Luxury Fairtrade and Organic Chocolate from Chocolate and Love*

The one thing I enjoy more than any other sweet treat is chocolate. I like all different kinds of chocolate so when I was offered the chance to review a brand I’d never heard of before, Chocolate and Love, I said of course! How could I resist?

Chocolate and Love is a luxury Fairtrade, organic chocolate brand set up by husband and wife team Richard and Brigitte O’Conner. The collection includes seven different flavours so you can indulge every day of the week! The flavours include Coffee, Creamy Dark, Rich Dark, Mint, Orange, Panama and the popular Sea Salt and Caramel. Ingredients include cacao sourced directly from Peru, The Dominican Republic and Panama, cane sugar from Paraguay and Costa Rica, and bourbon vanilla from Madagascar.

I received four of the seven flavours in Sea Salt and Caramel, Panama, Orange and Rich Dark. Each bar has more cocoa and less sugar than most other bars on the market and has the added benefit of being gluten free, GMO free and contain no additives. Apart from the Creamy Dark and Sea Salt variants, the rest of the bars are also dairy free making them ideal for vegans.

Firstly I tried the Panama flavour, with single sourced cocoa from Panama (80%). This rich high percentage dark chocolate is very rich and incredibly smooth. I was surprised that this was not at all bitter considering the high cocoa content and very easy to consume.

The second bar, Sea Salt and Caramel was my absolute favourite of the lot. I love salted caramel and find that a lot of bars in supermarkets are either too salty or you cannot taste the salt at all. The caramel and salt in this bar was perfectly balanced and the combination between the sweet and the salt is absolutely divine. So far the company has won a staggering 15 awards for the range so far, this bar in particular has won Gold 1-star award in Great Taste Awards 2014, 2015 and 2016.

The third bar I tried was the Rich Dark flavour. This bar contains cocoa from Peru and The Dominican Republic (71%). It also contains refreshing hints of red berries naturally coming through the cocoa. I love dark chocolate and this one is delicious and something I would definitely reach for over other brands. The chocolatey finishing notes are welcoming and this does not leave a bitter aftertaste in my mouth.

Finally I tried the Orange which really did not disappoint. Chocolate and orange is a delicious combination and the zesty flavour comes from natural cold pressed oil from real oranges. The flavours in this bar are well balanced and complement each other beautifully. I also thought I would mention the packaging which really did catch my eye. The designs are bespoke and hand painted, I think they are lovely and would make the perfect gift.

Chocolate and Love is available to buy in Whole Foods Market, Planet Organic and Amazon. The seven flavours will be launching in Sainsburys online and in store from the end of February.  Each 100g bar retails at £3.00. For more information head over to the Chocolate and Love website.

*I received these items free of charge in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way.

Morse Toad CHOCOLATE Christmas Cards*

I love giving Christmas cards so when I heard that the company Morse Toad offered a personalised service with a twist, I couldn’t wait to get on board with the concept. Why send someone a bog standard card when you can send them chocolate instead?

The website is really simple to navigate and I had great fun choosing my chocolate message. I went for ‘Merry Xmas – P.S We can share it!’. You can customise your order with up to 44 letters, that’s 4 rows of 11 chocolates. In total due to the amount of letters I used this card came to £17.00 which I think is great value for something so fun and unique. Standard UK delivery is free too, but the chocolate can be posted all over the world! If you’d like 10% off your order, feel free to use code: crossmeoff (expires 25.12.16).

The card takes the form of a box and the packaging is really lovely. The great thing is this fits through the letterbox so there is no fear of your recipient missing their parcel. Inside the box you had the option to add your own photograph or choose one of the pre-made designs. I went for the Morse Toad Festive photo to fit in with the Christmas theme of the gift. It would have been rude not to test out the chocolate and I was not disappointed. The delicious Belgian chocolate was of high quality and really hit the spot - this didn’t stay around for long! It is also worth noting that the chocolate is gluten and egg free! I have a few friends who will be pleased to know that. Full ingredients are provided on each box.

Of course Morse Toad products aren’t just for Christmas, there are many occasions where you can send a delicious card. Customise your card with birthday messages, thank you, happy anniversary or give as gifts to teachers at the end of the year.

Will you be sending a Morse Toad message this Christmas? Some things are better said in chocolate!

*I purchased this item with vouchers provided by the company in exchange for an honest review. All opinions are my own and I was not influenced in any way. Please see my disclaimer for more information.

Chocolate Creme Egg Cookies

Can you believe I still have creme eggs left? It's crazy! I didn't want to just eat them all in one go so decided I would bake them into cookies. These turned out so good, and were all eaten on the same day! To find out how to make these, keep reading!

Ingredients (makes around 8-10 large cookies)

180g unsalted butter at room temperature.

300g Caster Sugar

250g Plain Flour

2 tsp Baking Powder

1 Egg

50g Cocoa Powder

5 Creme Eggs

Method

Cream together the butter and sugar until smooth and creamy.

Then add your egg, and mix well.

Add your dry ingredients and mix until you get a dough like texture. If it is too sticky, add more flour. If it is too dry, add a dash of milk.

Chop up your creme eggs into small pieces. I popped mine in the fridge for a while first so the 'goo' wasn't all sticky.

Mix the creme egg into your cookie mixture.

Roll into balls and pop onto a greased baking tray. Spread these out as they do grow quite large! I think mine were slightly too sticky but that didn't affect the final outcome, it just made my hands a lot messier!

Bake for around 12-15 minutes on 180 degrees C. When these come out of the oven they do not look cooked, they are still gooey. This is perfect. Leave them to cool for around 25 minutes and they will harden on the outside, but remain soft in the middle. So delicious. Enjoy!

Rocky Road on a budget..

The other day I was looking for a Rocky road recipe, when I found this really easy one by Nigella Lawson. (Click here)

It required minimal ingredients and literally took 5 minutes to make. I also chose budget friendly ingredients, and it still tasted amazing. I bought my ingredients from Sainsburys, and used the cheapest options where possible.

I weighed out my biscuits and crushed them in the bag, ready to add to my melted chocolate, butter and golden syrup mixture.

It tasted better than it looked!

I then added my biscuits and marshmallows and placed it into a tray and left it in the fridge overnight.

I then took the rocky road out of the fridge, and cut it into bitesize chunks, which I then ate far too many of! Oops. They tasted great though, you should definitely try them!

Hello Lindt!*

About a year ago now I signed up to a website called BzzAgent which is a word of mouth website where you can sample their products in exchange for a review. When I signed up, I completed all the surveys and unfortunately none of the campaigns were suitable for me to test, and I kind of forgot about it... Until now.

I couldn’t have possibly received a more apt product! 5 100g bars of the Hello Lindt chocolate in flavours Strawberry Cheesecake, Caramel Brownie, Salted Caramel, Crunchy Nougat and Cookies and Cream, plus 2 39g Treat Bars for me to sample at my own leisure.

I have never been happier to receive a sample in my life. Especially a full sized sample at that! Of course, for research purposes I had to try all of the products out (what a shame hey!) I immediately thought that my favourite would be the caramel brownie flavour as I am a HUGE brownie fan, and although this was amazing, the salted caramel topped the lot as it had that extra edge and wasn’t too sickly. These bars have the creamy taste of Lindt with the added extras of the other flavours. I was in heaven! 

I literally cannot fault these bars. I’ve always been curious about trying them and I am glad I have had the opportunity. I LOVE every flavour!

If you would like to sign up to BzzAgent, click this link. 

Remember to fill out the surveys and maybe you too will be sampling some products very soon..

*I was sent these products for the purposes of a review. This post represents my honest opinions.