Dark Bites

Last year a retailer entered our annual Halloween Treat Challenge and sent us some products from two different companies they work with.  This year one of those chocolatiers, Sjaak's sent us their own samples. They sent us their bags of "Halloween Bites" in dark chocolate and peanut butter as well as dark chocolate and orange.  The photo is from their website with permission since the ice pack that protected these samples faded the paper labels on the bags themselves.  Other photos in this review were taken as always with our own camera in our own home.

  Both of these are vegan and Fair Trade made so for those of us who need to think about dairy or animal additives or who simply want those who grow our Sacra Substance better treated, these are a good choice.

The Orange Bites are in an orange foil wrapper and four of them is one serving.  That serving has 150 calories, 5g saturated fat, 120mg sodium, 3g fiber, 11g sugars, 2g protein with some iron and calcium as well.  This has a light orange scent to it as soon as I unwrap it.  The daisy or flower design which is the hallmark of these sorts of treats from Sjaak's measures 1.1 inches across and just over a quarter of an inch thick.  The peanut butter version is identical in these dimensions and looks.  The dark chocolate outside is fairly thick and yet doesn't make much sound when I take a bite.  Inside is a googy almost caramel like strongly orange center that mixes well with an extremely bitter dark chocolate.  These are intense chocolate and I get a slight buzz by the time I finish with one piece.

The Peanut Butter Bites are in a black foil wrapper and again four of them equals one serving.  The nutritional information is slightly different for these with 140 calories, 4g saturated fat, 2g fiber, 7g sugars, 3g protein with calcium and iron.   This bite has a dark chocolate scent primarily and makes a sound crunch when I sample half of it.  Inside is a more solid pseudo-creamy center of very intense peanut butter that does not taste too salty nor too sweet.  This compliments the chocolate well and the two flavors have a good balance.  This reminds me a lot of more natural peanut butters which focus on the true flavor and not added sugars to make it delicious.  A wonderful pairing for more adult tastes again.

Sjaak's celebrates five holidays with it's products.  These bites come in both the bags I was sent but also in tubs of 93 pieces if you have a lot of trick o'treaters like we do here at The Chocolate Cult.   Remember these are intense so you don't need a lot of them to really feel satisfied.  Since younger kids probably won't like the bitterness of the dark chocolate, save these for older kids or if you get the bags, for a party you throw.  Sjaak's Bites are a wonderful and worthy Sacrament for us here in The Chocolate Cult.