A few weeks ago, I spoke about baked goods in chocolate. Pump Street were, if not the first, certainly one of the first to do this with their sourdough ‘waste’ mixed into chocolate. Now there’s a new bar from them which is very much nothing short of amazing. The Cookie Chip (£6.75, 70g) is part of its Bakery Series. It’s chocolate chip cookie ‘baked to a caramelised crisp’ and enrobed in 60% Ecuadorian cocoa chocolate. It also heralds Pump Street’s new packaging, which is based on the ‘Suffolk pink’ of the bakery. A worthy entry into any Christmas stocking.
Lumi’s caramelised nut milk chocolate bar is its worthy bestseller and now has a dark (ergo vegan) counterpart in the form of the Vegan Nuts (£6.75, 100g). This is perfect for those (like me some of the time) who like their dark chocolate not too dark (it’s 54%) with the excitement of inclusions.
However, for those who like dark chocolate delicious and strong but unadulterated with bits in, there are two to try from Bullion’s Explorer range, which focuses on single-origin cocoa. Both are £8 for 63g and have excellent break-off pieces.
It’s fun to try out two 70%-cocoa chocolates side by side to see what a difference terroir makes and I did this with the Maya Mountain Belize, billed as ‘brownie and blackberry’, but I got strong liquorice vibes. It’s a bar that will make you stand to attention. The Tiên Giant Vietnam was sweeter, true to its billing of ‘honey and plum’.
While you’re on Bullion’s site, consider their made-from-craft-chocolate brownies, which are massive, very rich, and my brownie testers loved them (£30 for eight).
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