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

Vosges Holiday Bonbon Collection

Let me say a big thank you to Vosges Haut Chocolate for ignoring the fact that I rank rather high up on the Naughty List, and for treating me to an early Christmas present by sending me this collection of holiday-inspired truffles.




There are four different truffles in the collection:

* Mascarpone & Ceylon Cinnamon Snap
* Holiday Plum Pudding
* Candy Cane Peppermint
* Eggnog & Jamican Rum

And just try tell me they aren't beautiful to look at, I dare you! Anyway, for this review, I will start with...


Mascarpone & Ceylon Cinnamon Snap:



I love mascarpone cheese so much that I have been known to eat it plain, straight from the container. Mascarpone, should you not know, is a type of super-rich cream cheese that can be eaten on its own -- or mixed into anything and everything. In my family, we make cannoli filling with it. (Should you want to try my family's version pick, up a copy of Henry Hill's The Wiseguy Cookbook. The cannoli recipe on pages 86-88 is actually my mother's.)

And keeping with the Goodfellas theme, Ceylon cinnamon is basically the Godfather of the cinnamon world. All other cinnamon-type products, while still members of the family, are various levels of underbosses, capos, and plain old soldiers. The cinnamon is sprinkled generously atop the 45% deep milk chocolate shell. Inside is the mascarpone. This truffle also contains organic sour cream.



Giving the truffle a sniff from the top, it's the deep woodsy spice of the cinnamon that you notice. Once you get into the center of the truffle (normally I would just bite and dig in, but for the sake of pretty pictures we sliced the truffles first), what immediately stands out is the rich dairy smell of the cheese.

When I bit into this truffle, for a split second I swear all I saw was blinding white light and unicorns! There might have been a rainbow or two, and Barry Manilow was in the background singing a soaring crescendo. Yeah, this truffle is just that good. You start with a little heat from the cinnamon on top, then when you break through the deep milk chocolate shell, the cool silky filling flows into your mouth. It's sort of like an extra creamy chocolate mousse, mixed with a healthy dose of my beloved mascarpone cheese. The deep milk chocolate was the perfect choice. It's creamy enough that it didn't get lost in the strong dairy of the cheese, and yet not dark enough that it was bitter or upstaged the cinnamon. If I didn't know the sour cream was in there I wouldn't have noticed it -- but you know what? I don't care! If you only try one Vosges truffle in your lifetime, make it this one!


Holiday Plum Pudding:



I don't have much base of reference for plum pudding. About all I really know is that the Cratchits (the family from Dicken's "A Christmas Carol") seemed to think it would not be Christmas without it. Oh, and that the traditional version is a type of steamed pudding made with different dried fruits, liquors, nuts, and is often topped with hard sauce. But I can't say I've actually had one.



The Vosges version contains plums, Armagnac (a type of brandy), and marzipan, and is covered with 65% dark chocolate.

The truffle is topped with a pretty little piece of edible silver foil. What made this one stand out was the texture. The center, rather than being completely smooth, is layered. The top portion of the filling is the same silky creme as the others. Then right below that is a layer of what looks like finely chopped plums, and on the bottom of that is the grainy marzipan layer.

I loved the overall flavor. It was lightly boozy, and the plums were plump and sweet. The dark chocolate takes the edge off of the sweetness and melts nicely. I hate to say that what ruined this truffle for me actually was my beloved marzipan. Mind you, the flavor of the marzipan was good: almonds with mild cherry notes. It was the texture I didn't like. It was like a very loose, grainy fondant. Had it been smoother or firmer, I would have really loved it as is...did I mention that the plums were really sweet?


Candy Cane Peppermint:



It's hard to get more simple than all natural candy cane pieces, peppermint, and 65% dark chocolate. And simplicity is often a virtue.



I liked the fact that the top is where the crunchy bits of candy live. It gives a little contrast in texture, and the red bits look like shards of stained glass. The outer 65% dark chocolate shell is a really deep woodsy, earthy chocolate. There's some coffee flavor. On its own it would be a bit too bitter for me -- but paired with the sweetness of the smooth mint center, it's perfect.

The center is very cool on the tongue and the texture is almost like pudding. The chocolate is so smooth and rich I could practically drink it. The peppermint is brisk. It's very natural, not mediciny or artificial. Overall it worked beautifully.


Eggnog & Jamaican Rum:



WOOHOO! Eggnog! Eggnog with RUM! As I have said before, in honor of my best friend who is from St. Croix, I am partial to Cruzan rum. But Vosges didn't get that memo and instead they opted to use Appleton Estate rum. Appleton has been distilling rum since 1749 and is the oldest distillery in Jamaica -- so it's safe to say that they know a thing or two about making rum. The truffle also contains nutmeg and ginger, and it is all wrapped up in white chocolate from the Dominican Republic.



I went into this truffle excited because it's eggnog and rum, but also a little worried, because it's a white chocolate truffle and I am just not a fan. But if anyone could make white chocolate doable for me it would be Vosges, so...

The truffle smelled sort of like rum and steamed milk. I didn't get the eggnog or the ginger at first. But the truffle center is like the best eggnog ever. It's creamy, it's rich, it's custardy. The nutmeg is there. The rum is strong enough that its presence is known, but it doesn't over power the other flavors. The ginger is represented by little soft bits of ginger that go unnoticed until they explode in your mouth. Yum! The white chocolate... OK, again let's remember that I don't like white chocolate. I did find that the outer shell seemed dry -- and that was not the case of the dark or the milks. It was creamy tasting, and there were good vanilla notes. If you are a fan of white chocolate, I expect you will love the shell. I loved the filling...oh, the bad things I would do for large quantities of that filling...

Overall, even with the couple of (minor) qualities I didn't care for, this remains a truly stellar collection. The Mascarpone/Ceylon Cinnamon Snap alone is so good that no matter how the other three flavors had turned out, I still would have been happy.

Absolutely outstanding.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Let me remind those of you who are still shopping for the perfect gift for the old friends and loved one (or for yourself) that Vosges Haut Chocolate is offering my readers 10% off orders placed by December 31st. Just be sure to use the special code BLGF09 when checking out.

Vosges Calindia Bar

It's been a while since I tried a Vosges product and I was feeling like something exotic. Even in the wide Vosges imaginarium (is that even a real word?) of flavors, the Calindia Bar stands out.



The bar features Indian green cardamom, organic California walnuts, dried plums and Venezuelan dark chocolate. The only ingredient I am not so sure about is the walnuts. I am not a fan of walnuts, no matter how good they may be (and I have never met one I considered good). With that caveat out of the way...



The bar has a warm, spicy aroma that reminded me most of ginger. And since cardamom is a member of the ginger family, that is not surprising.

The first flavor is the strong dark chocolate. Even thought it is only 65% cacao, it tastes stronger and darker. It reminded me of a shot of good espresso. Deep, roasted and a little intense, but not so much that it's bitter.

I wish that the bits of dried plum had been bigger. They are sweet and just a little chewy. The flavor is not quite raisin, and sadly there is not enough of the plum to really get much of a sense of it. I love the idea of plums and chocolate, but there just aren't enough of them in this bar to feel strongly one way or the other whether it was good or bad.

The walnuts: this was, again, the part of the bar I was most worried about, because I just really hate walnuts. With that in mind, and trying to be impartial about it, I can say that the pieces were very small, but quite crunchy and fresh tasting. If you do like walnuts, you will probably love them. I know that if it had been a nut I liked, such as...oh, any other nut on the planet...I would have found them a nice addition.

Walnuts aside, I generally liked the bar -- although I do wish there had been more plum. This is one of those bars in which all the ingredients come together really well, even if one by one they don't tend to stand out.



PURCHASED FROM:
Zabar's (New York City)

Gigi's Strawberry Chocolate Ice Cream

I haven't pulled out the ice cream maker in a long time, but I had some nice fresh strawberries and some great chocolate and I felt inspired.



As the base of the ice cream I used Alton Brown's Serious Vanilla recipe, with the following changes: I roughly chopped 5 large berries, liberally covered them in sugar, and left them to macerate over night in the fridge. I then used my Bullet Blender in the morning to puree them. I used 2 cups of cream and 1 cup of half-and-half. I also omitted the peaches, using my fresh strawberry puree instead.



I let the whole thing sit until very, very cold, but not so cold that it set -- setting before churning is bad! (Think of it as feeding Gremlins after midnight. You can do it...but are you really going to be happy with the results?)

At that point, it was into the ice cream maker. I have the Ice-25 model from Cuisinart. The instructions say to churn for 20 minutes, but I find I get better results if I churn for 30 minutes and then add the mix-ins.



For mix-ins, the first thing I added was small, rough bits of Vosges 74% dark chocolate (review to post tomorrow). It was the perfect chocolate to use because it took some of the sweetness of the berries down, but at the same time it wasn't bitter. I let that churn just enough that the chocolate was well blended in.



Then I added the berries -- which were simply cut and kept cold beforehand so some of the juice would seep out -- but no additional sugar was added. As with the chocolate, I only churned long enough for the berries to be well mixed in.



At this point, the ice cream is just harder than the "soft serve" stage, and is ready to be packed into small containers. I like to use little Rubbermaid twist-top containers -- but additionally, I press plastic wrap onto the top of the ice cream so that you don't get a nasty layer of ice.



Tasting it straight from the drum it was great. The berries were vibrant and sweet. The chocolate was crisp and woodsy, and the mouthfeel was very creamy and rich. Once the ice cream hard sets, the flavor is going to change a bit. If things have gone well, it will have taken everything that was already good and deepened it. If it goes bad, or if was not cold enough prior to churning, you can end up with large ice crystals which will cause the flavor to seem watered down, and the texture will become gritty.



Everything came out great. The base ice cream had just the right amount of strawberry. The chocolate took the edge off the sweetness. The texture was creamy and smooth. Loved it!

Vosges Organic Dominica Noir 74% Dark Chocolate Bar

Vosges is one of the companies that I love. I think that no matter what they do, they always produce a high quality product. This bar is a single-origin bar made with cacao from the Dominican Republic (Criollo & Trinitario beans, to be exact), and the bar is organic.



The bar is divided into little squares that feature either the Vosges logo alone, or a cartoon sketch of a girl carrying a shopping bag with the Vosges logo on it.

I decided it'd be fun to release my inner Hannibal Lecter, so I started with a square that featured the girl.



Aroma-wise, it's like opening the world largest bag of chocolate chips. Great smell. The squares have a crisp snap, but the chocolate is easily bitten into.

I was worried that I might find the 74% to be too dark, but this bar straddles that line very well. Yes, the chocolate is bitter -- but not so bitter that that it's unpleasant. In fact, it's sort of like good black coffee. It seems like there is a touch of cherry. It's woodsy, but there is also a hint of vanilla-like sweetness.



I was also surprised by how rich and relatively creamy the bar's melt was. One of the things I dislike about very dark chocolate is that it tends to be lumpy as it melts. No such issue here.

All around, everything about this bar was damn near perfect. If you have never tried a truly dark chocolate and want something mild to start with, this would be a great choice.



PURCHASED FROM:
Vosges NYC (Soho location)

Vosges Red Fire Bar

Sometimes on a cold December night you want something to snuggle up with and keep you warm. Clive Owen would of course be my go-to for this, but he's unavailable. Something about a restraining order- I dunno...
Anyway, since Clive is MIA I had to find something else. Once again leave it to the good people at Vosges to come to my rescue.

I had on hand one of Vosges Red Fire bars. It's a dark chocolate bar with chipotle chillies and ceylon cinnamon. I had the smaller bar on hand- it's actually the perfect size for a testing bar or a single serving. It's thin and very glossy. There is a great snap to the bar.

The chocolate is a relatively mild 55% dark. I know this makes me a wimp but in my old age I seem to be preferring my dark chocolate around that rage. It's just sweet enough to take off the too biter edge and milky enough that it melts smoothly.

Between the cinnamon and the chillies the cinnamon is the stronger flavor. It's woodsy and has a spicy warmth. The chillies give the bar a subtle heat. You don't taste it so much as feel it. It's a nice heat going down your throat.

Vosges also makes a chip version of this chocolate and I would love to make a batch of cookies with them.

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Vosges Organic Peanut Butter Bonbon Bar

OMG!
In my past reviews of Vosges chocolates I think I have made it pretty clear that they are beyond amazing. I have given you many examples of how good they are in relation to hot men. The last place we left off was a "Naked Stephen Colbert Accepts My Proposal" good. How do I possibly top that? There are ways my friends and if I went into them this would no longer be a PG-13 rated blog!

Moving on... As much as I have professed my love for Trader Joe's Peanut Butter Cups as being the single best peanut butter chocolate on the planet this bar is about a bizillion times better.

Ok, picture a deep milk chocolate, still creamy and rich in dairy but not too sweet with a nice satisfying snap. Then fill that chocolate with a peanut butter that is rich with roasted goodness and just gritty enough that it is like the peanut butter is roughly ground. But wait for it- here comes the best part- the whole thing is sprinkled with salt!! Yes, glorious, wonderful salt!
The salt set's all the other flavors off. Now, don't be worried there is not so much salt that you wonder where the chocolate or the peanut butter is.

AND the whole thing is organic!
I am in love!

Once again just a reminder that the kind folks over at Vosges would like to give you a chance to taste them as well.
Just in time for the holidays they are offering my dear readers 10% off of all purchases made on they're website Vosges Chocolates.Com simply add in code 2810WB1 and you are on your way to some amazing treats (check out that site, you could have all of your holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving!)

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Vosges Bombalinas- Naga Mango

I still remember the very first time I had a mango...
It was a magical time, coffee houses were all the rage. Bands had cool names like Toad & The Wet Sprocket or Hootie & The Blowfish. Al Gore had just invented the Internet and waaay back in the day said Internet use came with a per minute charge (you don't even want to know how much our AOL bill was!)- oh yeah 56K was lighting fast!

It was on a warm summer night. My best friend and I were huddled around a CRT monitor debating the merits of Classic Trek vs. TNG with other nerds from all over the world (the sad part is I did not make that up for literary purposes). Anyway, said best friend is from St. Croix and he had just purchased a flat of mango's (he BTW, is one of those talented people who can reach into a huge pile of mango's and pull out a perfectly ripe one seemingly at random every time) and while we were in a heated battle over who was the better Captian Kirk or Picard (shyeah, as if anyone could top Kirk!) we dug into the box of mango's with abandon. Since that night I have come to love mango's almost as much as I love Trek.

When I saw the little boxes of the Naga Mango Bombalinas tucked into the package Vosges sent me I squealed like a Ferengi who just found a bar of latinum.

The candies are strips or pieces of dried mango covered in dark chocolate and dusted with sweet curry. OMG! again, there are times when some candies are just too good to properly explain.

First the dark chocolate is a 62% dark chocolate. It has deep woodsy notes, it's a little bitter but that pairs incredibly well with the curry and the mango. The mango is just thick enough to be chewy without being tough (like a good fruit leather) It's sweet and that sweetness balances out the bitterness of the chocolate. The curry is the most interesting part. Unless you are a big curry head you might not be able to quite place what the flavor is because it is subtle, just a little firey (well maybe "warm" would be a better description) I could be imagining it but it comes off a little peppery to me. I just love everything about it. All three flavors work together as well as Kirk, Spock and Bones!

Oh, and being the good friend I am I shared my stash with my best friend- who proceeded to help me finish the box in one sitting... I think he liked it too!

Once again just a reminder that the kind folks over at Vosges would like to give you a chance to taste them as well.
Just in time for the holidays they are offering my dear readers 10% off of all purchases made on they're website Vosges Chocolates.Com simply add in code 2810WB1 and you are on your way to some amazing treats (check out that site, you could have all of your holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving!)

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Vosges Caramel Marshmallows

Ok let's just read the ingredient list shall we?
Marshmallows made with bourbon vanilla beans, sweet sugar caramel, French guerande grey sea salt, dark chocolate and pecan & walnut toffee. Yeah, as if there is any chance that this is going to be anything less then amazing?

Let's put it this way. If some things are so good they are like "Clive Owen naked good" and other products are even better so they are like "Stephen Colbert accepting my marriage proposal" good what do you call something that tops even that?

How about "A naked Stephen Colbert accepts my proposal while laying on a bearskin rug in front of a fire" good:

Yeah, these are THAT good.

The marshmallow it's self is soft and fluffy. You can see the specks of vanilla bean in there. The sharp tang of the sea salt mixing into the the smooth creamy caramel- must I tell you again how much I love salt and caramel together? The crunch of the sweet toffee against the slightly bitter, woodsy chocolate. Seriously, this is one of the best things ever to be put in my mouth.

The kind folks over at Vosges would like to give you a chance to taste them as well.
Just in time for the holidays they are offering my dear readers 10% off of all purchases made on they're website Vosges Chocolates.Com simply add in code 2810WB1 and you are on your way to some amazing treats (check out that site, you could have all of your holiday shopping done before Thanksgiving!)

Now, if you will excuse me Stephen and I have a few more marshmallows to finish (ok by "Stephen and I" I really mean ME!- I love him but I AM NOT SHARING!)

PURCHASED FROM:
Sample From Company

Vosges Chocolat- Mo's Bacon Bar

The things I will go through for the sake of a review!


Let me tell you I have had to work to get this review. I have known about this bar since it debuted but had not come across one in my searches (yes, I could have easily ordered it online, but that takes away the thrill of the hunt). As there are two Vosages boutiques here in New York City I decided it was high time to make a trip to one. I choose the one in SoHo as it was also adjacent to another shop that I wanted to do a Pocky run to (I think I need Dr. Phil's help at this point)
Two trains, 1 cab, several crappy sets of directions and a walk through an area at night that is both shockingly expensive and frightening at the same time I finally made it to the shop!.

It's an adorable little shop. The sales girls were quiet knowledgeable and helpful and though I had a great time and ended up spending a lot more then I had planned I left disappointed (well, it's hard to be disappointed around great chocolate more like saddened) the shop was sold out of the bacon bars which were my main reason for going. I tried to console myself. After all I DID get other bars and truffles, I had finally made it to one of the stores which I had been meaning to do for a few years now. So I didn't get exactly what I was looking for, there was always next time.

And that is where the story would have left off had I not needed butter.
I am preparing salmon with a wasabi compound butter tonight and my butter of choice is Plugra and locally the easiest place to get it is Zabars- well to be honest any reason to go to Zabars is a good reason. After getting my butter and browsing a bit I get online and lo and behold what would you guess is before me stacked on an end cap? Yep, you caught on fast it was the elusive Vosages Bacon bar!
After all that work there it was! of course I got it (what you thought I went through this whole story for nothing?)and that brings us up to the most important point.

How does it taste?
The bar is supposed to be applewood smoked bacon, Alder wood smoked salt in a deep milk chocolate (41% cacao).
The smell is somewhat disappointingly just like plain chocolate. I think I was expecting a big whiff of bacon.

My first thought was "Oh my god why am I eating chocolate covered bacon?" the smokey bacon is the first thing that hits you- and YES there are indeed little baco-bit sized pieces of bacon in the bar (least you think it was merely bacon flavor) the sweetness of the chocolate immediately makes you question your own sanity as to why your eating it (or still eating it if you go back for more)

My hands down favorite part of the bar is the salt! there is no mistaking it and the salt and the chocolate together is just killer. If not for the bacon slowing me down that bar would have been gone in less time then it has taken me to write this.

While the bar does grow on you and I am sure die hard bacon fans would gobble the bar up it was just a combination I couldn't fall in love with. I'm glad I finally tracked it down though and I will have to start praying to the chocolate gods for an all chocolate/salt bar!

PURCHASED FROM:
Zabars
Also seen at: Vosges boutiques, Vosges.Com, Whole Foods