Lindt Lindor Stracciatella (Limited Edition)

I bought these Lindt Lindor Stracciatella over Christmas but haven't got around to trying them until this month - I obviously have far too much chocolate in my cupboards! Even though it has Limited Edition on the box, I'm not sure if this is one of those flavours that has already disappeared or if it's still available. I have a feeling it's been around for a while - let me know in the comments if you know!

Lindt is fast becoming my favourite chocolate brand - their products are always delicious with spot-on flavours. The flavour here is just as it's described on the box - a wonderful cookies and cream combination. The white chocolate has a super creamy flavour, with the little cookie pieces within adding a little extra crunch. The inner truffle has a gorgeously smooth texture and a sweet vanilla flavour. For a white chocolate, they're actually not overly sweet, but just a really delicious creamy truffle.

Grocery Gems Review: Lindt Lindor Stracciatella

RATING: 9 out of 10.

Buy it again?: Yes.
Purchased: Sainsbury's.
Price: £3.50p.

Review: Lindt Gold Bunny Story Book

I was lucky enough to be sent a delightful Lindt Gold Bunny Story Book (and a Lindt Gold Bunny too!) via the lovely people at Degustabox. Lindt is often featured in the monthly Degustabox foodie parcels with the recent March Degustabox including two bags of Lindt Lindor Mini Eggs. 

The Lindt Gold Bunny Story Book is a large rectangular box with 11 "doors" to open. Inside there is a sweet story all about the Gold Bunny on one side, with a meadow to explore on the other side where all the Easter treats have been hidden. It's such a cute idea - basically a cross between an Easter egg hunt and an advent calendar.

It's just so adorable! There are 3 x Gold Bunny, 2 x Lamb, 2 x Chick, 3 x Hollow Eggs and 5 x Solid Mini Eggs chocolates hidden behind the doors. We've opened up a few of the doors so far, but we haven't actually eaten any of the chocolates yet. The whole thing is so special that I'm saving it for Easter Sunday. 

Whilst on the subject of Lindt Easter products I just have to mention the Lindt Hazelnut Bunny (with the green ribbons above). I thought I had reviewed one of these last year but it must have eaten before I could take any photos! Anyway, the Lindt Hazelnut Bunny is one of my favourite Easter treats, it's just so delicious. The smooth milk chocolate is filled with crunchy and flavourful hazelnut pieces - complete chocolate perfection! I bought these in Waitrose for £2.50p each.

I don't think I have ever seen the Lindt Gold Bunny Story Book before in the shops, but having a quick look online it's actually available from Ocado for only £4.00p (special offer price). Let me know if you've tried any of the Lindt Easter range!

New Lindt Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel

Is there any better greeting than - Hello, My Name is Salted Caramel...? I think not. I first reviewed the Lindt Hello My Name Is range back in July 2013, and at that time it consisted of four core flavours (see review HERE). I really enjoyed most of the flavours back then so I'm excited to see the Salted Caramel variety join the range in the UK (I believe it was already available in Germany). The whole range is on special offer in Tesco for £1.50p per 100g bar.

I must just mention the lovely packaging. Each chocolate bar is wrapped in gold foil and presented inside a cardboard envelope. I love little packaging touches like this, they seem quite rare in mainstream chocolates, and gives it a more luxe feel.

The Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel bar itself consists of ten large milk chocolate pieces, each filled with a salted caramel centre. 

As you can see the centre is gorgeously gooey, although not as runny as the photo would suggest (I had to cut the segments in half which is always a messy business!). The milk chocolate contains 30% minimum cocoa solids and has a sweet but rich, slightly malty, flavour. It's the ideal backdrop for the extremely delicious salted caramel filling. I absolutely loved the flavour here! It's really has quite a salty edge but this just tastes amazing when combined with the sweetness of the caramel and the chocolate. It's my new favourite salted caramel filled chocolate by far and it probably goes without saying that this is getting full marks from me!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Lindt Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel

RATING: 10 out of 10.
Buy it again?: Yes! 
Nutrition: 516 calories per 100g. 
Purchased: Tesco. 
Price: £1.50p.

Review: Lindt Ghosts - Halloween Chocolate Sticks

A very quick review for these delightful Lindt Ghosts. Many years ago, my grandparents used to buy me chocolates on a stick that were shaped to look like little umbrellas. These Lindt Ghosts have a very similar shape, which gives them a fair amount of nostalgic value for me.

Everything about these is just adorable, from the happy ghost and pumpkin on the top of the stick, to the smiley ghostly faces on the packaging. I'm definitely someone who enjoys the cuter side of Halloween so these are immediately appealing.

Lindt milk chocolate is always delicious, and it's even more so here when given an added hazelnut flavour. The chocolate has such a creamy and smooth flavour that works perfectly with the richness from the hazelnuts. My children absolutely loved these Lindt Ghosts, and the central stick means they're great for keeping hands mess free!

Grocery Gems Verdict: Lindt Ghosts

RATING: 9 out of 10
Buy them again?: Yes.
Purchased: Waitrose.
Price: 2 for £1.00.

New Lindt Hello My Name Is... Range Review

I've wanted to try this Hello My Name Is range ever since I heard about it's release in Germany last year. When my husband presented me with all four bars from the range on my birthday last week, I was surprised to find out he had bought them from a local Sainsbury's and not an import store! It turns out that these bars have launched in the UK exclusively to Sainsbury's, at least for now. There are four varieties in the range; Cookies & Cream, Strawberry Cheesecake, Crunchy Nougat, and Caramel Brownie. They are available in different sizes but my review is focused on the 100g bars. These feature impressive packaging with cardboard outer sleeves and brightly coloured inner foil wrappings.

Once unwrapped, each bar has the same appearance, with hearts and kisses designs on the top of each segment. It's quite a flirty and fun appearance, and a very fitting one for the quirky Hello My Name Is range. Each bar features a thick milk chocolate outer layer with a different filling within. I'm not that familiar with the Lindt brand as a whole, but I was immediately impressed by the deliciously smooth and rich milk chocolate used in these bars. It's not too sweet, but has an extremely satisfying cocoa flavour. But what about the intriguing fillings?

HELLO MY NAME IS CARAMEL BROWNIE

From the outset the Caramel Brownie appeals to me, with it's description as a milk chocolate with caramel brownie filling.

The inner filling consists of a soft caramel on top of a brownie cream layer with dark biscuit pieces within. The caramel is luxuriously silky smooth with a rich buttery flavour. It perfectly compliments the chocolate layers and crunchy biscuit bits. An all round superb bar of chocolate, especially for caramel fans.

Grocery Gems Rating: 9 out of 10.
Nutrition: (per 100g) 549 calories.

HELLO MY NAME IS STRAWBERRY CHEESECAKE

I don't think I've ever had a strawberry cheesecake themed chocolate bar before, making this a very interesting proposition.

On first appearance the filling seems quite similar to the new Cadbury Strawberries & Creme bar (review here). However, those who found that bar far too sweet will be pleased to know that the Lindt Strawberry Cheesecake is a much more balanced affair. The strawberry comes through strongly with a lovely fresh fruity flavour, whilst the cheesecake element adds a slightly tart edge which helps to curb any excessive sweetness. There is some biscuit influence within the creamy filling too, making the whole flavour very reminiscent of a real strawberry cheesecake!

Grocery Gems Rating: 8 out of 10.
Nutrition: (per 100g) 549 calories.

HELLO MY NAME IS COOKIES & CREAM

I'm a big fan of Cookies & Cream chocolate combinations but it's very rare to find one done successfully. This Lindt Cookies & Cream shows all the rest how it should be done - it's simply fantastic and by far my favourite of the four bars.

Doesn't the filling just look fantastic? It's creamy centre is smooth and velvety, and a perfect backdrop for the crunchy chocolate cookie pieces. I love the pure cream flavour of the filling, it's absolutely heavenly. It's simply done but very effective in creating an ideal cookies & cream chocolate filling.

Grocery Gems Rating: 10 out of 10.
Nutrition: (per 100g) 565 calories.

HELLO MY NAME IS CRUNCHY NOUGAT

I wasn't sure what to expect from this Crunchy Nougat bar. The picture on the front seems to depict a honeycomb type filling. However the description on the back is of a milk chocolate with nougat, hazelnut brittle and wafer pieces.

The filling is quite unusual, it's slightly creamy and soft but with crunchy brittle pieces throughout. I couldn't detect the wafer flavour wise but it does add a unique crispy texture to the filling. The flavour is mainly from the hazelnut brittle, providing a nutty caramelised experience. Fantastic for anyone who enjoys chocolate and hazelnut combinations.

Grocery Gems Rating: 8.5 out of 10.
Nutrition: (per 100g) 552 calories.

These bars also come in this smaller 39g format (above photo), which are very long and thin! Which flavour are you most excited to try first? 

Advent Calendar Round Up: Lindt, Mr. Men, Nintendo and...

Yes that's right, we have so many advent calendars this year that I've decided to do a "round up"! I realise I'm a couple of days late for the start of advent but I wanted to see what these were like before giving them a review. The price difference between our advent calendars is huge. I'll start with the grandest and most expensive; the Lindt Advent Calendar.

I love this calendar because it has such a fabulous selection of different chocolates. There are Lindor Truffles, Milk Chocolate Snowdrops, Gold Reindeer, Milk Napolitans (milk chocolate squares) and even a whole chocolate Santa! Each chocolate is individually wrapped which is brilliant if you prefer saving the chocolate to eat later. This advent calendar is for my hubby and even though he opens it before work each morning, he doesn't want to eat chocolate for breakfast ... not a problem the rest of us have of course!

The first chocolate treat in the Lindt advent calendar was a lovely Gold Reindeer, the next two days were the chocolate squares and this morning it was a Milk Chocolate Snowdrop. The chocolates are all delicious and they look gorgeously festive.

Next up is the medium value calendar, the Mr. Men & Little Miss Calendar which cost £3. We're a household of Mr. Men fans so I couldn't resist getting this for my youngest son.

The calendar has Mr. Men or Little Miss shaped chocolates, which are absolutely adorable, and there are even a few little gifts of stickers, a magnet and a larger milk chocolate bar for Christmas Day. It's great value for such a special calendar.

Finally the bargain of the bunch is this Nintendo Super Mario Advent Calendar which is only £1. It's perfect for any gaming fan with it's nice bright image on the front featuring lots of Mario characters. It also comes with a door hanger cut out activity on the back.

The chocolates taste good (so my kids tell me!), but I think with advent calendars it's more about the shape of the chocolates rather than their taste anyway! The chocolates were not Mario themed or shaped (how awesome would that be!) but instead are classic Christmas shapes such as stars and wreaths. My eldest son loves it anyway and looks forward to opening it every morning, so it's not bad for the price!

As you can see the boys in my family are sorted for calendars. So what about me? I don't normally get one but this year...

I got the most expensive calendar of the lot; the Ciaté nail polish advent calendar! Well I eat enough chocolate already ;)

In this set there are 24 mini bottles of gorgeous Ciaté nail polish. They look adorable and best of all they are calorie free!

Let me know which advent calendars you have bought this year! And if you haven't bought any then I leave you with the wise words of Mr. Grumpy...

BAH HUMBUG!

Lindt Nocciolatte and Lindt Wafer

I keep seeing these Lindt bars everywhere at the moment. I know they are quite old bars and anyone interested in chocolate has probably tried them already but I was quite excited to give them a try. Lindt is more readily known for it's larger style chocolate bars so it's interesting to see them available as individual bars. Originally produced in Italy, the Nocciolatte has an absolutely stunning look when out of the packaging. It's almost a work of art.

The base of the chocolate is an extremely smooth rectangle on top of which are the most perfect hazelnut shaped pieces. It's one of the best looking chocolate bars I've seen of this size.

The premise of chocolate and hazelnut is also a dream combination for me and I was not let down with the taste. Inside each of the hazelnut shaped pieces is a truffle like chocolate with a whole hazelnut at it's centre. Apologies for the rather poor photo below but unfortunately the chocolate did not hang around for long enough for any more decent photos!

The chocolate has the fantastic flavour we would expect from Lindt. It is a gorgeously creamy and full flavoured milk chocolate. The centre has a smooth finish and a subtle hazelnut flavour but the actual hazelnut is quite soft so it unfortunately doesn't provide a satisfying crunchy nutty texture.

Also available in  the same individual size is the Lindt Wafer. Despite not being as elaborately named as it's Italian cousin, the Nocciolatte, this Austrian produced bar has the same sleek blue and gold packaging. The chocolate bar inside the packaging has a much plainer appearance to match it's simpler name.

The bar is fairly drab looking but maybe I'm just unkindly comparing it to the Nocciolatte which is stunning!

The inside does not have discernible layers of wafer as illustrated by the picture on the packaging. In fact it's hard to detect that there is any wafer at all from looking at it. However it does have a great taste overall. It provides a lovely intense milk chocolate flavour. The wafer is a little disappointing, as it doesn't have much of a crispy texture but I'm not a hugest fan of wafer anyway.

I'm not sure if I would buy these again but they were certainly worth a one-off try. The Nocciolatte is available from Waitrose but you can also find these bars in local convenience stores.