Hand-Dipped Milk Chocolate Truffle Box

We're going to start off August with a box of Hand-Dipped Milk Chocolate Truffles from The Nut Shoppe, Inc. in Goshen, Indiana. You can buy their creations at their store or through Chocolate.org, an online store that offers products from small chocolate shops around the USA and Canada. Chocolate.org and The Nut Shoppe sent us a huge 24 piece box of these truffles to try so obviously I had to get as many of our Acolytes as I could get together to give these serious testing. In total, six people tested these truffles. While we were sent this box of truffles to test and write about, we did not accept any other compensation for our work.

These are hand-dipped and you can tell by looking at them. While manufactured truffles can be perfectly round or dome shaped, these vary slightly with an extra twist of milk chocolate on the top. The base measures between 1.5 and 1.75 inches across and they rise to about 1 inch so these are nice 2-3 bites treats. The fragrance is creamy cocoa with a strong hint of vanilla. Biting into a bit of the extra chocolate on the base makes a very loud snap; this must be very pure chocolate for a milk chocolate to make such a noise. Biting into it reveals that the outer layer of milk chocolate is fairly thick while the inside is creamy, fluffy center that is soft and immediately melts in the mouth. The taste is intense yet creamy chocolate with less vanilla flavor in the coating than in the truffle center. Over all the flavors is very creamy, very chocolatey, with a strong vanilla kick; I liked it a lot.

I really like the balance of flavors and the combination of textures but what did all six of my testers think about these truffles? Not surprisingly their views varied widely. Our Milk Chocolate Acolyte said the ganache (outside) is strongly chocolate but also smooth and creamy; the inside has another flavor I can't pick out but it is different from the ganache. Three said good but not special but I think that's a bit harsh given all of the truffles we've tried over these seven years. The outside was not as well liked as the inside which is described as more creamy and richer. One thought the inside has a nought-like quality that he definitely would eat more of. The hand-shaped and dipped quality was obvious and appreciated, one wondered if they were placed right into the box because the bottoms were spread out a bit and they were a challenge to get out of each section. This hand-dipped quality is promoted on The Nut Shoppe's boxes and website.

If these truffles sounded good to you, go to Twitter and tell the company that you discovered them on The Chocolate Cult. If you want to buy some yourself, check out Chocolate.org for this collection.