Vosges Super Dark Coconut Ash & Banana

Place purchased: Cost Plus World Market 

Price: $6.99

Number of reviewers: 5

Appearance - 6.4

The Vosges Super Dark bar is divided into large squares. While the bar contains "Sri Lankan coconut, charcoal coconut ash, and Hawaiian banana," there are no visible pieces within the bar. 

L: The package looks like dirt in my food.

Flavor and Taste - 6.4

The dark chocolate bar smells of coconut. However, it only tastes like very dark chocolate. 

C: Very complex. I don't really get coconut until the end and get a little banana but not overpowering.
J: Very bitter, not much else flavor. 
L: Interesting flavor, maybe a little too harsh.
S: Burnt, bitter, almost no banana. 

Texture - 5.6

The incorporation of coconut ash into the chocolate results in a very grainy texture. It feels almost like sand was mixed into the chocolate. 

C: Good texture, maybe a little dry. 
J: Grainy and gritty. Falls apart. 
L: Chalky and drying.
S: Grainy, like eating actual ash.

Aftertaste - 6.2

The coconut and banana flavor come out in the aftertaste. The bitterness from the dark chocolate also lingers awhile. 

C: Creamy, chocolate, pleasant. 
J: Slight coconut aftertaste develops. 
L: Finally get a little banana then. 
S: Bitter.

Overall - 6.3

Overall, the Vosges Super Dark Coconut Ash & Banana bar was alright. However, it could be greatly improved by the addition of more coconut and banana to improve the flavor and the complete elimination of coconut ash so the bar does not feel gritty. 

Vosges Super Dark Reishi Mushroom & Walnut

Place purchased: Cost Plus World Market 

Price: $6.99 (on sale for $3.49)

Number of reviewers: 3

Appearance - 7.3

The Vosges Super Dark Reishi Mushroom & Walnut bar is comprised of dark chocolate with small pieces of walnuts and reishi mushrooms. The bar has sleek, black packaging. However, the chocolate has bloom on the bottom of the bar. 

Flavor and Taste - 6.8

The chocolate bar has a strong dark chocolate flavor and also tastes salty and umami. The walnuts do not contribute to the flavor, and the reishi mushrooms only provide the umami taste. 

C: Doesn't have a very strong mushroom taste. Mostly just chocolate. Has a warm, savory taste. Umami/MSG is very prevalent. 

L: Savory note on back of tongue. Zero sweetness, but good.

Texture - 5.5

The chocolate has tiny crispy pieces. 

C: The chocolate is a little dry and gritty.

L: Gritty.

Aftertaste - 5.3

The aftertaste is mainly salty, umami, and to a lesser extent bitter. 

C: Mostly just tastes like chocolate.

Overall - 6.2

Overall, the Vosges Super Dark Reishi Mushroom & Walnut bar is good, but not worth its original price of $6.99. If the texture had been improved and there was more flavor from the walnuts and mushrooms, the chocolate bar would have been more enticing. 

McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Bars, Part 2

McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Almond Bar

Place purchased: McCormick World of Flavors, Baltimore 

Price: $4.49

Number of reviewers: 6

Appearance - 6.0

The McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Almond bar is consists of 31% milk chocolate with small roasted almond pieces dispersed throughout the chocolate. The chocolate is a dull brown color and has a thin layer of bloom. 

Flavor and Taste - 6.0

The almonds taste very oxidized, and the chocolate is sweet. 

C: Kind of blah.

J: Creamy chocolate. Almond flavor is great. 

L: Good chocolate, slightly oxidized. 

S: Strong nutty flavor.

Texture - 5.5

The chocolate is crunchy. It is difficult to distinguish the crunch of the almonds from the crunchy chocolate.  

C: Crunchy, brittle. 

J: Nice contrast between creamy chocolate and almond pieces. 

S: Brittle chocolate. 

Aftertaste - 5.8

The flavor of the milk chocolate dominates the aftertaste. 

J: Lingering almond flavor is dry and persistent. 

L: Bland.

L2: Rancid. 

S: Sweet. 

Overall - 5.7

I was unimpressed by this chocolate bar. The almonds were oxidized, and the chocolate was too dry and crunchy.

McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Jalapeño & Peanuts Bar

Place purchased: McCormick World of Flavors, Baltimore 

Price: $4.49

Number of reviewers: 6

Appearance - 6.2

The McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Jalapeño & Peanuts bar is comprised of 31% milk chocolate, small pieces of peanuts, and jalapeño powder. The chocolate is rich brown in color, unlike the chocolate in the almond bar. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.3

The chocolate bar tastes like milk chocolate with salty peanuts at first. The heat from the jalapeños comes in toward the end, though there is no actual jalapeño flavor. 

C: Get peanut flavor first, then spicy jalapeño at the end. 

J: Good chocolate flavor. A bit of salt from the peanuts. Nice spice at the end. I really like the subtleness. 

L: Nice nutty, love the spice. 

S: Salty with a lot of heat. Spicy. 

Texture - 7.3

The milk chocolate is softer in this bar than the almond chocolate bar, which is strange since they both contain 31% milk chocolate. 

C: Crunchy.

J: Nice contrast. 

Aftertaste - 6.6

The aftertaste is very spicy. 

C: Mostly just spicy.

J: Spice is too persistent. 

L: Good burn.

S: Has a lot of heat. 

Overall - 7.3

The Jalapeño & Peanuts bar is significantly better than the Almond bar. The chocolate is softer and creamier, the peanuts provide a welcome flavor rather than rancidity, and the jalapeño powder gives a powerful kick.

McCormick World of Flavors Chocolate Bars, Part 1

Hammond's Caramel Mocha

Place purchased: Cost Plus World Market

Price: $2.99 

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 7.4

The Caramel Mocha bar consists of a thick milk chocolate shell with a soft caramel filling studded with tiny coffee bean pieces. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.5

The bar tastes mostly like coffee and chocolate. The caramel flavor comes into play at the end. 

C: Get a mild caramel flavor, had warm coffee undertones. 

L: Very coffee, good chocolate, like the caramel in the middle. 

S: Slightly bitter, but other than that I didn't really taste a coffee flavor. Caramel was good, though.

Texture - 6.6

The chocolate shell is somewhat crunchy. The caramel filling is gooey and runny with crunchy coffee bits. 

C: Very hard. Crunchy.

S: Creamy inside. Had a few pieces in it that might have been ground up coffee beans, but the texture felt more like pieces of coconut. 

Aftertaste - 7.4

The aftertaste is of caramel and chocolate. The coffee flavor dissipates before the aftertaste. 

Overall - 7.3

Overall, I greatly enjoyed Hammond's Caramel Mocha bar. There was a good amount of coffee used; not too much or too little. I also liked that the bar is both caramel and coffee, not just one or the other. 

Russell Stover Brownie Egg

Place purchased: Walgreens

Price: $0.59 

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 6.5

The Russell Stover Brownie Egg has a milk chocolate shell with a dense chocolate brownie filling. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.3

The filling is very rich and fudgy. The milk chocolate shell is sweet and chocolaty. The filling and chocolate shell together taste like milk chocolate coated brownie batter.  

C: Very eggy. Tastes like uncooked brownie batter. 

J: Great chocolate flavor and inside tastes like real brownie batter.

S: Tastes just like brownie batter. 

Texture - 6.5

The brownie filling is thick and very rich. There are tiny sugar granules within the filling, which makes it slightly crunchy, like actual brownie batter. The harder texture of the milk chocolate coating provides a good contrast to the filling. 

C: Almost slimy, gooey. 

S: Grainy like brownie batter.

Aftertaste - 7.3

The aftertaste is mainly the flavor of milk chocolate. 

C: Chocolate cake batter.

J: Brownie batter. 

S: Chocolate, eggy. 

Overall - 7.1

Overall, I enjoyed the Russell Stover Brownie Egg. Though, I think the name should be changed to 'Brownie Batter', as the filling has the exact flavor and texture of brownie batter, not baked brownies. 

J: I love things that taste like uncooked batter, so I'm sold on this one. 

Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash Egg

The Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash egg is described as a "Chocolate Covered Cake Batter Cream Egg with Cookie Dough, Fudge, and Whipped Topping." The Cold Stone Creamery eggs are made by Frankford Candy. There also are Cold Stone Chocolate bars, made by The Cacao Group, which are still not available in stores (they were supposed to be released in Cold Stone Creamery locations in summer 2013, but that never happened). While I have not tried the Cold Stone Chocolates, I have tried four Crev Truffle bars which are also made by The Cacao Group and look exactly like the Cold Stone Chocolate bars. The Crev Truffle bars are phenomenal, and I would expect the Cold Stone Chocolate bars to be similar. Unfortunately, I could not say the same about this Cold Stone Creamery chocolate egg. 

Place purchased: Walmart

Price: $5.00

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 7.8

The egg has a milk chocolate shell with a dark chocolate drizzle. The shell separates from the filling and breaks into large pieces when the egg is cut. The filling is the light brown in color and has a few specks of chocolate scattered throughout the filling. The egg is also quite large, at a weight of 170 g. 

J: The egg is huge! It's also protected well, so I'm sure you wouldn't get a broken product, which is important. 

Flavor and Taste - 6.9

The filling is very rich and tastes exactly like the cookie dough pieces in chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. The chocolate shell is very sweet and does not have much flavor. It is disappointing that the egg tastes mainly of cookie dough, when this is supposed to be cake batter flavored. 

C: Tastes more like cookie dough than cake batter, but I get a little bit of vanilla that reminds me of yellow cake.
J: The chocolate on top is very sugary and fake tasting. The inside tastes like cookie dough, but is also very sweet. 
L: It's okay. Overly sweet. They over compensate on the fake cake batter, need to tone it down.

Texture - 5.5

The filling is soft, slightly gritty, and coats the inside of your mouth. 

C: Has a raw cookie dough texture. Grainy, soft, chewy.
J: I really don't like the inside texture. It is gummy and adheres to all your teeth and mouth. 

Aftertaste - 5.5

The aftertaste is sweet and has a strong vanilla flavor. 

C: Raw cookie dough taste.
J: Slight egg/batter but mostly highly sweet/sugar.
L: Plasticy vanilla.

Overall - 6.6

Overall, the Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash egg was underwhelming. The chocolate had no flavor, and the filling had a bad texture and was not cake batter flavored. While the serving size is listed as 1/4 of the egg, the product is so rich that I could only eat a small amount at one time. I think the egg should have been smaller and would have been much better if the The Cacao Group had manufactured them rather than Frankford Candy. 

J: I thought I would like this more, but the high sweetness sugar taste of the chocolate and weird texture of the inside brings it down. 


The Cold Stone Creamery eggs come in two other varieties: Cookies & Creamery and Strawberry Banana Rendezvous.