Leonidas Dark Chocolate Assortment

How is it that I've been blogging for about three years now and I've not posted about these yet. 

Leonidas. 

A Belgian chocolate company that are over 100 years old, have 1250 shops world wide, are actually Belgium's (which is surely the chocolate capital of the world) most popular chocolate and were recently named as official supplier to the court by King Phillipe of Belgium. The company use quality ingredients including fresh butter and cream and my dark chocolate box is made using 100% cocoa butter. Impressive stuff!

A Valentines present from my lovely husband, who himself received his traditional present of a packet of Haribo and a big bottle of Lucozade - started years ago thanks to a particularly nasty hangover! 

I'm glad he bought these for me, they've been on my wishlist for the longest time but they're rather expensive to treat myself to just to munch on in front of the telly. 

The box looked superior, there was also a silk bow but I got a bit carried away.. 

It's a tiny golden Tardis - roughly the same size as a small box of Ferrero Roche but weighed a whacking 550g! Inside was a random variety of all dark gorgeous smelling and looking creams, truffles, pralines and more. There are so many that these will take a while to get through so bear with me! 

My first venture into the treasure chest saw me munching 7 little chocolates and for the first time in my life it was enough, my chocolate cravings were fully satisfied! 

Casaleo

I don't think the chocolate is supposed to have that kind of off look to it, though out of the whole box there were two of these and they were both the only ones that had a slight bloom to them

The dark chocolate shell was delicious, a very rich dark chocolate flavour. The praliné centre was thick and smooth and the puffed rice were wickedly crunchy. Like a grown up Double Decker, amazing. 

Noir De Noir 

One of the least interesting looking in the box but the flavour did not disappoint. 

The chocolate shell was slightly thicker and it resulted in a darker, deeper chocolate flavour. The ganache centre only intensifies this as its slightly sweeter yet still has a darker chocolate flavour. The ganache has a thick soft mousse like texture that felt like velvet against the firmer chocolate wrapped around it. Lovely. 

Josephine

I love that the chocolate looked like a coffee bean! 

Without a doubt the most incredible coffee chocolate I've eaten. Ever. The chocolate was as delicious as the previous two but the rich, gooey centre was so runny it was practically a liquid. The espresso flavour is so intense it's almost bitter but is countered by the sweeter caramel. More now please! 

Dark Chocolate Conch Praline 

There wasn't as much marbling on this chocolate as on the menu, but I was impressed with how much all of the chocolates looked like they were supposed to even though they were all loose in the box, no plastic packaging to hold any in place. 

The chocolate was quite thin and so the sweetness from the cream praline centre was slightly more noticeable. There was still a dark chocolate flavour but combined with the sweetness it tasted far more like a mass produced British Dark Chocolate (albeit a higher end one, like Hotel Chocolat) than the unique flavour of the rest of the box. It's still nice enough that it would have warranted a 9/10 on its own though! 

Buche Praline 

Another praliné, Belgian praliné is slightly different to European praline. Wikipedia has a bit more info on that, but these are fresh cream based pralinés. 

They may seem near enough identical to the seashell shaped praliné but the ratios are slightly different. The praliné is as sweet and tasty as before but where the chocolate is much thicker on the Buche it retains the rich dark flavours much better. Delicious! 

Carre Croquant

This is much the same as the Casaleo above, though for some reason this is a crisped rice filling and that was a puffed rice filling. The difference between the two seems to be that puffed rice is steamed and crisped rice is cooked in an oven or in oil. 

Whatever the difference is between the two, I didn't really notice it! The flavour was much the same as the Casaleo and even with an increased amount of praliné filling the dark chocolate was just as enjoyable and just as lovely. 

Europe

The one I thought I'd better get out of the way as I don't usually enjoy rum. 

The first flavour I noticed was that of the thick dark chocolate shell. The quality of all of the chocolates was just as good in the first as the last and the flavour really is amazing. The thick creamy ganache was next and was just as gorgeous and lastly came the rum. The delicious tasting rum! What?! I know, very unlike me but paired with the rich chocolate and slightly sweeter ganache it was beautiful and had a wonderful rum flavour without any of the harsh alcohol taste. 

Well they were the first 7, I can't wait to get into the rest!