Fiat was a candy find that I really just stumbled across in one of the many gourmet stores all over Los Angeles. In this specific one my boyfriend and I popped in because they’re supposed to have outstanding burgers, but I also found some cool candy in their store while I waited. One of them was the Fiat and the Fiat Noir. They both were in little displays at the cash registers. Seeing as they were from Majani chocolate company from Bologna, Italy, I figured they would be a small indulgence and were worth a try. Especially since they said “Gianduja” on them. Yum, yum!

Each Fiat is a little cube about 1/2 inch tall and 3/4 inch wide. The white/red paper wrappers conceal the edges to a foil wrapper that protects the gianduja. It’s simple and attractive to look at. You can faintly smell their rich sweetness through the package.

Once out of the wrappers each cube is beautiful to look at. You can see different layers of chocolate and lighter gianduja in the cubes, so they look very decorative.

The Fiat Noir has two chocolate sides sandwiching a center of gianduja, so it looks like a colorful two tone cube. The flavor is intensely rich of chocolate and gianduja. The hazelnut notes are impeccable with sweet nutty flavors and a nice roasted taste. The chocolate is smooth and creamy but not too sweet. The overall effect is a less sweet, but strong and fancier Nutella.

Fiat milk chocolate has a much lighter color scheme. This one has light creamy beige and milk chocolate stripes. The flavor is more hazelnut and very sweet. You don’t taste much chocolate flavor here, just intense nutty flavors and sweetness. It reminds me of a hazelnut peanut butter in a way. Really tasty.

These were both incredible. They were flavorful, delicious, rich and satisfying. The cube was just the right portion size too. They went fantastically with a cup of coffee. My boyfriend and I shared them for as long as I small stash remained. We will definitely be stopping to get more next time we’re close to that store again.

Rating: Hoard

Links Majani Website (Italian)

Annabelle’s Candy Company is a candy maker that I am very fond of. The reason for this is they are a classic candy company, once that has been around since 1950 located in the San Francisco bay area. They make a few classic candy bars, like Look!, Abba Zabba, U-No, and my favorite: Big Hunk. Just to name a few! One of their many candy bars is the Rocky Road bar, which we have here. It’s a hard bar to miss in it’s bright vibrant red package and large lettering.

Rocky Road is described as “Milk Chocolate Coasted Marshmallow with Cashews”, so very much like the Rocky Road ice cream we all know and love. It’s a long rectangular bar, and doesn’t feel heavy at all. It clocks in only at 1.82 oz. The bar smells sweet and of cocoa. With that I felt the need to look at the ingredients, and yes, this chocolate it real. No mockolate here, yay!

So the construction of the Rocky Road is a big marshmallow coated in chocolate with the top sprinkled with little pieces of cashews. The flavor is very delicate. The sweet marshmallow taste nicely of vanilla and is light and airy. The chocolate sticks nicely to the marshmallow, and it has a mild chocolate flavor that compliments it nicely. You don’t taste or feel the texture of the cashews, just you can see the pieces when you look at a bitten section of the bar. The overall flavor is a nice representation of the Rocky Road flavor.

I liked this bar, but it’s not something I’d specifically crave. Marshmallow isn’t my favorite of fillings, I usually go for nougat, caramel or fudge. Still, it’s a tasty, well put together candy bar, and if you’re a big marshmallow/rocky road fan, this bar is a must try.

Rating:  Will Eat Again

Links Annabelle’s Candy Company Website

These are another part of the free Easter samples I received from Wonka, the Exceptionals Eggs. These eggs are based off of two of their regular chocolate bars which are sold all year ‘round. The first is the Scrumdiddlyumptios bar, and the other is the Chocolate Waterfall. These eggs are individually wrapped and then packaged in a box to keep them safe from bumping around too much. The box is festive, but the colors are much more muted than I would have expected. Especially since these bars are normally dressed in bright purple wrappers that have an iridescent and almost hologram like sheen to it. 

Time to open once up and see what we have here. These are sold chocolate half eggs, no filling or decor, just a hunk of chocolate. The pieces are large, as they’re bigger than a traditional chicken egg. I’d say they are about two inches long and weight in at .9 OZ. Each egg has the word “Wonka” carved into the surface with swirled designs.

Scrumdiddlyumptios Egg: Smells sweet and not much of chocolate the chocolate tastes sweet and creamy but you immediately taste the peanuts and the toffee bits in it. the pieces are small and they’re very crispy. Because of this you get a nice salty/sweet play here and it’s very tasty.

Chocolate Waterfall Egg: This egg is beautiful to look at once it’s unwrapped. It’s a milk chocolate base with white chocolate ripples in it. As for the aroma, it just smells sweet. The flavor is this wonderful mix of the milk and white chocolate. Thankfully the white chocolate’s flavor doesn’t get lost in the milk chocolate. You can distinctly taste its buttery, milky, sweet flavor. Very tasty, I’m a fan!

These were tasty and the chocolate is presented here in a more friendly, single serve manner. These would be a great addition to any Easter basket, as the size is big enough to be fun but not small enough so you feel jipped by the Easter Bunny.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Wonka’s Website

Finding a Caffarel product not in a trade show always feels like striking gold to me. They’re an Italian confectionery company with an outstanding line of chocolate products. ON the rare occasions I find their booths and am able to sample some of their many delights and am always impressed with design, texture and flavors. So color my surprised when I was visiting a store during a trip through Topanga Canyon where I found some Caffarel products. Eureka!

This is a bar of their Gianduja, or hazelnut/chocolate mixture which is perfected by the Italians. The bar comes in a yellow wrapper that has lots of Rococo styled art and motifs and its feels very Easter-like.

The gianduja is a beautiful creamy middle brown color with a matte surface. It’s sectioned off into squares, two for each row which are about one inch by one inch squares that each have the Caffarel logo molded on them. The aroma is sweet and creamy with a hint of nuttiness.

The chocolate gianduja is extremely rich and creamy and melts beautifully. The flavor tastes very strongly hazelnut, with its rich nutty flavor and nice creamy, toasted notes. The hazelnut is the star, as I don’t get a lot of chocolate flavor here. If I could compare it to Nutella, the flavor is more refined, but less chocolately. It’s really awesome.

I wish Caffarel’s products were more widely available in the US. They have wonderful flavors that stand out amongst a lot of the confections we get here which can just taste overly sweet. So if you ever come across a Caffarel chocolate bar, I recommend you try it, as like this bar in the review here it’s bound to be really tasty and a rare treat.

Rating: Will Buy Again

Links Caffarel Website

Theo is a chocolate company whose work I really love. They make really delicious chocolate and they have a strong ethic to organic and fair trade which makes them a really respectable company. So I was very excited to find that they produced some holiday limited edition flavors. Once of which is this Nutcracker Toffee bar.

This Nutcracker toffee bar is made with 70% dark chocolate with toffee and hazelnuts and almonds. The wrapper is adorable with its chocolatey brown background color and decorated with images of a nutcracker, snowflakes, hazelnuts and almonds. For an unconventional color scheme, this bar still looks very festive.

The dark chocolate has a clean snap and it extremely glossy with a nice reddish-brown color. You can see hints of the bits of nuts and toffee in there. Once the chocolate is on your tongue, it melts very smoothly, delivering very nice chocolatey notes. One things that surprised me about this bar is that the chocolate is very fruity. It starts of creamy and blossoms into bright raspberry and cherry notes. It’s very yummy. The nuts and toffee provide a wonderful crunch which contrasts the smooth chocolate beautifully. You get flavors of the nuts and toffee, all very fresh and buttery, but they’re lost in the intense dark chocolate.

A really delicious and festive holiday chocolate bar. Keep you eyes peeled in stores in case they’re still available on shelves.

Rating: Will Eat Again

Links Vosges Website

Links Theo Chocolate Website