Author: Chocolate Covered Weekly

Some chocolate lovers opt for the 80% and over chocolate in winter. There is good reason for this: it’s got more health benefits and far less sugar, and if you don’t eat loads of sugar anyway a very high percentage chocolate tastes epic and actually quite sweet. Here are some worth trying, as noted by Annalisa Barbieri, in THEGUARDIAN.COM: Asda has an excellent Ugandan 85%, £1.85/100g. Waitrose’s No 1 range, £2.25/100g, has two great contenders: Peruvian 80% and 90% Ecuadorian, if you fancy something even darker. Marks & Spencer meanwhile has a super offering, too: 85% Peruvian, £2.25/100g. Are these all actually made by the same company? That would be telling. Apologies for mentioning this one again, but it’s worth it: Lumi’s Ugandan 80% with cocoa nibs, £7.50/100g, is a storming success. Annalisa’s current favorite is Rózsavölgyi Csokoládé – Sur Del Lago 84%, £9.95/70g. Venezuelan beans, made in Hungary; this bar is ‘beautifully balanced’, very classy, so tasty and elegantly wrapped.

Hershey’s and Breyers are introducing a Campfire Collection, including S’mores ice cream, S’mores Bars, and S’mores Sandwiches. The headliner of the collection is the S’mores ice cream tubs and pints, which feature toasted marshmallow-flavored ice cream with graham cracker crumbs and Hershey’s chocolate swirls. The S’mores Bars are unlike anything you’ve seen before with toasted marshmallow ice cream encased in Hershey’s chocolate and dipped in graham cracker crumbs. Think of it as a s’mores-flavored Good Humor bar (which is also owned by Breyers’ parent company, Unilever). Last, but certainly not least, is the S’mores Sandwich, which is the most similar to the original campfire treat. It features toasted marshmallow-flavored ice cream swirled with Hershey’s chocolate, sandwiched between two graham cracker wafers. Breyers’ entire Campfire Collection hits retailers nationwide on Jan. 1, 2025.

Tony’s Chocolonely’s mission to support ethical chocolate is through a direct trade model, ensuring fair prices and better conditions for cocoa farmers, and this mission is reinforced every step of the way, from production to design. Its signature uneven bar shaping is meant to symbolize wealth inequality in the chocolate industry, sparking consumer awareness. Vibrant packaging combines playful branding with a serious mission, engaging customers in the fight for a fairer and more transparent chocolate supply chain. Devin Parr, with the help of his children, tried 12 Tony’s Chocolonely chocolate bars and ranked them. You can find the results, HERE.

The chocolate candy is getting a festive twist for the holidays. The popular chocolate candy has rolled out its first holiday-shaped treat and fans are here for it. A popular food blogger shared that “New Kit Kat Santas are starting to appear in stores for the holiday season.” They continued, sharing that they found an 8.85 ounce bag of the individually wrapped snack size candies at World Market.

This ice cream is not for the faint of heart. There are four forms of chocolate in there. “This one is for our chocolate fans,” said Joe Robertson, executive director of advertising and marketing. “Chocolate Brownie Truffle is rich with flavor. We have combined our Milk Chocolate ice cream with chunks of delicious brownies and decadent truffles. And we added a smooth chocolate icing swirl for even more chocolate flavor. Our new Chocolate Brownie Truffle is the perfect ice cream to start the fall season.”

Nestlé has unveiled its Christmas range for 2024 which features several new chocolates including a new look Quality Street range. The confectionery company is well known for chocolate products including Smarties, Quality Street, KitKat and Milkybar. Nestle has already spoilt fans in 2024 with the release of several new chocolate bars. In June, the company revealed the launch of the new KitKat Chunky Crunchy Double Chocolate. While other new releases in 2024 have included a white chocolate KitKat and several new Aero flavors including Strawberry and choco-hazelnut.

Costco, home of the $5 rotisserie chicken and absurdly-sized boxes of granola bars. Kirkland Signature offers a variety of snack bars — most featuring some form of chocolate — in packages containing anywhere from 20 to 120 bars. While it may be tempting to reach for that box with the most in it, quality over quantity comes into play here. Tasting Table’s Megan Hageman tested and ranked 5 of the best snack bars at Costco and concluded that the absolute best is the Kirkland Signature Dipped & Chewy Granola Bars. Where the other Costco bars have chocolate chips mixed into the oats, a bottom side coated in chocolate, a chocolate drizzle, or a chocolate-flavored protein powder base, the Dipped & Chewy bars feature a generous layer around the entire bar. More chocolate is never a bad thing, and the amount of it in the photo on the box is pretty enticing, but it’s not just the chocolate that makes this bar rank higher than the others. What’s found inside that magical chocolate coating is just as delicious. These bars are made of super crunchy rice crisps and oats, which provide a satisfying contrast to the creamy chocolate. Like the name says, though, they are just as chewy as they are crunchy and creamy. This is thanks to the layer of caramel found between the rice crisp and oat base and the top layer of chocolate.

The chocolatier has brought out a fun new edition of their iconic treat for fall-lovers with the brand-new Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Pie M&Ms. The indulgent candy features the cozy classic autumnal flavor of pumpkin spice blended in with decadent milk chocolate. Fall fans have hailed the “miniature forkfuls of pumpkin pie in perfect bite-sized candy-coated pieces” as “delightful” and “better than the originals”. The M&Ms are wrapped in a festive shell and come in brown, white and orange colors to mark the season, which also coincides with Halloween. Individual candies are bigger than classic M&M’s and can be compared to Peanut Butter M&M’s. Seven ounce bags are available across select retailers nationwide, including Target and Instacart for a limited time.

Contrary to popular belief, you can go wrong when gifting chocolate. That’s because not all chocolate is created equal. There’s a big difference between the bag of off-brand Nutella wafers you pick up on a whim while standing in the checkout line at T.J. Maxx and a collection of handcrafted luxury chocolates made with the freshest Piedmont hazelnut paste. And while we’d likely eat any kind of chocolate that came our way, a low-quality piece of candy doesn’t exactly utter “you are special to me.” There’s a time and place for your standard supermarket milk chocolate bar, but we implore you to use this as an opportunity to get creative—it’ll make your gift all the more memorable. Click, HERE, for special treats!

Blue Bell introduced Chocolate Brownie Truffle Ice Cream, intended for the fall season. Chocolate Brownie Truffle is Milk Chocolate Ice Cream loaded with brownies, dark chocolate-flavored truffles and a chocolate icing swirl. “This one is for our chocolate fans,” said Joe Robertson, executive director of advertising and marketing. “Chocolate Brownie Truffle is rich with flavor. We have combined our Milk Chocolate Ice Cream with chunks of delicious brownies and decadent truffles. And we added a smooth chocolate icing swirl for even more chocolate flavor. Our new Chocolate Brownie Truffle is the perfect ice cream to start the fall season.”

When Strawberried & Peanut Butter M&M’s took over shelves in 2009, candy-obsessed shoppers couldn’t get enough. The flavor was a hit, featuring a nostalgic crunchy coating and a jammy-nutty filling. That is until it got discontinued in 2015. But, according to reports from @candyhunting, a popular site for the latest updates on all things confections, peanut butter and jelly M&M’s are set to make a comeback soon. This news is a big deal; the flavor still gets attention years later. According to a Reddit post from 2023, one user shared, “I used to get them after school at 7/11 once or twice a week — this is coming from a guy who was never too keen on M&Ms.”

Attention Reese’s peanut butter cup lovers you can now get your favorite favorite ooey gooey peanut butter chocolate candy with an extra layer of chocolatey filling. Reese’s has announced their newest chocolatey creation which is called the Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup. “Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup delivers a satisfying treat that helps fans experience a unique, tasteful adventure through its decadent chocolate lava layer.” Melissa Blette, senior brand manager, at Reese’s, said. Reese’s Chocolate Lava Big Cup is available in standard and king sizes at retailers nationwide.

On July 31, a Reddit user shared some intel on a product favored by both Costco-lovers and chocolate chip cookie-makers: Kirkland Signature chocolate chips had been replaced at their local store. “They completely replaced the chocolate chips with Nestle,” wrote u/SomeRealTomfoolery in r/Costco, showing a rack of Nestlé Toll House Semi-Sweet Morsels in 72-ounce bags in a Costco store. The post went viral with more than 500 reactions and 160 comments.  On July 3, one Redditor posted a screenshot of a message they say was sent by a Costco representative explaining why its buying team made the switch. In the letter, the alleged representative cites rising costs as a reason for the discontinuation.

Coca-Cola and Oreo joined forces for an unexpectedly delicious collaboration. The brands created two limited-time products: Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar soda and Oreo Coca-Cola cookies. The dessert and drink items, both of which are available starting on Sept. 9, come in special packaging with a sleek, black background. They are decorated with images of Oreos stacked in an arrangement that resembles the silhouette of a classic Coca-Cola glass bottle. But what’s inside each package is what really shines. Oreo Coca-Cola sandwich cookies are made of two different cookies. One cookie looks like the classic chocolate Oreo cookie but has a pop of soda flavor from Coca-Cola syrup. The other half of the sandwich is a red-colored golden Oreo cookie with the “Coca-Cola” logo and bubble designs. A classic cream layer and popping candies that are meant to replicate the fizziness of sipping soda are sandwiched between the black and red cookies. According to a press release, Coca-Cola Oreo Zero Sugar is meant to combine a “smooth fusion of a refreshing Coca-Cola taste with flavorful hints inspired by Oreo cookies.”

A Michigan chocolate shop has been listed as one of the Top 10 in the entire country. Bon Bon Bon has landed at No. 7 on USA Today’s 10 Best Chocolate Shops in the U.S. list. “This Hamtramck-based artisan chocolate company creates bonbons with clever flavor combinations and eye-catching designs that look as delicious as they taste,” USA Today wrote. Bon Bon Bon founder and Head Chocolatier, Alexandra Clark, started the business 10 years ago in the back of a Coney Island restaurant. Since then, she has landed on Forbes “30 under 30″ list as she and her chocolatiers make more than 100 different varieties of custom hand-made chocolates with two locations in Detroit and one in Ann Arbor. “In their handiwork, Bon Bon Bon’s confectioners — lovingly nicknamed ‘The Babes Babes Babes’ — apply classic French techniques with Detroit ingenuity, along with local ingredients, to make these delectables,” USA Today added. And just this month, Clark announced she will open her first chocolate shop outside of Michigan, not including pop-ups. The shop will be in Boston.

Here are the other chocolate shops on the 10 Best list:

No. 1: Pizzelle’s Confections – Huntsville, AL
No. 2: Piety and Desire Chocolate – New Orleans
No. 3: Saratoga Chocolate Co. – Saratoga Springs, NY
No. 4: Chocolat Uzma – Chicago
No. 5: LaRue Fine Chocolate – Greenville, SC
No. 6: Videri Chocolate Factory – Raleigh, NC
No. 8: Mon Aimee Chocolat – Pittsburgh, PA
No. 9: Eldora Chocolate – Albuquerque, NM
No. 10: Ragged Coast Chocolates – Westbrook, ME

M&M’s has a new flavor that’s holiday-specific, but you won’t necessarily have to wait until then to find it. M&M’s is launching a brand new Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Pie Flavor that will soon hit store shelves nationwide. Even though summer has yet to officially start, you won’t have to wait for sweater weather to enjoy the flavors of pumpkin spice wrapped in a milk chocolate shell. Fans of the fall flavor can grab a bag to devour while sitting poolside. In addition to the new pumpkin pie flavor, fan favorite M&M’s Ghouls in a blend of milk chocolate, peanut, and peanut butter will also be making a comeback for the season, along with the Ghoulish Green Snickers and Twix bars.