The Good: Amazing flavor (for most of the treat!), Wonderful ingredients
The Bad: Somewhat waxy milk chocolate half, Not exactly nutritious.
The Basics: The new Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares are one of the best, most intriguing flavors to hit the market in years!
For my last birthday, my wife treated me to several gifts which have since been doing a good job of expanding my waistline! She seems to know how to tap into the inner glutton in me and I’m thrilled that she loves me despite my willingness to mow down on virtually any delightful treats she sends my way. One of the gifts that has been a real hit with me was an unlikely one: Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares. I am not, traditionally, a fan of white chocolate, but Ghirardelli gets it absolutely right with the Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares. In fact, it is the white chocolate and cinnamon-filled side of these treats that makes them worth trying, not the milk chocolate bottom portion!
Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares are an unlikely winner, but they are also one that comes with eating instructions (from me!). To get the most out of them, they need to be flipped over on the tongue, so the white chocolate half hits the tongue first. As well, this is a chocolate treat that benefits from being chewed as opposed to letting it linger in the mouth and savor it away.
Basics
Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares are one and 13/16” squares of chocolate that are 1/4” thick. Each of the squares comes individually wrapped in a copper-colored foil wrapper. It is worth noting that while I usually rail against the environmental impact of such things, it is hard to imagine Ghirardelli chocolate squares not wrapped. This keeps each one clean, unmelted and intact.
Each chocolate square is a seamless square that is essentially a half milk chocolate/half white chocolate patty with the Ghirardelli symbol stamped into the top. In this form, the 4.57 oz. bag, the individually-wrapped chocolate squares are packaged together in a thick foil paper bag. This size has eleven squares and the thick foil paper bag does little to protect the squares. The bag is not resealable, though this matters very little considering that the chocolate squares do not go bad as they are individually wrapped.
One of these bags, even with only eleven squares, tends to run in the $5.00 range, which is not at all prohibitively priced.
Ease Of Preparation
These are candy, so preparing them is as simple as opening the bag and then opening one of the plastic wrappers around the actual chocolate square one wishes to eat. There is no grand secret to eating Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares. That said, they do need to be kept comparatively cool or these squares will melt.
Taste
The Cinnamon Crunch Ghirardelli squares smell beautifully and appropriately like cinnamon; unwrapping one is to unleash a burst of cinnamon scent that is uncompromising and inviting!
On the tongue, Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares taste initially bland; like a milk chocolate square that is utterly unremarkable. However, when the milk chocolate melts away, the cinnamon and white chocolate explode with flavor. For that reason, I recommend starting with the flavorful side; flip the Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares over as you put them in your mouth. Doing that, one gets an instantaneous sweet burst of creamy white chocolate and cinnamon. As the white chocolate melts, it flavors the milk chocolate “bottom” and carries the cinnamon flavor through the entire treat.
The Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares finish with a zesty, slightly peppery flavor and as such it was utterly unsurprising to find that red peppers are an ingredient in this treat! The Cinnamon Crunch squares have a slightly sweet, surprisingly hot aftertaste to them. That aftertaste is cut instantly with coffee or lingers in the mouth for about ten minutes after consumption for those who don’t drink coffee!
Nutrition
The Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares are candy, so they are not intended to fill in nutritional gaps one might have. Ghirardelli chocolate squares have decent ingredients, though, which is probably why they are so expensive. The primary ingredients are sugar, cocoa butter, and whole milk powder. There is nothing unpronounceable, nor unrecognizable, in the Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares.
A serving of the Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares is a single square (finally, Ghirardelli encourages us not to be gluttonous!). From a square, one takes in 70 calories, with 40 of those calories coming from fat. There is a subtle amount (1% RDA for the serving) of cholesterol and 2% of the RDA of Calcium. While there is a gram of protein in these treats, there is only a negligible amount of Sodium (10 mg) and no other vitamins or minerals are truly represented!
The Cinnamon Crunch squares are not Vegan-compliant, nor are they recommended for anyone with a nut allergy as they may contain trace amounts of tree nuts. They are, however, kosher.
Storage/Clean-up
The bags of these Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares remain fresh for quite some time. Given that it is chocolate, one assumes that if they are kept in a cool, dry environment they will not melt or go bad. It is hard to imagine just what it would take for these to go bad outside melting and refreezing.
As for cleanup, just throw the wrappers away in socially appropriate places; don’t litter! Outside that, there is no real cleanup needed, unless one is eating them in a hot environment. In that case, it is likely one would need to wash their hands. If these chocolate squares melt into most fabrics, they will stain. Getting them to melt, though, is quite a task.
Overall
Flip them over, masticate and enjoy! Ghirardelli Cinnamon Crunch chocolate squares are a worthwhile addition to Ghirardelli’s chocolate square line-up!
For other Ghirardelli chocolate squares reviews, please check out:
Mocha
Intense Dark Cherry Tango
Sublime White Vanilla Dream White Chocolate With Vanilla Beans
7/10
For other candy reviews, please visit my Candy Review Index Page for an organized listing!
© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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