Nestle L'Atelier Cranberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts Milk Chocolate

As well as the Nestle L'Atelier Salted Caramel bar I reviewed the other day, I also picked up this 100g bar of Milk Chocolate with Cranberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts in Sainsbury's Express recently. It was on offer for £1.50 - usually it's £2. It comes foil wrapped which I love, since most chocolates are plastic wrapped nowadays and I'm sure it makes a difference in the taste.

It's described as "Smooth milk chocolate with dried sweteened cranberries and whole hazelnuts and almonds", and the chocolate contains 30% minimum cocoa solids and 18% milk solids.

Like the other bars in the range, the cranberries and nuts are clearly visible in each block which is nice as it means you know exactly what you're getting.

Breaking a piece off, it had a nice chunky feel and reminded me a little of the Nestle Double Cream bars from many many years ago. Anyone remember them?

The chocolate tastes pretty creamy and melts in the mouth nicely, but definitely has that distinctive "woody" taste that you just know is Nestle. It's kind of like a higher quality version of the chocolate they use in their other products. I wouldn't say it screams high quality but it was pleasant. The cranberries and nuts are really where the bar shines, they're so plentiful and combine well with the chocolate, making this feel like a posh Fruit and Nut bar. In fact considering Cadbury's Fruit and Nut tastes rather greasy these days, I'd say this tasted better.

Overall, this is a pretty tasty bar and worth picking up if you spot it on special offer. I wouldn't go out of your way for it though, the other bars in the Nestle L'Atelier range like the Blonde Chocolate with Nuts look a lot more interesting!

Nutrition Information (per piece): 77 Calories, 4.6g Fat, 7.5g Carbohydrates, 7.3g Sugars, 1.2g Protein. 

Ingredients: Sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, dried sweetened cranberries (6%) (sugar, dried cranberries, sunflower oil), almonds 5%, hazelnuts 5%, emulsifier sunflower lecithin. 

7.5 out of 10. 

Nestle L'atelier Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate Review

Recently, Nestle launched their range of premium chocolated Les Recettes De L'Atelier into Sainsbury's stores. This range has proven very popular in Europe so they are testing the waters in the UK it seems. There's some interesting flavours in the range, most notably L'atelier Blonde Chocolate with Roasted Almonds and Hazelnuts, although at £3.50 per large bar I have been put off trying it. A bit more reasonably priced is this thinner Dark Chocolate Sharing Bar with Salted Caramel pieces, usually £2 but reduced to £1.50 per 115g bar recently.

Most of the bars in the range have the added ingredients clearly visible on top, with the salted caramel pieces clearly visible on this one:

The bar can be broken into 5 pieces, although it's a bit difficult to get a clean split.

The underside has an unusual pattern on it, presumably due to how it is moulded:

Unfortunately, despite being dark chocolate this bar isn't suitable for vegans as it contains butterfat and cream, boo! The percentage of cocoa solids is listed as 54% minimum.

Taking a bite, it has a nice sweet flavour and was quite rich and flavoursome, moreso than I was expecting for such a low percentage of cocoa. The butterfat adds a pleasant buttery creaminess, with the caramel pieces providing bursts of sweet crunch whilst eating. They didn't taste particularly like salted caramel although there was the faintest hint of salt there. Overall, this is a pretty nice tasting bar and the salted caramel definitely makes it a bit different from most types of dark chocolate, although I'm not sure it's better than Lindt Dark Crunchy Caramel.

All in all, not a bad bar and this looks visually interesting but it's not something I would say justifies a very high price tag. £1.50 is about right as a standard price so I would only recommend buying this when it's on special offer.

Ingredients: cocoa mass, sugar, salted caramel pieces (8%) (sugar, cream powder, whole milk powder, salt, cocoa butter, whey powder, natural flavouring), butterfat, emulsifier sunflower lecithin. 

Nutrition (per 100g): 547 Calories, 34.5g Fat, 47.2g Carbohydrates, 44g Sugars, 7.8g Protein.

8 out of 10.

Nestle L'atelier Chocolates & Hazelnut Butterfinger Cups (Spotted In Shops)

Another Spotted In Shops quick post - this time for some new Nestle products gracing UK supermarkets!

First up, following on from the success of the Peanut Butter and Coconut Butterfinger Cups, Nestle have launched a Hazelnut version. So far they've only available in Asda.

Nestle Les Recettes de L'Atelier Blonde Roasted Almonds & Hazelnuts:

Nestle have launched their premium L'Atelier range exclusively into Sainsbiury's stores. This range has been very popular in various European countries so it seems Nestle are testing the waters over here. This blonde chocolate sure does sound tasty - but at £3.50 a block it ain't cheap! (though I have been told it's worth the price).

There's also this L'Atelier Blueberries, Almonds & Hazelnuts Dark Chocolate, available in smaller bars for £2:

Plus L'Atelier Orange Zest & Cacao Nibs Dark Chocolate:

As well as L'Atelier Raisins, Almonds & Hazelnuts Milk Chocolate...

Plus L'Atelier Roasted Almonds Dark Chocolate:

There's also a Salted Caramel Dark Chocolate bar in the range.

Have you tried any of these Nestle L'Atelier bars or the Hazelnut Cups? If so let me know your thoughts in the comments below!