~ THE CHOCOLATES ~
My boyfriend's auntie bought me and my boyfriend a large box of chocolates to share as an Easter gift. We were expecting a small egg, how-ever she spent a bit more and handed us a huge box from Thornton’s. The box is called the classic collection and has a total of 42 chocolates which contains classic favourites including Caramel, Fudge, Fruit & Nut centres covered in milk, dark and white chocolate. I can’t find these on the Thornton’s website so I’m not 100% how much they are, however I imagine they are around £9.99 or just under for the box of these. You can purchase these chocolates in a smaller sized box for around £6.50 and also a larger box for £11.99. You can also choose to have these gift-wrapped if you wish. The chocolates are available to buy both online and in store.
~ PACKAGING ~
The chocolates come in a large box which is beige in colour. On the front it had a red strip which has a picture of the different chocolates on the front and also states that the chocolates are the classic collection. On the back of the box it gives you a list of ingredients; contact information for Thornton’s and also gives you some information about recycling the packaging. The lid is sealed down on the box either side using a small piece of tape. This is easily peeled off in order to open the box to reveal a black piece of plastic and a small piece of paper which is folded in half. The piece of paper tells you what chocolates are what and the black plastic keeps the chocolates covered. When you take the plastic paper off it will reveal a large black try in which all the chocolates sit in, so they don’t move about when the box is being moved.
~ APPEARANCE/SMELL ~
The tray of chocolates made my mouth water as soon as I saw them. There is a nice range of different shaped chocolates each with a different coating of milk, dark or white chocolate on them. Some of the chocolates are wrapped in individual foil wrappers which are orange and red in colour. There is also a large piece of chocolate towards the bottom of the tray which has Thornton’s etched onto the front of it. As there are so many chocolates all you can smell is a strong chocolate smell. You can smell any of the centre’s that may be in the chocolates such as the caramel, nuts or fruit centres. These do smell a little sickly, but only because there are a lot of chocolates in the box.
~ THE LEAFLET ~
The small leaflet which comes in with the box of chocolates has a picture of 13 different chocolates which are all included in the box. The leaflet shows you the chocolate as a whole and then in half and has a description of each chocolate underneath the picture so you can choose the chocolate you wish to have. The pictures on the paper were very clear so you had no problems trying to work out which chocolate was which.
~ TASTE TEST ~
The overall look of all the chocolates look very appealing and they all look as good as each other. I wasn’t really sure which one to go for first but I would taste all of them eventually so I guess it didn’t really matter which one I went for first.
Strawberry Velvet – A silky soft fondant of real strawberries folded with double cream covered in milk chocolate. The particular chocolate was round and covered in milk chocolate. It had a slightly textured surface to it with raised bits to the chocolate. As I bit into the chocolate my teeth sank straight into the strawberry fondant centre. The middle of the chocolate was a very pale pink colour and as I started to chew the sweet the taste of strawberry filled my mouth. Although it was covered in milk chocolate I could taste the strawberry more than anything until I got to the end of the chocolate which is when I could taste the milk chocolate more and this tasted delicious with the strawberry fondant centre.
Honeycomb Crunch – Velvety milk chocolate bursting with crispy honeycomb and sugar-roasted hazelnut croquant. This chocolate is rectangle in shape and is covered in milk chocolate. The top is textured and very bumpy. I bit into the chocolate to reveal a chocolate centre which had small pieces in. The pieces crunched in my teeth as I bit into and chewed the chocolate. There wasn’t a great deal of flavour in the chocolate apart from the milk chocolate; how-ever the crispy pieces of honeycomb gave the chocolate a nice texture.
Creamy Fudge – Melt-in the mouth light & creamy fudge smothered in milk chocolate. This chocolate is a triangle shape and has 3-4 lines along the top of it. It’s covered in milk chocolate. I bit into the chocolate and my teeth sank straight through the creamy fudge. As I chewed the chocolate I could taste the creamy fudge which soon took over the taste of the milk chocolate. The fudge was really creamy and soft and tasted delicious.
Chocolate Truffle – An indulgently smooth chocolate truffle with a hint of vanilla covered in milk chocolate. This chocolate is round and is covered in milk chocolate but also has lines going across it in white chocolate. As I bite into the chocolate, it’s very soft and you can see the chocolate truffle inside. There is a very small taste of vanilla, but this is then overpowered by the taste of chocolate.
Layered Chocolate Classic – Three tempting layers of meltingly smooth milk, white and dark chocolate. The chocolate us rectangle in shape with a T engraved onto the top of the chocolate. You can clearly see the 3 layers of different types of chocolate. I bite the chocolate in half, which was quite easy as the chocolate wasn’t too thick and was quite soft. When chewing the chocolate, I could taste the dark chocolate and milk chocolate more than anything else. This was a lovely chocolate and very sweet.
Coconut Dream – An intense coconut centre sprinkled with toasted coconut nuggets drenched in milk chocolate. The coconut dream is long in shape and there is some slight texture to it which must be the coconut. I bit into the chocolate to reveal the coconut centre which is very soft and slightly chewy. My mouth was filled with the taste of coconut and a slight taste of milk chocolate. This had a lovely texture to it.
Special Toffee Truffle – Deliciously rich caramel truffle with special toffee pieces sprinkled between a layer of dark then milk chocolate. The chocolate is round in shape and has some slight texture all over it, which must be the toffee pieces. When you bite into the chocolate you will notice that the inside is a caramel looking colour. As soon as you start chewing the chocolate you can taste the toffee and there is a nice texture from the crunchy toffee pieces. It left a toffee after taste in my mouth. I really liked this chocolate.
Hazelnut Praline – Velvety smooth hazelnut praline combined with roasted chopped hazelnuts and almonds, covered in white chocolate. This chocolate is round and has a dusting of chocolate over the white chocolate coating. I bit into the chocolate to reveal the praline centre which is a very light brown colour. This tastes very nutty and you can definitely taste the hazelnut praline more so than the almonds.
Soft Caramel – Deliciously smooth and soft caramel with a hint of vanilla encased in a milk chocolate shell. The chocolate is wrapped in red foil and when you unwrap it this reveals a round chocolate with lines down the side. I would call it more of a caramel cup. As I bite into the chocolate the delicious caramel seeps out and fills my mouth with a lovely sweet taste. I could taste the small hint of vanilla in with the caramel. This left a very sweet taste in my mouth, but it was really delicious.
Country Caramel – A deliciously chewy caramel smothered in dark chocolate. The chocolate is square in shape and has 4 lines which go across the top of the chocolate which are slightly raised. As I bite into the chocolate, the dark chocolate came off the caramel and filled my mouth with a sweet but slightly bitter taste. The caramel wasn’t as chewy as I thought it would be and I could easily bite the caramel in half and into separate pieces. The caramel tasted really creamy.
The thorntons chocolate - This was towards the bottom of the tray. This was simply a piece of milk chocolate which tasted very creamy. The chocolate piece wasn't too thick so was easy to break and wasn't too sickly.
~ THE OTHER CHOCOLATES ~
I can’t comment on the taste of the following chocolates as I don’t like these flavours.
Coffee Truffle – A soft truffle infused with aromatic roasted coffee blended with double cream and covered in white chocolate. The truffle is round and has some slight texture to the top of it. The outside of the chocolate is white and the inside is a light brown chocolate colour.
Turkish delight – Delicate rose flavour Turkish delight smothered in dark chocolate. This chocolate is oval shaped and is covered in dark chocolate with milk chocolate lines going across the chocolate.
Orange Zest – A zingy centre combining delicate orange peel pieces and luscious oranges preserve smothered in dark chocolate. The chocolate is wrapped up in an orange coloured foil.
~ ADDITIONAL INFORMATION ~
· Alcohol-free recipe
· Contains added nuts, milk, egg and soya
· Free from artificial colours and flavours
· Vegetarian
· No gluten containing ingredients
~ OVERALL OPINION ~
The overall selection of the chocolates in here is very good as there’s bound to be something that everyone likes in here.
I really enjoyed the chocolates and thought they tasted delicious. My favourite one’s were the Soft caramel and the Creamy fudge as I thought these had a lovely taste to them and they were both so creamy. Although the chocolates are probably around the £10 mark, I would only ever buy these as a gift for someone and would never treat myself to a box of chocolates at this price. The quality of the chocolate is lovely and the taste of each chocolate is delicious and full of flavour. I give this delicious box of chocs 5 out of 5 stars as you can’t beat the quality and taste of the chocolates.
This review was written over a few weeks/close to a month! I hate to think the amount of calories/sugar these chocolates have in them.
(review may also appear on dooyoo)
A lovely box of chocs. 
