The Dark Gift of Fannie May

2022 is becoming the year of chocolate gift boxes for the holiday season. Most of these have generic designs, possibly some winter themes to them, so they could work for any late fall or wintertime holiday you celebrate. We'll be covering several of these, beginning with one from Fannie May. Their Dark Chocolate Assortment is 8.3 ounces of dark chocolates and truffles in 14 pieces and including four types of their creations. I received this box for free via the Amazon Vine program in exchange for writing an honest review of it on that website; this article is a bonus and therefore no other form of compensation was received. You ready to look at this box of chocolates to see if it might fit a gifting need you have?

First, I want to applaud the photo identification card right inside the box. This makes it easy to identify the different pieces plus the descriptions include ingredient information. This is a must for enjoying or gifting to anyone with food allergies, intolerances, or even just preferences (which is everyone, isn't it?). However, many chocolate boxes we've tested over the years don't do this or they do it poorly with just written descriptions, often on the back of the box making it difficult to read while checking out the chocolates in the box. That said, this card wasn't perfect; a photo of the top and shape would have helped a lot.

Now let's look at the chocolates inside the box. I liked that the layout wasn't the standard square or circle. This gave the pieces more visual appeal which can be an important aspect when gifting as well as to enjoying eating chocolate. As you see the pieces do all look different so once I cut into them, it was easy to tell them apart, but a top photo on that ID card would have helped a lot. Remember all senses matter to chocolate lovers and the visual is your first impression.

There are four Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Pixies in this gift box, these are easy to identify because they are roundish but also flatter than the other pieces. The caramel here is chocolate flavored so you get double the chocolate. The caramel added stickiness as well as a tang, when it combined with the darker shell, the chocolate was almost fudgelike in texture, scent, and flavor. The salt was a bit intense and lingered the longest in my mouth. The pecans were tiny and didn't add much of a crunch or flavor to the Pixie though I'm sure I would have noticed if they were missing. I really enjoyed this.

The four square pieces were the Dark Chocolate Brownie Batter Truffles. These are the most solid of the four types of chocolate in this gift box. I hope the photo can show it well enough because it darker inside that most of the others. This had a brownie scent to it after it was cut open. When I took a bit I was surprised by how firm it was. The brownie had an agave sweetness or possibly an off almond flavor to it even though I didn't see that listed on the box; be wary if you have tree nut allergies just in case. That odd flavor put me off a bit, I don't think I'd eat a brownie this flavor so I wasn't a big fan of this one. 

The three rectangular pieces were the Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. I am a big lava cake fan, but given the previous chocolate's taste, I was trying to keep my expectations low. The caramel, dark chocolate, and sea salt combined to make a lovely fragrance. The caramel was sticky and thick, but it was also both tangy and sweet, I loved it which is good because it was the dominant flavor. The sea salt kicked in about four chews in while the dark chocolate was a mild constant until the very end when it lingered longest on my tongue. The journey of flavors wasn't what I was expecting but it was wonderful to go on. Unfortunately, I didn't taste or feel that lava cake connection at all, it needs more dark chocolate and oozing caramel to compare with that baked delight.

Finally, the rounded thicker pieces were three Dark Chocolate Lava Cake Caramels. The lighter colored caramel literally oozed out when I cut into the round. The scent here was sweeter but the dark chocolate and sea salt came through. This was the messiest piece to eat. The caramel by itself was buttery, sweet, and not sticky. If you can try the chocolate without much caramel you get a nice dark, smooth chocolate but the sea salt and caramel are everywhere. Together, the three flavors blended quite well and I really loved this piece despite getting it on my fingers. This chocolate was definitely my favorite in the box. 

If you have a dark chocolate, sea salt, and caramel loving friend or family member, this could be a good gift for them. It doesn't quite met our Sacramental level because the chocolate wasn't quite strong enough in each piece, but it came close. I would be happy to receive or give this as a gift. If you follow our links to check it out, remember we get a tiny fee as an Amazon Associate which helps support this blog.