Notes on chocolate: two new bars from a star artisan

When I was in Leeds recently, my hotel provided a free mini bar (of course you pay for it in the room rate but…), containing a chocolate bar with Willie's Cocoa milk. Which was class. Unfortunately, the next day they replaced it with an inferior chocolate product.

Willie's Cacao is a big name in the chocolate scene. Its founder, Willie Harcourt-Cooze, was a pioneer of artisan chocolate in the UK and the first of the modern bean-to-bar makers. Although things are improving, Willie's Cacao was the first to generalize this approach and to be available in supermarkets. However, you may have first encountered it in the pastry aisle in its 100% cocoa "chocolate barrels". I used to grate it into my mulled wine at Christmas (delicious).

Recently it launched two new flavors, both made with toasted almonds . Clementina's Almonds (£2.35, 50g) is a 44% milk chocolate with toasted almonds and clementine. At first I thought, hmmm, this is a bar with too much going on. And orange clementine nuts in milk chocolate? I said it again because I ate half a bar a day (I allow myself 25g of chocolate a day, it's my job). But it works, wonderfully.

The second is the Sea Kissed Almond (also £2.35 for a 50g bar). I for one appreciate that the word salt isn't in the title, but there is salt in it - sometimes maybe a little too much for me, but it varied throughout the bar. My testers went crazy for it.

If you like milk chocolate and nuts, these two bars are a must.

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