Hello, Dove chocolate. Where have you been all my life? Apparently Dove first hit the streets with the Dovebar ice cream treat in the 1950s. Since then Dove offerings have trickled onto supermarket shelves, and now there are cookies, chocolates, and ice cream (and speaking of Dove ice cream, you should really try it if you haven’t. The pints have a top layer of chocolate, so you break through the chocolate barrier to get to the ice cream. I cannot emphasize enough how incredible this is).

But, I digress. The matter at hand is some new chocolate from Dove, namely three flavors of the Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate line. The flavors are Roasted Hazelnut, Blueberry Almond, and Peanut Toffee Crunch. Each 3.53-ounce box holds three individually wrapped bars, which psychologically might be a good thing, since you can avoid feeling guilty if you eat just one of the wrapped packages.

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I used to work in an Italian restaurant, so I’m no stranger to tiramisu. In fact, I’m no stranger to the good, the bad, and the ugly side of tiramisu. I became addicted to its layers of firm, creamy goodness at the restaurant, and have since been on a quest to try the dessert almost everywhere I go.

When a sample of new Dove Desserts Tiramisu Silky Smooth Dark Chocolate Promises arrived on my doorstep, I was both excited and wary. I’ve been burned by bad tiramisu before, and couldn’t imagine how a candy company could properly imitate the good stuff in a tiny, foil-wrapped square.

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With all the buzz about the increasing health benefits of dark chocolate recently, it’s only natural that the big guys cash in on the trend. Mars, which owns the fast growing brand Dove, has released new bars that cover the dark chocolate and single origin trends.

A few things to note before I move onto how they taste. Firstly, in order for a chocolate to be called “dark” here in the United States, it has to have at least 35% cocoa solids. So, as Dove sees it, if 35% is dark then 63% must be extra dark. I wonder who they think they’re fooling. Secondly, the “single origin” beans they’re using come from the Forastero cacao bean. Forastero is the least flavorful cacao bean there is and it’s used more for bulk processing of chocolate. So right away, I’m skeptical of this line of chocolate.

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Dove Chocolates has just jumped on the customized candy bandwagon with their latest: mydovechocolate.com. The chocolate isn’t actually customized – the wrapper is. You get to choose up to four custom messages of three lines each and up to 17 characters per line, the font, the foil color, whether you want milk or dark chocolate, and if you want a 50 or 75 piece bag of candy. Your message(s) will be printed on the inside wrapper of your chocolates.

This seems like a great idea for special occasions like weddings, 40th birthdays, etc. given that you can customize the message and pick the foil color to match your color scheme. The only problem I have is the price. 50 pieces will run you $40 plus $12.95 shipping or about $53 – that’s over $1.00 per bite-size chocolatey Dove goodness. Maybe it’s just me though – I’m a world-class cheapskate.

• mydovechocolate.com

Dove, chocolate, customize

Trying to cut sugar from your diet can get difficult when chocolate cravings hit. I had a sliver of time between work and class one night, and I stopped at Walgreens for a snack – the chocolate demon was attacking, and I had nothing to bolster my defenses. I headed for the small sugar-free section on the candy aisle and went through the internal debate – do I want real chocolate? Chocolate-flavored hard candy? Something new, or something tried and true?

I wanted something new, it seems. After about five minutes of staring down the sugar free chocolates, Dove’s latest caught my attention. The velvety brown bag with tantalizing raspberries and chocolate shavings drew my eyes in, and the adjectives in the candy’s name hooked me. Sugar Free Dove Rich Dark Chocolates with Raspberry Creme; not only is this chocolate dark, but also rich and infused with raspberry goodness.

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