Thorntons Continental

Just recently I received a bundle of Thank You boxes from Lindt and now Thorntons have given me some chocolates. It's so lovely because I find utter ecstasy in a box of chocolates. They're something I rarely buy myself, and even though these chocolates are not handmade, nor fresh and widely available, I was still excited

Thorntons are celebrating 60 years of their sumptuous Continental collection, and what better way to celebrate than eating their European inspired chocolates and writing about it?

Thorntons White Chocolate

After enjoying Thorntons milk chocolate with fudge I went straight into this white chocolate

The creamy, sweet aroma was not as pleasant as other white chocolate I've had (M&S, Lindt & Go*Do) as after a while there was a sense of an excess of sugar. There were hints of vanilla but it seemed artificial

The taste wasn't unbearably sugary, but it did become quite overwhelming. Because this chocolate was so thick, it didn't feel comfortable to let it melt - chewing was far more pleasurable 

With a sickly and cloying finish, I was let down by this chocolate bar; 90g of a basic white chocolate. I liked the minimum ingredients though, with nothing unnecessary inside! 

Thorntons Irresistibles: Smooth Coconut & Belgian Truffle

Impressive packaging. I liked the dark colours and contrasting font, overall looking fairly seductive. I must admit that I wasn't overly excited to try these chocolates as neither of them really appealed to me. As I work in a chocolate shop that sells handmade Belgian chocolates, I've found myself to have less interest in industrialised chocolates. Of course I still love them but the quality certainly cannot compete

Smooth Coconut Melts

note: 'Coconut Melts' alone sounds better 

The milk chocolate coating tasted nice, it was creamy and slow melting. After the coating had melted, this then lead to the coconut flavour being exposed. The coconut filling was creamy but tasted artifical and completely overwhelmed the chocolate flavour

The more I had, though, the more I enjoyed. But this is the general rule with anything edible and sweet. It was nice to see that cocoa butter was used in the coconut centre, however the coconut element was just too sweet

"Transport yourself to a beautiful beach on a Caribbean island" - I guess this went without saying, as the tropical flavour made me have a taste of piña colada and summer. Oo a rum twist would have been interesting... 

"drenched in dreamy milk chocolate" - I don't think drenched seems the most appealing adjective that Thorntons could have used. Have they run out of their enticing adjectives? Nevertheless, the milk chocolate definitely was dreamy

Belgian Truffles

I was quite horrified by these truffles. Vegetable fats, no cocoa butter... oh Thorntons, why not use your signature chocolate and simply stir up a ganache? 

The smell and taste was so cheap and woeful; not irresistible at all. It did not taste of chocolate. The vegetable oils used were so powerful in taste. And to top it off, a poor tasting cocoa powder heavily dusted on top. Words cannot describe how disappointed I was with these low quality truffles

I will say one nice thing about these truffles though, they looked better than the droplet appearance of ASDA's Marc de Champagne truffles. I also thought they were of a good size... just a shame about that ghastly taste

Thorntons Milk Chocolate with Fudge

A Thorntons milk chocolate block of Papua New Guinea 35% cocoa solids... You may notice that this is Thorntons old packaging design - they've had an exciting makeover! - and after looking at their website it appears that they've got rid of this particular milk chocolate variation. This seems a shame because this was Thorntons only chocolate with its cocoa origin stated

An aroma of creamy coffee was unleashed as soon as I opened the gold plastic bag, I wouldn't have guessed it was fudge

The fudge pieces within gave an interesting texture, but not one that I was totally enthused by. There was a smooth melt but the fudge distracted me away from it. It is a thick block of chocolate which made breaking and biting to be fairly difficult but challenge accepted as I do love chunky chocolate

The milk chocolate tasted lovely and rich with depths of caramel and dark sugars, however this would have most likely been the fudge influencing the chocolate

Overall, an enjoyable chocolate bar... great to see that the chocolate itself contains only cocoa butter for the fat, but the fudge pieces are sadly full of unknown (to me) ingredients... which just made the ingredients list look very messy! 

Thorntons Premium Collection