The Good: Tastes good, Generally good ingredients, Reasonably priced
The Bad: Does not taste like cherry at all, Not at all nutritious/healthy, Melts ridiculously easily!
The Basics: Cold Stone Creamery Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars are a comparative disappointment for those looking for the promised flavors, though they taste fine without any expectations attached to them!
I have been very surprised lately by two things in the realm of candy. Perhaps as surprising as the fact that Cold Stone Creamery has licensed with the Cacao Group to produce Cold Stone Chocolates chocolate truffle bars is the fact that it has taken so long for me to go through the bars of them that I picked up! It has been quite a while since I reviewed the Mmmmmint Chip Mint Milk Chocolate Truffle Bars (reviewed here!) and the Chocolate Chocolate Devotion bars (reviewed here!), but it took until tonight before I actually sat down to consume and review my Cold Stone Creamery Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars!
Unfortunately, the Cherry Almond Sundae truffle bars do not taste like cherry chocolate; they just taste like an ideal blend of sweet and dark chocolate. The reason these bars score so low with me is that is not what they promise.
Basics
Cold Stone Creamery, of course, is the famous fancy ice cream maker whose stores have become a fixture in malls all around the United States. They make fancy ice cream sundaes and other premium ice cream products, but the truffle bars seem to be their experiment in branching out into candy bars. The Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars try to give the target demographic a taste of the good life at an affordable price, even if they taste nothing like an ice cream product from the Cold Stone Creamery!
The Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars come in a 1.8 oz. chocolate bar that is plastic wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Cold Stone Creamery has the truffle bar presented as a single 1” wide by 3 1/2” long by 5/8” tall smooth chocolate bar. This makes the Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars very easy to portion out, though they are loaded with calories!
Ease Of Preparation
Eating Cold Stone Creamery Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar and bite it off into reasonable size pieces. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food! Unfortunately, even in our relatively cool apartment, these bars were very soft with the outer chocolate melting exceedingly easily.
Taste
Unwrapping the truffle bar, the consumer is instantly hit with a delightful aroma of dark chocolate. The Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bar does not hint at either a nutty or cherry flavor for the bar. Instead, the aroma is a dry, dark chocolate scent.
The Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bar is very sweet and dark, which makes for an interesting combination. Instead of coming across as waxy or cheap, the coating blends with the darker nougat inside the truffle bar to mix the soft and sweet flavors with the dryer, darker middle of the bar. The almonds add texture, but surprisingly little to the flavor; the dark chocolate flavor easily overpowers the bar, despite it tasting very sweet as well.
There is a strong sweet aftertaste left in the mouth by the Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bar and it was only in the aftertaste that I found even a hint of the promised cherry flavor in the chocolate’s flavor palate.
Nutrition
Cold Stone Creamery chocolates are intended as a dessert product or a snack, not part of a healthy diet at all! The 1.8 oz. Truffle Bars represent a single serving and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of dark chocolate, coconut oil, and almonds there are no unpronounceable ingredients in this chocolate bar. This is not an all-natural food product and these Truffle Bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add allergy warnings about milk, soy and tree nuts.
In addition to no ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Cold Stone Creamery's Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars have 296 calories, 182 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 65% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 1% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 10 mg per serving and there are 3 grams of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though they do have 3% of one’s daily calcium and 16% of the RDA of Iron.
Storage/Cleanup
As a chocolate, Cold Stone Creamery Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. The bar I consumed tonight was very soft for the outer chocolate even in a fifty-eight degree environment!
If, however, they melt, they will stain. Consult your fabric guide if that happens as good dark chocolate can be virtually impossible to clean up when melted into light fabrics. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the plastic wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.
Overall
Cold Stone Creamery Cherry Almond Sundae Dark Chocolate Cherry Truffle Bars are mediocre, but because they fail to deliver on the cherry flavor except for a faint aftertaste, they are impossible to recommend.
For other reviews of premium chocolates, please check out:
Ghirardelli Mocha Chocolate Squares
Lindt Coconut Lindor Truffles
Morris National Nutffles Red Velvet Truffles
4/10
For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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