Alter Eco Dark Coconut Toffee

Happy New Year! Let me start off 2015 by posting a review for a brand that I have been meaning to blog about for ages: Alter Eco. I have draft reviews for 2 other Alter Eco bars (aside from this one) that I haven't gotten around to posting, so it's about time!

Alter Eco has just about every fair trade/organic certification I've ever seen, but that's all I'll say on that. What I am qualified to comment on is the fact that every darn bar of theirs that I've tried is pretty delicious. This is the Dark Coconut Toffee bar, but I hope to post about the Dark Quinoa and Dark Salted Brown Butter bars soon, too. If I can find my notes, I'll add the Dark Velvet, too!

Full disclosure: in my notes, I treated this like a milk chocolate bar. Oops. But I definitely prefer this sort of barely dark bar to milk chocolate, and I wouldn't want it to be any "lighter." The bar smelled like cocoa and nuts rather than coconut. The chocolate was slightly bitter and not sticky, nor overly sweet. Much like the aroma, the coconut flavor was subtle, so I wouldn't write it off if you’re lukewarm on coconut. Like the chocolate, the toffee was bittersweet, especially at first, giving way to a caramel flavor.

Combined, the flavors reminded me of the Samoa Girl Scout cookies, only not as sweet. The bar had a crunchy texture that was reminiscent of sugar, especially the kind with larger crystals. The flavors and textures were well-balanced, but I wouldn't call this bar a new favorite. As I stated above, Alter Eco makes some excellent chocolate bars, and this one was good – just not top tier.

B+

Alter Eco Foods 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

Mars Twix Coconut

Press Sample
Even though I eat a lot of candy and chocolate just for this blog, I try not to let myself lose my love for the stuff. Sometimes, I eat candy just to eat it, and it feels good. One of my favorite "just for fun" candy bars is Twix, so I couldn't pass up a chance to try Twix Coconut. The sample in this review was kindly provided by a PR representative, but please rest assured that I did not let that influence my opinion (and I definitely would have bought it myself eventually anyhow).

Twix Coconut is a new, summery variation on the classic Twix, available starting this spring. The coconut flavor is in the caramel, which should be good news for those wary of coconut texture. Coconut is one of those great polarizing flavors, or at least, when people don't like it, they really seem to hate it. I don't know if it's the flavor or the texture, but I used to be a coconut-hater myself. Thankfully, my husband turned me around.


When I opened the package, the mild chocolate and strong coconut scent of the bars reminded me of German chocolate cake. The coconut flavor in the caramel was good, not too strong and not too sweet, and it went well with the milky flavors that were already there.

Twix is all about the chocolate/cookie/caramel texture combination, so no changes were made to that formula. I liked the addition of coconut flavor; it seemed to temper the sweetness of the bars, which made me happy. As long as you like coconut, this limited edition bar is certainly worth a taste.

B+

Twix website

Mrs. Fields Cookie Recipe Chocolates

One of my favorite cookbooks is my Mrs. Fields cookie recipe book. There are some fantastic cookies to be made, and I've certainly never been disappointed by a cookie purchased at a Mrs. Fields store. For these reasons, I did not fear these chocolates when they showed up in my stocking this Christmas.


These were purchased from Target by my mother, and the box says they cost $1. The three flavors included were Dark Coconut Macaroon, Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough, and Brownie Truffle. The cookie dough flavor sounded especially up my alley, since I am a huge fan of cookie dough ice cream.


Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough was first on my list to try. I feel I should mention that none of these chocolates had much of a smell. Anyhow, inside was a lump of cookie dough. I could taste the mediocre chocolate shell, but the cookie dough center had none of the vanilla or salty flavor that actual cookie dough has. It shouldn't have surprised me, but this was just painfully sweet.


Dark Coconut Macaroon was next, and again, the first thing I noted was the overwhelming, throat-burning sweetness. Aside from that, there was creamy, sticky coconut paste inside. It tasted like a Mounds bar, which wasn't bad, since I like coconut.


Finally, I sampled Brownie Truffle, which was like a chocolate coated chunk of brownie. Unsurprisingly, this one was also ridiculously sweet. The filling was grainy (I felt sugar granules) and almost chalky. It was slightly better and much more authentic than the cookie dough flavor, but really, at this point, I was not in the mood.

I don't pull this rating out very often, but both my husband and I found these to be just too sweet to enjoy. We split each piece, so I can't even imagine finishing all of them myself. They were edible, but far too cloyingly sweet for me to ever want to consume again. It's nice that they tried to diversify, but Mrs. Fields should definitely stick to cookies.

D

Here is a link to another review of these chocolates.

Mrs. Fields website (but these chocolates can't be found on the website)

Orbit Pina Colada Gum

I'll admit it - my heart did a little dance of joy when I saw this gum at the grocery store. Orbit is my favorite brand of gum, and rarely am I disappointed by it. One such case was the recent flavor, the polarizing Positively Pomegranate, which tasted good but had a bizarre texture. I should pick up another pack to see if anything has changed.

On the topic of this flavor, both my husband and I thought we had tried Pina Colada gum before but couldn't remember a specific instance. In any case, the gum came home with us because I couldn't resist.


It smelled like toasted coconut, which might instantly put off some people, but I can't imagine those people choosing to buy this gum. The piece was hard at first, and took some tough chewing to get started. It was fruity and sour on the tongue, and sweet coconut dominated the flavor profile, with a background pineapple and a hint of mint.

The sweetness was the first to go, after a couple minutes, and then it was just a mild coconut. The mint hung around for a while, and the leftover flavor wasn't bad. There were occasional bursts of pineapple as I continued chewing. The gum seemed to get harder as I chewed, and had somewhat of a rubbery texture. It became a workout for my jaw after about 15 minutes. Despite this, the flavor was tasty and original, and it makes a great addition to the Orbit line up.

Have a look at Gigi-reveiws and The Impulsive Buy for more.

A-

Orbit Website

Summer Tirol

These summer Tirol chocolates came in a fancy cup, and I bought them in a grocery store for about 300 yen. There were 12 designs (one for each Zodiac sign), but only 3 flavors: acerola, lemon, and coconut.

I love the pastel metallic colors, and even though I'm not into astrology, the package designs were pretty neat. Also, there were a lot of chocolates in this. Eating the whole cup would set you back about 1000 calories. On their own, they are about 30 calories each.


Coconut was half white and half milk chocolate. It smelled like coconut, but a little bit too much like sunscreen. Thankfully, it didn't taste like sunscreen, but the coconut flavor was very mild. Actually, I wished that the coconut flavor was stronger. It had a biscuit center, adding a nice texture. B

Acerola (cherry) was my favorite of the flavors. It smelled very fruity, and had a bright, strong cherry Starburst-like flavor. The white chocolate was light and smooth and didn't get in the way of the delicious, tart cherry gummy center. The gummy texture was sticky and chewy like a fruit gem. A+

Lemon smelled a little bit like cleaner, but tasted good. It reminded me of a lemon bar, because the chocolate was buttery and the gummy center was sour. The gummy had the same texture as the acerola. My sister didn't like the combination, but my husband and I did. B+

The lemon and acerola were nice and bold, so the coconut was disappointing by comparison. Overall, though, this was a nice variety pack, and there was something for everyone.

Tirol Chocolate website

Mars Starburst Tropical

I should know by now to be wary of "tropical" versions of things. I learned my lesson many years ago with Tropical Skittles. But I guess I forgot that lesson when I bought this bag of Tropical Starburst. Let me break down each flavor.

Mango Melon: I don't really taste mango, but I can kind of taste the melon (cantaloupe). I don't think either fruit is as sour as this tastes, though.

Royal Berry Punch: Tastes a lot like clear gummy bears, but not good ones. I don't really taste berry at all, actually, although the first bite was almost cranberry, in a bitter sort of way.

Pina Colada: Very plastic-y taste. I think it's from the attempt at tasting like coconut. The pineapple is almost there, but the sugary taste is overpowering.

Strawberry Banana: I liked this best of the bunch. It tastes very artificial, but at least it does hit its target of strawberry banana. Not that it's a very tropical combination.

Starburst is one of those candies that was better as a child. Now they all just taste too sweet. I can still eat the originals, although too many gives me heartburn, as I recently discovered. If I get the urge for Starburst again soon, I won't pick Tropical.

C

Starburst Website

Vosges Naga Bar

This might be the most expensive candy bar I've ever eaten. This little thing was $3.50 at Whole Foods, but I've always wanted to try curry chocolate, so I just couldn't say no. The full size was something like $7.50 so I went with the little one. It was supposed to come with tasting instructions, but I didn't see any.


This was some smooth chocolate. The milk chocolate base was as silky as I've ever tasted, and the coconut added a nice grittiness. The curry was not how I expected, but I was pleased. I suppose I thought it would be more present, but it instead provided a bit of background heat and a nice spiciness. I am a huge fan of spicy foods, and spicy sweet is a fantastic combination.

OK, I lied, I have had this expensive stuff before. A few years back, my husband's parents gave us the Black Pearl (ginger + wasabi + black sesame seeds + dark chocolate) and the Red Fire (Mexican ancho & chipotle chillies + Ceylon cinnamon + dark chocolate) bars in a Christmas gift and they were very similar to this one; really high quality chocolate base and background heat.

The aforementioned Vosges chocolates are definitely something special, and although they aren't five alarm spicy, they definitely aren't for people with low heat tolerance. I can't really say it'd be worth the money for me to buy them often for myself, but as a gift, sure, bring them on!

B+

Vosges Haut-Chocolate