Norman Love Chocolates #15: Pumpkin

It's winter in New England, and while I may not be craving mango, this is normally the time of year that I crave pumpkin. When I was in college, it never failed that if it was fall or winter and I saw a jar of something pumpkin-y, I would buy it. My craving has curbed a little bit since then, but I still love pumpkin pie (doused with whipped cream, of course). So, a pumpkin chocolate? Sure, why not! I'm up for it.

Another thing I do every year is to buy a pie pumpkin (or "sugar pumpkin") in anticipation of making a pumpkin pie completely from scratch. Of course, the pumpkin ends up becoming a decoration in my kitchen and usually sticks around for a period of time well past winter, and then I throw it out because it's bad. I've done this at least three times already--seriously, I am a huge impulse food shopper, especially when it comes to kitschy farmers' market items.

To be honest, I wasn't all that impressed with the flavor of this chocolate. It tasted more custardy than pumpkiny (even looked like it, from the inside), with a strong nutmeg aftertaste. The pumpkin did not mask the flavor of the white chocolate shell, so I had that to deal with too, which is probably why this chocolate was not one of my favorites. One of the things I like about pumpkin pie is that it's creamy and not so sweet (especially because I build an igloo of whipped cream around it), but this chocolate was just too sweet and not that pumpkiny. In the mean time, I'll just stick to my pie.

Norman Love Chocolates #14: Hot Dark Chocolate

This chocolate looked like fireworks, which makes sense because it was the Hot Dark Chocolate. I've had a few chocolate/pepper combinations before. They're mostly good, but sometimes the chalkiness of the dark chocolate doesn't blend well with spicy peppers. I like spice much more when it's mixed in with something like hot chocolate.

In fact, the Mayan people are the first known to have made drinks with cocoa, but the only thing hot about their cocoa was the chili peppers. Apparently, they made a cold drink with crushed cocoa seeds, cornmeal, water, chilis, and other ingredients. I'm completely guessing when I say that the drink was probably served hot (and sugary) once it made its way over to Europe. My mom used to make her own version by heating up milk on the stove and stirring in cocoa powder and sugar, and then adding a little half-and-half. Bottoms up!

I was really surprised at how good this chocolate was. The first taste to hit me was the intense sweetness coupled with the creaminess, then a bit of chocolate and a little spicy aftertaste that went very well with the chocolate. I suspect that I enjoyed it so much because the creaminess of the truffle lessened the burn of the pepper. The description says that this is a "dark chocolate confection ... infused with jalapeno pepper," but it really tastes more like milk chocolate--the best milk chocolate you've ever had. It was like a tiny explosion of flavor in my mouth.

If spiciness is something that bugs you, you might not like this, but it's really not even as spicy as medium salsa and it didn't stick around for more than a minute or two. But you definitely want to try this chocolate just for the intense flavor, and then wash it down with a little milk if you wish.

Norman Love Chocolates #13: White Chocolate Raspberry

This sappy-shaped confection is the White Chocolate Raspberry. I've been eating a lot of the white chocolate confections lately so I did a little research into white chocolate.

I already knew that white chocolate is made with cocoa butter, milk, and sugar, and it lacks cocoa solids because it contains no cocoa powder, liquor, or paste. Because of this, it also lacks theobromine, a compound that gives chocolate its brown color and bitter taste (the darker the chocolate, the more theobromine). Theobromine is what makes chocolate toxic to pets, but white chocolate has an insignificant amount so that's why those gourmet dog biscuits you see are sometimes dipped in the stuff. (Tangentially related: Cats have no sweet-receptors so they generally have no problem avoiding chocolate. However, this doesn't explain why my cat ate half a chocolate bar a few months ago--and no, nothing happened to her, she was just fine.)

The inside was like a thick raspberry frosting with just the right amount of tartness and sweetness. The white chocolate shell went with the raspberry very well and even though I could taste it, I didn't mind it. Of course, that makes sense because white chocolate raspberry cheesecake used to be my favorite dessert from our local bakery.

Norman Love Chocolates #12: Peanut Butter & Jelly

It's Peanut Butter Jelly Time! (I know, I'm sorry, but the song did get in my head when I found out that I would be eating the Peanut Butter & Jelly chocolate.) This chocolate was on my wishlist to try out, so I'm really happy it was in the box.

When I was a kid, I thought you could make peanut butter by mashing up peanuts in butter, so I used to ask my mom to make me sandwiches with crunchy peanut butter, jelly, and butter. My logic was that I was making some sort of magic peanut butter in addition to the stuff already on the sandwich. Also, I thought I saw Mr. Rogers do it originally but I was thinking, "Nah, he probably just did a tour of a factory and I remembered it wrong." So I did a little googling and in fact a bunch of people remember the episode where he mixed together peanuts and butter to make "peanut butter".

Also, when my dad was a kid, my grandma Marge used to make peanut butter & jelly sandwiches by mixing together the peanut butter and jelly in a bowl and spreading it on the bread at one time. I know there's a jar you can buy like that now but she was totally ahead of her time, people.

This chocolate tastes as delicious as it looks. The "jelly" is strawberry and it's very nice and smooth and pairs perfectly with the smooth, thick peanut butter. It tastes like a Reese's peanut butter cup with a dollop of jam on top. In fact, that would be a good idea for the Reese's company to market. Or how about this: Nutella, peanut butter, and strawberry jam sandwiches! Yum. I would definitely like to eat a few more of these chocolates.

Norman Love Chocolates #11: Cinnamon Roll

I wasn't too excited to try the cinnamon roll chocolate, just because I don't really have a taste for the real thing, but it's good to try new things and challenge your taste buds because you don't know if you will have developed a taste for something. (Case in point: those new Pringle's Extreme Dill Pickle chips. It's amazing how fast I can munch those up without even thinking about it.)

The inside was the consistency of semi-firm icing, which makes sense since this chocolate contains "buttery cinnamon and pure sugar icing" with white chocolate ganache. The taste wasn't as objectionable as I thought--it tasted mostly of icing with a few notes of cinnamon and even a little yeasty taste from the imaginary bread. It was a tad too sweet for me, but I imagine that people who already enjoy cinnamon rolls would also love this.

Norman Love Chocolates #10: Caramel Apple

Today I tried the Caramel Apple chocolate. This was one of those chocolates that was almost too pretty to eat--if you click on the picture you can see the detail with the sparkly golden chocolate paint over the speckled green.

Caramel apples always sound good in concept--a nutritious fruit coated with a mixture of butter and sugar!--but they were always too unwieldy for me. The curvature of the apple makes it too hard to get a good bite in. But this isn't normally an issue for me because I usually don't like apple desserts, with the exception of one: a good apple-cheddar pie with homemade crust and streusal topping.

The inside was different than I expected because it was melted caramel instead of a solid truffle. It was in a white chocolate shell, and I think dark or milk chocolate would've overwhelmed the caramel apple flavor and made it taste more like a Rolo. It tasted exactly like you would think--very caramelly with a hint of apple. In fact, this confection was better than a regular caramel apple because I didn't have a sore jaw afterwards from cranking open my mouth to get a bite, and I didn't have sore teeth from the mound of caramel that comes off after you take a single bite. They should just put these on a toothpick, stick a few nuts on the outside, and sell them in a pack!

Norman Love Chocolates #9: Peanut Brittle Truffle

Peanut Brittle is a very simple candy to make--basically, you boil sugar and water together, then add nuts and maybe some spices and other ingredients (butter and baking soda), and let the mixture cool and harden. Because it's so easy, this was probably an old recipe, but the history of peanut brittle is up for debate. Some sources say it originated in the US in the 19th century, others say the Celts invented it. I couldn't find a good website with cited sources, so I'll just leave it at that.

Brittle is one of those candies that I really enjoyed as a kid but not so much as an adult. I'm not sure what happens to your tastebuds, but kids usually enjoy foods with simple flavors, which is why desserts made for kids are extra sweet. I've tried to enjoy treats from my childhood only to be disgusted at the sweetness. (I think there was actually a candy goo that I once ate that was basically flavored corn syrup in a tube--although even when I was a kid that was too much sugar for me!)

Funnily enough, when I first read the description of this chocolate, I thought it was Peanut Butter Truffle, so I was really surprised to see the caramel-translucence of the inside. Then I tasted it and I thought, "Hm, tastes more like caramel than peanut butter but maybe my taste is just weird." Upon closer examination of the chocolate brochure, I realized it was peanut brittle, and then it all made sense. I could taste the notes of peanut mixed with caramelized sugar and butter. Isn't that funny how what you think something is can totally change your perception?

Anyway, once I figured it out, this chocolate definitely tasted like peanut brittle, although more brittle and less peanut. Very sweet, perfect for a kid. That is, if you're the kind of person to give your kids very expensive truffles instead of just a pack of M&Ms.