Monday, January 5, 2009

welcome to 2009, kiddies! i was in chicago for a couple weeks and i ate a lot of garbage while i was there, so hopefully i'll be able to catch up a bit and add a few posts to my struggling bloglet.

first up, let's talk about choxie. this is target's "upscale" brand of chocolate, and i gotta say, while it's not bad by any means, it's just not that impressive. the flavors are REALLY subtle (i mean, they always sound awesome, but then when you chomp down on a "brandied cherry truffle" you want a real flavor explosion, ya know? you don't expect it to taste like a hershey's miniature.)

but the holidays bring discounted chocolate, so of course i tried a few new choxie products this year. i was not entirely disappointed. how's that for a ringing endorsement? :)

first up, white chocolate gingerbread balls. these start with a core of nicely spiced, crunchy gingerbread, surrounded by a thick coating of pretty decent white chocolate (no palm oil? i'll have to verify.) to make 'em extra festive, they then receive a final schmear of waxy gingerbread-colored coating, but this doesn't add anything to the texture or taste. i found these to be pretty addictive in the same way that maltballs are, and maybe slightly more satisfying. the ratio of crunchy center and creamy coating seems pretty good, so these get a thumbs up from me.



i also sampled their "signature" line, which is expensive-- $15 for 8 small-ish pieces of chocolate-- and IMO suffers from the same flavor problems as all choxie products do. the texture is nice, with a smooth, buttery melt. the chocolate flavor is ok. but the fillings just don't taste like much. on the other hand, i gotta say that the chocolates themselves are beautifully decorated, looking much more like high-end molded artisan chocolates. and the packaging was adorable, with two little 'shelves' of chocolates and a handy guide to distinguishing between them.

so, more choxie, mostly more of the same: looks beautiful, but the flavor's not quite there. i did not dislike any of this stuff, but i wouldn't buy it again at regular price.