Christmas Pudding Dark Chocolate by Rococo

Christmas Pudding

Once again, I've been taken by surprise. No, not in the way you're thinking.....naughty. 

Christmas, Black Friday, Cyber Monday or whatever we are calling it these days has arrived, landing on my doorstep, like an unannounced Jehovah witness telling me its time to find a friend in Jesus. That's it! I've had a Mellor moment a bit like a senior moment but with more alcohol. Absolutely, I'm definitely heading for some type of chocolate hell where all chocolate bars are just tantalisingly out of reach. Unbeknownst to me a 60 ft Christmas tree, maybe a slight exaggeration, has arrived in the garden even before November has scuttled off the calendar for another year. It's all too much! Bah humbug! Fortunately, chocolate is at hand to save us....well to save me really as it is one of my few remaining vices.

Dark Chocolate Christmas Bar

Rococo's founder and Creative Director, Chantal Coady, was inspired by Moroccan encaustic tiles which decorate the 'MaRococo' garden in their Belgravia store to create the covers. Apparently, you can visit the garden in the summer when it can be viewed at its best. Rococo has shops, sorry slip of the tongue, stores, in charming hamlets such as Mayfair, Belgravia, Marylebone and Chester the new home of football. I snipped open the silver foil packaging yesterday to get a sense of what this festive bar might have to offer. Wow! Talk about Christmas in a bar....a heady, heady aroma indeed.  Such is the strength of cloves and Cognac erupting from the packaging I wonder whimsically if I'm possibly too young to try this? Sadly, I'm not.

The Christmas Artisan selection of chocolate bars was created to celebrate 30 years changing the world of chocolate. There are three bars in the range including, Christmas Pudding, Morello Cherries and Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh. 

This bar is well stacked, literally bursting with ingredients, including a number of truly festive favourites, Cognac soaked raisins, toasted almonds, cloves and cinnamon wrapped in 65% dark chocolate. The first section of dark chocolate I break off contains several whole plump raisins which don't burst as much as I had first imagined not even a dribble of Cognac.  

The dark chocolate is delicious but the 'clove hit' or should that be 'slap about the face' is a bit over the top which would be good if I had toothache. The dark chocolate is lost which is disappointing especially as it has such a good pedigree. Read about Grococo where Rococo's organic fine dark chocolate comes from.

The overall experience is not unpleasant and once the clove hit has gone you're left with cinnamon spice. The almonds provide great crunch and texture. Even after 5 minutes, if you shut your eyes tightly enough, you can imagine that you have indeed just eaten a delicious piece of spicy Christmas Pudding without the stodgy bits. Certainly an interesting bar of chocolate and I look forward to trying the Gold, Frankincense and Myrrh bar. 

These festive bars are on sale now at £4.95/70g....click here to buy. 

I think the remainder of this bar is destined to be melted over my Christmas Pudding. Happy days. It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas....