CHOCOLATE CREATOR

http://blogchocolate.com/2011/01/29/im-a-chocolate-creator/

Ages ago, Bianca from ChocCreate contacted me with an offer to customize my own chocolate bar. My first reaction was that ChocCreate was another one of those clever chocolatiers who mold chocolate into fanciful shapes and market to brides-to-be and creative marketers. Usually those kinds of chocolates look fun but taste waxy and I am not a fan.


But ChocCreate is different. Their concept is to allow their customers to actually chose the ingredients of their chocolate bar and make a one-of-a-kind creation. They sent me a $25 gift certificate to concoct whatever chocolate I could dream up.

And my heart started beating faster. Because I was so smitten with the concept, I ended up making four chocolate bars and spending extra. And I had a blast.

You can make your bar with dark, milk or white chocolate and they purport to use only the finest German chocolate as their base. There are over 101 ingredients you can combine including every fruit and nut you can fathom plus a variety of cutesy decorations to add. But then there is the outrageous – 23karat gold power, mimosa flowers (which, by the way, were delish), cheddar gold fish and tortilla chips!

This is what I made …
#1 “All My Favs in One Place” = Dark chocolate with candied almonds, red Hawaiian sea salt, sour tart cherries and topped with a pair of candy lips. Mwah.
#2 “Back To Nature” = Dark chocolate with blueberries, kiwi, mimosa flowers, raw pistachios, whole flax seeds, cinnamon and a candy palm tree.
#3 “Roll of the Dice” = Milk chocolate with candied mint leaves, granulated honey, nutmeg, raspberries, teddy grahams, walnuts and topped with some dice-shaped candy.
#4 “Just Because I Can” = Milk chocolate with candied rose flowers, cheddar gold fish, gummi bears, pumpkin seeds & tortilla chips (I *know*. I am an 11-year-old boy).

They were all fun and I wasn’t disappointed when I received them. I have never enjoyed a chocolate review more. Because it was MY chocolate!

I preferred the quality of the dark chocolate over the milk and my favourite bar (hands down) was creation #1 – but that’s not surprising because I really did just put all my favourite chocolate pairings in one bar. Perfection.

While I won’t quit my day job and become a chocolatier anytime soon, they were all a hit except #4. Which, well, was not to be expected. How could I have not been curious to see such bizarre ingredients with chocolate? And it tasted as strange as it sounded. Especially the bites that included cheddar gold fish. Whoa. But that was my fault -not ChocCreate. However, I would caution, no matter how adventurous you are feeling, to skip the gummi bears as they are super stale. All the other ingredients, however, were of absolutely fabulous quality.

Each of my Sandra-ized chocolate bars cost between $7.95 and $11.40. Not bad for individualized, interesting chocolates that you get to control.

I have to admit, I am hooked. Ever since placing my first order I have been day-dreaming about other chocolatey combinations to try. I have a feeling that ChocCreate.com will live in my internet browser’s “favourites” for a long time to come!