German Praline Hearts for Valentine's Day

Note: At the time of publication, the website is still under rebuilding but keep checking back. We've looked at other products from Chocion but I combined pralines from two boxes to make this little Valentine's Day treat for you, Sisters and Brothers.  I'm giving you plenty of time to check them out in case you want a little German sweetness for your loved one. As you can see we've taken three heart-shaped chocolates plus a diamond one to make this photo for you all so let's find out what each piece is.  These are just four varieties of their praline collection and we looked at four other varieties back in September 2014. Several of these have alcohol so I tested these with our two Alcohol Acolytes and one other Acolyte one evening months ago.  I hope you enjoy our report because we enjoyed the process we followed that evening.

The Sahne-Trüffel Weinbrand (Dark Brandy Cream Truffle) has white chocolate lines over it that almost looked purple in some lighting as I hope you can see in the photo to the left.  This is a 62% dark chocolate and has 3% brandy.  Our testers said: strong cocoa scent with a hint of brandy was lovely to smell; the contrast in colors was attractive, the most visually pleasing of the four we looked at. The coating make a nice snap when we took a bite because it was fairly thick. The flavor started as dark chocolate, turned to a very good brandy with a creaminess to it, then settled back into the dark chocolate resulting in a very balanced over all experience. This was our second favorite of the evening of testing.

White chocolate (28%) covers this Sahne-Trüffel Champagner (White Champagne Cream Truffle) in an adorable heart shape with milk chocolate drizzled over it.  Over all our testers felt this was weaker than the others we tried that evening and this is why: All thought it was very cute and had a creamy white chocolate scent. Two testers thought there was only a creamy white chocolate fragrance when they bit into it while the other testers got a strong champagne scent once they bit into.  The coating was nice and hard yet it made no sound when we took bites.  The inside was a soft creamy milk chocolatey center. Two of us got a definite champagne flavor which we liked, one got only milk chocolate, while the the fourth got only a waxy cream... go figure, huh?  This is a great example of why we do multiple testers when we can -- different experiences allow you, Sisters and Brother, to make up your own minds from wider descriptions.  If you like white chocolate we can say this was good but it very subtle in terms of champagne.

The final heart shaped praline in this box is the Sahne-Trüffel Whiskey (Dark Whisky Cream Truffle) that has milk chocolates lines drizzled over the top and down onto the sides.  Again this is a 62% dark chocolate with a 3% whisky this time.  Our quad of testers discovered: A medium to high level of cocoa flavor and scent, we discussed this a bit, but all agreed it was the most intense of the eight we teste that evening.  The milk chocolate on the dark chocolate didn't pop as much in terms of appearance for us.  There was a nice sharp crack at the first bite but then the soft center was firmer than the previous pieces, almost gel in texture.  The first flavor we got was the dark chocolate then a strong whisky edge that blended back into the dark chocolate until the very end when it ended with a hard burn in the back of your throat.  This melting of flavors into each other made this the overall favorite of the selection we tested that night and every single person highly recommends you try this out.

We ended with the only non-heart shaped praline from this Chocion collection with their Nougat Kaffe-Mocoa (Milk Mocha Nougat) is made with milk chocolate (38%) with a hazelnut nougat and coffee powder center as well as a dot of white on the top of the rhombus shaped treat.  We did not have our Mocha Acolyte with us that evening for testing but two of the testers have helped him with our process before and three of us are coffee drinkers so I think they (I didn't try this one personally) did a good job, but check out what we found: Diamond or rhombus.. we went back and forth on this one so you can call it a diamond with the hearts if you like for Valentine's Day.  Two testers could smell a chocolate coffee blend but one thought it was only ground coffee scent from the outside; only one noted any hazelnut scent inside.  Overall the hazelnut was very weak in this which was surprising but not unpleasant.  The creamy inside had a crunchy or sandy texture that two testers liked and one did not.  Only one person really recommended it all because the ground coffee was less grainy than similar chocolates she'd tried in the past and she felt there was a decent blend of coffee and chocolate.  The other two testers had opposite views -- one saying it was not for major coffee lovers while the other said it was only for folks who like both coffee and hazelnut. Wow! Coffee sure makes people picky!

Four varieties to make one lovely Valentine's Day gift but check out the Chocion website (links below) to see what you might want to mix and match for your own beloved.  If you are in Germany or will be in Germany you can find them in München. The rest of us need to check them out on online for shipping around the world.  They have a wide selection of pralines but you may need to email or call them to ask if you can buy specific ones if you can't get to the shop. I'd be delighted to get these adorable hearts for Valentine's Day, your beloved might be delighted as well. If you live in the USA you can get information by emailing Chocion at info@chocion.com and you'll need to do that for shipping costs.