Chocolate Spread Lovers

Who out there loves to spread some chocolate on bread as a meal or a dessert or even a snack? Me, too! As Valentine's Day approaching, a lovely gift from my loved one might be a breakfast featuring such a treat. There are so many brands out there that offer chocolate spread with various added flavors and ingredients that it can be difficult to find the best. Today I'm going to share my experience with some of the many varieties of Amoretti Chocolate Spread. I have three types to share with you today -- Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate Spread, Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Spread, and Truffle Spread with Cocoa. I tried each spread on its own as well as on a a few different breads and crackers so that I could compare them to each other and to other chocolate spreads that I have tried. I was sent each product for free in exchange for testing them and writing about them on this blog, The Chocolate Cult; no other form of compensation was received for sharing my opinions.

We'll begin with the Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate Spread which is the only vegan variety of chocolate spread the brand currently offers. This is also a kosher product. It comes in an 11 ounce plastic jar that looks more intimidating to open than it proved to be; just keep twisting and it will unlock. The fourth ingredient on the label is cocoa powder. I tried a bit of this spread solo and it was creamy and smooth with a dominating hazelnut flavor though the chocolate was there as was an overall sweetness. It reminded a great deal of Italian brands of this type of product I'd had when I lived in Rome from 1990 to 1991. While one serving, two tablespoons, is 200 calories, I found that 1/2 a serving or one tablespoon was enough for a single slice of the bread I used to test this. Why is that enough? The flavor is intense. While I liked it on a regular piece of brown bread and on a water cracker, I really loved it on sourdough because I liked the counter the bread's flavor made with the sweetness. I didn't like Vegan Hazelnut Chocolate Spread with a wheat butter cracker, the butter flavor didn't mesh well to me. Overall, I'd like more chocolate flavor which upping the amount of cocoa powder to the 2nd or 3rd ingredient amount would do.

Then I tried Salted Caramel Milk Chocolate Spread which has cocoa as the third ingredient on the label. One serving, two tablespoons, is 190 calories, but again, I found that 1/2 a serving or one tablespoon was enough. This had a strong salty and tangy caramel scent when I opened up the 11 ounce jar. I tasted some of this spread solo and found that the initial flavor was chocolatey but that quickly changed to a tangy sweetness. This spread is thicker so it didn't spread as quickly but it did spread smoothly. This flavor I preferred on the plain wheat bread not the sourdough. I liked it equally on the water cracker and the butter wheat cracker which I liked better than the breads. I do not recommend using this with a salted cracker or bread; I found that to be too salty. What I found worked great, was melting this just a bit (10 seconds in the microwave) then adding it to unsweetened dried cranberries; loved it!

The Truffle Spread with Cocoa is the third and hopefully the most chocolatey of all three of these Amoretti spreads. This is the darkest of the three spreads and I know that is because cocoa is the second ingredient on the list. One serving, about two tablespoons is 200 calories but that easily covered two slice of toast -- both whole grain and the sourdough that I tried. The flavor is dark which I love and it worked on every cracker and bread slice that I tried because the cocoa flavor is so strong that it was the dominant taste each time. This was easier to use out of the jar compared to the two previous flavors but heated breads worked best because the spread melted just a touch which made coverage of an entire slice of toast simple. Straight from the jar, this spread tastes as you'd hoped from the label -- exactly like a high quality chocolate truffle dusted with cocoa would.

The spreads were all good though, of course, here on The Chocolate Cult, we'd love more chocolate flavor for two of them, but the Truffle Spread was nearly perfect. The fact that palm oil is an ingredient but cocoa butter is not, is a disappointment. What you eat each spread with (cracker, bread, fruits, solo) impacts the flavors you'll discover and I'm looking forward to trying these in other ways. There may still be time to order these chocolate spreads for your own Valentine's, Birthday, Anniversary, or even every use if you follow the links above. 

If you have enjoyed any of these three Amoretti spreads (or other flavors), please leave a comment and let us know.

If you haven't tried them yet, what flavor are you most interested in trying out?