Loving Earth Review & Giveaway

Whilst it was the gorgeous packaging that first drew me towards the Loving Earth stall at the Just V show earlier this year I was further sucked in by their ridiculously delicious chocolate bars - raw food has no business being this good! Their flavours range from the super dark 85% Dark bar all the way through to the Creamy bar which is made from 47% cacao and 23% coconut.

My veganism has always been driven by my love for animals first but my love for the environment comes in a close second. I know, I know, I fly a lot but I also pay to recycle all of the plastics, try to buy products in recycled packaging or, even better, with no packaging, I travel by train or bus whenever time allows, and I've never owned a car. What I'm saying is that whilst I was originally sucked in by the taste of these coconuty chocolate treats I've become a loyal customer because it turns out that Loving Earth really do love the earth.

Their whole philosophy is based upon respect for the environment and sustainability plays a big part in that. Loving Earth's bars come in 80g and 30g packs and all of their packaging is sustainable, the 80g boxes are made from post-consumer fibres and printed with vegetable inks and the 30g packs are compostable and made from cellulose from sustainably managed trees. Even the clear film the chocolate itself is wrapped in is made from a 100% renewable and compostable vegetable source.

Confectionary NYC

I fell hard for Lagusta's Luscious long before I ever tried their chocolates thanks to word of mouth and the power of the internet. That may sound strange but chocolate is one of my favourite things and when you do as much vegan foodie research as I do you know where to find the good stuff. After years of gazing at the Lagusta's Luscious website and following their beautiful Instagram feed I tried their chocolate for the first time in June 2014 after winning a voucher at Vida Vegan Con, waiting patiently for my chosen chocolates to ship, and sitting on the doorstep on my Austin Air B&B on delivery day because I knew that everything would melt in the hot Texas sun. 

As soon as I bit into my first caramel I knew was in love, I'd never be satisfied with mediocre vegan chocolates again! 

Vegan Tuck Box - Snack Box Review

Vegan Tuck Box was the UK's first Vegan Snack Box and after spotting them at vegan fairs all over the country I was beyond excited when they contacted me to see if I'd like to review their subscription box. They sent the classic box all the way to Austin, TX so that I could try it which was super nice of them and it arrived quickly and mostly in one piece!

There was one chocolatey treat that didn't make it thanks to the Texas heat (it had been on my doorstep in 35 degree heat for a few hours before I found it) which made it quite literally explode! No biggie though there were still 12 things packed inside ready for me to enjoy. 

Nick and I shared the box as it seemed a little mean to exclude him from the snacking fun and we started with the Quibbles sour cream and chive cashews, I was a fan - I like snacking on nuts and this unusual flavour was fun to nibble on. The Polar Dream White bar from Premium Chocolatiers was a new one to me, I'd heard of the brand but I hadn't tried anything from them before and from the name I was expecting white chocolate but this was a milk chocolate bar. Nick was super into it, it reminded me of sweet easter egg style chocolate which isn't my fave but I know a lot of people love that type of chocolate.

The Coco Caravan raw chocolate and caramel bar was more up my street, I really enjoyed nibbling on it and when I say nibbling I mean devouring like some kinda chocolate starved savage! The box also included Angelic gluten free sunflower seed biscuits, an Olly breakfast bar, some Nudie Snacks toasted coconut chips and a Pearls of Samarkand Himalayan mix which I'm saving for our European adventures, it'll be a great hiking snack. Sadly I had to give the righteous raspberry and sweet basil dressing, the Provamel rice and almond drink the Roots vegetable chips away to my Austin buddies as I was heading outa town because I just had waaay too many snacks and things to fit into my bags but they looked great and are just the kind of things I like to see in a snack box. As I'm allergic to peppers Nick munched on the sweet chilli salsa pea snacks which he thought were pretty mild and satisfyingly crunchy. From looking at the Vegan Tuck Box website the thing that exploded was a Torino Noir chocolate stem which OMG I would have looooved.

The box also included a bar by health foodie leaning company Go Macro. I'd previously enjoyed their chocolate peanut butter chocolate chip bar and I loved this peanut butter protein bar just as much. My only issue with them is that they call their bars "the tastiest and cleanest bar on the market", calling food "clean" goes beyond a pet peeve for me and strays way over the line into the it makes my blood boil zone. Food is not dirty unless it is literally covered in earth or blood or faeces or something else that's actually dirty. Saying that your food is "clean" implies that the Tofurky sandwich or vegan doughnut I'm munching on is somehow dirty and not good enough which is total and utter BS. Lacy J Davis wrote a post about this same thing just the other day and she articulates her feelings about the #eatclean phenomenon really well.

Go Macro's food shaming issues aside I enjoyed all of the snacks in the box. I thought it was really well rounded and would be good for old vegans, new vegans, people making the transition or even your non-vegan friend who just loves snack boxes. It's curated by long term vegans Kelly and Chrissy who scour the globe each month to fill the box with fun and delicious snacks. If this month is anything to go by they include a tonne of really great vegan treats and on top of that they donate 20p from each box to Hillside Animal Sanctuary which is super cool.

If you're interested in giving this subscription box a whirl just enter "blog20" at checkout to get 20% off of your first box. Oh and if peeking into one box isn't enough to sell you on Vegan Tuck Box greatness you can see contents of the last three boxes right here on their site.

Gimme Chocolate!

I sat down to write this blog post and ended up in a BABYMETAL You Tube hole so here's one of their songs, Gimme Chocolate, which is a great soundtrack to this post as well as being one of my favourite songs of the moment.

I first discovered Pana Chocolate a week after London Veg Fest (this is not a VegFest endorsement, just a fact) when I went to my friend Justine's house to hang out and play with her kitties. She was kind enough to share a bar of Orange Pana Chocolate with me and "OMG yum" were the first two words out of my mouth after taking a bite. I'm not usually a huge raw chocolate fan, most of it is either too bitter, too coconutty or the texture is off but this chocolate is seriously great. You definitely wouldn't mistake it for regular chocolate, this is new and different and my favourite flavours were texturally reminiscent of the insides of a gooey brownie.

After I was unable to find any Pana Chocolate in my local health food store, Infinity Foods, I contacted Pana Chocolate themselves to see if they'd consider sending me any to review and to my delight they not only said yes but sent me a whole box full with 8 new flavours to try (alongside my favourite orange bar) all the way from Australia.

I decided not to dig into these alone and over the last month I've invited all sorts of people over to try them, vegans, vegetarians, and even a health conscious gluten free omnivore. Across the board people were seriously impressed. Okay, my vegan chocolate obsessed friend Josh wasn't won over but that's only one person out of ten or so people. I'd say if you've liked any raw chocolate in the past or are a dark chocolate fan then you'll love these. As well as being delicious the packaging's gorgeous dontcha think? 

I enjoyed almost all of the flavours (I still hate goji berries!) but Orange and Sour Cherry & Vanilla were definitely my favourites closely followed by Mint and then Raw Cacao which all sit at the 60% cacao mark. The Sour Cherry & Vanilla bar is full of big cherry chunks which I loved and they aren't kidding about the sour part. I could have easily eaten the whole bar in one go. Mint on the other hand packs such an intensely minty punch that one square makes the most perfect after dinner nibble.

Pana Chocolate's motto is "Love Your Insides, Love The Earth" and it's stamped all over their bars, they take the motto seriously and all of their packaging is recycled or recyclable and printed with vegetable inks. Everything they make is vegan and their chocolate bars are made from fair trade certified, raw, organic ingredients with no refined sugars.

Pana Chocolate can be found at Brighton's Sunny Foods and Eastbourne's Pathway Pantry as well as at As Nature Intended and Planet Organic stores in London and all over Australia. I'm really hoping to be able to visit one of the Pana Chocolate stores in Sydney or Melbourne next year especially as I just noticed they make a rose flavour, yum!

Round Up! Round Up!

I used to love a Wagon Wheel back in my pre-veggie days so I had high hopes for the Round Up by Ananda Foods. I first picked one up at Animal Aid's Christmas Without Cruelty Fair in London last year and quickly developed a habit. I can't believe I haven't blogged about them before but to be honest I usually tear into them so quickly that there's simply no time for photographs! You can just imagine how excited I was when Infinity Foods started selling them as it's basically my corner shop (for the next two months anyway!).

If you've never eaten one a classic Wagon Wheel is completely coated in chocolate but it's also thinner and smaller than the Round Up. The Round Up consists of two soft chocolate biscuits sandwiched either side of a layer of fluffy marshmallow with a strawberry jam centre. The sides are totally coated in thick chocolate and there's a chocolate drizzle ontop. I think this is the perfect amount of chocolate as it means you can eat it without getting your paws completely covered in melted chocolate.

 Okay!

To me this is the perfect treat. Marshmallow, check. Chocolate, check. Jam, check. Amazing. For my xgfx buddies these now come in a gluten free version which is available to purchase on the website.

Aside from loving how freaking delicious they are (look at that jam!) I also love that these are handcrafted by a small company using fair-trade chocolate. Something I've been increasingly more conscious of lately is the child labour / slavery used in cocoa production and I'm a bit obsessed with checking which companies chocolaty products are a-ok on the Food Empowerment Project's website and app. If you don't see a brand you're interested in purchasing from listed their volunteers are great at reaching out and since I e-mailed about them both Vego and The Co-operative supermarket have been added to the recommended list.

MoFo '14 Day 30 - S'mores Cookies

I got tattooed earlier (check my Instagram for a pic) and I know that what I need during a tattoo appointment is sugar so I made cookies to share! I heard about this recipe for S'mores Cookies on Lindsay's blog Vegan Chai but it originally came from Amanda at Will Draw for Cookies. You should definitely check it out because it's an illustrated recipe and it's super adorable. 

Now when both of these ladies made them they turned out super well, they were all perfect and round, y'know just how you'd expect a cookie to look. Here are mine pre-oven...

...and here they are post oven. 

I think that Freedom Mallows maybe melt less well than Dandies and by that I mean they melt like craaaaazy, everywhere. Either it was the fault of the mallows (which I totally did cut in half to make mini mallows) or I'm a terrible baker...I'm going to keep blaming the mallows. I subbed rich tea biscuits for the Graham crackers because we don't have those here, I was planning to use digestive biscuits but every single kind at the supermarket I went to had milk.

I realised after taking the first two off of the tray that I was going to need to let them cool completely before popping them on the cooling rack, ten minutes wasn't quite enough. Ooops!

A good 75% were attractive enough for sharing which actually worked out wonderfully because it meant that the other half needed eating stat. That was really tough for Nick and I because we totally hate cookies*! *we do not totally hate cookies. Despite not being the most beautiful these were super delicious. I'd definitely make them again.

I'll leave you with two pic's of what these cookies are meant to look like!

Photo Credit Amanda

 Photo credit Lindsay

It's been a super fun VeganMoFo y'all. I can't believe it's over. I'm feeling a little emotional about writing the very last round up on the official VeganMoFo blog later! If you've enjoyed my MoFoing rest assured that I still have plenty of posts in the works for after MoFo and I'll be posting regularly for the rest of the year and beyond!

MoFo '14 Day 24 - Endangered Species Chocolate

It's another chocolate day today, yay! I first heard of Endangered Species chocolate on the PPK forums, originally I was drawn in by talk of high quality fun flavoured chocolate but I was even more excited when I heard that they give 10% of their net profits to organisations that support species conservation and habitat prevention. How cool! Each bar also has an adorable picture of an animal on the front and I think they're an entirely vegan company. It took a lot of standing around in the chocolate aisle deliberating before I decided to pick the Raspberry Orange Créme filled bar. The other bars I was considering were Sea Salt & Lime Créme, Almond Butter Créme and Lavender Mint Créme. I think that list should explain how hard the decision was!

Now I don't know about you but when I think of creams and cream filled bars I think of quite a runny fondant but that was not what I found inside.

After a couple of seconds of confusion when I initially snapped the bar I realised that this is a créme not a cream! And what a delicious créme it is, or should I say was. Whilst it totally wasn't what I was expecting the sweet tart fruity orange and raspberry filling compliments the rich 72% dark chocolate perfectly and I intend to eat my way through the rest of the range next time I visit the US.

MoFo '14 Day 23 - Sweet Like Chocolate

Sunday was mine and Nick's 10 year anniversary and whilst we agreed not to do gifts I knew he was taking us to Terre à Terre for lunch and that he can't resist buying me pretty flowers, something I love but that I just never spend my own money on, so I couldn't help myself. And why when celebrating 10 years would you stick to one gift when you could get 10 gifts?! Nick loves chocolate so I gave him one of his favourite kinds of chocolate every hour for ten hours, well, eleven hours really because on one of the hours he was eating churros with chocolate dipping sauce at Terre à Terre and that seemed like enough excitement for one hour!

Photo Credit for Hotel Chocolat Gianduja Chocolate Bombe Veganoo

In no particular order here's the lowdown on the chocolatey gifts:

1 - Montezuma's - Very Dark Turtles 73%. We both love Montezuma's, one of their flagship stores is about a seven minute walk from our house which means they're one of our go tos when we're buying gifts or picking up treats. I got to eat a few of these yesterday and they are indeed delicious. 

2 - Hotel Chocolat - Gianduja Chocoalte Bombe. Hotel Chocolat are located a couple of doors down from Montezuma's and whilst they don't have as large a selection for vegans they do make these amazing pralines as well as dark chocolates with pistachio and dark chocolate covered marzipan. Their Hazelnut Bûche is also totally ridiculous and a Christmas essential in our house.

3 - Go Max Go - Cleo's Peanut Butter Cups. I'm more of a Justin's PB cup person myself but Nick's on team Cleo. If I'm going Go Max I usually pick up a Twilight!

4 - Vego Bar. I feel like this one doesn't need an introduction but just in case, Vego is a huge vegan milk chocolate bar made with a whole lot of hazelnut paste and stuffed full of whole hazelnuts. It's rocking vegan's worlds right now. Personally I'm kinda over it but Nick's still very much in love.

5 - Humdinger - Dairy Free Buttons. I use these for topping cupcakes, Nick likes them as a quick chocolate pick me up!

6 - Montezumas - Dark 54% Giant Button Bag. These buttons are SO great. Just the right level of sweetness and they're huge!

7 - Co - operative Truly Irresistible Fairtrade Ghanian Dark Chocolate 70%. I blogged about this bar last week, you can pick it up at the supermarket and it's not too expensive. 

8 - Plamil - Organic Orange Chocolate. I don't really understand the appeal of this one but Nick loves it. It's probably the one he buys most often so don't let my opinion put you off trying it!

9 - Seed & Bean - Sicilian Hazelnut. This is probably my favourite out of all of them. I discovered Seed and Bean earlier this year and so far every bar I've tried has been a hit. My favourite is either this one, which is full of Vego-esque hazelnut paste but minus the whole nuts, or the Cornish Sea Salt bar. I might love them both equally but I was certain Nick would enjoy this one more.

10 - Montezuma's - Sunrise Truffles. Super orangey and delicious, I'm hoping Nick might share one of two of these with me!

MoFo '14 Day 18 - Chip'n Dipped Marshmallow Sundae Bar

A few years ago I heard about a chocolate bar filled with Dandies marshmallows and I just knew I had to try it. I love marshmallows! 

It's made by Chip'n Dipped Cookie Company who I'd never heard of before and unfortunately after searching high and low in New York, Portland, Seattle and San Francisco this highly elusive Marshmallow Sundae bar was nowhere to be found... that was until I hit the jackpot at Rabbit Food Grocery in Austin! I was browsing the online store and making up an order for collection at one of their pop ups when I saw it, I threw two into my basket without a second thought.

I didn't peel open the wrapper until a couple of days ago when a chocolate craving hit and I was surprised by what lay inside. For some reason I was expecting squares you'd break off, no biggie though, instead I snapped off two thirds and Nick and I went to town!

Whilst I was indeed overjoyed every time I bit into delicious squishy marshmallow I was definitely a little disappointed in the quality of the chocolate, it was a little on the crumbly side. Taste wise we weren't unhappy though and we finished off the bar in no time. I will totally eat my way through the next one but it's not making my top 10 favourite ever chocolate bars list!

MoFo '14 Day 16 - Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bark Thins

Whilst I was in Austin I was trying to do my best at keeping up with reading, as well as writing, VeganMoFo blog posts and I was extra glad I did when I spotted these Dark Chocolate Pretzel Bark Thins on MissMuffcake's blog. I'd have been kicking myself if I hadn't read about them until I was already home and it was too late. The sea salt pretzel / chocolate combo is possibly my favourite ever so I had to go looking for them!

MissMuffcake featured them on her blog on Vegan Target day but alas they were nowhere to be seen in the Target I visited. I did find them somewhere else though, maybe HEB, I honestly can't remember. They were also in Whole Foods but they were super pricy there.

I didn't actually break into the bag until I got home, Austin had plenty of amazing dessert options to keep me occupied, and OMG they're ridiculous.

It's thick dark chocolate that I would guess hovers around the 70% mark and it's chock full of salted pretzel pieces. I'm actually savouring every last piece of this and I've eyeballed the bag into four portions rather than eating it all at once because I'm going to be super sad when it's all gone. This has to be up there with my favourite chocolate ever and next time I'm in the US you can bet I'll be stocking up!

Can you believe we're halfway through VeganMoFo already? What are your favourite blogs, posts etc so far? I'm a little bit in love with Hasta La Vegan's Cooking From Old and Outdated Cookbooks theme. She's eating some truly ridiculous dishes and I can't help laughing every time I see a new post. As a massive Parks & Recreation fan I'm loving Easy Vegan's Carb's and Rec theme, this post really stood out to me and not just because I heart Ben Wyatt! I cannot wait to make the S'mores Cookies I spotted on Vegan Chai's blog yesterday, I was going to make them last night for the tattoo appointment I should have been at right now but the artist's sick so cookies have been put on hold. The (gorgeous illustrated) recipe for the cookies originally came from Amandabear from Will Draw For Cookies who actually designs the Vegan MoFo graphics! I always feel a little guilty when I write about my favourites or do round up posts for the official site because I often want to include everything! Especially from people who've been blogging every day or almost every day, I get what a huge commitment that is and I think you're all awesome.

How do you read and comment on VeganMoFo blogs? That's half of the fun for me and I like to click through the countries list on the Where in the World? page on the official site as well as browsing randomofo and keeping an eye on the #veganmofo and #veganmofo2014 hashtags on Twitter and Instagram. We're definitely having Feedly bundle issues this year just like last year, it just won't import all of the blogs correctly and it's missing quite a few, including mine! We'll be working on fixing that for next year though! I've also been trying to challenge myself to comment on at least 5 blogs a day especially those that don't have a tonne of comments yet, it can be disheartening as a new blogger if it seems like nobodies reading!

MoFo '14 Day 5 - Co-operative Truly Irresistible

I'm not usually the biggest fan of straight up dark chocolate, before I was vegan it was my favourite (that and twix bars!) but somehow after going vegan all I wanted was Go Max Jokerz or rice milk coverture bars. I've come back around to the wonders of dark chocolate recently and this is one of my favourites. This 70% cocoa bar is from the Co-operative supermarket and it's totally fair-trade and shiz.

It's pretty simple, just straight up dark choc but I like the size of the squares as well as the creamy texture of the chocolate. It also only costs around £1.60 which is at the cheaper end of the vegan chocolate spectrum.

Yum!

I collect Pez dispensers! 

MoFo '14 Day 2 - Torino Chocolate

As a huge chocolate fan I was pleased to hear about a new company that launched in the UK recently called Vegan Town. Vegan Town are an online market place for all things vegan chocolate related and I was overjoyed when they agreed to send me some chocolate to review. I let them pick and they sent me two bars made by luxury Swiss brand Torino. 

The first bar I tried was the Torino Truffle bar which lived up to it's name.

The bar is filled with a solid but creamy almond and hazelnut truffle surrounded by rich dark chocolate that sits at the milkier end of the spectrum. Delicious, this is one of my favourite kinds of chocolate. Secondly I tore into the Torino Mousse bar which was honestly the one I was most excited about.

As illustrated on the front of the pack each individual dome of 60% dark chocolate is filled with a light, fluffy chocolate mousse. I was amazed at how airy it was.

It's up there with the best chocolate I've ever eaten. I used to be a big fan of an Aero bar in my pre-vegan days and this is almost like a lighter fluffier fancier version. I ate three quarters of the bar in one go and only stopped because I felt guilty for not sharing any with Nick, something I soon changed my mind on and, because I'm the worst wife ever, I finished off the whole bar. No regrets! 

I've spotted the Torino bars in Infinity Foods and Veganz Berlin and, of course, online at Vegan Town who also sell the new range of Vivani bars, Ananda's vegan Wagon Wheels and most of the Moo Free range. They also stock biscuits, fudge and spreads and run a Treat Box scheme for £20, £25 or £30 per month. Vegan Town ship within the UK for a flat rate of £3 and the box my two bars came in fitted easily through my letterbox. They also offer worldwide shipping.

If you'd like to order some chocolate from Vegan Town simply enter the code VIB22 at checkout to get 10% off of your order.

Chocaffinitea, Brighton.

Whilst I'm not a coffee person I totally get the appeal of having somewhere to sit and chat away the hours over a hot drink with a friend or lover so I was overjoyed when I heard that Chocaffinitea had opened it's doors just around the corner from me. Situated on Gloucester Road just five minutes from the station and right in-between Kensington Gardens and Sydney Street this is a convenient spot for just about everyone.

Chocaffinitea is a health focussed, raw leaning kinda place who shine a spotlight on ethically sourced artisanal products. It's a really cute space that is bigger inside than first impressions would suggest and I love both the perfect people watching window table and the cosier area at the back of the cafe.

My main reason for deciding to pay Chocaffinitea a visit was that I'd heard a rumour that they had vegan hot chocolate on the stove, ready to go, all the time. This rumour was thankfully true and you can get a small shot sized cup of single origin hot chocolate for £1.25 or a proper sized mug for £2.50. 

Of course I went for the mug and boy was I glad I did. This smooth, rich, hot chocolate was wonderful and I can see myself returning for many more in the winter months. On my first visit I also tried a slice of raw peanut butter chocolate slice and my friend Justine had a slice of raw carrot cake. 

Whilst I enjoyed the chocolate and peanut butter slice it wasn't my dream cake, a little too healthy and a little too nutty. If I'm going raw I prefer a creamy chocolate cheesecake or a rich chocolate tart but this is filling a hole in the Brighton vegan cake market that has been crying out for some attention. Chocaffinitea also make raw vegan chocolates making this the perfect date spot for the chocolate lover in your life. I would love it if they'd balance these healthier options with something a little more decadent, like a vegan version of their chocolate caramel brownies, but I know my friend appreciated the gluten free-ness of these un-baked goods. My only other peeve was the "guilt fee" sign next to the raw cakes, I really think that guilt-free should be taken away from food discussions all together - it's  pretty unhealthy mindset and nobody should be feeling guilty for eating a gluten / sugar / fat filled treat.

One other cool thing about Chocaffinitea is that they're also a chocolate shop.

Almost everything on the shelves was vegan and the staff are super knowledgeable if you're unsure or have questions about where the bars are made. Options ranged from the pricier handmade raw chocolate from Forever Cacao (£5.50 40g) to beautiful looking organic bars from The Grenada Chocolate Company (£3.50 85g).

I've already been back once and I'll definitely be popping back for another hot chocolate fix as soon as the weather cools off. Chocaffinitea also sell pour over coffee and tea if you're that way inclined.

Ombar Chocolates

When the people behind Ombar got in touch to ask if I'd like to try their range of raw vegan chocolate bars I was a little dubious. I once bought their Lemon & Green Tea bar and after one bite I was horrified. After many attempts to palm it off onto friends I threw it out. Yeah, I threw out chocolate. Sacrilege, I know. It basically tasted exactly how I imagine citrus washing up liquid would taste and there wasn't even a hint of my favourite matcha flavour. I was honest and upfront with Ombar's contact but they still wanted to send me some chocolate to see if I'd prefer another flavour. I thought that was pretty awesome, I'd be tempted to back away if someone said they tried and hated one of my cupcakes! 

I was happy to note upon opening the box that the Green Tea & Lemon bar was nowhere to be seen and that they'd generously sent six bars for me to try. Left to right we have Goji Berry, Açai & Blueberry, Dark 73%, Coco Mylk, Coconut 40% and Strawberries & Cream.

I opened the Coco Mylk first as I'd been hearing great things about it from my vegan friends and I'd seen it many times in health food stores. Honestly, I'm not a fan. It took me a while to work out why but it comes down to the fact that it's just too coconutty for my tastes. It reminded me of the chocolate Pudology pudding I tried in Leeds so if you're a fan of that (which I know many of you are) then this bar's for you. Nick really liked this creamy bar and kept asking for more pieces "to make sure", I was quite happy to oblige, and he claims it's the best raw chocolate he's ever tasted.

Next up, Strawberries & Cream. Again, I wasn't into it but Nick was! He described it as being like a rhubarb and custard sweet mixed with chocolate. Like the Coco Mylk this one's a soft and super creamy bar.

We broke open the Dark 72% next and I surprised myself by really enjoying it. I'm not usually into chocolate that's this dark, give me a Vego bar or a Moo Free easter egg any day, but this is something I'll definitely be buying again. It had just the right amount of bitterness as well as more of a snap than the bars that preceded it.

Goji Berry was next, this was the only bar that contained any bits. This dark bar is peppered with pieces of goji berry and whilst it wasn't my favourite I think that has quite a lot to do with my dislike of the berries themselves. If you enjoy goji berries give this a whirl.

Our penultimate bar is Coconut 60% which has a nice balance of the bitterness of Dark 72% and the creaminess of Coco Mylk. I'm still not convinced by the coconutty flavour of some of these bars but I do think it would be a good bar to try first as it'll appeal to a wide variety of tastes.

Last but by no means least we tried the Açai & Blueberry bar which had a lovely fruity taste without being too sweet. Texture wise it was similar to Dark 72% rather than Coco Mylk which made me enjoy it even more. This one's definitely my favourite.

Ombar also make a Mandarin & Cranberry bar that I haven't tried but that I'll pick up if I spot. Priced at £1.99 I think these bars are well worth trying.

Go Go Gadget Coffee Machine

I can't decide whether I'm cheating or not by picking a gadget that isn't hidden at the back of an overflowing cupboard but I think that that makes this gadget even more ridiculous. Look at the counter space this thing's taking up? 

Nick & I bought this in mid December last year and d'u know how many times we've used it? Twice. Yes, that's right, twice. My main problem is that I'm kinda scared of it. I don't fully understand how it works and when you're messing around with boiling water and hot steam that doesn't seem ideal. We bought this after getting irritated that most of the coffee shops around us close at 6pm* meaning no romantic late night winter coffee dates. Sadness.

We decided to try to make the perfect hot chocolate this evening and we set about our mission with a few bookmarked recipes & a collection of chocolatey looking things from around the house.

Firstly we decided to to a side by side taste test of our powdered hot chocolates. In the blue corner we have Green & Black's Hot Chocolate and in the red corner we have Zuma Fairtrade Dark Hot Chocolate. We bought the Green & Blacks last year and neither of us remembered being overly impressed, the Zuma is new.

Upon first inspection the Zuma is a fine powder whereas the Green & Black's is a little grainy.

One thing we learnt immediately is that we need to buy a larger milk jug! Ours holds approximately 660ml of non-foamed liquid. Even using only 300ml of soya milk it was overflowing all over the place before we reached optimum foam potential!

We started with the Zuma Fairtrade Hot Chocolate and following the directions on their website made the powder into a paste using a little hot water. After adding the frothed milk and stirring like crazy we had what looked like a very promising hot chocolate. I topped it with shaved chocolate for extra fanciness!

Wow! This was super awesome, we'd both go as far as saying that it's exactly like the hot chocolate we usually order in Cafe Nero. An early winner in the hot chocolate challenge perhaps?

Next up we have the Green & Black's Hot Chocolate. Now what's extra strange about this is that in looking for a link I can only find versions with milk in the ingredient list, I've triple checked mine now & I'm not going crazy, my jar's definitely vegan. Perhaps they knew their product was a bit crap and changed it?! I doubt a little milk powder will help though, this hot chocolate was terrible!

Yeah, I have nothing else to say other than I wish I'd made the Zuma hot chocolate in the big mug!

Finally we decided to see if we could make an equally good hot chocolate on the stovetop. The idea of the gadget challenge is not just to use the gadget in question but to see if it's really necessary by comparing what it can do to what our other gadgets or appliances can do.

I chose this recipe from the blog Maple Spice to test the stovetop method. Mainly because I had some coconut milk leftover from making Friday's pie and also because I liked the idea of chucking some booze in there! I changed her recipe a little and used 75ml of Full Fat Coconut Milk, 150ml of Soya Milk, 50g of Dark Chocolate and a shot of Khalua. You just pop all of the ingredients in a pan, whisk until the chocolate's melted and then let thicken for a couple of minutes. Stir in the Khalua at the end.

This made a wonderfully thick hot chocolate but one that isn't really comparable to the foamy frothy milky hot chocolate you make with a steamed milk and hot chocolate powder. If I was having a serious chocolate craving a small mug of this would hit the spot but it was far too sickly for me to imagine drinking regularly. I also hate to say it but next time I'd leave the booze out, I prefer my chocolate unadulterated and I liked Nick's alcohol free version much more.

This hot chocolate would be amazing if you were camping or staying in a log cabin in the woods (anyone have one of those I can borrow for a weekend?!) but at home the Zuma Frairtrade Hot Chocolate is the clear winner and the one we'll be making over and over again. I'm really looking forward to trying it with Tate & Lyle's Mint Chocolate Syrup and marshmallows, possibly even at the same time, and if you're looking for the perfect hot chocolate the 2kg tin is definitely worth the splurge.

Wow, I'm cutting it a bit fine today aren't I MoFo's?! Also if you've been paying attention during this post you'll have an idea of what one of tomorrows cookbook challenge books is!

* Apparently this has changed, the New York Coffee Club cafe by the clock tower is now open from 7am - 9:30pm Mon - Sat. I've also heard that they have vegan cake but I can't tell ya if they're any good until I investigate myself shortly! I'll keep you updated!