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.

My 5 Favourite Healthy Recipe Books

I love recipe books. I almost have an obsession with them. I'm a sucker for a book with a nice spine and have already filled a shelf in my bedroom with all different types of recipe books. Most of my books were cake related and if this post goes down well perhaps I will list my top 5 cake recipe books! These are in no particular order.

The first recipe book with a healthy theme to it that I bought was the Deliciously Ella book. After being a huge fan of her blog and the healthy recipes on there, I had to get the book. It's written similarly to her blog and the photo's are laid out really nicely. The recipes are all plant based which I am happy with but I can't imagine serving a meat free meal up to my carnivorous family. I've tried the baked beans and the energy balls so far. I would love to try more but it's quite expensive to get all of the ingredients. I'm looking forward to book two!

My most recent purchase was the I Quit Sugar: Your Complete 8-Week Detox Program and Cookbook by Sarah Wilson. I flicked through this in a book shop and thought the recipes looked really good and a great way of reducing sugar in my meals. The bacon and egg muffins are amazing. I haven't tried much else but I am hoping to start cutting down on sugar so this will come in handy.

I also recently got Get The Glow by Madeleine Shaw. I was also a fan of her blog before I got this book and although these recipes are also really healthy, the ingredients are a bit more readily available and there are plenty of meat dishes to please everyone. There is so much I want to try, I have practically put tabs in half of the book. This fish recipe looks really delicious and simple to do and I think this will be my first experiment!

My boyfriend bought me this book for my birthday and it's the Sainsbury's Healthy Recipe Collection. This is great because I know all of the ingredients are readily available at Sainsbury's right around the corner. I can also adapt these recipes to my Slimming World plan and the majority of them are meals that everyone in the family will enjoy. I've made the Turkey Koftas with rice so far!

The final healthy recipe book I love is the Thug Kitchen cook book. This is filled with plenty of vegan recipes and although American, it is simple enough to find the British equivalent of the ingredients in my local supermarkets. This book is not for the innocent, it is filled with swear words which I personally find hilarious and fitting. I haven't tried anything from this book yet but the pancake recipe looks amazing and I can't wait to get some ingredients to create some of these delicious mouth watering recipes.

What are your favourite cook books?