If you’re looking to treat your loved ones this Valentine’s Day, what could be a more appropriate token of your affection than valentine chocolates? Too much choice? Don’t worry, I have you covered. There’s a selection from Miss Witt, an award winning artisan chocolatier, some Valentine hearts from Hotel Chocolat, a heart shaped box of treats from Godiva and one from Charbonnel et Walker too.
Valentine’s Day is of course a very important day for lovers. For me, however, it has additional meaning. It’s the day CT and I set off on our year long adventure around the Antipodes and the day we arrived back home again.
It’s also the day I started my blog, Chocolate Log Blog, as it was then. So to celebrate this love of all things chocolate, I’m reviewing only top notch chocolates.
Now that Chocolate Log Blog has morphed into Tin and Thyme, I don’t do as much chocolate blogging as I used to, but it’s still very much a passion and I create at least one new chocolate recipe a month. I’m also still running the monthly chocolate blogging challenge, We Should Cocoa. Astonishingly, this has been going for over six years now. Where does the time go?
Chocolate by Miss Witt
I first came across Chocolate by Miss Witt when visiting CT’s mother in Lymington on the edge of the New Forest. You can read all about it on my Unexpected Find in the Forest post. Suffice it to say, that I’m not likely to miss an opportunity to pay a visit to her pop-up-shop at Lymington’s weekly market if the occasion arises. And arise it did last Saturday.
Miss Witt is a true artisan chocolatier and makes an intriguing range of handmade chocolates. Unusually, she eschews cream and butter for the virtues of spring water, yes, her chocolates are all made with water ganache.
It was a bitterly cold day and Miss Witt was well wrapped. CT managed to polish off a fair few of the tasters as we chatted. My attention, however, was focused on hearing of the latest developments in the world of New Forest chocolates. A number of stores in Lymington are now stocking her products. I came away clutching a collection of Valentine chocolates to try in the warmth of my own home.
Miss Witt’s Earl Grey
A valentine’s special consisting of six elegant chocolates in grey and white. The centres are a dark or white chocolate ganache made with spring water and Earl Grey tea which are enrobed in dark or white chocolate accordingly.
The dark chocolate is dusted with silver flecks and the white is topped by a cornflower. Containing no cream or butter, the silver chocolates are completely dairy free, much to the delight of the local vegans. The ganache is soft and smooth in texture and has a distinctive but not overpowering floral and citrus bouquet.
CT and his fertile imagination thought this very refined. The equivalent to drinking Earl Grey in a bone china cup he reckoned. He is not one to lavish praise unnecessarily, but he really liked these. “I don’t need fifty shades of Earl Grey, a single one from Miss Witt will do”.
The white chocolates are much sweeter and the subtle notes of bergamot struggle to be heard above the white noise of vanilla.
Miss Witt’s White Hot Chocolate Sticks (33%)
After hanging out the washing on an icy winter’s day here, my hands were so cold I almost couldn’t feel them any more. It was time to try one of Miss Witt’s hot chocolate sticks. What a fabulous idea.
All I had to do was follow the instructions: place in a mug, heat 200 ml of milk, pour over and stir. It worked a treat and melted quite beautifully. I topped it with a little bee pollen for effect, but when I tasted the chocolate I realised I must have tuned into the flavour of the white chocolate even before I’d tried it. Because it not only had a creamy texture but it tasted of honey too.
Being white chocolate, I thought this might have been too sweet for me, but it was totally delicious and I downed my mug rather too quickly. It did the trick too; by the time I finished it, my hands were back to normal.
Miss Witt’s Limited Edition Valentine Chocolates
Miss Witt is always coming up with new flavour combinations, so you never quite know what you might find when you visit her pop-up-shop on Saturdays. I found it hard to make a decision on what to try as everything looked good and sounded interesting, but the Cinnamon Brulée just had to go into my box of valentine chocolates.
Cinnamon Brulée
White chocolate ganache flavoured with cinnamon and Horlicks and enrobed in rich dark chocolate. Can you see why I couldn’t miss it?
Rosemary & Sea Salt
I’ve made rosemary truffles before, but never thought to add sea salt to the mix. I missed a trick. This was a fantastic combination, made even better by an almost liquid centre.
It tasted more like caramel than milk chocolate ganache. Wrapped in 70% Saint Domingue dark chocolate, this was one of the best chocolates I’ve tried in a while. I hope it becomes a more permanent member of the collection.
Lavender & Sea Salt
I’m always a bit concerned when it comes to lavender flavoured chocolate. It’s often overdone and I’ve had my fair share of soapy tasting chocolate. The lavender here was a little overplayed, but was tempered by the sea salt, so it still made for quite a delicious mouthful. The salt also helped reduce the sweetness of the white chocolate.
Berries & Tea
A rich and robust winter chocolate, flavoured not with soft fruit, but with juniper berries and Earl Grey tea. Now where did I put that G&T?
A Shooting Star
A winner of the Great Taste Awards, this is a permanent weapon in Miss Witt’s armoury. It deserves to be. A dark chocolate ganache containing blackcurrent purée and flavoured with tarragon and star anise. It’s enrobed with 70% Saint Domingue chocolate.
The flavours are subtle and are not vying for individual attention, but marry well together to create a true taste of summer – very welcome on a cold winter’s day. A hint of blackcurrent lingered long on the palate leaving me feeling rather wistful and wishing I had another one or two.
Sea Salt Caramel
I do love a good sea salt caramel and although I found this one a little on the salty side, the patriot in me was proud to note the presence of Cornish Sea Salt. The salty sweet caramel milk chocolate is tempered by the 70% Saint Domingue dark chocolate in which it’s encased.
Very similar in appearance to the rosemary & sea salt, this geodesic dome is flecked with white rather than blue.
Charbonnel et Walker Valentine Chocolates
A scarlet Valentine’s heart, edged with gold and tied with a navy satin ribbon, recently arrived at my door. I am by no means immune to the romance of heart shaped packages, so it was with a tremble of anticipation that I picked up the Charbonnel et Walker box. At first I wondered, but no, CT had nothing to do with it.
It was a good sized sturdy box containing thirty two chocolates which weighed a whopping 400g. The chocolates were a mix of 33.5% milk and 60% dark chocolates containing traditional fillings of fondant, marzipan, ganache, caramel and praline.
Rather less traditionally, the chocolates were of good quality if a little on the sweet side. These are not fresh artisan chocolates after all and shouldn’t be judged as such.
Hunting around in a large box of chocolates for the one you want is not an easy task and after trying a few that sounded particularly good, it was lucky dip. The menu card was rather charming in design, but not the most helpful in identifying the specific chocolates. Many were on the card, but were not present in the box and I spent some considerable time trying to find them.
Charbonnel et Walker: The Chocolates
Always one to avoid a strawberry fondant, I found the one in this box to be surprisingly good. The dark chocolate ameliorated any sweetness and the flavour was good.
Not surprisingly with such a large box of chocolates, they have lasted for quite some time and are not finished yet.
Being a bit of a marzipan addict, I was pleased to find there were quite a variety including a rather nice one flavoured with Orange Cointreau. CT liked the coffee chocolates, but here are a few of my favourites:
Ginger Marzipan – was my first choice and I wasn’t disappointed. A dark chocolate containing marzipan flavoured with ginger and a good dose of rum. There was no mistaking the flavours here. The warmth of the ginger lingered long on the palate – just what I need in the depths of winter.
Blend Crown – a delightful mix of hazelnut praline, marzipan and whisky all wrapped up in dark chocolate.
Pomponette – a blend of marzipan and pistachios enrobed in dark chocolate – did I mention I’m a bit of a marzipan fan?
Cecily – with its caramel flavoured truffle centre and enrobed in dark chocolate was elegantly simple to look at, but with a hidden decadence.
Barrel – this rum and raisin chocolate was a real nostalgic one for me. When I was a nipper, I would sometimes spend the whole of my 6d pocket money on a bar of Old Jamaica and this bought back all the joy of those occasions – À la recherche du temps perdu.
Rum Fourré – I think I must have a thing about rum too, because I really liked this one as well. A buttery ganache flavoured with rum which warmed my mouth and throat quite delightfully.
Godiva Valentine Chocolates
Established in 1926, Godiva is now well known for its luxurious Belgium chocolates and has shops in the most fashionable parts of Europe’s capitals. For those in the UK unable to get to London, they do, of course, have an online shop.
I have used Godiva white and dark chocolate pearls to create these Amaretto Pots au Chocolat, but I’d never tried their chocolates until this most gorgeous heart shaped box arrived at my door.
You Have My Heart
A pretty heart shaped box containing eleven valentine chocolates with nine different flavours. The box is one of those sturdy ones that you want to hang on to. You can keep it to store nicknacks in or reuse it as a gift box.
Rather annoyingly, the box didn’t include a menu card. It was thus not easy to tell what was in the chocolate casings. However, I can say they were all delicious and the fillings were interesting and by no means run of the mill.
Pralines featured of course as did rich dark truffles, but there were also fruity fillings and buttery ones too. There was a good mixture of dark and milk chocolates, some sweeter than others. Many of the chocolates had layers with different textures and flavours which made for a diverting experience.
The shapes were fun and one chocolate featured Lady Godiva, whose good deeds inspired the company’s name, riding on her horse. If this box doesn’t grab your fancy there are plenty of other Valentine delights on offer – just hop over to the Godiva site and have a browse. Order by 12th February for delivery for the big day.
My Favourites
I’m not going to describe all of the chocolates in the box, but here are my three favourites.
- A hazelnut praline which had three distinct layers as well as a whole roasted and salted hazelnut – all covered in thick milk chocolate. I would have been happy with a whole box of these alone.
- A fruity raspberry caramel confection enrobed in dark chocolate which was possibly my favourite. It was both chewy and zingy and not too sweet.
- Then again a milk chocolate filled with a sandy textured almond mousse was very moreish indeed. Sadly, or perhaps luckily, there was only one.
Hotel Chocolat Valentine Chocolates
When it comes to chocolate, Hotel Chocolat are a sure fire winner. They’re popular with just about everyone I know who’s tried them.
Chocolate Hearts for Valentine’s Day
To mark my upcoming blogiversay and my enduring love of chocolate, Hotel Chocolat sent me The Valentine’s. This box of heart shaped delights is from their Sleekster range and contains 27 delectable valentine chocolates.
Flavours include a fiery hazelnut praline with habanero chilli, salted espresso, honey, prosecco and gin and passion fruit cream. I love them all, but I was most surprised by the buttered rum, which I think might be my new favourite chocolate.
Anyway, this anniversary is a celebration of my readers too. This blog and the recipes I create would not exist if it wasn’t for you. Thank you so much for reading my posts, trying out my recipes and commenting. A special thank you goes to those who have stuck with me through the years – you deserve a medal.
Hotel Chocolat Valentine’s Heart
Hotel Chocolat have a lot of fun when it comes to naming their products and this one goes under the name of Open Your Heart To Me. Or as CT quipped “this is the kind of open heart surgery I thoroughly approve of”. I was very much taken by the chunky heart shell which coyly hid the chocolates within.
A good milk chocolate is always a joy to eat and although I would prefer a higher percentage of cocoa, the 40% contained in this milk chocolate was high enough to deliver a genuinely pleasurable experience. It was sweet and milky without being sickly and it had the toffee notes I associate with Hotel Chocolat’s house milk.
Parts of the shell were good and thick which is how I remember my Easter eggs being when I was a child. Oh and Wagon Wheels were enormous back then too!
Intrigued by the thought of Strawberry & Black Pepper as well as the Chilli Caramel, I was really looking forward to trying these particular chocolates. My disappointment would have been obvious to any onlookers when I found there was only one of each inside the heart. In fact there were only eight chocolates all together. I did know this before it arrived, but still managed to feel crestfallen.
Strawberry & Black Pepper
Distinctive black pepper, covered in dark chocolate, but I didn’t really pick up the flavour of strawberry although the filling itself was tart. This wasn’t as delicious as I thought it was going to be, in fact it was my least favourite and after all that anticipation too!
Soft Chilli Caramel
Lovely liquid caramel that had the kick to it that I was hoping for. There was no doubting that the back of my throat recognised chilli. The caramel was delicious and contrasted well with the dark chocolate, although more caramel and slightly less chocolate would have improved it further.
Vanilla Truffle
Biting through the milk chocolate shell, I tasted vanilla custard and it was totally delicious. Vanilla bean seeds are liberally distributed throughout this white chocolate ganache.
Raspberry Rapture
Tart flavoursome raspberries in a white chocolate ganache wrapped up in a milk chocolate shell – also delicious.
Smooth Praline
It’s hard to beat a good hazelnut praline and I was not disappointed by this one. It’s smooth, creamy and flavoursome. Wrapped in a milk chocolate shell, this was, if you can excuse my repetition, delicious.
Keep in Touch
Thanks for visiting Tin and Thyme. If you try any of these valentine chocolates, I’d love to hear about it in the comments below. What are your favourites? Do share photos on social media too and use the hashtag #tinandthyme, so I can spot them.
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If you’d like more chocolate reviews, follow the link and you’ll find I have quite a lot of them. All delicious and nutritious, of course.
Choclette x
November 2022
This valentine chocolates post is an amalgamation of four original posts, three of which I’ve now deleted.
Thanks go to Miss Witt, Godiva, Charbonnel et Walker and Hotel Chocolat for the valentine chocolates. I was not required to write a positive review and all opinions are, as always, my own. Thank you for your support of the brands and organisations that help to keep Tin and Thyme blithe and blogging.
Blair Urquhart says
Earl gray sounds Amazing chocolate hope to try that myself soon.
Kate Glutenfreealchemist says
The Miss Witt chocolates are probably the most intriguing and tempting I have seen in a long time… Fascinating and unusual flavour combinations and really interested in their being made with water ganache! I am desperately trying to think of an excuse to head for the New Forest….. or maybe I’ll just look online….
Choclette Blogger says
No excuse needed to head to the New Forest Kate – it’s a wonderful place to visit – just make sure you are there for a Saturday.
Charlene F says
Love this review, all these choccies sound delicious especially the sea salt cameral 🙂 x
Choclette Blogger says
Ah sea salt caramels Charlene – my number one love 🙂
belleau kitchen says
love your chocolate review and this is a great alternative valentine review… I think my faves must be the Earl Grey chocs..
Choclette Blogger says
Good choice Dom, though that Madacasse chocolate is rather special too.
Sylvia F. says
Those chocs looks superb! I wouldn’t mind having it as my Valentine gift 🙂
Choclette Blogger says
You and me both Sylvia 😉
bangers-and-mash.com says
Oh you so have me drooling reading this! Love the sound of the rosemary and sea salt choccies in particular. I must organise a trip to Lymington to visit Miss Witt and soon…
Choclette Blogger says
Lymington and the New Forest are so worth a trip Vanesther, but do make sure you go on a Saturday so you can sample a chocolate or two 🙂
GG says
I’ve played around with ganache made with water rather than cream, well alcohol actually! But not been too successful. I bet the Earl Grey chocolates are delicious, they look so beautiful. Mr Glam would love the chocolate stick. GG
Choclette Blogger says
I’ve tried water ganache a few times and I’ve really liked it GG – it’s a lot lighter than cream ganaches and doesn’t feel as naughty! Adding alcohol will surely improve things!!!
Heidi Roberts says
Some great ideas for ways to celebrate the great chocolate day!
Choclette Blogger says
Thanks Heidi.
lisa prince says
im not usually a fan of chocs but wow this looks devine and soo delightfully inviting
Choclette Blogger says
Thanks Lisa – did you say not a fan of chocolates???
Sue/the view from great island says
How lucky you were to receive all those chocolates! The Earl Grey box is calling my name…
Choclette Blogger says
Good choice Sue. The Earl Grey chocolates are delicious and her tasters on the day were proving very popular indeed.
ellie says
Wow what a great selection of flavour combinations! I would love the sea salt caramel and cinnamon Brulee flavours.
Oh and the white hot chocolate stick! YUM x
Choclette Blogger says
I think there is something for everyone in this lot Ellie, although if you’re anything like me you’d want the lot 😉
Laura Huggins says
Some very unusual chocolates here! They do sound really yummy. I think my favourite would be the hot chocolate stick! YUM!
Laura x x x
Choclette Blogger says
The hot chocolate sticks are a marvel Laura and I could do with one right now to warm me up again.