By Denise Kitashima Dutton: With folks scarfing down old-school comfort foods old like crazy, why not try a few new things? Don’t go crazy; I’m not talking about marmite out of the jar. (Unless that’s your thing; then go nuts.) But something close to what you love, but with a twist. Me, I’m getting into different types of chocolate. And yes, that’s different from my usual new chocolate I try on any other day. Because I’m eating it all by myself. Fine. It’s that I don’t even have to pretend that I’d share. Happy now?

Well, with this Hu Kitchen Almond Butter + Puffed Quinoa Dark Chocolate bar I’m definitely happy. Rich, luscious dark chocolate that’s so smooth and creamy I had to triple check to see that there’s no dairy in this bar. Nope, just good ol’ cocoa butter. In fact, there are only five ingredients in this delicious block of goodness, every single one of them something I can pronounce. No weird stabilizers, no funky preservatives (do bear that in mind if you’ve got leftovers from your first taste – pop this into the fridge to maintain its peak freshness), just 70% cacao, sugar, almonds, quinoa and cocoa butter. Boom.

I don’t know how Hu is able to craft such a delectable bar from these basic ingredients. Yes, it’s all in the proportions and whateverall. But it’s amazing and I love it. There’s a crunch of the popped quinoa, the slide of the soft almond butter, and of course the snap and chew of that chocolate. Absolutely lovely. 

I think I need another. Perhaps in hazelnut? And maybe get myself another pair of sweatpants while I’m at it. Might as well get maximum cozy while I enjoy this treat. 

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now.  She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour.  Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fangirl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.

Review by Denise Kitashima Dutton: Dried cherries and dark chocolate. Two great tastes y’all. I’m not a chocolate covered berry kinda gal; the berry ends up mushy and the chocolate ends up damp. It’s a downer no matter how you look at it. But dried fruit covered in chocolate? Sign me up. Especially if we’re talking cherries, heaven on a stem.

These are tart dried cherries, not the Bing that you may find in gourmet groceries sold by the pound. Think of these as slightly larger Rasinets, but with a higher level pedigree. These bits are half the size of their larger counterparts, but have a lovely bite to them that blends well with the dark chocolate. That tart bite hits right in the jawline, tightening up the salivary glands as each bite is chewed.

The chocolate is serviceable, at 64% cacao. It blends so well with the tart of the cherries it’s difficult to distinguish itself as a solo performer. My only issue is the chocolate coating, with tends to crumble if you try to make each cherry a two-bite treat. If the chocolate were a bit thicker, it’d stand to such dental scrutiny and perhaps make its presence known a bit more, but as it is pieces of this coating threaten to fall onto the table more times than not. It’s a little thing – I could just pop ’em whole into my gaping maw – but I do enjoy biting into each piece. Double the satisfaction, right? Right.

Pair these with hot tea, coffee, or a nice wine (sparkling or no) for optimal enjoyment. If you want to take it to the next level, a liqueur or port would go nicely as well.

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now. She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour. Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fan Girl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.

Review by Denise Kitashima Dutton: I’m always game for dark chocolate. Plus, I’m a sucker for hazelnuts (aka filbert, a name I absolutely love) in any form. So hello, combination of the two! Ghirardelli blends their premium chocolate with nicely minced nuts to create a bar that’s going onto my list of favorite candies.

This chocolate is chewy at room temperature. It’s a nice chewiness, without the waxy feel some lesser chocolate bars have. Substantial scattering of diced hazelnuts give each bite a bit of crunch to go along with that chew. (Note: putting the bar in the fridge gives it a snap that makes it easy to parse out equal squares, and gives the nuts extra crispness.) Ghirardelli makes no mention of the percentage of cacao in this bar, but as it’s in their “Intense Dark” line and the chocolate has a lovely deep color, I’d guess it’s over 70%. Could be wrong in that, though.

Each bar gives you eight 1×1″ squares, which makes parceling out individual nibbles very easy. Y’know, if you’re the kind that can stop at one square. The website says this bar is perfect for sharing, but screw that. It’s too yummy; before you know it, it’s gone.

Pairs well with wine, coffee, a nice oolong, or champagne. If you can stand to share, add squares of this bar to a charcuterie board. It’d make incredible s’mores, especially if you swap your graham crackers with shortbread or solid slices of angel food cake. What? With chocolate this good, you’ll want to head for the good stuff just to keep up.

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now. She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour. Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fan Girl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.

Review by Denise Dutton: I could get used to high-quality chocolate. Don’t get me wrong; I love me some Thousand Dollar Bars and Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. I’m as red-blooded as the next chocoholic. But there’s something absolutely decadent about a Fair Trade bar made with organic ingredients. Something that’s got less than a handful of ingredients, yet tastes like something Big Candy could only dream of creating. Like the stuff that comes from Hu Kitchen. I’ve bitten into their Almond Butter+Puffed Quinoa bar and it was absolutely wonderful. But I wondered; would dark chocolate and hazelnut spread work well together, or would it be chocolate overload?

I needn’t have worried. Hazelnut is just as yummy as its almond predecessor. Instead of a Nutella-esque flavor, think of actual filberts hazelnuts ground up and mixed with a touch of sugar to form paste. I loved the nutty taste of this filling, and I’ll definitely be coming back for more; this ain’t no praline, it’s full nut y’all, and it’s glorious. I love hazelnuts, and while I also enjoy the chocolaty spread made from them, this is much more my speed. The nuts are front and center, in perfect balance with the rich and cocoa-heavy chocolate that surrounds it. Having too sweet a filling would have sent this bar into unappetizing sugar overload, and I applaud Hu for knowing when to say when. 

This bar easily breaks into eight two-big-bite pieces, and I’d add them to a fruit and cheese tray, or charcuterie board. The not-too-sweet balance of dark chocolate and nuts would play well with soft or hard cheeses, or any meat that isn’t overly peppered. Pop some bubbly to go with it – the cocoa butter richness here almost screams for something bubbly as an accompaniment – and enjoy. But I find that a few squares are perfect; you’ll want to savor this bar, not shove it into your pie-hole like an animal. Are we not men? Well, we’re not on the Island of Doctor Moreau, nor are we Devo (at least I’m not, however much I long for one of those hats), so let us savor. 

Or just hole up in your rattiest sweats and scarf down a couple of pieces with a plain seltzer while binging documentaries on YouTube. Tomato-potato. 

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now. She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour. Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fangirl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.

Review by Denise Kitashima Dutton: Danish chocolates? Don’t mind if I do!  Especially when the package itself gives me a great excuse to indulge. Coffee time? Yes please! And while these chocolates  would go great with coffee, I had mine with a stout, and then a mug of green tea. I was pleased. 

Rather than doing one long slog as I describe things, let’s do it piece by piece, shall we? 

• Milk chocolate & toffee = more like a Carmello  with that nice, liquidy filling. Yes, there’s a toffee flavor, but the runny filling is more like a very soft caramel. That’s a good thing.
• Dark chocolate & mint = wowza that mint is strong! And also very artificial tasting. Blew my wig back y’all. It’s like a melted candy cane, and not in a good way. It’s very oozy, but as much as I love it ooze and the crisp but luscious dark chocolate? I can’t handle that much mint. I let the filling drip out of the second piece, and ate the chocolate. I ain’t ashamed.
• White chocolate with marzipan & orange filling = this one I dreaded. I don’t typically like white chocolate unless it’s in a cookie, and orange sweets aren’t my bag. However, this turned out to be one of my favorites. The mix of marzipan and orange balance nicely, and the white chocolate takes a back seat to those yummy fillings. (Okay in all honesty, there’s a touch of dark chocolate on the top and bottom of each piece. But that makes no real headway in the flavor profile.)
• Milk chocolate with nougat and hazelnut = a popular blend, and for good reason. That smooth hazelnut filling plays extremely well with the milk chocolate. The hazelnut is a crispy and gave a great crunch. On to the next piece, or I may find I’ve had my Milk Chocolate Haters Club card revoked.
• Dark chocolate & ginger flavored toffee = as with the mint and regular toffee, this filing is weepy. Unlike the other two, there’s substantially more chocolate here, and that’s a good thing. Too much ginger filling may have been overkill, as it was with the mint. Instead, there’s a hint of liquid filling in a crunchy chocolate cup, hinting at a nice seasonal gingerbread-esque flavor. Each piece is set into a stiff foil mini-cup, in case things try to leak out of sides. I had no trouble with wannabe escape artists here. And now I know that dark chocolate and gingerbread go well together. Thank you, Jakobsen.
• Dark chocolate with marzipan and whole almond = okay, this one’s my absolute favorite of the bunch. I may not like amaretto, but I dig a good marzipan. And this one’s good. Topping it off with a macron almond is almost gilding the lily, but the marzipan stands tall. It’s not overly sweet, which for me is a mark of well done marzipan, with nary a whiff of added flavor to ruin things. (Artificial almond flavor is the devil. There, I’ve said it.)

Before this, I hadn’t heard of Jakobsen chocolates. But then I realized they’re from Carletti, the folks who make Big Ben Licorice. Ah, that I know. And now that I’ve tried these chocolates, I have two favorites from this company. Never a good thing to play favorites; you never know what you’ll miss. I found that out with the delightful white chocolate bits in this box, and now I know there’s more to this brand than packets of pre-wrapped sweets. I feel so educated.

Denise Kitashima Dutton has been a reviewer since 2003, and hopes to get the hang of things any moment now. She believes that bluegrass is not hell in music form, and that beer is better when it’s a nitro pour. Besides GMR, you can find her at Atomic Fangirl, Movie-Blogger.com, or at that end seat at the bar, multi-tasking with her Kindle.