Tony's Chocoloney

Mmm, chocolate.

I'm a firm believer that every morning should begin with some chocolate (alongside a black coffee, after my gummy vitamins).  And that every bored mid-morning moment needs some chocolate.  And, you know, anytime you want a little pick me up ...

Yeah, I love chocolate.  Sometimes I'm all about smooth, creamy milk chocolate, other times I want legit dark and bitter.  Yup, even 100% bars.  Sometimes I like crunchy bits in it, or sometimes filled truffles, or sometimes just pure chocolate.  I like it all, it just really depends on my mood at any given time.

Anyway, I eat a lot of chocolate.  I've tried a zillion varieties.  Recently I tried "Tony's Chocoloney", mostly drawn in by the rather ridiculous name, and, well, massive size of some of the bars.

Tony's has been around since 2006, making a variety of bars, known as "Big Bars" (you'll see why soon), small bars (more normal sized ones), and "Tiny Tony's" (bite sized).   The Big Bars are the largest product range, with 4 milk chocolate varieties (all 32% milk chocolate, with different additions), 4 dark chocolate varieties (ranging from 42%-70%), and a fun sounding raspberry popping candy white chocolate.

I've tried a few, and would gladly try more.  Silly name, and ridiculously large form factor aside, it seemed to be decent enough chocolate.

Tiny Tony's: Dark.

"This bar contains at least 70% cacao. Se-ven-ty! This means we use a lot of cocoa beans. This dark chocolate delicacy is designed for the true chocolate lover."

The first item I tried was just a little Tiny Tony's, a bite sized piece of dark chocolate.  It was ... fine.  A fairly intense dark chocolate.

The form factor was odd though, small but thick, and really quite hard.  I usually appreciate the snap to a dark chocolate, a shiny element, and that was lost with the thicker form.  I'm curious why they use such a thicker form than other chocolate makers.

***.

Big Bar: 42% dark milk chocolate pretzel toffee.

"Pretzel? Yummy. Toffee? Yes please. Dark milk chocolate? Say it ain't so! Put crunchy pretzel pieces with a sweet toffee crunch in dark milk chocolate with 42% cocoa, wrap in a purple wrapper and we have ourselves a new flavor!"

After trying the regular dark chocolate, I moved on to a more interesting selection, with pretzel toffee inside.  I was curious about the "dark milk chocolate" though, 42%, so not nearly as dark as the regular dark, and considered a milk chocolate.  But a darker one.

  

I did like it.  The "Big Bar" lived up to its name - really thick, legit hunk of chocolate.  It had an interesting pattern throughout, so when you broke off a chunk you could get a wide variety of shapes and sizes.

The dark chocolate was good, solid quality, and honestly seemed darker than 42%.  It certainly wasn't a sweet nor creamy chocolate.  I liked crunch from pretzel, but was a bit let down by expecting more of a salty component, and some sweetness from the toffee.

I think due to its size I grew a bit sick of this bar, but, it was fine.

***.

Big Bar: Milk Chocolate Hazelnut.

"This flavor is a perfect combo of 32% Fairtrade milk chocolate and a minimum of 10% hazelnuts. Did you know that we hid a map of Western Africa in our unequally divided bar? We couldn't fit whole hazelnuts into the pieces that represent Togo and Benin! After a very heated debate, we completely and politically incorrectly combined two separate countries into one bigger piece so we could use whole hazelnuts."

Next up, another Big Bar, this time a milk chocolate variety (32%), featuring hazelnuts.

The bar boasts that it has 10% hazelnuts, so I guess I was just unlucky in my first few pieces, because I broke off hunks along the lines, and ... no hazelnuts.  I quickly discovered hazelnuts though, and, as you'd expect, the milk chocolate and hazelnut combo was wonderful (hello, Nutella!).

The milk chocolate was really quite nice, smooth.  High quality.

I really enjoyed this one, absolutely perfect in my morning grogginess with a cup of coffee..

****.

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Maxine's Ice Cream

I've been a fan of Three Twins Ice Cream since I first had the unique Lemon Cookie flavor years ago at an event, where one of the founders himself was there scooping up samples.  This was long before Three Twins was carried in any grocery stores, and I believe they had just one scoop shop, and did some occasional events like the one I was at.  I loved that flavor, and others that I later tried.   The unique flavors are good, but the just absolutely *nailed* the basics too.  I have long raved that Three Twins made, hands down, the absolute best vanilla and chocolate ice creams I have ever had.  For years, I always had a freezer full of Three Twins, and, literally, had at least a scoop a minimum of 5 days a week.  It just pairs perfectly with everything.  Yes, I may have a bit of an ice cream "problem".

Since then, Three Twins became quite successful.  First I started seeing their pints in Whole Foods around the Bay Area, and then other grocery stores in the area, and then ... across the country.  Three Twin's flavor line up expanded, novelties were introduced (like ice cream sandwiches and sundae cones), grab-n-go minis were added, etc.  Three Twins, one of my favorite ice creams, was seemingly everywhere.  I knew that Three Twins had "made it" when I was visiting my family in rural New Hampshire and saw Three Twins at the grocery store (albeit, in a special organic section, and only one flavor).  But alas, the company was shut down during the pandemic, which I wrote about last week.

The Three Twins folks realized however that not everywhere goes for all organic premium ice cream sold only in small pints.  The mainstream masses can appreciate quality ice cream too.

Enter Maxine's.  Maxine's was the newer line aimed at mass-market (although it is still all organic!) - less premium product, lower price point, and, distributed in larger 1.5 quart packages.  Available in only 6 flavors - two of which were vanilla (regular or vanilla bean) - and all quite simple classic flavors.  No lemon cookies nor cardamom here.

I was eager to try it out and see how it compared to my precious Three Twins.

(Side note: Three Twins has also introduced Slim Twin, a high protein, light offering with only ~240 calories per PINT.  I have yet to try this.)

Vanilla Bean.

"Organic vanilla bean ice cream."

I started with vanilla bean, a flavor also available in the Three Twin's line.

The first thing I noticed is that the texture actually is quite different.  It is a fluffier, lighter style than classic Three Twins.  Not as rich.  I actually liked this, it was more akin to whipped cream, and I always struggle to decide if I want whipped cream or ice cream with my pie (ok, who am I kidding, I usually go for both).   My mother wasn't as pleased with the fluffier style, although she has never had Three Twins, she just wasn't a big fan in general.

The flavor was good, but not quite as intense as the Three Twins vanilla (although, I usually have Three Twins Madagascar Vanilla, not the Vanilla Bean).

It was interesting to compare the ingredients in the Three Twins and Maxine's versions of the same flavor.  The ingredient lineup is nearly identical, all organic, but in Three Twins the egg yolk comes before nonfat milk, clearly, what makes it richer.  Maxine's also has guar gum added.  But besides that, identical components.

Anyway, I liked it.  It was clearly not as rich as the Three Twins, but this style worked.  I'd still pick Three Twins Madagascar Vanilla over this for the deeper flavor, but, it is a good product, and I would also gladly have it again.

****.

Mint Chip.

"Organic mint chip ice cream."

Next up I picked the Mint Chip, as I was not particularly inspired by any others (chocolate or coffee are good, but, I limit caffeine to earlier in the day, so not my top choices, I rarely like cookies & cream, and other than that, my choices were just the other vanilla, dubbed "Maxine's vanilla", or this).

It was ... fine.

Much like the vanilla bean, it simply wasn't as creamy, it wasn't as rich, it wasn't as ... premium, as Three Twins.  It was mostly just regular, fairly unremarkable, ice cream.  It did have a minty base, and I liked that it was studded with flecks of quality chocolate.

It was fine.  But it wasn't particularly something I wanted, and it mostly just made me miss Three Twins. ***. 

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