I don't know how he did it (or hid it!) but somehow, in the middle of emigrating, flat hunting and moving house (and some very heavy hints!), my husband found me the best Easter Egg ever (after a really special one my parents gave me as a kid, which was a Marks and Spencers Easter egg in a nest of shredded yellow paper, with little chocolate dinosaurs inside!).

 

So here's my homage to the Hotel Chocolat 'Rocky Road to Caramellow' (or 'Rocky Road to Caramel', as they're calling it this year:

 

It comes in a box with a keyhole on the side...

 

The first, and best, thing about this is the two halves of the chocolate egg itself.  One half is Rocky Road, which is milk chocolate with a decent cocoa content and cookie chunks and crispy bits in a band around it.  The other half is smooth caramel chocolate (presumably the 'Caramellow').  Both halves are gorgeously thick, so much so that even a small chunk is very satisfying.  I almost can't believe it myself, but it took me a month to eat the whole thing, and this is Hotel Chocolat's medium sized Easter Egg!

 

And as if that wasn't enough, there are chocolates inside it too: a mixture of milk chocolate and caramel flavoured chocolates, pralines, pecan, gianduja and chewy / crispy things.  I shared some of these with the kids, along with the chocolate itself, and we all loved it, but thankfully with it being Easter, the kids had enough of their own Easter eggs to keep them busy. So what can I say, but thanks hubby :)

 

 

Find it on the Top Sellers at Hotel Chocolat page here.

 

By far the highlight of National Chocolate Week for us was this Cocoa Niblingtons connoisseur chocolate tasting kit for kids, which we hoped would start our children thinking about chocolate more carefully, appreciating the different kinds. We found it in the children's section at Hotel Chocolat, and it turned out to be a really nice, fun (and tasty!) family activity.

 

The pack had 6 samples each of white chocolate, 32% cocoa, 50% cocoa, 62% cocoa and 72% cocoa chocolate, all with cartoon characters on, So we tried them in that order, and the instructions asked us to smell them, choosing options to describe the smell (should I say scent!), the texture, and then the taste. The options were often funny (does it smell like honey, cocoa or old socks?), but using the chocolate tasting kit was so much fun in itself as the kids were so excited, and the chocolate in it was very nice too.

 

Although my favourite was the 50%, I was surprised to like the white chocolate, which also turned out to be my 5 year old's favourite, followed by the 32%. It was a bit like trying Ben and Jerry's or Haagen Dazs vanilla, which I like although I don't usually like vanilla ice cream. My 3 year old liked all the chocolate types, my husband could take or leave any chocolate (weirdo, I know!) and I preferred the 50% and 32%, but quite liked the 62% and white chocolate. It took several days for the last 72% to be eaten, and my 5 year old didn't even finish his, despite enjoying the 'does it smell like honey?' procedure. But I guess that goes to show that we all became more discriminating about our tastes in chocolate! 

 

Click here and go to the children's section to see Cocoa Niblingtons stuff from Hotel Chocolat 

National Chocolate Week seemed an ideal excuse to try out the chocolate mint soap I was given for my birthday.

 

But I have to say, although it looked very pretty and the chocolate bunny did smell of chocolate, as a soap it wasn't that great because it fell apart around the edges of the bunny.

 

Interesting to try though - possibly more minty that chocolatey.