Review: Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates

As you may already know, I've pledged to buy only certified fair-trade chocolate because the conventional chocolate industry utilizes child slavery. Unlike Baby Toolkit's Adrienne and her husband, I can't give up chocolate completely. But the biggest problem I've run into is that it's hard to find fair-trade chocolate that's not a simple bar. For instance, I've already mentioned how happy I was to discover Lake Champlain Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa.

I make a lot of chocolate chip cookies, and I've gotten tired of chopping up chocolate bars to make the cookies. So I started hunting online for fair-trade chocolate chips. The only ones that I could find were at Sweet Earth Organic Chocolates. I placed an order on Tuesday, and it arrived yesterday. I bought several pounds of bulk milk chocolate chips, as well as a small package of dark chocolate chips and a small package of peanut butter cups. I've tasted the milk chocolate chips and the peanut butter cups and both are delicious.

In order to minimize shipping costs, I followed their recommendation to call them and discuss the order with Joanne. She was helpful and assured me that my purchase would fit in a USPS priority mail box for $13. That seems like a steep amount of "handling" (it costs $8.95 to ship a flat rate priority mail box), but the chocolate came well-padded with bubble wrap and kraft paper.

If I can find another supplier of fair trade chocolate chips, I would probably buy some just to taste them the next time that I need chocolate chips. But if there isn't another supplier, I'll be happy to buy from Sweet Earth again.

Lake Champlain Products are at Whole Foods

When I posted my review of Lake Champlain Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa, I mentioned that I ordered it online from the Lake Champlain web site and paid $6.95 for shipping. Today I discovered that the larger Whole Foods in my area carries a wide selection of Lake Champlain products, including the Organic Fair Trade Cocoa. If I'd known that, I would have bought it in the store (I didn't think to check the price, being distracted by a demanding toddler).

Review: Lake Champlain Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa

When I posted Martha Stewart's recipe for a homemade hot chocolate mix, I mentioned that I was looking for a fair trade cocoa. A few weeks later, I used up the first batch of hot chocolate mix, so I need to buy some cocoa to make another. Some searching around the internet led me to Lake Champlain, which offers an Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa.

At $8.00 for 10 ounces, it wasn't cheap. I bought three cans. Shipping brought the total to $30.95.

I'm committed to buying fair trade chocolate. I will not support child slavery.

And it was worth it, not just because I'm not supporting a company that's ruining the lives of innocent children. It was worth it because this is the best cocoa I've ever had! It's rich, silky, and has a depth of flavor I've never tasted in unsweetened cocoa before. It's going to be delicious in chocolate cakes and cookies, and I'm already trying to decide which recipe to try when I have the time.

If you want to splurge on some unsweetened cocoa, I highly recommend Lake Champlain's Organic Fair Trade Unsweetened Cocoa.

Note: I made my purchase through Ebates, which gave me a small percentage of my purchase back. I really am trying to develop my money-saving internet shopping habits.

Review: Kellogg's Special K Chocolatey Delight cereal

You may have seen commercials for the new Kellogg's cereal, Special K Chocolatey Delight. The cereal is touted as a dessert substitute to help you avoid greater temptations.

I wouldn't call this cereal dessert, but it is a nice breakfast cereal. I mix it up with some Cheerios, since they're lower in sugar and I have always have some on hand for Tyler. If you like regular Special K and you like chocolate, you'll love this. If you don't like regular Special K but you do like chocolate, you'll probably like this, since there's a good amount of chocolate in it.

Even if you don't like Special K or chocolate but you do like sugary cereal, you'll probably like this. At least, that's my conclusion after watching Marc become the primary Special K Chocolatey Delight eater in our house. I actually started to get a little bit annoyed that he was eating all of *my* cereal.

Especially because Special K Chocolatey Delight is not the cheapest cereal at Target or Ralphs. At Target, it's $3.24 per box, whereas cereals like Cookie Crisp and Frosted Mini-Wheats are $2.34 and $2.54 per box, respectively. At Ralphs, a box of Special K Chocolatey Delight is over $4. I get an occasional coupon from the Sunday paper, but we eat more than an occasional box of cereal.

So I was happy to find a deal at Amazon that works out to $2.74 per box. Amazon has a pack of four boxes for $15.95, which isn't a great deal by itself. But if you buy $29 worth of select Kellogg's products, you get an instant $10 with code HEALTHYB (through Nov. 30). So I bought eight boxes for a total of $21.90, or $2.74 per box.

I realize this isn't the best deal as far as cereal in general goes. But Marc and I are relatively picky eaters, and cereal is a relatively inexpensive breakfast. For us, it's worth it.

Gift Idea for a Chocoholic

I mentioned yesterday that Vosges chocolates were extremely disappointing but I found another chocolatier for my chocoholic friend's birthday gift this year. I think Norman Love Confections was a recommendation I came across on the Cooking Light bulletin boards. Unlike the Vosges chocolates, the Norman Love chocolates got rave reviews for both appearance and taste. In fact, I've been tempted to buy some for myself but the price keeps me in check ($22 for a 10-piece box, plus shipping). However, if you're looking for a special holiday gift of chocolates, I highly recommend Norman Love.

Review: Vosges Chocolates - A tale of disappointment

I've seen Vosges Haut-Chocolat featured on TV several times in the last four or five years, including multiple times on the food network. The founder, Katrina Markoff, has also been a judge on Iron Chef America. Vosges is known for its unique flavor combinations, particularly an unusual use of spices. I have a friend, C., who is a self-described chocoholic and also extremely difficult to shop for since she is one of those people who has everything. Last winter, I hit upon the idea of sending her chocolates for a Christmas gift, and it seemed natural to send her a box of Vosges.

C. was thrilled when the chocolates arrived, but less enthused when I talked to her later. She said they tasted just okay and that See's Candies chocolates were actually better.

Shortly after I placed the order for C., we began receiving Vosges catalogs in the mail. The pictures and descriptions are amazing. Unable to resist the temptation, I headed out to Neiman Marcus in Beverly Hills, which sells a few Vosges products. I was hoping for the Caramel Marshmallows and a Macha Tea Exotic Candy Bar but since neither of those were available, I took home a box of Caramel Toffee. It was so disappointing. C.'s friend actually makes much better toffee that disappears in a matter of days in our house. The Vosges toffee lingered for months.

Although I'll never order from Vosges again, we do still enjoy receiving their catalogs - they really are food porn. And the best part is, we're not even tempted anymore.

Review: Nature Valley Roasted Nut Crunch

I was pretty happy when a PR firm I recently started working with asked me to review a couple of boxes of Nature Valley's new product, Roasted Nut Crunch bars, in peanut and almond varieties. I buy and eat Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey granola barsall the time, but I don't like nuts that much so I wouldn't have bought these without having tried them first but I was definitely curious. Guess what? They're good!

They're definitely on the salty side, so part of me wishes they included chocolate chips or better yet, were dipped in chocolate. But that would obviously have a negative impact on the nutritional information, which is pretty good for a tasty snack. Each peanut bar has 190 calories, 12 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated, 0.5 grams polyunsaturated, and 10 grams monounsaturated), 180 mg of sodium, 2 grams of fiber, 7 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein. The ingredient list is pleasantly short: peanuts, sunflower seeds, sugar, corn syrup, salt, and almond flour. No trans fats in sight - but Marc didn't like the stickiness that I assume is a result of the corn syrup.

If you prefer larger snacks, I would recommend eating an apple or other fruit or having a glass of milk with the bar, since it's not big. But if you take your time eating, which is easy to do since there are large pieces of nuts, I think you'll find that this is a satisfying snack by itself. I particularly like that it's the kind of snack that will keep well in my diaper bag and in the car, so it's great for when I'm out and about. The suggested retail price is $3.39 for a box of six bars, but I'm betting you can find it for less at discount stores like Target.

Cross-posted at CFO.

Review: Nature Valley Roasted Nut Crunch

Cross-posted at CFO.

I was pretty happy when a PR firm I just started working with asked me to review a couple of boxes of Nature Valley's new product, Roasted Nut Crunch bars, in peanut and almond varieties. I buy and eat Nature Valley Oats 'n Honey granola barsall the time, but I don't like nuts that much so I wouldn't have bought these without having tried them first but I was definitely curious. Guess what? They're good!

They're definitely on the salty side, so part of me wishes they included chocolate chips or better yet, were dipped in chocolate. But that would obviously have a negative impact on the nutritional information, which is pretty good for a tasty snack. Each peanut bar has 190 calories, 12 grams of fat (1.5 grams saturated, 0.5 grams polyunsaturated, and 10 grams monounsaturated), 180 mg of sodium, 2 grams of fiber, 7 grams of sugar, and 7 grams of protein. The ingredient list is pleasantly short: peanuts, sunflower seeds, sugar, corn syrup, salt, and almond flour. No trans fats in sight - but Marc didn't like the stickiness that I assume is a result of the corn syrup.

If you prefer larger snacks, I would recommend eating an apple or other fruit or having a glass of milk with the bar, since it's not big. But if you take your time eating, which is easy to do since there are large pieces of nuts, I think you'll find that this is a satisfying snack by itself. I particularly like that it's the kind of snack that will keep well in my diaper bag and in the car, so it's great for when I'm out and about. The suggested retail price is $3.39 for a box of six bars, but I'm betting you can find it for less at discount stores like Target.