on the phone for the whole time. Oh, and I forgot to mention that the course is hosted in the US, so the class starts at 2 p.m. Germany time, and goes until 10 p.m. Swing shift, just to take a class.

I needed to print out many pages for the class, so I killed a tree this morning. At least I will be keeping the paper for a long time, so I put it in a binder. Before putting it in the folder, I needed to punch a few holes, so I walked over to the counter where we keep our hole punches. Why we have 4 hole punches, 3 of which are the same type, all located within 3 feet of each other, I'll never know.

Anyway, next to the hole punches was one of the many candy jars in our area. A glance in the jar showed this lonely little Cote d'Or bar, so I brought it home for a review and a nibble. This is a nice sized bar, just 10 grams, so you can eat it anytime.

Cote d'Or is made by Kraft, so to be perfectly honest, I wasn't expecting much. After all, Kraft recently had to recall a quantity of white baking chocolate because of suspected salmonella contamination.

This bar surprised me - it was much better than I thought it would be. Fine, it's not Michel Cluizel, but the price also fits. It's nicely dark, a touch bitter, but not at all bad, and smooth enough to enjoy.

Reviewed: Cote d'Or Mignonnette
Personality: Crisp, clean, dark horse
How to enjoy: Great budget chocolate which provides a nice dark chocolate bump

Rating:
1: Better than sex

2: Little bites of heaven

3: Share with your best friend

4: Will do in a pinch

5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:

Germany: major grocery stores

USA: Bed Bath and Beyond (I kid you not)

UK: Tesco, Waitrose, Sainsbury's

Dolfin Neapolitans

I love Belgian chocolate, but I don't love these. After hearing quite a few good things about Dolfin, I was interested to try it. So, off to a local gourmet store, Di Gennaro, where I found this lovely little taster's pack.
DH and I opened this package one evening, expecting to have to put it away for our own good, since Belgian chocolate is so delicious. But after the first couple of pieces, the package just sat there untouched. We had no desire to eat more.
Now, I'm not going to judge this bar too harshly, I'm just not going to spend any more money on Dolfin until I have reasonable proof that it's better than these pieces.

Reviewed: Dolfin neapolitans
Personality: pretentious, without followthrough
How to enjoy: Give it a shot, but don't expect too much
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: Di Gennaro
USA: Amazon
UK: Chocolate Trading Co

Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake

Comfort food is comfort food, and sometimes nothing else will do. So spoke my daughter when I asked her what kind of cake she wanted for her birthday:
"Chocolate cake from a mix."
"A German mix?"
"No, an American cake mix. With canned chocolate frosting."
"Are you sure? Freshly made cake with fresh frosting, made from good German chocolate, is something wonderful."
"No. It's just not as light or as moist as the ones we had back in America."
"Well, I don't agree, but it's your birthday, so ok."
Off to the expatriate mail-order websites. Now, in the US, you can buy a big brand cake mix and a can of frosting for less than $4 total. I paid (don't tell Dear Hubby) almost 9 Euro for the two. Yes, that's a $14 cake before I even stirred in the first egg. But birthdays should be a day when you get at least a few of the things you wish for.
The cake came out fine. I remember the best trick from the days when I studied cake decorating. Our instructor said to always pull the cake out of the oven 5 minutes before the earliest time on the box. That keeps it moist, yet it is just finished baking.
Reviewed: Betty Crocker Devil's Food cake
Personality: Classic Devil's Food birthday cake - highly trustworthy
How to enjoy: Best served to someone who can really appreciate all of the "packaged-mix" flavor
Rating:
1: Better than sex
2: Little bites of heaven
3: Share with your best friend and make it for your daughter
4: Will do in a pinch
5: Halloween candy

Where to buy:
Germany: http://www.delikatessen-versand.eu/
USA: Any grocery store, for a heckuva lot cheaper than I paid