Vosges Mo's Dark Bacon Mini Bar

Waaaaayyyyyy back in the day (okay, so it was only 2008, but in an odd coincidence I started this review exactly three years to the date of the first review) I went on an adventurous trek to get the then new-to-the-market Mo's Bacon Bar. It was the beginning of the bacon trend, and this was the first bar that mixed chocolate and bacon. Me, being the giver/weirdo that I am, had to review it -- and I went pretty far to get it.

Well, here we are three years later, and not only is the original Mo's bar still going strong but Vosges makes more Bacon + Chocolate products then you could shake a honey baked ham at. There are several things in that category I would love to try, but I did manage to score the dark chocolate version of the Mo's Bar.



The Dark Chocolate Mo's bar has applewood smoked bacon, alderwood smoked salt, and 62% dark chocolate. (the Original version is the same, except it has 45% chocolate.)



As much as I liked the milk chocolate version, I really have to hand it to the dark chocolate. It is like a whole new game.

Don't chew the chocolate! Take a little piece and let it slowly melt on your tongue. The chocolate is woodsy and deep, but at the same time it isn't dark enough to be really bitter.

The salt comes in little grains and plays perfectly with the dark chocolate. But the bacon is the part that most people are both most interested in and most scared by. What I love about Vosges is that they went with soft, almost pliable bacon; it's not some little hard salty, vaguely bacon flavored bit. It's BACON! BACON BACON BACON!!...sorry, I might have gotten a little excited there. Anyway, the bacon is smoky -- and it's that smoke that goes with the aforementioned salt that perfectly matches the chocolate. Folks, there is nothing to be scared of with this bar...but there is a lot to love.



If you have never had a bacon-chocolate mix before, this would be a great gateway candy. If you have had other bars, then this will probably become your new favorite.



Proof, once again, that there is nothing bacon can't make better. Even chocolate.



PURCHASED FROM:
Whole Foods

PRICE:
I honestly forgot to look, but the Vosges website lists $2.50 as the price, so I'm sure it was close to that.

CALORIES:
70 Calories per one 5. oz bar

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Obviously NOT kosher. Manufactured in a facility that also handles tree nuts, peanuts, sesame seeds, milk, eggs, wheat, shellfish and soy.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
vosgeschocolate.com

Too Haute Cowgirls: The Good, the Bad, and the Peanut Butter Popcorn

Edited on 11/13/10 to add:
This is actually a re-run review of sorts. My original photo's were what could best be described as "melty" looking thanks to the shipping company. The kindly little ladies of Too Haute Cowgirls were nice enough to send along new samples so thanks to them I was able to redo the photo's and give this popcorn the food porn justice it deserves!

The rootin' tootin' ladies of Too Haute Cowgirls have certainly been making quite the impression on me. They have a caramel popcorn base that is to die for, and they have many, many different versions and toppings that they have piled on.

Today's cluster is The Good, the Bad and the Peanut Butter. Which is caramel corn drizzled with white chocolate and peanut butter. Also tossed into the mix are peanuts, cashews, pretzels, and sea salt flakes.

Now, I go into this eager yet scared: I love everything on that list except for white chocolate. And sadly, white chocolate is going to play a major role here. With that admission of bias up front, let's give her a try:

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The peanut butter is the first thing you taste. It has that sweeter peanutty taste that seems more common in peanut butter flavored items than in actual peanut butter itself. Think less roasted nuts and more sugary. Kinda like peanut butter flavored cereal. I may not like that taste in a sandwich, but it works really well with the caramel corn.

The sea salt makes both the caramel and the peanut butter pop.

The white chocolate just adds a little extra vanilla-like sweetness. There's a lot of it, but to my delight it didn't make the popcorn oily or distract from the other ingredients. It also adds a little smooth melt.

The nuts are plentiful and very crisp.

I just wish there had been more pretzels! They tasted great along with the caramel corn and the peanut butter. And like the nuts, they were very crispy.


I can't say enough about the caramel corn. Even if they'd packaged plain caramel corn on its own, it would still be good. The caramel is milky and salty. The corn itself is plump and crunchy.

Even as a non-fan of white chocolate I really liked this flavor!



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains nuts.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
toohautecowgirls.com

Too Haute Cowgirls: Fistful of Fleur de Sel

If long time readers know anything about me, it's that three of my favorite words in the world are Fleur de Sel. How do you not love salt, and how do you not love salt even more when it's paired with caramel, chocolate, and popcorn? It's probably impossible. So when Too Haute Cowgirls mosied off the range to ask me if I wanted to try some of their popcorn creations, I struck faster than an angry rattlesnake at a cowboy caught wearing his cousin as boots (or something like that). Anyway...

The popcorn is stuck together with caramel in nicely sized clusters, which are then covered in dark chocolate along with large chunks of toffee sprinkled with fleur de sel.

OMG! If life in the Wild West were more like this and less like about a dozen bad Kevin Costner movies, maybe I would regret not living there.

The popcorn is fluffy and manages to not pick up that oily taste and spongy texture that packaged popcorn tends to get. The caramel is buttery and you know it's there -- but it's not so strong that it overrides any of the other flavors.



The toffee pieces were crunchy and sweet, and complimented the caramel perfectly.

But it's really the salt that brings the whole thing together. It makes the cocoa in the dark chocolate stand out. It balances the caramel and the toffee, and it reminds you of the best part of really good freshly popped corn.



This stuff is truly addicting. And we actually blew through the entire bag while writing the review. So grab old Trigger and go get some...of course, if you're riding a horse to get to your internet connection, you may have bigger issues.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Made in facilities along with dairy, soy, peanuts, wheat, and tree nuts are used.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
toohautecowgirls.com

Lindt Excellence Dark: A Touch of Sea Salt

OK, I feel like I am totally riding Cybele's coat tails. She recently reviewed the same bar (don't miss her review here), and it just sounded so good that I had to go and track one down for myself.

I love salted chocolate -- but most of the time it's "salted" only because the salt is attached to caramel or nuts or even bacon. This bar is different, because it's simply dark chocolate and sea salt.



Keep in mind I am not a huge fan of Lindt. It's not that I find it bad or even substandard; it's just that I am just not usually wowed by it.

This bar, however, impressed me. It has a great aroma to it; a very rich cocoa. It's like the perfume of a million happy little Toll House morsels -- and I mean that in the best way possible. The chocolate itself is mild for a dark, probably because it's only 47% cocoa. Personally, it reminds me of a very deep milk chocolate. It's very creamy and has a fabulous melt.



The sea salt is the clear star here. As best I can tell, the salt seems to rest mainly on the top of the bar. There's not a lot of it...just enough to set off the chocolate beautifully. There is a savory element to it that I am not sure I can do justice to...about all I can say is it just makes the chocolate better. There are also little salt crystals mixed throughout the bar that add a nice, slightly crunchy texture. And I love the way they melt on the tongue.

This bar is so good mostly because it's so simple. There's no glitz, no excess, no edgy, super-trendy ingredient (yes, bacon, I mean you), but that's exactly the point. It's as basic yet elegant as the classic little black dress. It should not be missed.



PURCHASED FROM:

Walgreens