What’s new with lindt chocolate? You’ll find a whole host of Lindt chocolate products you might not have known about here. Read on for a review of Lindor Stracciatella, Creations bars, Lindt Excellence & mini summer Hello bars. Plus an advent calendar.
I first discovered Lindt chocolate when I was an unsophisticated au pair in Lausanne; where better to be introduced to it than in its home country of Switzerland? On occasion, Madame B allowed me to try one of her special Lindor chocolates. To a teenager from a small Cornish village, these seemed like the height of chocolate luxury. Even though my palate has matured, I still have a soft spot for Lindor.
Lindor
Lindt is well known for being one of the leading European chocolate brands and has been in business since 1845. Lindor was first created in the 1960s. Made in the shape of baubles and with their distinctive red and white wrapping, these started life as a Christmas special. They proved to be so popular that they have been a stalwart of the Lindt range ever since. They are particularly noted for their smooth and creamy centres.
Recently I was sent a Lindor limited edition to review – Stracciatella. With its icy blue and white box and matching wrapping, it conjures up the cold beauty of Switzerland, with its large blue lakes and high snowy mountains. In particular, it reminds me of the spring melt waters rushing from the mountain tops down to the lakes below. From the packaging, you’d almost expect a cool minty flavour, but no, this is almost the opposite, something warm and indulgent: cookies and cream.
Stracciatella is named after a delicious Italian gelato, which has fine particles of chocolate distributed through it. Unwrapping the first sphere, the resemblance was clear. A strong aroma of vanilla wafted upwards and the white chocolate shell was flecked with dark chocolate. On biting into it, I realised the dark flecks were in fact cocoa nibs rather than chocolate. These gave a delightful crunch and counteracted the sweetness of the filling. The filling was smooth and creamy as you would expect from a Lindor. It had an almost fruity quality to it and did in fact resemble vanilla ice-cream. I found these to be a welcome addition to the Lindor range. They are currently selling on the Lindt online shop at the special price of £3.25 for a 200g cornet.
Lindt Creation Bars
Lindt have released a new range of Creation 100g chocolate bars, which I also got to try. These are filled bars and most contain small pieces of the main flavour ingredient which give an interesting texture and make the experience last longer than it might otherwise do. They are currently selling at the special introductory price of £1.25 from the Lindt online shop.
Divine Hazelnut – I think I might just go with the title of this one. This is a milk chocolate bar which is very hazelnutty. It has a smooth praline filling and is liberally studded with pieces of hazelnut.
Velvety Vanilla Almond – was my favourite. This has a strong vanilla aroma and flavour. Layers of caramel and cream enrobed with milk chocolate, worked well together and the almond slivers gave a lovely crunchy texture.
Luscious Caramel – I do like a good caramel, but combined with the milk chocolate, this one was too sweet for me. I would have preferred a salted caramel to counteract the sweetness and give additional interest.
Sumptious Orange – is lush and reminds me of jaffa cakes. The dark chocolate shell helps offset the sweetness of the orange filling. Pieces of orange give added interest to the texture.
August 13 Summer Range Update
Lindt Excellence
Summertime and the living is easy – or at least it is when the good people of Lindt send me some chocolate to try. It’s good to ring the changes as well as reacquaint oneself with familiar stalwarts. So as well as a selection of their new fun summer range Hello, it was reassuring to receive a bar of Lindt Excellence 70% Cocoa which I know well. Also included was another Lindt Excellence bar I’ve seen before but never tasted: a Touch of Sea Salt. This dark 47% bar is not for the vegan in your life as it contains butterfat. It is however rather tasty, even if a “touch of sea salt” is a bit of an understatement. I would describe this as distinctly salty.
I made some wonderful salted butterscotch chocolate fondants from the “touch of sea salt” bar which I shall be blogging about soon. It worked really well in this bake where the saltiness was a big bonus.
Lindt Chocolate Hello Bars
These cute 39g bars are full of punchy flavour in six bite size pieces. The Summer of Love may be more than forty years ago, but there is a breezy optimism in these bars which are a tonic to middle aged cynicism.
Coconut Love – white chocolate filled with a coconut cream. As soon as I opened the packet, the scent of coconut pervaded the room. It contained pieces of chewy coconut which gave additional texture – a bit like a Bounty bar, but creamier. There were fruity undertones which I particularly liked.
Berry Affair – white chocolate filled with a fruity cream and bits of real cherry and blackberry. The cherry was the dominant flavour, but I got a faint hint of blackberries too.
Lime Splash – solid white chocolate with a mouth puckering lime flavour which is tasty and painful both at the same time. A damn fine antidote to the sickliness that too much white chocolate can engender.
Strawberry Kick – solid white chocolate with a kick of lime and strawberry bits embedded within. This had a good strawberry flavour whilst being nice and tart; no overwhelming sourness as in the case of the Lime Splash. Most of all, it reminded me of sherbert. It wasn’t too sweet either. This was my favourite bar.
Coffee Blast – milk chocolate covering a coffee cream with crunchy pieces of real coffee. Blast is the right word said CT. Being the coffee lover in the household, he got to eat this one. The coffee is good and strong with the bitterness trumping the sweetness and a smokiness permeating through – like a cup of coffee round a camp fire. Enough already, put that harmonica away.
Lindt Advent Calendar
Well, there are advent calendars and then there are chocolate advent calendars. I remember the thrill of my yearly advent calendar when I was a child and that daily count down to the big day. I grew up in a thrifty household, so I had the exact same calendar each year. This was long before I’d ever heard of reduce, reuse, recycle.
Luckily I never tired of opening the same windows each year to see what lay behind them. Some of those pictures are still etched on my brain: a little robin redbreast, some mistletoe, a reindeer and of course the Baby Jesus all swaddled in his strawy crib. I was well into my adulthood before I knew there was such a thing as an edible advent calendar and of course now nothing will do but a chocolate-filled calendar to mark the run up to Christmas.
This year I have the most luxurious chocolate advent calendar yet, for review, courtesy of Lindt. It’s called, accurately, although somewhat prosaically, Lindt Advent Calendar. I haven’t yet tried the chocolates as I want to save them for advent itself, but I know the delights I have to look forward to. I have not bought Nestle products for ethical reasons since I was a teenager; this has steered me towards that other well known Swiss chocolate company, Lindt, who in my opinion produce superior chocolates anyway.
What You’ll Find
So what is it exactly that I am looking forward to? A snowy scene with Father Christmas and his golden reindeer bearing Lindt gifts adorns the face of the calendar, which measure 27 cm by 34 cm. A Lindt chocolate sits behind each of the 24 windows and waits discovery. Five different types of milk chocolate, weighing in at 160g, make for a great way to indulge in a daily chocolate fix without the need to feel guilty.
The chocolates are mostly wrapped in true Christmas colours of white, red and gold and make for pleasing decorations in their own right. I was glad to see that Lindor, albeit it in mini form, are amongst those featured. I still enjoy these truffles, which I once believed to be the height of chocolate sophistication. There are also mini golden reindeer, squares of milk chocolate, snowdrops filled with chocolate cream and last and definitely not least is the large milk chocolate Santa for Christmas Eve.
The calendar is available at selected supermarkets and chocolate shops and at the Lindt online shop for £5.29.
Update 9 December 2012
Now that I’ve started munch my way through the calendar, I’ve noticed that when the windows are open, there is a lack of festive cheer. Once the chocolates have been removed, you are left with a blank white space – an image behind the chocolate would much improve things.
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I was sent these chocolates to try. I was not asked to right a positive review. All opinions are my own, as always. Thanks to my readers for supporting the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
glennamy says
Never new Lindt did bars like this… very interesting!
Maya Russell says
But I do like the blue colour, rather than the red.
Maya Russell says
I don’t like crunchy bits in chocolate – prefer them smooth so I don’t think I’d like the Stracciatella.
JaynesDen says
I have not seen these yet in the shops. Yum.
Janice says
What nice flavour combinations, vanilla and almond sounds very good.
Choclette says
Very nice indeed 🙂
Recipe Junkie says
Yum. agree about salted caramel though :-). It’s funny those former experiences that stay with you – I au paired in France for 6 kids, and madame had a very strict rule that after lunch the kids went off for a siesta while she (and I) would drink a cup of coffee and allow ourselves one delicious chocolate (from which ever box she had open at the time) in peace and quiet. I have been known to raid the cooking chocolate box when the need to emulate her strikes me!
Choclette says
Now that sounds very civilised. You must be an expert on French chocolates. Bet it was tough looking after six kids though. I only had two and that was pretty full on.
Galina Varese says
Stracciatella’s not for me. From six Lindt truffles flavours that come in a big box this is my least favourite flavour after the white chocolate one. I don’t like the Stracciatella gelato either, don’t know quite why, just cannot pinpoint what I dislike about it, I guess I just don’t like the white chocolate.
Choclette says
I completely understand about white chocolate, I usually find it too sweet and cloying to eat on it’s own. Strangely though, I was able to eat a few more of these than was good for me 😉
belleau kitchen says
you had me at stracciatella! it’s one of my fave ice creams… now roll a little ball Lincolnshire way will you!
Choclette says
Never had the ice-cream. Has that ball reached you yet?
mylittleitaliankitchen says
wonderful. The best chocolate on earth is Lindt!!
Choclette says
I can see a Lindt fan club forming here. Although, I have it on reliable authority that Italian chocolate is the best.
Angie's Recipes says
wow lucky you! Lindt is the BEST!
Choclette says
I’m certainly happy to indulge 😉