I never knew that chocolate went on sale at midnight. I think I am the only girl in the entire US who didn't know this. Whenever I tell the following story, women of all ages are shocked to hear my ignorance. I feel as though I have been forsaken by my fellow women for all these years! Not this year. My boyfriend, Jarod, and I had just finished an amazing date (more on that in another blog ...maybe), when we stopped at Walmart to get him some coffee. My boy was falling asleep driving back to Joplin from Bentonville. I wasn't ready to die quite yet, so I suggested we stop. It was 11:30pm. One of my very favorite things about Valentine's Day is the heart-shaped boxes of questionable chocolates filled with obscure flavors. Most people hate them -- I love them! I don't really care for chocolate. I'm not even necessarily a fan of fillings. But I do love mystery. I decided I would buy myself some chocolates since we were at Walmart. These bad boys don't stay long after Valentine's Day after all - why would they? Having only ever had the generic brand, I decided to buy myself (with Jarod's help, of course) a box of Russell Stover's. Not that I know anything about them, but I've heard their name tossed around when it comes to yummy chocolate. Just as I tucked my red, crinkly-wrapped heart filled with ten gooey chocolates to my chest and begin heading to the check-out line, a woman nearby caught my attention and told me that if I just waited about ten minutes, all the chocolate was going to be half-price. I've never been someone to pass up a good deal. Especially when it comes to food.
Beautiful... , However, the price? Not so much. I winced. Even at half-price, $15 was still a bit high for chocolates. Trying to put it out of my mind, I moved to look at other Russell Stover's chocolate boxes, but my eyes kept going back to that one like a lover you wish you had but don't. "What about the big box?" My watering mouth dropped open, and I looked at my boyfriend as he too stared up at that behemoth heart of chocolates. "What? No. No way am I spending $15 on chocolate." Needless to say... This blog post is about all the flavors in Russell Stover's 60 count box of chocolates. (Not in any particular order...) 1. Roman Nougat First of all: what is nougat? I literally had no idea. The nougat in this chocolate looked a bit like pink salt water taffy and tasted reminiscent of bubble gum. Surprisingly, this pairing was amazing with the chocolate. My brain thought it was a weird flavor combination, but my mouth was delighted. The nougat was incredibly light and not hard to eat. Conclusion: Who knew the lovechild of bubble gum and taffy would taste so good with chocolate! 2. Coconut Cream I am going to say this upfront -- this chocolate was one of my favorites. The best thing I can compare it to is Almond Joy, but without the almond. The title is a bit misleading, though. The Coconut Cream was anything but creamy. Like an Almond Joy, slivers of sugary, dried coconut made up the "cream" center. The filling was amazing on its own, but its dark chocolate shell complimented well the soft flavor of coconut. Conclusion: "Almond Joy Improved!"
5. Chocolate Truffle So. I'm going to be honest here. I was going to review all the chocolates, but since this was such a huge box, I was not eating the entire box alone. In my sharing the chocolates, I accidentally gave this one away before realizing there was only one of these in the entire box! My mom said she liked it okay. Mostly it was just chocolate-filled chocolate. Conclusion: Save your money and just buy Lindor. 6. Fruit and Nut Caramel This one was admittedly a bit odd. I was putting it off for a long time, because I like fruits and I like nuts but I rarely like fruit-nut. I was pleasantly surprised! The nut gave it texture and the fruit made the caramel slightly red. I couldn't decide what the fruit or nuts inside actually were, but I got a piece of fruit skin in my mouth so I am thinking it was a dried berry of some kind. The fruit flavor itself was subtle. I wouldn't have guessed it, but the nutty flavor complimented the caramel. Slightly bitter chocolate contrasted the sweetness. Conclusion: Strange, but yes!
9. Cashew Cluster Speaking of cancelling out the bitterness of the chocolate, I loved this cashew cluster. I wasn't sure what I was going to think about it because I've never had cashews in chocolate before. The best word I can think of for this one is pleasant. It was incredibly pleasant. The mildness of the cashews seemed to absorb the bitterness like magic. I prefer this over just sweet-ing the bitterness to death. Unlike lots of other nut chocolates, cashews are soft with only a mild flavor, especially in comparison to the chocolate. However, the makers used milk chocolate, which allowed the subtle nuttiness to come through. Unfortunately, though, the cluster falls apart once you start getting into it because the cashews are so big that the light amount of chocolate struggles to hold them together. Conclusion: Pleasantly pleasurable. 10. Peanut Butter Crunch Ever had a high-end Butterfinger?? Neither had I -- until the peanut butter crunch! It was a little, thin bar, trying its best to be a fancy version of the Butterfinger. The hard, crystallized peanut butter inside was fresher and crunchier than its lower-grade cousin. In addition, it wasn't so hard that I felt like I was going to break my teeth on it like some toffee chocolates. Brittle with a lighter color and milder flavor, it did not over-power the entire bar, though, admittedly, the thin outer layer of chocolate did melt before I had finished the bar. It was so good that I wasn't even upset about it. Conclusion: Butterfinger needs to take some pointers from Russel Stover's!
13. Maple Nut Butter Maple and nuts? Sounds fantastic. Maple and butter? Pancakes, right? I'm there. Maple nut butter? YES. Maple nut butter -- covered in chocolate? What... Actually, this was one of the most surprisingly good chocolates in the box. I had no clue what to think going into it. I love maple, but maple and chocolate? I will tell you right now that this was a far better idea than the molasses chew! The maple filling was gooey and soft. It tasted genuine, natural, which is a bit rare for maple. Even more rare for maple, it wasn't over-sugary or overpowering. The maple was subtle, like a delightful surprise tucked away in chocolate wrapping. Conclusion: More products should put maple and milk chocolate together! 14. Apricot Cream Coming clean: I have never had an apricot. I assume it would taste like the filling in this chocolate. The cream was somewhere between the fluffiness of the orange and the graininess of the vanilla. Not too sweet though. Colored just off white, there are actual pieces of apricot in the cream, staining the cream around with a darker amber. The flavor actually isn't very heavy at all. Mostly it is just sweet -- until you find an apricot. These bites had what I am assuming is a strong apricot taste. Whatever it was, it was relatively yummy! Just not sure that I like apricots all that much. Conclusion: Maybe good, but not for me.
17. Raspberry Cream Lastly, the raspberry cream... Biting into it revealed a beautifully white cream with just a brush of a blush color. Spots of pink were sprinkled throughout. It was truly a beautiful chocolate. The only criticism I have for this chocolate was that the raspberry was so fresh and real that it still had the seeds in it -- not too appetizing in a chocolate. Especially when you aren't expecting it. The flavors of the raspberry and dark chocolate couldn't have complimented one another better. I was afraid the two together would make it really bitter, but surprisingly, they just brought out the very best in one another. This chocolate was my all-time favorite. Conclusion: Berry party in my mouth!!
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October 2019
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