Choceur Smooth Praline

Product name: Choceur Smooth Praline
Calories: 222 for a 40g bar

I’m still wading through my Christmas presents (it’s a hard life!) and, after the success of Choceur Smooth White, I was really looking forward to sampling this Smooth Praline bar. Once again, it was made for Aldi stores in the UK and Ireland but, this bar was a single serving size.

This ‘milk chocolate with a smooth hazelnut filling’ came in a navy blue wrapper that contained an illustration of the thin bar. The praline accounted for 42% of the product (although this layer actually looked pretty minimal!) and 12% was the ground hazelnuts within this. Although the pieces were a lot less chunky than the Smooth White, they still contained the ‘S’-shaped design, and this was embossed on the inner foil wrapper too.

The bar broke apart softly but, unfortunately, there was no nutty scent – just a chocolate one. The praline centre only looked slightly different to the chocolate, in that it was a bit smoother and paler, but I soon discovered it made a bigger impact on the taste buds.

The chocolate contained a minimum of 32% cocoa solids and 18% milk solids and, when sat on the tongue, tasted fine. However, it didn’t have the same effect on me that the white chocolate did! The good news was, it had another smooth but thick melt which the nut flavour suddenly burst through, combined with a creaminess.

I found the praline’s texture to be a bit truffle-like and the bar was lovely and soft to chew. I much preferred to eat it this way, despite the nice melting texture, because it allowed the praline’s tasty and rich flavour to fill the mouth.

This was definitely another hit from the Choceur range. For me, it wasn’t as good as the Smooth White, but I did enjoy the overall flavour on offer and I loved how the praline really was smooth rather than containing bitty pieces of nut.

 Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.63/10

Dairyfine Coins: White chocolate

Product name: Dairyfine Coins: White chocolate
Calories: 135 per 25g serving (486 per 90g bag)
Country of origin: Italy

I did well out of Santa this year – I had two visits so I’ve barely scratched the surface on the snacks I received!

Something I happily get in my stocking every year is a bag of chocolate coins and, in recent times, I’ve been particular excited if these have been wrapped in silver foil to indicate white chocolate. This was the case with this bag of Dairyfine Coins: White chocolate which were made for Aldi. As you may remember, I raved about their Choceur Smooth White bar last month but, having checked their website and seeing that this range is specifically aimed at children, I didn’t expect the quality to be as good here.

These Coins came presented in the usual way for this type of seasonal product – in a net bag and shaped and packaged to look like money. In this case, the label even had a picture of an elf and described the product as ‘elf’s pocket money’ which I thought was quite sweet. The coins inside came in two different sizes which represented different ‘values’ – the ‘10 new pence’ coin had an image of a lion whilst the ‘two pence’ had a more traditional money design. 

These foil wrappers slightly moulded the ‘solid white chocolate coins shaped pieces’ but this wasn’t as defined as it could have been. Colour-wise, they looked like standard white chocolate and, despite their relatively thin disc shapes, they still looked fairly decent sizes, and they also had a slight white chocolate smell. 

 

The Coins had a really good melt that was smooth and gradual. However, I found that both sizes were a bit too big to fit in the mouth comfortably to allow this to happen whole, although they were thick enough to provide a chunkiness to chew instead. 

 

Now the downside. These just didn’t taste great. They weren’t very creamy and there was an odd edge to the flavour that I couldn’t work out. They also weren’t that sweet although this element did increase the more I ate. As expected, they didn’t seem to be great quality, and it certainly wasn’t anything like the Choceur bar. Whilst the basic elements for a good white chocolate were there, the strange flavour just took over and, I felt, almost tasted like the chocolate had gone off (it hadn’t!). 

Despite my disappointment with the flavour, I did think these Dairyfine Coins were a good novelty for the Christmas season, and I was also pleased to see that they were UTZ certified and, therefore, supported sustainable farming. 

Appearance: 7.5/10
Aroma: 6.5/10
Taste: 5.5/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.75/10

Choceur Smooth White

Product name: Choceur Smooth White
Purchase details: Aldi
Calories: 285 per seven and a half square serving 

This is my second review of an Aldi product in as many days – maybe I need to begin shopping there!

My parents have recently discovered (and started raving about) the nutty chocolate bars in the Choceur range and, knowing my love of white chocolate, they decided to treat me to this Smooth White bar. Apparently it’s not dear and, if I’m honest, I wasn’t expecting much.

This huge slab of chocolate weighed in at 200g so I wasn’t going to attempt to eat is all at once! Instead, I stuck to the recommended 50g serving which was a quarter of the bar. I did have a good moan about the fact that the bar consisted of 30 squares, though, as this meant it wasn’t divisible by four. (Really...what’s the point of that? Either change the serving size or the mould used for the bar!)

The chocolate came in a lovely box that reflected the colour of white chocolate and also had an attractive picture of the product on the front. The Choceur range described itself as ‘indulgent’ with this particular variety claiming to be ‘delicious white chocolate made with creamy milk’. Inside, the chocolate was also wrapped in a simple foil layer.

This ‘smooth creamy white chocolate’ was made for the UK and Ireland’s Aldi stores and contained a minimum of 14% milk solids. It was a great off-yellow colour and each piece had what appeared to be an unexplained letter ‘S’ on top but, in reality, this was probably just a decorative swirl. The chocolate didn’t have a strong aroma but it did smell deliciously milky.

The instant the chocolate made contact with my tongue, it began to melt, and the flavour hit me. It really was everything that white chocolate should be – it was incredibly flavourful and milky with just enough sweetness to make it beautiful but not so much that it became sickly. Its really chunky, solid texture also meant that the flavour completely filled the mouth when chewing the bar, and it took me straight to my happy place.

As a basic bar of white chocolate, this product really was a simple principle, but it was so satisfying. Well done, Aldi, this was spot on and I’ve added it to my Christmas list! 

Appearance: 8/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 9/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.13/10

Lebkuchen Milk Chocolate

Product name: Lebkuchen Milk Chocolate
Calories: 201 per cake 

A couple of weeks ago I had a lovely Christmassy evening at a friend’s house and, completely unexpectedly, I won a Christmas-themed quiz. My prize was this pack of five Lebkuchen which had been made for Aldi stores in the UK and Ireland.

I don’t know if I’ve just had a sheltered upbringing, but I’d never actually heard of this type of snack before and, at first glance, I didn’t find the description of ‘lebkuchen with icing sugar and milk chocolate’ much help! However, a more detailed summary of exactly what lebkuchen were was also provided: ‘spiced cakes made with apricot kernel paste and apricot puree’.

Prior to opening my packet, I decided to do a bit more research on Wikipedia and found that it was actually a German baked Christmas good. What surprised me, though, was that it was meant to be similar to gingerbread – there had been no mention of this on the wrapper and, as someone who doesn’t particularly enjoy the taste of ginger, I was slightly concerned. On the plus side, the ingredients showed that 15% of the product was milk chocolate, 12% was ‘apricot fruit filling’, and 11% was ‘apricot kernel paste’. I did also notice that the cakes contained candied orange peel which, for me, was another negative since it has a texture that I don’t like. As a result, I usually avoid products that contain it, but I decided to give these Lebkuchen Milk Chocolate a go anyway.

The Lebkuchen came in a simple cellophane-wrapped purple and pale blue cardboard tray that contained an illustration of a European-looking city (presumably to resemble their German origin!). Each cake weighed around 50g and was quite domed in appearance – I thought they looked like curvier Wagon Wheels! They were dark brown in colour and the white icing sugar that looked a bit like a doughnut glaze seemed to have collected in the surface cracks on the top. The chocolate was on the base of the Lebkuchen and the insides were a paler colour with a very slight orange tinge. Overall, I thought they looked nice enough, although they had the potential to be dry.

There was a hint of ginger in the aroma but I thought they mainly smelt like fruit cake – it was quite a festive smell, actually. The flavour definitely did have elements of ginger but, thankfully, this wasn’t too strong. I could also taste the apricot but, considering the quantities used and the fact it was one of the main product descriptors, it wasn’t nearly as obvious as I’d expected. Unfortunately, the chocolate layer was so thin that I couldn’t taste this at all, but I did enjoy the general Christmassy baking flavours on offer. It was very flavoursome, with warm spices that seemed to reach the back of the throat, and I could also taste dried fruit which, looking at the ingredients, seemed to be a result of ‘date paste’.

I really liked the texture of these Lebkuchen Milk Chocolate. They had a crispy outer edge which seemed to be mainly down to the icing and this blended with the softer centre to provide a well-rounded experience. This filling was quite similar to a standard cake texture although it wasn’t as spongy. Whilst I wouldn’t describe it as ‘moist’, it certainly wasn’t dry – it was just the right balance and I was even more pleased not to come across any chunks of candied peel!

As someone who doesn’t like Christmas cake, these Lebkuchen were a great alternative for me since they provided the warm flavours associated with the season without the full-blown fruit cake experience. Not bad at all! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.13/10