Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box

Product name: Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box
Country of origin: UK

I like to keep you on your toes so, for tonight’s review, I’m hopping back to a Christmas product that I received as part of a gift. This Thorntons The Snowman and the Snowdog: Christmas selection box came in a box depicting a snowy scene from said film and, as a nice additional touch, the base contained a join-the-dots colouring activity for children, as well as photographs of the five products within.

I will be reviewing and scoring each of these products separately but I will also provide an average score for the overall selection box at the end.

All of the milk chocolate used in this box contained a minimum of 30% cocoa solids and 20% milk solids, whist the dark chocolate contained a minimum of 65% cocoa solids.

Vanilla fudge cubes
Calories: 150 for a 30g bag

I’ve always been more of a chocolate fan than a sweets fan so I wasn’t overly excited about these vanilla flavoured fudge cubes. However, once I caught a whiff of their rich, creamy, sugary and vanilla scent, my interest was raised!

The mini cubes were a ‘proper’ colour for fudge and came in a branded, clear cellophane bag. They had a slightly grainy surface and a surprisingly enjoyable texture which was right in the middle of that of butter tablet and chewy fudge – it was really soft with a bit of resistance, which almost made the first chomp like chewing on gum, but it then melded together and melted away nicely.

Containing sweetened condensed milk, clotted cream and butter, the cubes had a sweet, brown sugary taste and the flavour also managed to capture both the fudge and the vanilla elements of its name. 

Appearance: 7.5/10 

Aroma: 8/10 

Taste: 7.5/10 

Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

The Snowman chocolate truffle
Calories: 126 for a 22g truffle

This ‘milk chocolate snowman with smooth chocolate truffle filling (22%)’ was the only item in the box to come in a proper wrapper that followed the snowy theme of the cardboard packaging.

The chocolate itself was quite glossy and relatively dark in appearance and I just loved The Snowman and the Snowdog shape that it had been moulded into. I really didn’t want to ruin its good looks by cutting into it but, when I did break through the surprisingly hard chocolate shell, I was greeted by an attractive, smooth filling in a much paler shade of brown.

Despite being milk chocolate, the chocolate had a smell that I associated more with dark chocolate, and its strong cocoa flavour ensured a very chocolatey taste. However, for some reason, I didn’t actually find this all that interesting. It was just, well...chocolate. The truffle centre didn’t seem to add that much to the flavour either and, as a huge chocolate fan, I was left bemused as to why I felt so underwhelmed.

As for the texture, the chocolate’s unique shape meant it was satisfyingly chunky to chew and, despite being relatively thin, the truffle melted smoothly.

This product actually reminded me of Lindt Lindor truffles, although the flavour wasn’t as rich, and it wasn’t quite as upmarket!

Appearance: 9/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

The Snowman lolly
Calories: 152 for a 28g lolly

This lollipop came described as ‘white chocolate with dark chocolate and coloured decoration’ and was presented in a clear plastic wrapper with a couple of basic Thorntons labels.

Like the truffle, the lolly was shaped to look like The Snowman, but this chocolate’s outline wasn’t quite as detailed. However, it did instead feature a green hat and scarf and an orange nose – I just found this a bit off-putting, psychologically, in the same way that I couldn’t bring myself to eat green ketchup years ago! At least I knew the buttons were just the colour of standard dark chocolate.

I had been a little concerned on decapitating the lolly since the inside looked almost fluffy. However, I needn’t have worried about the texture – the chocolate melted gradually but nicely. It wasn’t the smoothest chocolate ever but it certainly wasn’t bad, and it was nice and chunky to chew too.

The chocolate had a sickly sweet white chocolate aroma and this extreme sweetness was also present in the flavour. It wasn’t as creamy as I’d have liked but it was ok and it actually tasted better the lower down the Snowman’s body I got so I wondered if the colouring had actually affected the quality of the flavour. As for the dark chocolate, I couldn’t taste this at all but, hey, it looked good! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

Milk chocolate buttons
Calories: 163 for a 30g bag

These Milk chocolate buttons came in the same type of bag as the fudge and had a very basic appearance – relatively dark, think discs with a slightly dusty surface. The upper side of each button was slightly curved, but there wasn’t much difference between the top and bottom, really.

The buttons had a pretty standard chocolate smell that reminded me of the kind I use for baking – it was sweet but not too strong. They had a sweet cocoa taste which was quite strong in the throat but, for me, they weren’t as milky as I would have liked.

The extreme shallowness of the buttons meant they easily broke apart in the mouth. I found they tended to soften rather than melt and, in addition, they were quite chewy rather than chunky.

These weren’t the best chocolate buttons I’ve ever had but they did the job.

Appearance: 6.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 6.88/10

White chocolate buttons
Calories: 174 for a 32g bag

Visually, the White chocolate buttons were much like the milk chocolate variety, coming in a clear Thorntons bag and being moulded into pieces of the same shape and size. However, I felt the cream colour made them look fresher in appearance, and it also meant their dusty coating wasn’t as visible. I wasn’t quite sure why the bag weighed 2g more but, for the record, this white chocolate version only contained two more calories per 100g than the Milk chocolate buttons.

These buttons had a milky white chocolate smell which, thankfully, didn’t come with the same sickliness that the Snowman lolly had. They had pretty much the same texture as the Milk chocolate buttons, with a slightly rough surface, but I found that they weren’t quite as soft. As a result, they were great in handfuls, as this resulted in a bit of combined solidity when chewing.

The White chocolate buttons were initially sweet but, towards the end of each mouthful, released a nice creaminess. I’d been a bit apprehensive of the quality of this white chocolate following my experience of the Snowman lolly but I felt Thorntons redeemed themselves here. The flavour actually took me back to my childhood, despite me never having had these particular buttons before, so I presume they didn’t taste too dissimilar from Nestlé Milkybar: Buttons. They definitely had a nicer and stronger flavour than I expected. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

If you’d told me before I opened this selection box that the Vanilla fudge cubes would be my joint top-scorer, I wouldn’t have believed you! The chocolate may not have always rocked my world but I can see that this Christmas gift was aimed more at children who would probably have enjoyed its sweetness more than I did. Even so, I wouldn’t complain if I got the same again next year!

Appearance: 7.4/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7.2/10
Texture: 7.4/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Terry's Chocolate Orange: Milk

Product name: Terry’s Chocolate Orange: Milk
Calories: 185 per four segment serving (459 per half Orange) 

Terry’s Chocolate Orange...how I love thee! This Milk version was part of one of the Christmas presents I received last year and I couldn’t wait to tuck into it. 

For anyone not familiar with the concept (you poor things!), this popular product was milk chocolate infused with ‘REAL orange oil’ and shaped to look like an orange, complete with 20 ‘pithy’, Terry’s logo-imprinted segments, and an orange foil wrapper. The 175g ball of happiness was served in a plastic tray within a blue box and was made by Mondelez for the UK and Ireland market (exactly where it was produced, it didn’t say). 

I don’t actually tend to eat real oranges – I like the flavour but the texture doesn’t really appeal to me and I find them too messy and sticky to enjoy properly. Thankfully, there was no such problem with this Chocolate Orange, and I’ll just pretend it could still be counted as one of my five-a-day. 

This classic Christmas gift had a great, strong, orangey smell which was both sweet and tangy. I loved the attention to detail given to its design but I did think the chocolate wasn’t quite as glossy as it could have been. Although the packaging no longer boasted the well-known ‘tap and unwrap’ instruction, this is what I did, and I found the segments actually came away from the core (my favourite part!) a lot more easily than they have done in the past. However, I’m not sure if this was due to a change in design, or whether I’ve just become more experienced. 

The orange taste hit me instantly when it made contact with my tongue and then its strength tended to increase and decrease in waves as it mingled with the sweet and milky chocolate that contained a minimum of 14% milk solids and 25% cocoa solids. The product was full of flavour and this lingered, too, leaving behind a sugary but orangey aftertaste. The overall experience was definitely more orangey than chocolatey and this element could be felt in the back of the throat too. 

The great thing about the segment shapes was that, by nature, they had both a narrow and a thick end, and they were just the right size for my mouth so I could easily bite out the thinner centre before chewing the thicker ‘rind’. Despite being relatively chunky, the chocolate was still quite soft, and it also had a thick but pretty smooth melt that didn’t take too long thanks to the pieces not being too deep. 

I’m pleased to say that this Terry’s Chocolate Orange: Milk had just as rich a flavour as ever – let’s hope I get another next Christmas! 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 9/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.38/10

Nestlé Princessa: Kokosowa

Product name: Nestlé Princessa: Kokosowa
Purchase details: £0.49 for a 33g bar (tesco.com)
Calories: 185 per bar
Country of origin: Poland  

I’ve really started to appreciate supermarkets’ foods of the world sections in the past few months so, when I saw this bar of Nestlé Princessa: Kokosowa, I decided it was another snack I had to try. 

Since my understanding of the Polish language is, well...non-existent, I was pleased to see that the distributors of this bar (Osem UK) had helpfully provided a translation on a sticker on the back of product. From this, I knew that ‘kokosowa’ meant ‘coconut’ and that this was going to be one enjoyable treat since it was a ‘coconut cream filled wafer covered in white chocolate’. 

Judging by the name and silhouette of a woman on the wrapper, the Princessa: Kokosowa seemed to be aimed at the female market. I’m not sure if it was intentional or not but the pale blue and white colour scheme also made me think of healthy diet foods. There was no image of the product itself but the picture of a piece of coconut resting on a curl of white chocolate still managed to look appealing. 

I realised early on that this bar was likely to be competition for the Milka Nussini: Cocos which also hails from Poland. However, whilst the basic idea of the Princessa was the same, they weren’t identical bars.  

First off, the Princessa’s chocolate was a yellower colour, and it was also smoother due to not being combined with pieces of coconut. The inner wafer was also relatively dark in appearance which resulted in more of a contrast between the two elements – I actually thought its shade hinted at caramel. 

I was pleased to see that a decent proportion of the bar was the white chocolate (34.5%) although I did find it felt quite greasy to the touch. Pleasingly, the 2% desiccated coconut that the bar also contained, combined with the chocolate to provide a lovely creamy, coconutty smell. 

Taste-wise, the best way to describe the Princessa: Kokosowa would be like a very sweet milk. As soon as I swallowed one mouthful I wanted another – it was beautiful. The coconut flavour was decent but I was also glad that the white chocolate was able to hold its own in terms of strength. Even the wafer had a part to play in the overall taste. 

Like the Nussini: Cocos, this bar was very crispy with fluffy-style wafers. However, I found I preferred not having the extra bits of coconut to chew on, and the white chocolate coating and coconut cream were so moist that the Princessa wasn’t at all dry. I think the shape of the bar also contributed to this since it was wide rather than massively thick which meant the wafers weren’t stacked too high. However, they were still deep enough to provide a satisfying chewing experience. 

This really was an enjoyable product so I’m kicking myself for not making use of the multibuy offer it was on! 

Appearance: 7/10 
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.5/10