Godiva Desires

Hello, chocolateers!

I'm currently still pacing myself in eating a group of four assorted truffles. So far, I've tried two and plan on publishing my reviews and rates all at once in the near future, so keep an eye out for those!

Are you all as excited as I am to try the new Cake Truffles?!

The new truffles in the collection are Birthday Cake, Cookie Dough, Butterscotch Walnut Brownie and Pineapple Hummingbird. I've never heard of the last two flavors as cakes. I listed them in order of my preference based on names alone. I love cake batter flavored things and birthday cakes, so I think a birthday cake truffle would be the perfect epitome for a cake truffles collection! Cookie dough has been my favorite guilty pleasure for as long as I can remember. Brownies are irresistible and pineapple is yummy. Overall, I'm hoping on getting an 8 pc. Gift Box soon! I think it'd be cool to get two of each so I can try it and decide if I like it enough to have another or not.

My second desire is the Pumpkin Cheesecake Truffle. I love pumpkin flavors in fall-related foods and, as I've previously mentioned, I love cheesecakes. I think this is a new truffle, so I'm really excited to try it!

The Pumpkin Patch truffles are also making a return along with all the little halloween/fall/Thanksgiving decorated things this year. I love this time of year. Autumn is my favorite season, and the chocolates that Godiva produces around this time always make me even more excited. Can't wait until I can make a stop soon!(:

Sweeties Fine Chocolate

Today, I went to Sweeties Fine Chocolate in Northampton, MA. I used to go to this place as a kid and has always held dear memories. Although the store isn't extremely large or versatile, it's classic and friendly. It has many selections of hard candy and gummies that you can weigh in a bag and eat, and an assortment of other more common and individually sold candy like Pop Rocks and chocolate gold coins. But, they also have truffles and dipped chips and pretzels and many chocolate goods!

Here's an overview of all the chocolates. I got five, but only four flavors.

 I don't remember the name of this one, but it has layers of chocolate (I think it was simply called layers of chocolate or something along those lines) and it has two layers of milk chocolate and one layer of some other chocolate that has a touch of nuts. I can't tell if it's almonds or what but it's good! I also can't tell if it's salted, or if it's the salt from the salted caramel that accidentally got on it.

 The one that's sort of already been eaten is a salted caramel chocolate. A little hard since it just came from my fridge, but the salt balanced the caramel really nicely!

That one there is definitely filled with almond something. It's not quite a ganache like in the Godiva truffles, but it's delicious. Probably my favorite truffle of the batch.

Then I got two tiramisu chocolates. The coffee taste is really pronounced but it's good nonetheless. The coffee aftertaste is really strong. I got two because I knew I'd like it, and I do(:

Tiramisu

When I visited Godiva, I took a picture with my iPod Touch of this cute display they had to advertise the Godiva Tropical Seashells. I loved the look of the sand and the shells and it really did make me want to buy the set. I didn't, regretfully. But, I loved how they presented the collection.

Recently I've fallen in love with tiramisu. It tastes amazing. 

I remember in this post that I wrote about two years ago, I had yet to try tiramisu. I forget when I first tried it, but I've been hooked ever since! This I get from my local grocery store for a good price and its about 5 inches by 5 inches and layers of deliciousness. A subtle taste of coffee and a nice balance with chocolate and their layer of frosting or something on top is to die for. My most recent chocolate endeavor and highly recommended buy: TIRAMISU!

Godiva Truffle Bars: Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate

Godiva Truffle Bars: Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate
230 calories total, about 57 calories per square (in case you need the nutrition)


This is a 1.4 oz (40 g) Truffle Bar consisting of four squares of dark chocolate with minty filling. Created for the Summer Ice Cream collection, this bar is not currently listed anywhere on the Godiva website so it is unclear whether this, like some of the other products in the collection, will only be available for summer or if it will be sold all year-round.

So, this truffle bar is not new to me. I've had it before, and it's just as delicious as it has been before. The dark chocolate and minty filling mixed very well. I'm not a huge fan of dark chocolate, so occasionally that taste was a little overwhelming. But otherwise, the two flavors mixed really well. The mint texture was not as fluid-like as the other strawberry one but rather it more so resembled frosting..I guess. It's hard to describe, but it IS delicious.

Overall rating: 8/10. I love mint chocolate, but I like the truffles better. The dark chocolate became occasionally overpowering. But, it resembled the mint chocolate chip ice cream very well.

Godiva Truffle Bars: Strawberries & Cream in White Chocolate

Godiva Truffle Bars: Strawberries & Cream in White Chocolate
220 calories total, 55 calories per square (in case you need the nutrition)

This is a 1.5 oz (43 g) Truffle Bar consisting of four squares of white chocolate with a creamy strawberry filling. Created for the Summer Ice Cream collection, this bar is not currently listed anywhere on the Godiva website so it is unclear whether this, like some of the other products in the collection, will only be available for summer or if it will be sold all year-round.

Now, as far as my personal review of this bar, it was as I expected. I suspected this bar to taste as it did, and my expectations weren't very high. I'm not a fan in general of artificial fruit flavors in chocolate (as opposed to, per se, natural and real fruit being dipped into chocolate, which I am a fan of). The white chocolate was rich and thick, and the strawberry filling reminded me of strawberry jam. Although it tasted nothing like strawberry jam, its consistency was not very gooey, but sort of viscous (see below). It even looks like it might taste light strawberry jam, but when combined with the white chocolate, the flavor is completely unique. The white chocolate leaves a lasting impression and becomes almost overpowering. Again, I wasn't crazy about the combination in the first place, but this bar did not disappoint. 

As far as rating goes, I'd personally say 6/10.

But, if I were being completely unbiased, it'd be more like an 8/10. It does melt a little in your hands and the white chocolate overpowered the filling. However, I think it'd be difficult to further emphasize the taste of the filling without throwing all the flavors off balance. Godiva did a good job with this one. 

Godiva...FINALLY!

I finally returned to a Godiva store today, for the first time in almost two years! The first mall I visited had a Godiva Store listed under the Godiva Store Locator, but when I arrived at the mall, it had closed. So, I found another store to go to not too far out of the way. It's a shame, though, that they're closing so often. I really wish one would reopen closer to home. Anyways, here's what I got!

My budget wasn't particularly low, but I wanted to get stuff that I hadn't gotten in a while. So, I didn't indulge in too many of the Pint-Sized Ice Cream Parlor containers.

I got four Truffle Bars:

(From top to bottom) Strawberries & Cream in White Chocolate, Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate, Cheesecake Filling in Milk Chocolate and Tiramisu Filling in White Chocolate.



And I got four truffles (See picture above):
A Banana Split Truffle, a Tiramisu truffle, a Chocolate Souffle truffle and a Peach Sorbet truffle.





I plan on reviewing each of these individually over time. I don't think I'll review the Tiramisu truffle in detail, because I've already had it before.

And I'm skeptical about the Peach Sorbet truffle because it looks suspiciously similar to a certain "Orange & Creme Truffle" from a few years ago.





But that doesn't mean I don't plan on eating some chocolate tonight! I got some oldies but goodies, too. One of my favorite truffles, the Roasted Almond truffle, which was my free chocolate of the month, along with a pint of mint chocolate chip ice cream--I mean truffles(:

Ghelfi's Candies of Cape Cod

So, recently I visited Cape Cod, MA, where there was a little store called Candies & Ice Cream. It not only sold yummy flavors of ice cream, but also homemade chocolate made by Ghelfi's Candies of Cape Cod. The choices were incredibly varied, and although some flavors may have been cliched, the chocolates themselves were original and unique. I'm rating them on their overall quality.

I tried a few things there, but, unfortunately, seeing as it was a stop made on my way out of town, I was running a bit low of spending fees. So, although the choices were difficult, I settled on these:

The one on the top left is Milk Chocolate Bark with Sea Salt. The truffle on the top right is a Caramarsh truffle. And the rectangular truffle on the bottom is a Black Forest Truffle.

The milk chocolate bark with sea salt was the classic square of quality milk chocolate drizzled in dark chocolate and topped with a few grains of sea salt. I love sea salt on any chocolate, because it's the perfect blend of sweet and salty. It explains why chocolate-dipped pretzels are such a crowd pleaser! As far as being a homemade chocolate store, the bark sure impressed me and had nice presentation as well as taste. To anyone visiting a beach this summer, be sure to get some sea salted-chocolate! 6/10

Now, the black forest truffle was actually the first one of this set that I got to try. It was delicious! It had a design of flowers on the top, and was filled with a ganache that tasted too rich to be milk chocolate. I don't know exactly what this one was contained of, but it was probably my favorite of the three. 8/10

Then the Caramarsh Truffle was a milk chocolate shell filled with an even balance of caramel and marshmallow. The marshmallow was sort of thick and contained while the caramel was gooey and fresh. Neither overpowered the other flavor but the textures of each didn't harmonize. Although the texture itself was not my favorite, the product overall was delicious! 7/10

These chocolates were delicious and unique and I wish I could have gotten more. They were completely worth the money, although they weren't even expensive compared to many chocolate stores. If anyone visits Mashpee or Falmouth, MA, visit a Candies & Ice Cream store for these delicious treats!

The Return Of Felix

Hello, out there!
I'm sorry I haven't blogged in well over a year. I haven't been as engaged in chocolate as I would have liked, I admit. But I'm going to try to be more consistent with this blog! I've been very caught up in so many things. I, honestly, forgot about this. And on top of that, I've been trying to lose some weight, so I haven't been able to enjoy many chocolate indulgences. It's been difficult. Besides, I can't make it to our nearest Godiva without having to schedule a trip. But, with summer and all, I'll have more free time, and I'll definitely be blogging!

So, let's start.

Have you seen Godiva's Summer Ice Cream Parlor Truffles? Are you as excited as I am that they're back?! It's been too long. Be still my stomach, I'm craving.

My personal favorites, as I've blogged about before, are these.

The Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles

Probably my 2nd or 3rd favorite truffle ever. I can't wait to have some.

While we're talking about them, here's a list of my favorite truffles (so far) in no particular order.

• Mint Chocolate Chip Truffle
• Harvest Truffle (which I don't think they make anymore)
• Roasted Almond Truffle (at least, I think that's what it is)

And truffles I want to try include

Ultimate Dessert Chocolate Éclair Truffle

This little guy was definitely not part of the original group of Ultimate Dessert Truffles, and I want to see if he's as good as the others. 

Before I bid you farewell, I'll leave you with a picture of a truffle that I had while I was at the beach. I was in a candy store and wanted to try some truffles, so I managed to buy a few with some spare change I had. I recall this one because it had sea salt on top, which I found to be relevant to a beach trip. I forget what it tasted like, but I do remember the sea salt adding a nice touch.

Until the next truffle...