Showing posts with label Godiva Chocolate. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Godiva Chocolate. Show all posts

Friday, October 7, 2016

A Flavor Blast Overcomes The Initial Taste: Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles Delight!


The Good: Amazing ganache flavor, Great aroma, Good ingredients, Affordable, Reasonable serving size
The Bad: Waxy chocolate on the outside
The Basics: Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles smell great, then underwhelm with a waxy coating, before hitting with an amazing chocolate cake flavored ganache that redeems the whole work!


Occasionally, I review a food product that truly has a transformative flavor; a taste that develops well from its initial impressions on the tongue to something very different as it is consumed. The Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles I have been eating lately are definitely one such food. The Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles transition from being incredibly inviting to the nose to utterly underwhelming in the mouth before revealing a flavor that is just delightful. And while I could wish the middle portion of that process were different, the sense of revelation that comes from the Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles reaching their full potential is just amazing.

Basics

Godiva is a famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that are most frequently used as gifts and consumed by people who can afford the calories. They make high-end chocolates, but in recent years, Godiva has been marketing a line geared toward Target shoppers and their individually wrapped and bagged truffles seem to be the cornerstone.

The Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles come in a 4.3 oz. bag, which puts it in direct competition with Lindt and Ghirardelli products on Target's shelves. The bag has twelve truffles in it, which represents three servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the bag in a lavender-colored wrapper. Unwrapping foil wrapper reveals the 1 3/8” in diameter by 3/4" tall dome of chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles is not a real challenge. After opening the bag, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no real preparation required for consuming the Chocolate Lava Cake truffles, unlike making an actual chocolate cake. Unwrapping a truffle before eating it is pretty much all the work one needs to do to consume these!

Taste

The Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert truffle have an appropriately strong chocolate scent to them. Unwrapping the truffle exposed a scent that was thick and familiar and immediately evocative of chocolate cake, which impressed me. It's virtually impossible to describe the difference between the scent of chocolate and chocolate cake, but there is one (is it the flour in the archetypal chocolate cake?), but the Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake nails the chocolate cake scent right away, which makes for an instant olfactory treat.

In the mouth, the Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffle bursts forth immediately with sweetness and a slight waxy quality. But what is impressive is how quickly the ganache inside comes to completely dominate the palate. The center of the Chocolate Lava Cake truffle is a thick, rich, powerful chocolate flavor that is anything but waxy. Instead, the sweetness of the exterior is pummled with a delightful flavor of a dark chocolate cake with sweet frosting and the combination is absolutely delightful.

The Chocolate Lava Cake truffles have a very dry aftertaste that lasts in the mouth for about ten minutes after one consumes a truffle.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, not a source of incredible nutrition! These twelve truffles represent three full servings of the chocolates and those looking for anything healthy will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of sugar, cocoa butter, and unsweetened chocolate, these are fairly high-quality chocolates. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to no ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva’s Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles have 200 calories for each four truffle serving, with 110 of the calories from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 35% of one’s RDA of saturated fat and 3% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 35 mg per serving and there are two grams of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though the serving does provide 6% of one's RDA of Iron and Calcium and a single gram of dietary fiber.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their bag and wrappers at a cool, dry temperature. The bag gifted to me at the beginning of the year had no problem remaining fresh for at least ten months, so they have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the paper bag the truffles come in.

Overall

Godiva Chocolate Lava Cake Dessert Truffles are an intriguing flavor surprise, one that gives the consume a surprisingly varied taste experience, even if that experience is not homogeneously good. It is, however, an experience well worth having!

For other Godiva chocolate reviews, please check out:
Godiva Dark Chocolate Assortment
Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar
Godiva Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

6.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sunday, September 11, 2016

Unimpressive Godiva: The Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles Underwhelm!


The Good: Good ingredients, Affordable, Reasonable serving size
The Bad: Waxy chocolate, Less distinct flavoring for the center
The Basics: Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles are a rare failure from Godiva that is overpriced for the quality and lack of flavor subtlety for the truffle center.


As I continue to make my way through the chocolates that I have been gifted by various family members, I am finally getting to the Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles that I've had kicking around for a few months. Sometimes, what I get in sits around for a while and in the case of the Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles, I realized that they were a classic chocolate that I did not love. After all, I got in the Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles months ago, tried one and they sat in my cupboad uneaten because they did not thrill me.

Well, now I finally got back to the Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles . . . and I discovered that my first instinct when I tried them months ago was correct. The Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles are not an exceptional offering from Godiva Chocolates.

Basics

Godiva is a famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that are most frequently used as gifts and consumed by people who can afford the calories. They make high-end chocolates, but in recent years, Godiva has been marketing a line geared toward Target shoppers and their individually wrapped, bagged, truffles, seem to be the lynch-pin. In recent years, it appears Godiva has stepped up to use better ingredients, even in their mass market chocolates.

The Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles come in a 4.3 oz. bag, which puts it in direct competition with Lindt and Ghirardelli products on Target's shelves. The bag has twelve truffles in it, which represents three servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the bag in a peach-colored wrapper. Unwrapping foil wrapper reveals the 1 3/8” in diameter by 3/4" tall dome of chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles is not a real challenge. After opening the bag, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. The unwrapping of each truffle before consuming is pretty much all it takes.

Taste

Unwrapping the Creme Brulee Dessert truffle released a very strong milk chocolate aroma. There is a hint of cinnamon in the bouquet and it is fairly inviting. In fact, the spiced smell was more enticing to me (as one who is not a huge fan of milk chocolate) than the milk chocolate scent.

On the tongue, the Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffle is sweet and the caramel layer inside the dome of chocolate is slightly salty. The cream filling below the caramel layer is very generically sugary. The combination of the caramel and cream layers of the Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles creates a very sweet flavor that is barely enough to combat the waxy milk chocolate. The chocolate that surrounds the sweet filling is more aromatic than it is flavorful.

These truffles have an exceptionally sweet aftertaste that lingers on the tongue long after one has consumed the last truffle.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, not a source of amazing nutrition! These twelve truffles represent three full servings of the chocolates and those looking for anything healthy will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of sugar, cocoa butter, and unsweetened chocolate, these are pretty high-quality chocolates. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to no ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva’s Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles have 200 calories for each four truffle serving, with 110 of the calories from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 35% of one’s RDA of saturated fat and 3% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 35 mg per serving and there are two grams of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though the serving does provide 6% of one's RDA of Iron and Calcium and a single gram of dietary fiber.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their bag and wrappers at a cool, dry temperature. The bag gifted to me at the beginning of the year had no problem remaining fresh for at least seven months, so they have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the paper bag the truffles come in.

Overall

Godiva Creme Brulee Dessert Truffles are not an ideal representation of Godiva chocolate, making them impossible to recommend to anyone who loves fine chocolate.

For other Godiva chocolate reviews, please check out:
Godiva Dark Chocolate Assortment
Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar
Godiva Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

3/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Tuesday, August 30, 2016

Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates Are An (Almost) Essential Assortment!


The Good: Delicious, Minimal aftertaste, Not overly expensive for the quality
The Bad: Bulky packaging, One of the three was not as good as the other two.
The Basics: Pretty wonderful for anyone who loves dark chocolate, the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates box is a worthy sampler of Godiva chocolates.


When it comes to chocolate, it is hard to go wrong for me with dark chocolate, especially from the more prominent chocolatiers around the world. My wife knows this and she knows that the way to my heart is often through dark chocolate. So, when she picked me up a box of Godiva Dark Chocolate Assortment truffles, she had a pretty good reason to believe she was getting me something I would truly love. And she was right.

The Godiva Dark Chocolate Assortment is a mix of three different dark chocolate truffles and two of the three are solid hits. The third is not bad, but the dark chocolate overwhelms the promised flavors a bit more than it ought and while that is fine, it is not adequately selling the promised culinary premise.

Basics

The Godiva line is a collection of more expensive, finer chocolates than the regular line. Quality is put at the forefront and the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates is intended for those who prefer dark chocolate over milk chocolate. The 6.6 oz. box comes with fifteen pieces of chocolate, five each of the Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss, Chocolate Lava Cake Bliss, and Dark Chocolate Bliss. The Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates assortment comes in a fancy gold foil box which is a nine inch square and 1 1/2" tall. It opens easily by pulling the top up, then removing the plastic wrap on the lower half of the box.

Ease of Preparation

Usually, I focus on how to prepare a food product, but eating chocolates is as easy as opening a box and pulling chocolates out of the box and sticking them in your mouth. The Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates includes three different types of truffles: Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss, Chocolate Lava Cake Bliss and Dark Chocolate Bliss.

All three of the chocolates in the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates are 1 1/2" long, 1" wide and 3/4" tall. They look like elongated truffles, like large chocolate jelly beans. What differentiates the three types of chocolate are the chocolate drizzles mixed conservatively on the upper shell of each truffle. The Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss truffles feature a very limited milk chocolate swirled into the outer shell. The Chocolate Lava Cake Bliss has a white chocolate drizzle and the Dark Chocolate Bliss does not appear to have any alternate form of chocolate on its outer shell. All three feature the Godiva "G" stamped into the top of the truffle.

Taste

The Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss surprised me by only smelling like dark chocolate, without even the insinuation of strawberry or cheesecake to its initial aroma. In the mouth, the Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss truffle has a strong cheesecake flavor, which blends with the dark chocolate incredibly well. The milky, cream cheese-like flavor blends with the chocolate and they overwhelm the minimal tang provided by the strawberry jam layer that the fruit flavor only asserts itself as a tangy quality as an aftertaste.

The Chocolate Lava Cake Bliss smells homogeneously like dark chocolate without any hint of the any other flavoring to its bouquet. The center of the truffle is a thick ganache that tastes like a chocolate cake with the most mild hint of cherry to it. The dark chocolate flavor dominates the Chocolate Lava Cake Bliss truffle is incredible to anyone who loves dark chocolate and wants a cake flavor without the hassle of baking their own world-class chocolate cake.

Dark Chocolate Bliss truffles round out the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates. Predictably, they smell powerfully of dark chocolate. The Dark Chocolate Bliss truffles live up to the promise of their aroma and their name. The dark chocolate ganache within the truffle is darker, more pure of a cacao flavor without at all being bitter; it hits the perfect note of chocolate flavor without being at all unpleasant. Those who love dark chocolate will find a lot to love in the Dark Chocolate Bliss!

All three leave a slight dry aftertaste in the mouth, exactly as one might expect from a dark chocolate truffle. The aftertaste is not unpleasant, nor does it linger terribly long.

Nutrition

The Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates is a box of chocolates, so it is not like it is super-healthy for you. Any three pieces (which is the recommended serving size) contain 190 calories, one hundred ten of them are from fat. A serving also contains about 37% of the RDA of saturated fat and insignificant amounts of cholesterol (5% RDA), sodium (1% RDA) and protein (2 grams). There are also minuscule amounts of calcium and Vitamin A. But no one is eating the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates because they are looking for something nutritious.

On the plus side, the ingredients are largely good ones that may be easily pronounced and recognized! Godiva uses such quality ingredients as sugar, unsweetened chocolate processed with alkali, and cocoa butter. There are surprisingly few preservatives in these chocolates. The chocolates of the Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates were made on machines that handled tree nuts and are obviously not Vegan-compliant.

Storage/Clean-up

The gift box of Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates comes in is adequate protection for the chocolates against crushing and limited amounts of heat. In the box, there is a plastic wrapper that encases the plastic tray the candies rest in and so sealed the box remains fresh for some time. Given how few preservatives there are in the box of Godiva Assorted Dark Chocolates, I was surprised that the box I just opened had a March 2017 expiration date.

Cleanup of the chocolates should be relatively simple as they do not melt easily and do not have pieces that crumble off. I cleaned up my box by eating the chocolates out of it! Should the chocolates melt, they will likely stain most fabrics and one would need to consult a fabric guide to see how best to clean fabrics stained by these.

Overall

As a huge fan of dark chocolate, I found quite a bit to enjoy in the Godiva Dark Chocolate Assortment and it was not prohibitively priced. Still, if the same assortment swapped out the Strawberry Cheesecake Bliss with a decent dark chocolate truffle with mint, that would have made the assortment perfect!

For other Godiva chocolates, please read my reviews of:
Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles
Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars
Godiva Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

7.5/10

For other candy reviewed by me, please check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Tuesday, March 22, 2016

Might As Well Be Strawberry Chocolate, Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles Underwhelm!


The Good: Good ingredients, Affordable, Decent serving size
The Bad: Cheesecake flavor cannot overcome the chocolate coating
The Basics: Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles does not have a flavor that truly matches its promise.


Last year for the holidays, my wife did what many child-free spouses do; she had some gifts that she gave to me under the guise of being from my pets. One of the new-to-me chocolates that supposedly came from one of my cats was a bag of Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles. The Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles are good, but in no way extraordinary. My cat, Elim, would be disappointed to discover what a neutral reaction I had to these truffles.

Basics

Godiva is a famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that are most frequently used by men to bribe women to get them out of whatever trouble they have gotten themselves into. They make high-end chocolates, but in recent years, Godiva has been marketing a line geared toward Target shoppers and their individually wrapped, bagged, truffles, seem to be the lynch-pin. In recent years, it appears Godiva has stepped up to use better ingredients, even in their mass market chocolates.

The Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles come in a 4.25 oz. bag, which puts it in direct competition with Lindt and Ghirardelli products on Target's shelves. The bag has twelve truffles in it, which represents three servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the bag in a magenta colored wrapper. Unwrapping foil wrapper reveals the 1 3/8” in diameter by 3/4" tall dome of chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles is not a real challenge. After opening the bag, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. The unwrapping of each truffle before consuming is pretty much all it takes.

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle reveals a fairly strong milk chocolate aroma. There is no hint of strawberry in the scent from these truffles, at least while the chocolate shell remains intact.

In the mouth, the Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffle is sweet and had a faint hint of strawberry right in the chocolate shell. As the center is exposed, the milky and strawberry flavors explode in the mouth. The chocolate flavor somewhat overwhelms the sweet, sugary cheesecake center. The fruit flavor in the dessert truffle holds its own with the milk chocolate, but the cheesecake portion of the center does not.

These truffles have a very minor, slightly sweet, aftertaste that lingers for about one minute on the tongue.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them has another thing coming! These twelve truffles represent three full servings of the chocolates and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of sugar, cocoa butter, and unsweetened chocolate, these are pretty high-quality chocolates. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to no ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva’s Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles have 200 calories for each four truffle serving, with 110 of the calories from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 35% of one’s RDA of saturated fat and 3% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 35 mg per serving and there are two grams of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though the serving does provide 6% of one's RDA of Iron and Calcium and a single gram of dietary fiber.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their bag and wrappers at a cool, dry temperature. One of my pets gifted me a bag of these for the winter holidays and they have an expiration date of July 2016, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the paper bag the truffles come in.

Overall

Godiva Strawberry Cheesecake Dessert Truffles are all right, but not cheesecake flavored enough to truly thrill those who love chocolate cheesecake blends.

For other Godiva chocolate reviews, please check out:
Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles
Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar
Godiva Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

4.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2016 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Thursday, November 19, 2015

Delightful, But Not Quite Balanced, Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles Are Still Worth Trying!


The Good: Wonderful flavor, Good ingredients, Affordable!
The Bad: Caramel flavor doesn't pop, I'm not a huge fan of nuts . . .
The Basics: Godiva has a good execution of their Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffle, even for those not partial to nuts!


As a courtesy to my wife, I'm no longer referencing her in my reviews. That comes as the result of a long, heartfelt conversation we had the other night. So, today, I was out at Target and after I got home, somehow - mysteriously - a package of Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles appeared in my home. Incidentally, someone was in my home proclaiming their love for me, but She Who Shall Not Be Referenced shall not be given credit for the wonderful gift that, I'm told, she got on sale at Target as a gift for me.

I'm not a huge fan of nuts in my chocolate, but She Who Shall Not Be Referenced guessed correctly that I would love a good chocolate brownie truffle. And my wife was absolutely right about that!

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that are most frequently used by men to bribe women to get them out of whatever trouble they have gotten themselves into. They make high-end chocolates, but in recent years, Godiva has been marketing a line geared toward Target shoppers and their individually wrapped, bagged, truffles, seem to be the lynch-pin. In recent years, it appears Godiva has stepped up to use better ingredients, even in their mass market chocolates.

The Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles come in a 4.4 oz. bag, which puts it in direct competition with Lindt and Ghirardelli products on Target's shelves. The bag has twelve truffles in it, which represents three servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the bag in a reddish-brown wrapper. Unwrapping foil wrapper reveals the 1 3/8” in diameter by 3/4" tall dome of chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles is not a real challenge. After opening the bag, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. The unwrapping of each truffle before consuming it is pretty important, though.

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle reveals the strong aroma that fades fairly quickly. The scent is immediately recognizable as cocoa and those who love dark chocolate will be drawn in by the aroma for as long as it lasts.

On the tongue, the Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffle is delightfully dark, without any hint of being bitter. The sweetness might mute the chocolate enough to be noticeable to those who adore the darkest chocolates, but those who love milk chocolate will find these truffles forceful and a concentrated burst of rich chocolate that overwhelms the taste buds. As the chocolate melts away, the sweetness of the chocolate takes over until the surface of the truffle cracks open. Then, the center of the truffle erupts outward with a texture and flavor of rich, chocolatey brownies and walnuts (they are actually hazelnuts in these truffles, but they taste like walnuts the way the brownie-flavored center overwhelms them).

The Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffle does not quite land the caramel flavor. For sure, there is an initial burst of sweetness as the shell breaks, before the brownie and nut center completely overwhelms the tongue, but the flavor does not hold its own against the onslaught of dark chocolate surrounding and brownie-chocolate inside the truffle.

These truffles have a very minor, very sweet, aftertaste that lingers for about two minutes on the tongue.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them has another thing coming! These twelve truffles represent three full servings of the chocolates and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of sugar, heavy cream and corn syrup, these are pretty high-quality chocolates. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to no ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva’s Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles have 190 calories for each four truffle serving, with 90 of the calories from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 30% of one’s RDA of saturated fat and 3% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 45 mg per serving and there is a gram of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals, though the serving does provide 8% of one's RDA of Iron and 2 grams of dietary fiber.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their bag and wrappers at a cool, dry temperature. My wife picked these up for me today and they have an expiration date of June 2016, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the paper bag the truffles come in.

Overall

Godiva Caramel Nut Brownie Dessert Truffles might not be perfect, but until Godiva comes out with a Dark Chocolate Caramel Brownie Truffle, these are easily one of the best, most affordable and intriguing truffles my loving wife has ever found for me!

For other Godiva chocolate reviews, please check out:
Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar
Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar
Godiva Dark Chocolate Mint Truffles

7.5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2015 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Tuesday, January 8, 2013

Buying The Brand Name, Not The Flavor: Chocolate Truffle Coffee From Godiva Underwhelms.


The Good: Appropriately caffeinated, Tastes fine
The Bad: Expensive (paying for name), Tastes nothing like chocolate, Not the strongest coffee blend.
The Basics: Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee is not chocolate enough (or dark coffee enough) to satisfy serious cocophiles or coffee loves.


Brand names (on their own) do not impress me. For a product to actually impress me, it has to do what it promises; if it is a device, it has to work. If it is a food or drink, it has to taste like it claims. That is, alas, not the case with Godiva Chocolate Truffle coffee. Godiva Chocolate Truffle coffee does not have a strong chocolate aroma, nor a particularly distinctive taste that is remotely chocolate. As for the coffee flavoring, as one who loves dark brews of coffee, the Godiva Chocolate Truffle coffee left me largely unimpressed.

Basics

Based on the success of Godiva, the fine international chocolatier, Godiva began selling its coffee in supermarkets and other stores. The standard size for Chocolate Truffle is a 12 oz. bag. It is a limited edition, seasonally-available, flavor of coffee.

The Chocolate Truffle Blend is an aromatic blend that comes ground and, before brewing, smells delightfully like chocolate and coffee. Sadly, the beverage it makes is not as good.

Ease Of Preparation

Chocolate Truffle Coffee is remarkably easy to prepare, no advanced culinary degrees necessary! First, open the bag. Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee is vacuum sealed when first purchased, so when it is opened, the bag will likely plump up a little. Then, measure out one heaping tablespoon for every two cups of water in your coffee maker. Chocolate Truffle Coffee is intended for automatic (drip or percolating) coffee makers. This is NOT an instant coffee. As a result, it needs to be brewed and I use a Hamilton Beach machine (reviewed here!) with Melitta coffee filters (reviewed here!).

Consult your coffee maker's instructions for how to brew the coffee. However, as far as the basics go, you'll need a coffee filter, which you put the Chocolate Truffle Coffee in and then brew through your coffee maker. The directions recommend making a pot at a time and serving it within twenty minutes and brewing complete pots does seem to net a more unified taste to the coffee (nothing too weak or too strong - as if the latter is possible!).

Taste

The Chocolate Truffle blend smells only slightly chocolatey, like the assumption of chocolate flavor as opposed to an actual chocolate scent. The insinuation of chocolate in the aroma becomes more distinctly like fudge as the coffee cools some.

Sadly, the Chocolate Truffle does not taste much like chocolate, either. Instead, it lacks the bitterness of a truly dark blend, but has a slightly sour aftertaste, as if the coffee beans had marinated in slightly off milk and that had transferred to the coffee beans somehow. Outside the sour aftertaste, there is actually nothing particularly distinctive about this coffee, in terms of flavor, that might make one think it is chocolate truffle flavored.

Chocolate Truffle gets sweet very quickly with just a little bit of sugar. Again, this (sadly) does not make it taste more like chocolate truffle.

Nutrition

This is coffee, not something that appears on the nutrition pyramid! Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee does not contribute anything to one's daily recommended allowance of anything. In fact, the bag does not have any ingredients, so I am forced to assume all that is in this blend is coffee beans, which would fit what it tastes like.

This is a caffeinated blend and it feels like it! This has enough caffeine to pop one's eyes open between the taste, aroma and caffeine. Because it is a caffeinated coffee, it appears to not have undergone any of the chemical processes that sometimes cause complications in decaffeinated coffees.

Storage/Clean-up

Chocolate Truffle Coffee ought to be stored sealed in its container with the top firmly closed. Coffee is known to absorb flavors of food nearby it, so keeping the top tightly closed is highly recommended. There are different schools of thought on refrigerating open coffee and I have a very clean refrigerator with a lot of ways to segregate coffee, so I tend to come down on the side of refrigerate it. The container makes no recommendations on that count.

After brewing, coffee grounds ought to be disposed of. These grounds may be thrown in the trash when used or put in a compost pile, if available. Coffee grounds make great compost.

Overall

Godiva Chocolate Truffle Coffee is a fair coffee, but vastly overpriced for the price.

For other coffee reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Taster’s Choice Vanilla Instant Coffee
Tim Horton’s Fine Ground Coffee
Kahlua Coffee

4/10

For other food or drink reviews, please check out my Food Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2013 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Friday, October 26, 2012

A Decent White Chocolate Blend, Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars Are Creamy And Flavorful!


The Good: Surprisingly rich and creamy flavor, Not at all waxy, No aftertaste, Good ingredients
The Bad: Still somewhat expensive.
The Basics: Godiva’s White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars are quite good, especially for those looking for a more flavorful alternative to simple white chocolate.


My last birthday was pretty wonderful. My wife and I spent the day headed downstate to see The Master (reviewed here!), which turned out to be a horrible disappointment. However, what was not disappointing was our wandering around the Target near the movie theater. There, she found me a bar of Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean on clearance!

The White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar is delightful and I write that as one who has no particular affinity for white chocolate or anything vanilla. As one who tends to enjoy dark chocolate for how flavorful it is, I was surprised to discover how much I liked the Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar.

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that leave men pretty much bankrupt in the pursuit of spoiling their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. They make high-end chocolates, like the White Chocolate Vanilla Bean, even though we found them on clearance at Target. The White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars actually impressed me.

The White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars come in a 3.5 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents two and a half servings and Godiva has the bars presented as 3 1/2” wide by 7 1/2” long segmented chocolate bars. Each segment snaps apart from the bar and features a Godiva horse logo or name stamped into it. This makes the White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars very easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Unwrapping the White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar, I was impressed by how purely it smelled like vanilla. This chocolate bar smells like vanilla extract or a good vanilla bean ice cream. This prepares the consumer for a flavor that is stronger than white chocolate or a very bland vanilla candy.

On the tongue, the White Chocolate Vanilla Bean bar is appropriately vanilla without any waxy taste. The blend of white chocolate and vanilla bean is rich and flavorful, without being dry. The White Chocolate Vanilla Bean does not have any aftertaste. Instead, this is a creamy and chocolatey flavored candy bar.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These 3.5 oz. Chocolate Bars represents two and a half servings (four of the segments is a single serving) and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of white chocolate and vanilla bean, there is nothing unpronounceable in the ingredient list. This is a mostly-natural food product and these Godiva bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about tree nuts, peanuts, and wheat.

Godiva's White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars have 220 calories, 120 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 3% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 45 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 10% of one’s daily calcium.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. My wife picked these up for me in October of 2012 and they have an expiration date of March 2013, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will only stain the very lightest clothes, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.

Overall

Godiva White Chocolate Vanilla Bean Bars are good, but because they are so mild on the vanilla flavor inside the wonderful dark chocolate shell, they become very difficult to recommend to those who are looking for a candy bar that is truly different. Instead, this chocolate bar seems very average on every front, save the expense where they are pricier than usual.

For other reviews of Godiva chocolates, please check out:
Godiva Gems Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles
Godiva Gems Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles
Godiva Gems White & Orange Truffles

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Friday, February 3, 2012

Absolutely Delicious! Mint Chocolate Chip In Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars Might Be The Best Godiva Chocolate Bar!


The Good: Great taste, Comparatively inexpensive option for Godiva fans, Generally good ingredients
The Bad: I could always stand to have them cheaper!
The Basics: Godiva Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars close out my Godiva chocolates reviews (for now) on a high note!


Not very long ago, I had the pleasure of trying Godiva Gems Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles (reviewed here!). My wife bought them for me and she knew of my love for all thinks mint and (preferably dark) chocolate. So, I was appropriately excited when she gifted me the Godiva Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars for the recent winter holiday. Despite my health food reviews of late, I cannot resist a good sweet and I decided to save what I hoped would be the best for last by waiting to try the Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate truffle bar until now.

And it lived up! YEA!

These candy bars were available for approximately $1.50/each when my wife and I found them at Target. Fortunately, I married a savvy shopper and she picked them up for fifty cents each when they were clearance, but this is one of the Godiva chocolate bars worth spending the full buck fifty on. They are that good!

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates which make great gifts for anyone who loves chocolate. They make high-end chocolates, but the truffle bars like this one seems to be their attempt to fit into the more thrifty shopping scheme of Target shoppers. The Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars give that target demographic a taste of the good life at a more affordable price!

The Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars come in a 1.4 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Godiva has the truffle bars presented as 1” wide by 4” long segmented chocolate bars. Each segment snaps apart from the bar and features a Godiva “G” stamped into it. This makes the Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars very easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle bar, the smell of dark chocolate and mint wafts up in the most inviting fashion imaginable. The Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar spells like eye-opening peppermint, chased by a blast of heady dark chocolate. This smells like the best peppermint mocha cappuccino and is a delight to the olfactory sense!

The Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bar is just as one might hope for a dark chocolate. The chocolate is firm on the tongue, barely sweet and the initial dry flavor is like tasting a regular chocolate bar after you have burned your tongue. The dry, rich flavor quickly cools in the mouth as the peppermint flavor cuts through and begins to wash over the tongue. The mint flavor chases the chocolate and while it never quite overcomes it, it is delicious and an absolutely amazing blend of mint and chocolate flavors.

There is no aftertaste to this chocolate bar, though it did leave my breath a little mintier than it began, so that was fun!

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These 1.4 oz. Truffle Bars represent a single serving and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of bittersweet chocolate, sugar and cocoa butter, there are still many 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 a disclaimer about tree nuts.

In addition to ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva's Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars have 230 calories, 130 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 2% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 50 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 10% of one’s daily calcium and 10% of the RDA of Iron.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. My wife picked these up for me in May of 2011 and they had an expiration date of December 2011. Honestly, I had mine after the expiration date and it was simply delightful, so I’d not be too worried about the shelf life of these if they are properly maintained.

If, however, they melt, they will stain. Consult your fabric guide if that happens as dark chocolate can be a bear to clean up when melted into light fabrics. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.

Overall

Godiva Mint Chocolate Chip in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars are exceptionally good and well worth stocking up on for anyone who loves chocolate mint!

For other reviews of Godiva chocolates, please check out:
Godiva Gems Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles
Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars
Vanilla Sundae In Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars

9/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Sunday, January 29, 2012

Heresy! Godiva Has A Real Dud With Their Oranges & Cream In White Chocolate Truffle Bars!


The Good: A comparatively inexpensive option for Godiva fans.
The Bad: Still somewhat expensive, VERY waxy, Blech!
The Basics: I was excited to try the Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars, but discovered them to be worse than most mass-produced chocolates, especially the ones from Godiva!


As I am recently on a bit of a health kick, I have been enjoying fewer and fewer candies these days. As a result, when I do choose one to review, I tend to take it personally when it disappoints me. After all, if I am going to use up some of my precious calories on something I am reviewing, I certainly want it to be good! I’ve sampled about one Godiva product my wife got me for the holidays a week, like the Godiva Vanilla Sundae In Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars (reviewed here!). So, I actually went into my tasting of the Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars very excited.

What a huge let down!

This might well be the worst Godiva product I have ever tried. These candy bars were available for approximately $1.50/each when my wife and I found them at Target. Fortunately, I married a savvy shopper and she picked them up for fifty cents each when they were clearance, but generally this is a pricier candy bar and with how bad it tastes, it is impossible to recommend, even at that deflated price.

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that leave men pretty much bankrupt in the pursuit of spoiling their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. They make high-end chocolates, but the truffle bars like this one seems to be their attempt to fit into the more thrifty shopping scheme of Target shoppers. While some of the other truffle bars and Gems impressed me, the Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars were just terrible and I was utterly unimpressed by them.

The Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars come in a 1.4 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Godiva has the truffle bars presented as 1” wide by 4” long segmented chocolate bars. Each segment snaps apart from the bar and features a Godiva “G” stamped into it. This makes the Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars very easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle bar, I was surprised not by how fruity the chocolate smelled, but how the white chocolate was aromatic. Smelling strongly of white chocolate, with a strange salty bouquet, the Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bar actually smells like warm, melting white chocolate with only a hint of orange in the afterscent.

Placing the chocolate on the tongue, the Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bar is immediately distinguished by a sadly waxy-tasting white chocolate. In fact, the white chocolate is virtually flavorless and the bar only tastes decent when it is broken open. There, the orange flavored filling comes out and begins to usurp the waxy white chocolate.

Unfortunately, the orange ganache is not strong enough. It remains sublimated to the pretty horrible waxy chocolate exterior that dominates the taste with its flavorless, slightly chewy texture.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These 1.4 oz. Truffle Bars represent a single serving and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of white chocolate, sorbitol and butter, there are a lot of unpronounceable items in the ingredients. This is not an all-natural food product and these Truffle Bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about tree nuts.

In addition to ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva's Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars have 230 calories, 140 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 50% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 5% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 45 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 10% of one’s daily calcium.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Fahrenheit. My wife picked these up for me in May of 2011 and they have an expiration date of February 2012, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.

Overall

Godiva Oranges & Cream in White Chocolate Truffle Bars are pretty bad, though the orange paste in the center is tasty enough if you can segregate it from the surprisingly substandard white chocolate that surrounds it!

For other reviews of Godiva chocolates, please check out:
Godiva Gems Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles
Godiva Gems Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles
Godiva Gems White & Orange Truffles

2/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Thursday, January 19, 2012

The Dark Chocolate Overwhelms The Vanilla In Godiva’s Vanilla Sundae In Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars!


The Good: Great dark chocolate flavor, Not as waxy as other mass-produced chocolates, Nice aftertaste.
The Bad: Still somewhat expensive, Vanilla flavor is almost entirely absent.
The Basics: Godiva’s Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars are troubling in that they have almost no vanilla flavor and a great, rich, dark chocolate coating!


I am almost done with enjoying and reviewing the last of the candy my loving wife picked up for me for the recent holidays. Despite my health kick, I still enjoy candy and my wife is pretty awesome about getting me some good ones. However, even as she tries to expose me to new and different candies, sometimes the usual mainstays fall down. I am tempted to say that is the case with the Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars, but they are solidly better-than-average dark chocolate. Thus, my only real problem – an irony for me as I absolutely love dark chocolate – is that they have very little vanilla flavor and I was left with the sense that I could have had a solid dark chocolate bar from Godiva and gotten about as much out of it as I did out of this Truffle Bar.

That said, the only other real issue is the expense. These candy bars were available for approximately $1.50/each when my wife and I found them at Target. Fortunately, I married a savvy shopper and she picked them up for fifty cents each when they were clearance, but generally this is a pricier candy bar with little distinctive to set it apart from its less expensive counterparts of similar flavors.

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that leave men pretty much bankrupt in the pursuit of spoiling their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. They make high-end chocolates, but the truffle bars like this one seems to be their attempt to fit into the more thrifty shopping scheme of Target shoppers. While some of the other truffle bars and Gems impressed me, the Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars actually underwhelmed me by not – of all things having much of a vanilla flavor.

The Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars come in a 1.4 oz. chocolate bar that is foil-wrapped. Each bar represents a single serving and Godiva has the truffle bars presented as 1” wide by 4” long segmented chocolate bars. Each segment snaps apart from the bar and features a Godiva “G” stamped into it. This makes the Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars very easy to portion out to have less than a full serving, which is nice for those who might be watching their waistline!

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Gems Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars is not a real challenge. After removing the wrapper, simply pull out the bar or break a segment off and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. This is an entirely ready-to-eat food!

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle bar, I was bowled over by the strength of the dark chocolate. The dark chocolate block was solid and robust in its scent, instantly setting the consumer up for a powerfully chocolate taste experience.

The scent is a great indicator of how this chocolate bar actually tastes. The dark chocolate coating of the truffle bar is dry and rich and it surrounds the buttery yellow paste inside. That paste is flavored like vanilla frosting and it is completely drown out by the dark chocolate. In fact, one almost has to wonder why Godiva bothered with the vanilla flavored paste inside because the dark chocolate so overwhelms it.

In fact, I was beginning to write my review as more of a panning of this bar, when suddenly, I found my mouth was dry and I was smelling vanilla. I realized that after five minutes after my last segment of the bar, the dark chocolate taste had finally dissipated and the vanilla flavor was coming up from the back of my throat! Better late than never, I suppose! The mildly French vanilla or vanilla bean flavor taste/smells good, but it is almost entirely absent from the primary consuming experience.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These 1.4 oz. Truffle Bars represent a single serving and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of bittersweet chocolate, sugar and cocoa butter, there are a lot of unpronounceable items in the ingredients. This is not an all-natural food product and these Truffle Bars were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about tree nuts.

In addition to ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva's Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars have 230 calories, 130 of which are from fat. A full serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 2% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 55 mg per serving and there are 2 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 2% of one’s daily calcium and 10% of the RDA of Iron.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars are fine as long as they are stored below 65 degrees Farenheit. My wife picked these up for me in May of 2011 and they have an expiration date of February 2012, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away when you are done with the chocolate bar.

Overall

Godiva Vanilla Sundae in Dark Chocolate Truffle Bars are good, but because they are so mild on the vanilla flavor inside the wonderful dark chocolate shell, they become very difficult to recommend to those who are looking for a candy bar that is truly different. Instead, this chocolate bar seems very average on every front, save the expense where they are pricier than usual.

For other reviews of Godiva chocolates, please check out:
Godiva Gems Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles
Godiva Gems Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles
Godiva Gems White & Orange Truffles

5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Wednesday, January 4, 2012

Very Flavorful, Godiva's Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles Are Worth Tracking Down!


The Good: Good flavor, Not as waxy as other mass-produced chocolates
The Bad: Still somewhat expensive
The Basics: Godiva Gems presents Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles , which actually embody flavors like one might find in ice cream!


This last holiday season, my wife gave me quite a bit of contradictory information. She had me join her on CalorieCount to lose weight and get fit in the new year, but she also gave me a lot of treats with the intent that I would enjoy them and review them. So, following on the heels of days when she presented me with Godiva Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles (reviewed here!!) and Godiva White & Orange Truffles (reviewed here!), I now have the Godiva Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles to consider. She is a sweetie, but CalorieCount is telling me this will be one of the few things I eat today as a result!

The Dark Vanilla Sundae truffles are part of the affordable Godiva Gems line. My wife lucked out when she found them. The container was on clearance at Target and at 75% off it was something like $1.25. This is an obscenely low price for even a 3.4 oz. container of Godiva chocolates, so I was fairly unsurprised when she bought up a whole bunch of the different flavors in order to surprise me with later on.

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that leave men pretty much bankrupt in the pursuit of spoiling their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. They make high-end chocolates, but the Godiva Gems collection seems to be their attempt to fit into the more thrifty shopping scheme of Target shoppers. While some of the other Gems have left me unimpressed, the Dark Vanilla Sundae truffles actually seem more in-line with what one expects of Godiva!

The Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles come in a 3.4 oz. plastic container that is reminiscent of a plastic cup one might get at a ball game or movie theater. The plastic lid is secured with a security seal which is easy enough to get off when one is ready to enjoy the candy. The little cup has ten truffles in it, which represents 2 ½ servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the plastic container. Unwrapping the light yellow wrapper reveals the 7/8” in diameter sphere of chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Gems Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles is not a real challenge. After removing the security seal, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. The unwrapping of each truffle before consuming it is essential, though!

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle reveals the strong vanilla scent. In fact, opening this truffle, I thought perhaps they had been dunked into a vat of vanilla extract! That is the precise scent and intensity that this truffle emits.

The scent does not actually prepare the consumer for how good the flavor is, though. The dark chocolate coating of the truffle is appropriately dark and dry and it surrounds the buttery white paste inside. That paste is flavored like vanilla frosting or melted ice cream and the combination with the dark chocolate helps it to perfectly embody the confection’s name. Indeed, this is a very flavorful chocolate treat that tastes like (warm) vanilla ice cream with a dark chocolate sauce drizzled over it!

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These ten truffles represent 2 ½ servings of the chocolates and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of bittersweet chocolate, sugar and cocoa butter, there are a lot of unpronounceable items in the ingredients. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva's Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles have 210 calories, 120 of which are from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 5% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 50 mg per serving and there is 2 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 4% of one’s daily calcium and 6% of the RDA of Iron.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their container at a cool, dry temperature. My wife picked these up for me in May of 2011 and they have an expiration date of March 2012, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will stain, so consult your fabric guide if that happens. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the plastic from the container.

Overall

Godiva Dark Vanilla Sundae Truffles are one of the better mass-produced Godiva chocolates and one that is well worth trying!

For other reviews of chocolates, please check:
Irish Crème Hershey's Kisses
Cherry Cordial M&M’s
Strawberry Jelly Bean Dips Jelly Belly Jelly Beans

8/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2012 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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Tuesday, September 13, 2011

The White Oranges & Cream Godiva Gems Candy Live Up To Their Name, But Are Not Extraordinary.



The Good: Good white chocolate flavor, Affordable (at least when on sale)
The Bad: Somewhat waxier than other Godiva chocolates, Not the most orange flavor.
The Basics: Godiva Gems makes White Oranges & Cream Truffles which are good, but not on the same level of quality of other Godiva chocolates.


There are so many ways I can tell my wife loves me. One of them is the fact that she has sat beside me on her laptop while I have done a two-day marathon of Star Trek: The Animated Series and not left me. Gosh, that show is absolutely terrible. She also loves me by getting me goodies to review like the Godiva Dark Mint Chocolate Chip Truffles (reviewed here!!) or the Godiva White Oranges & Cream Truffles she gave me as a random "I Love You" Day gift. The truffles are part of the affordable Godiva Gems line.

We lucked out when we found the Godiva White Oranges & Cream Truffles. The container was on clearance at Target and at 75% off it was something like $1.25. This is an obscenely low price for even a 3.4 oz. container of Godiva chocolates, so I was fairly unsurprised when she bought up a whole bunch of the different flavors in order to surprise me with later on.

Basics

Godiva, of course, is the famous fancy chocolatier that is most known for their gold-wrapped boxes of chocolates that leave men pretty much bankrupt in the pursuit of spoiling their wives, girlfriends, mistresses, etc. They make high-end chocolates, but the Godiva Gems collection seems to be their attempt to fit into the more thrifty shopping scheme of Target shoppers. Unfortunately, this plan seems to mean they are using less incredible ingredients as these are somewhat more waxy than other Godiva products I have tried.

The White Oranges & Cream Truffles come in a 3.4 oz. plastic container that is reminiscent of a plastic cup one might get at a ball game or movie theater. The plastic lid is secured with a security seal which is easy enough to get off when one is ready to enjoy the candy. The little cup has ten truffles in it, which represents 2 ½ servings. Each truffle is individually wrapped within the plastic container. Unwrapping the light orange wrapper reveals the 7/8” in diameter sphere of white chocolate that is the truffle.

Ease Of Preparation

Eating Godiva Gems White Oranges & Cream Truffles is not a real challenge. After removing the security seal, simply pull out a truffle, unwrap it and stick it in your mouth. There is no particularly complicated equation to eating these chocolates. The unwrapping of each truffle before consuming it is pretty important and obvious.

Taste

Unwrapping the truffle reveals the strong fruit scent of orange. The bouquet is exactly what one might expect of orange and the fruit scent is distinct and overbearing. There is not even the hint of white chocolate from the scent.

That scent actually dupes the consumer, though. The Godiva White Oranges & Cream Truffles feature a layer of waxy white chocolate that has almost no flavor whatsoever. That waxy chocolate melts after about thirty seconds on the tongue and the soft truffle center is then exposed. At that point, the orange flavor comes through. The only point the white and orange flavors came into anything remotely resembling a balance is when the truffle was slightly melted. Only when the truffles were near liquid did the orange flavor come through and the white chocolate tasted creamy and flavorful as opposed to waxy.

Nutrition

Godiva chocolates are intended as a dessert product, so anyone attempting to live off them is proceeding under a ridiculous premise! These ten truffles represent 2 ½ servings of the chocolates and those looking for real nutrition will have to look elsewhere. Made primarily of white chocolate, sorbitol and butter, there is nothing resembling an orange or orange flavoring in the ingredients. This is not an all-natural food product and these truffles were produced on equipment that forces them to add a disclaimer about peanuts, wheat and other tree nuts.

In addition to ingredients I cannot readily pronounce, Godiva's White Oranges & Cream Truffles have 210 calories, 130 of which are from fat. A full four truffle serving represents 45% of one's RDA of saturated fat and 5% of the RDA of cholesterol. Surprisingly, they are fairly low in sodium with only 35 mg per serving and there is 2 grams of protein to be had by eating a full serving. These are not a significant source of vitamins or minerals.

Storage/Cleanup

As a chocolate, Godiva Gems’ White Oranges & Cream Truffles are fine as long as they are stored in their container at a cool, dry temperature. My wife picked these up for me in May and they have an expiration date of March 2012, so they do have a decent shelf life. If they melt, they will not likely stain because they are so light. Otherwise, cleanup is simply throwing the foil wrapper away and recycling the plastic from the container.

Overall

Godiva White Oranges & Cream Truffles is not a terribly exciting chocolate candy and it is hard to get excited about getting more of them. Only fans of white chocolate are truly likely to enjoy these and that is only me when I am in a very specific mood.

For other reviews of chocolates, please check:
Hershey's Whoppers
M&M’s Coconut
Russell Stover Mocha Ganache with Silky Milk Chocolate Squares

5/10

For other food and drink reviews, please visit my index page on the subject! That is available by clicking here!

© 2011 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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