In the midst of all the holiday baking going on, both in blog world and in my own kitchen, it’s hard to not be drawn to seasonal chocolate treats. Luckily, I had one very seasonal find from my trip to Hotel Chocolat in Boston: a bag of gingerbread “puddles.”
Hotel Chocolat refers to these milk chocolate-hazelnut paste based treats as puddles; they are certainly puddle shaped and nice and thin, and are just the perfect size and shape for slowly melting on your tongue.
It’s a good thing these are shaped to slowly melt on your tongue, because if you can get your hands on a bag of these, you’ll want to draw as much of the flavor from these as you can. Though the hazelnut paste is mostly evident from the super-soft texture and is not very apparent in the taste, molasses, ginger and nutmeg flavors jump out to create an immediate impression of gingerbread. A bit of a cinnamon aftertaste enhances this experience, and a hint of cream from the milk chocolate makes it even more enjoyable. Though the chocolate flavor is in the background in these treats, the cocoa butter is clearly top-notch, given the very smooth texture and top-notch melt.
The only disappointing thing about these gingerbread puddles is that they are seasonal and are unlikely to be at the Hotel Chocolat shop by the next time I get up to Boston. However, since they are seasonal, these would make a nice little stocking stuffer for a serious chocolate and gingerbread lover – the bag is even perfectly shaped to pop right out of the top of the stocking.
Not that I’m hinting anything to family members who may or may not read this blog.
Have you had a chance to try anything from Hotel Chocolat? What did you get?
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