AVI Chocolate Chocolate Chip Cookies

A few months ago, vending machines were installed in my office building. Again. When I first started there 5 years ago, there were dubious vending machines in a forgotten corridor of the building. Rumor has it that they contained sandwiches, but I can't confirm that (even though I bought one once).

This time, no one was about to mess around with sandwiches. The new vending machines have chips and candy, and they're doing pretty well. My curiosity got the better of me yesterday, so I branched out and bought this 2 pack of AVI cookies. The package had no nutrition information, but it did have a very long list of ingredients.

The cookies had a surprisingly strong cocoa scent that reminded me of chocolate fudge. They were soft and chewy, and the little chocolate chips melted away into the bulk of the cookie, making it a bit richer. The cookie itself had a very fine, sugar-like grit to it that made it seem more like a brownie.

Even though it was a really sweet cookie, there was just a hint of saltiness to keep the sugar in check. It killed my chocolate craving, but the portion size was just too large. According to the AVI website, one cookie is 270 calories, and there are two cookies in the bag. Furthermore, as Rodzilla of Rodzilla Reviews pointed out, each cookie also has 3 grams of trans fat, which is more than I really want to get from a cookie (especially one that already has a decent amount of saturated fat). After the media blowout several years back, many companies minimized their usage of trans fats, and I can't remember the last time I saw a non-negligible quanitiy listed on a label (for example, I didn't even think to check these cookies for trans fat). I won't lie - the cookie was pretty good, but I wouldn't pick it again.

B-

AVI website

Glico Chocolate Crush Uji Matcha Pocky

Happy New Year! On the first day of 2013, I got the flu. As luck would have it, I also ran out of scheduled reviews. Adding insult to injury, my order from NapaJapan arrived while I was buried beneath a mountain of blankets, cough drops, and lotion tissues. The box, jam-packed with Tirol chocolates and matcha-flavored treats, stared at me for days, taunting me. Now that I can taste and enjoy food again, it's time to dive in!

I'll start with Uji Matcha Chocolate Crush Pocky. The city of Uji (near Kyoto, Japan) is home to many beautiful temples and shrines, The Tale of Genji Museum, and it's famous for matcha, so it's a great place to visit if you're in the area. During a brief visit to Uji in 2009, I had the most delicious chadango and matcha ice cream of my life. Next time, I'll try to get there before all the historical sites close.

In this flavor, an azuki (red bean) Pocky stick was coated in matcha cookie bits, then dipped in milk chocolate. All I could smell was the milk chocolate, so I was a bit worried it would overpower the matcha flavor (most of the matcha chocolate snacks I've tried use white chocolate). I was right; the matcha was there, but it was very subtle. The stick didn't taste like azuki at all, but it was pink.

The matcha cookies were crispy and light, easy to pick out from the denser, cracker-like crunch of the stick . The combination of textures was fun. Neither the cookies nor the stick were very sweet, so the sweetness of the milk chocolate was balanced nicely. Although I would have liked more matcha flavor (let's face it - I always want more matcha), milk chocolate with a hint of matcha is pretty tasty.

B+

Pocky website

Boyer Dark Chocolate Mallo Cup

After dinner out at a Korean restaurant with my husband and his friends, we stopped at a carry-out for some wine. Getting back into blogging was my excuse for perusing the candy shelves, and I just couldn't resist trying Boyer cups again. Maybe I should start saving the play money!

Boyer is known for Mallo Cups, but I'm not sure I've ever had one. I had never evem seen the dark chocolate variety, but since milk chocolate and marshmallow sounded a bit too sweet, dark seemed like the best choice. The packaging itself was eye-catching, and it reminded me a bit of a comic book.

The cups had a strong cocoa scent. My first bite was surprising because I was not expecting coconut! It's on the ingredient list, of course, but it's not mentioned anywhere on the front of the package. The coconut added a little texture to the cup, but coconut haters, be forewarned!

The dark chocolate itself wasn't great. It was firm, but tasted a little powdery, especially in areas where the chocolate was a bit thicker. The marshmallow filling was pretty tasty. It had a light vanilla flavor, and the dark chocolate helped keep it from seeming too sweet. When the chocolate, marshmallow, and coconut were all in the right balance, it was pretty good.

B-

Boyer Candy website

SunSpire Almond Butter Cups

When picking up almond meal to make French macarons, I picked up these all natural almond butter cups on a whim. Peanut butter cups are one of my favorite treats, so almond butter cups seemed like a sure thing.

SunSpire makes all natural chocolates, and they have some gluten free, dairy free, and fair trade certified products, too. These cups weren't fair trade, though. The pack comes with three cups, molded into their inner packaging.

As you can see, the cups were really hard to get out of their packaging. The almond butter was extremely dry and crumbly, so much so that these cups fell apart while I was eating them. Despite causing so much trouble, there was hardly any almond butter to speak of; these cups were mostly chocolate, as shown in the picture below.

Compositional problems aside, these really weren't bad. They didn't have a strong scent at all, just a bit nutty. The chocolate was bitter and creamy, and since it was so thick, it overwhelmed the very mild flavor of the almond butter. The almond butter was quite smooth and consistent, but I could barely taste it. The ratio of chocolate to almond butter was just way off.

I've had all-natural products with much better consistency than these, so I don't think I'm being unfair in saying that these just missed the mark of what a nut butter cup should be. I'll have to try some SunSpire chocolate on its own, because that part was pretty good.

C+

SunSpire website

Chuao Potato Chip ChocoPod

It's been a long time since I've had a Chuao ChocoPod, so it was a pleasant surprise to find one in my November Birchbox. It's a paid subscription service that ships a box of high-end beauty samples each month, and occasionally, there are edible extras. Prior to this, all I've gotten were nutrition bars, which were nowhere near as tasty as fancy chocolate.

Chuao seems to be one of the more adventurous chocolate companies out there, at least among the brands that are readily available in stores. Furthermore, I have yet to meet a Chuao bar that I don't like.

The streak continues! The ChocoPod had a strong cocoa scent, which is always encouraging for a milk chocolate bar. The chocolate was buttery, and not too sweet (nor was it very sticky). After the initial mild sweetness of the chocolate, the saltiness kicked in.

The saltiness of the kettle chip bits was enhanced ever so slightly by a bit of sea salt, and overall, the salt level was good. It enhanced the buttery qualities of the chocolate, and with the faint potato flavor from the chips, I was almost reminded of mashed potatoes (in a good, chocolatey way). Finally, the chip bits were very crunchy, breaking up the smooth texture of the chocolate quite well.

A-

Chuao website