Dean's Sweets - (A Fluffle of) Mini Bunnies

Well these guys are just adorable. They're partially hollow inside, which makes 'em easy to bite, and of course they're very cute. At a perfect snack size, it's safe to say I love these bunnies.

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10 (dark choco)

Dean's Sweets - Double Dark Chocolate-Covered Matzos

Let's be real, matzo isn't that good. It's a flavorless cracker. The worst part of religion is the food! But chocolate definitely elevates it. Plus, it's passover! Plus it's nut-free. This is fun and new and seasonal, so I like it, but objectively a chocolate covered peep or something is way more delicious.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate-covered maraschino cherries

What a mysterious food product! They look like lil aliens. I like that. I was nervous that these would spoil, because they're all natural, but they were great! What lass doesn't love a maraschino cherry? The milk chocolate one was leagues better than the dark chocolate one, as usual, but both are still a treat. Gotta avoid eating the stems, though! Tricky!

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10 (8 for milk, 6 for dark)

Dean's Sweets - Nonpareils

Ah, these are very fun! I like all the different color sprinkles. They're real pretty like. And while it is fun to have an assortment of chocolate type, my preferences are stable: the dark choco is just fine, the milk choco is great, and the white choco is also great. They all have a good size and shape for eatin' though, and although they make me yearn for the pastel mint-chocolate tiny nonpareils I got at Boscov's 20 years ago at Easter, these are still great. Yum. 

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate Sheep

These are so expensive for the amount of chocolate you get, but I guess that's because they're just so darn detailed! It's pretty incredible the things you can do with chocolate. They really are super cute, so if you have a sheep-lover in your life, that's a good gift. Baaaa. 

The dark choco one is just fine - the size and shape is perfect for chocolate, good texture and detail, I'm just kind of sick of dark choco. 5/10

The white+milk choco one is so clutch -- also extremely cute but also tastes amazing! It's actually mostly milk choco, just the "fur" is white, but it's a tasty boy either way. 8/10

Overall
Cost: 3/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate-Dipped Peeps

I can't resist a good peep! These are adorable and the chocolate elevates them beyond their pedestrian peep origin. :) 

Milk-Choco Chick: Really tasty, basically like a marshmallow egg (which I adore). The chocolate is good as always, and the peep too. 8/10

Dark-Choco Chick: The peep is the highlight of this one for me - the dark choco is just a little too thick or overpowering. Still good though! 6.5/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets - Solid Chocolate Easter Eggs

Sorry as always for the potato pic -- you can tell the publicity photos they have on their website are much nicer!! Anyway, these are solid chocolate Easter egg candies. Kind of like Hershey's chocolate eggs except not foil wrapped, ribbed on the outside, and also, more delicious. I'm so glad I got these in milk chocolate because they're really great. Soft, creamy, nice milky chocolate. Would eat at any holiday.

Update: The dark choco ones are good too (for dark choco!). Very biteable, a fun shape. I just prefer milk choco. 6/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10 (milk), 6/10 (dark)

Dean's Sweets - Buttercream-Filled Chocolate Easter Eggs

Oooh heck these are good. I don't need the Easter grass that comes with 'em, but the size and quality of these surely rivals all the fancy Easter chocolate I was always so jealous of throughout my life that I could never eat safely. Big stars in my eyes for these buttercream eggs! So lovely.

Espresso: This is a dark chocolate shell with the yellow icing swirl on top. The inner buttercream is not skimpy and it is truly Dec A Dent. I could see this being, like, a wedding favor for me (god willing that I ever get married lol). It's so substantial and tasty and creamy, and because of the coffee flavor, it feels classy too. But also this must be like 800 calories at least. I do love it, though. The only possible improvement would be if this weren't a dark chocolate egg, but even though it is a pretty thick layer of dark choco, it's not too excessive because of the very sweet creamy innards. Yom. 8/10

Raspberry: This is also a dark chocolate shell, with a pink icing swirl. And the inside is also actually pink! It's got actual raspberry seeds inside it, too! My first thought was that I actually like this even more than the espresso; it does seem less "DECADENT!" but also maybe more TASTY. I love these cremes, dang. 8/10

Vanilla: Alas, alas, a milk chocolate shell but somehow this wasn't my favorite one! It tastes like a bigger version of the milk chocolate buttercream, which I loved, but big size is a looot of sugar. The milk chocolate shell is very tasty, but of the three fillings, this is my least favorite. It's not as nuanced or complex, just very very sweet. With a tiny bit less sugar and more butter and/or vanilla flavor, this would be a star. Still, 7/10.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 8/10

Dean's Sweets Floppy-Eared Easter Bunny

These are freakin' adorable with their lil ears and their lil scarfs. I'm not religious but I worship Easter Bunnies. And it's so rare to have a nut free easter bunny, too! 

Dark choco: This was big but not huge (and I think it's the smallest size), and the chocolate was firm as per usual dark choco, but it wasn't impossible to bite, especially in the ears. It was a solid piece of dark choco - but you know how I feel about dark choco by now; it's my least favorite type of choco. Did I mention how adorable this is, though? 6/10

Milk choco: Oh yeah, milk choco reigns supreme again! (Well, white choco would be even better I bet, but still.) This was great, tasty and adorable. Not quite as delicious as the milk chocolate eggs - I guess it's less creamy in a bunny shape? but still a delightful treat. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets Chocolate Dipped Pretzels

Goodness knows I love chocolate covered pretzels! I like the looks of these, but the sprinkles actually detract from the pretzel experience. Otherwise I am a big fan.

Milk Choco Dipped: Really good! But the sprinkles have a weird "sprinkle artificial taste" if you linger on them. The pretzel was nice and crunchy and goes great with chocolate; you gotta love this. 8/10

Dark Choco Dipped: This was just less good for me because dark choco is less tasty, and IMO goes less well with pretzels because it's not as sweet. The sprinkles really do smell "off" -- you should not smell them! Anyway, still solid to eat and enjoy, just not as much as milk choco.

Overall
Cost: 5/10 [not currently for sale though]
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets Solid XOs Chocolates

Yum! My biggest complaint with plain chocolate has been that it's too thick to bite into, but these lovely thin letters (about 16 of 'em) don't have that problem. So you just get the tasty chocolate to chomp with impunity. Both the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate were enjoyable to me, maybe even equally so, which is pretty rare for me to say. Plus you can spell lots of romantic words like "Ox". :) 

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets Double Dark Hot Chocolate

I got a big bag of this bad boy, which is exciting! I'm glad it's not the Aztec one, hehe. I like the style of this bag, it's very cute with its little self-closing top, although it did leak a little bit from the bottom (too much choco!). In general this made a tasty drink, even with just water - I use 1 Tbsp per serving and you get some nice choco chips in there with the powder. This yielded 15 servings! It all mixes up decently well, although the chips kinda melt and stay at the bottom to slorp up later. Not a super strong flavor in my opinion, no real vanilla notes, just thin dark choco - but I do like it.

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets Marshmallows

Ah, now we see how the sausage is made! The sausage being, of course, the chocolate covered shmallows. These bad boys are weird! They're brownish and not chewy at all, which is not what I expect from a marshmallow. I understand they are homemade with higher quality ingredients, but in this case I am a tragic normie who just wants a normal marshmallow. They're just too weird for me -- tastes like straight brown sugar in a somewhat poofy square. Not what I'd ID as a marshmallow if I weren't told that's what they were! Not a fun snack on their own, not chewy or substantial enough, just like gnawing on pure sugar. I should try these in hot choco later, that might be superior!


Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Dean's Sweets Chocolate Covered Marshmallows

OK, I know it seems like my diet is 80% chocolate, but that's just because it's the only new stuff I try anymore in this no-grocery-shopping super allergy-anxious time, y'all. Anyway, praise be to Dean's Sweets for providing me with new foods to try. Negative praise be to myself for not taking a better pic before I ate these. But anyway, they came in milk choco and dark choco. 

Milk choco: mostly this tasted like milk choco! There was a mild vanilla sugar flavor inside. The marshmallow was weirdly brown. Overall it was very tasty, but the marshmallow had an unsatisfying texture, almost melts in your mouth, but isn't chewy or substantial at all. Tasty though! 7/10

Dark choco: And this mostly just tasted like dark choco. Sadly it's way less tasty because dark choco is less tasty than milk choco (to me). It's very overpowering, and yes, the chocolate is good quality, but where's the marshmallow!? 6/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 6/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate Snow People

Aw, mine didn't come with little bows, that's heckin' cute! I got the smaller size here, which is 'medium' size, in all three types of choco. Chocolate is a good winter food as it doesn't melt then, so I support the snow people.
Anyway, the dark choco is a strong flavor, as always, rich and cherry-noted, but it's just too hard to chew! 6/10
The white choco is much softer, which is huge, but I also just love the taste of white choco much more. More palatable for a young lady with childlike taste, I guess. 7/10
Then the milk choco is somewhere in between - it's softish but still a little tricky to chomp. Tasty, like a fairly creamy milk choco. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets Aztec Hot Chocolate

I waited to drink this 'til I wasn't alone, because it contained "Aztec spices", which is very ambiguous. Not nut spices, which is a relief, but still! Anyway, I gotta be honest, this was very very weird. It was spicy, like...hot pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, carob. And then chocolate. It grew on me a little as I was drinking, especially when still hot. OK, but ultimately just...weird. (I guess I'm a vanilla girl).

Overall
Cost: 5/10
Taste: 5/10

Dean's Sweets - Peppermint Bark

After that bad VNF pretzel bark, I'm learning that "bark" just means "rectangle of chocolate, possibly with other stuff on top of it". So this is chocolate with crushed candy canes on top. And it is good.

White Chocolate: This is my preference; the candy cane is very crunchy (I mean, you know what candy cane is like - you can't just bite into them like a pizza) so small bites are best. It's tasty, a nice mint flavor, refreshing. 7/10

Dark Chocolate: Unlike the White version, the predominant flavor here is the chocolate, not the mint. In fact I could hardly taste the peppermint. The chocolate itself does have a nice rich cherry flavor, and now it has crunch to it! Lol. The chocolate is definitely nicer when it's thin like this (compared to just a dark chocolate shape) but it's more of a chocolate treat than a peppermint treat. So, not as good as the white chocolate, although visually this one looks much prettier! 7/10

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets White Mocha Hot Chocolate

OK, I have one quibble about the labelling here -- it says dairy free on the front but it has dairy in it. What's going on lately? Label issues with this, with the Idahoan potatoes, with the A La Mode ice cream...it's like you can't trust labels!! Luckily, I'm fine to have dairy but it's still not a good omen. Ignoring that, since they're a nut free place I still feel safe. And I actually made this with water instead of milk (hoho) since I don't have milk due to not leaving my home ever. Even with water I still found this to be really tasty, although it was a little gritty. Maybe I didn't heat the water enough? I loved the white chocolate pieces that remained after I drank it all, lol. Mostly it tasted like regular hot chocolate, I didn't get a ton of coffee or "white" flavor, but it was tasty nevertheless. 

Overall
Cost: 4/10
Taste: 8/10

Dean's Sweets - Chocolate Turkeys

Aw, these are so quirky and festive. Their cuteness makes them a little bit impractical to eat, though. 

The dark chocolate one was very firm chocolate, and tasted like a classic dark chocolate, with a cherry-ish note throughout. I'm no dark choco gal but if you're a classy type, you'd like it. If only there were a white choco turkey! A good size treat. 6/10

The milk chocolate variety was much softer to bite into, and it tastes better too! Perhaps too much choco for one serving, but it was nice, like an easter bunny probably is. 7/10

Overall
Cost: 3/10
Taste: 7/10

Dean's Sweets - Truffles, Buttercreams, and Bars (Assorted)

So, I heard about this nut-free choco operation (running out of Portland, ME) after my disappointing experience with those tofu-filled chocos. I picked a variety of flavors, and got a variety of tastes! Overall it seems like a good quality place (though pricey, of course).

Milk Chocolate Truffle: Great. Basically what you'd want, what you'd expect. Milky, firm outside, and smooth creamy inside. 8/10.

Blueberry Truffle: Sounded interesting, but this wasn't for me. Dark choco exterior, with a very ... tangy? bitter? blueberry inside. Reminds me of the blueberry Seth Ellis truffle, which is good quality but also wasn't for me. I think these bitter fruit flavor truffles are just not my bag, but it seemed to be along the lines of a standard blueberry truffle, so if you like them then you'd like this. For me, 4/10.

Salted Caramel: I think it's my favorite, possibly just because I really like caramel. It's quite good. A lot of salt flavor, and a thick caramel which is very sweet. Dense stuff! 8/10

Brandy Truffle: This one was just average. It wasn't too bitter like the blueberry, but it wasn't amazingly smooth either. If you really like brandy, maybe it is a good choice. I enjoyed it, but wouldn't get it again since there are much better flavors. Actually, the more I eat them, the more I like it, so I might need to rethink this. It's pretty good. 7/10

Champagne Truffle: I think I like this flavor extra much because the inside ganache is based on white choco, not dark choco. The outside is a nice dark choco, the inside is a sweet, mild white choco. It's not really fizzy or particularly champagney - maybe more like an Irish Creme? - but I'm a fan! 8/10

Coffee Truffle: Though I adore coffee and truffle, this wasn't my favorite. The inside is very strong, but not necessarily in a coffee tasting way. A lot of dark chocolate kind of flavor. 5/10

Dark & Stormy Truffle: Wow! Unlike Champagne/Coffee, this really did taste like its namesake drink.   A strong gingery flavor and I guess a bit of rum too. A fun experience, mid tier for me. 7/10

Maple Truffle: This is dark chocolate with....what looks like peanut butter inside?! Egads! I know it isn't, but it has that color, which is creepy. Unlike the other buttercreams, it doesn't really have a white chocolate taste; just what I'd call "creamy maple". I really love the texture of it, but I don't know if maple is a flavor I like very much in general. 6/10

Vanilla Buttercream – Milk : Dude, this was so good! Milk chocolate with little white sprinkles on top, with an eggy/marshmallowy textured "buttercream" inside which was just generic fluffy sweet mash. I only figured it was a vanilla one by process of elimination! But I love it! 8/10

Nog Truffle – Dark : "Nog" because there's no egg, apparently! This is a limited edition, but I'm OK with that. The inside was white...choco? Don't know, but it basically just tasted like alcohol -- too strong alcohol! It seems good but alcohol actually doesn't taste that good, you know? Like pure tequila. Interesting, but not for me I think. 6/10

Nog Truffle – White : Similar to the dark choco version, I love white choco but the inside is just too strong alc for me! I got a mild cinnamon flavor on this one, too, but still not my favorite. 7/10

Raspberry Truffle – Dark: As promised, this is "simple, smooth, and delicious"! Great raspberry and dark chocolate flavors. I think I even got some raspberry seeds in there (?!). Tastes very good. 7/10

Espresso Buttercream – Dark : OK, buttercreams are lit. This is super duper coffee-y, I shouldn't have eaten the little espresso bean topper on its own because it was a lot of coffee, lol. Great flavor though, the inside is fluffy but the flavor notes are really just coffee and dark choco. 7/10

Double Dark Truffle: I don't know if I really WANT unadulterated dark choco. Just very dark flavor. Definitely smooth inside for sure, but a bit much for this girl. 6/10.

Coconut Truffle: This was a fun one! It has real coconut in it, covered in dark choco, so it's kind of like a Mounds Bar (which I sadly can't eat due to allergy labels). Yum. 8/10

Orange Truffle: I was a little scared I mixed this one up with the chai (which I avoid due to anise), because it tasted a lot like chai. I guess I was expecting "orange" to be a little sweeter somehow, especially with dark choco outsides. Maybe too liquour-y for my preference, if that makes sense. OK but not my #1. 6/10

Stout Truffle: I love beeer! But, I didn't really taste any beer here, sadly. Just tasted like Dark Choco to me. 6/10

London Fog Truffle – Dark: Was not sure how I'd feel about a tea flavored truffle, but you know, I think I like it! I definitely get the Earl Grey (which is black tea, my top tea) flavor, but the strong dark choco helps to balance that out. The inside has a layer of white (butter)cream on top, which is super stylin' and I guess is like the milk for your tea -- just adds a little sweetness but overall I basically get strong tea+choco flavors. Very unique and definitely better than I thought, so if you love tea you'd probably love it. 7/10

London Fog Truffle – White: This one had the white part on the bottom, not the top! Wild. The tea part was still very Tea, a little grittier (is there real leaf in it?). I love white choco, and it's great here too, but it allows the tea to shine through more, which I think I disprefer. Still good. 6/10 

Brown Sugar Cinnamon Truffle: aka Cinnamon Brown Sugar (on the website) -- I'm assuming the order doesn't matter, especially since I mainly got cinnamon flavor myself. These are dark-choco coated, and the inside ganache is also fairly dark. And it smells (and, kinda tastes) like a cinnamon raisin bagel, which is wild. I guess the cinnamon is more prominent than the brown sugar, but it also has this bready flavor, for real. I like it, it's fun, but I don't love it. (Would rather have a Bagel and then a plain choco, separately!) 6/10

Peppermint Truffle: This tasted basically like a York Peppermint Patty - strong mint and dark choco, refreshing. It took me a while to get into it (I think the tea flavors infused it a little bit nearby lol) but it was tasty once I did! 7/10

Vanilla Buttercream – Dark: Just like the milk choco, this was really good! Creamy, sweet, nice, like a special choco treat. 8/10 

Maine Moonshine Truffle: This is dark choco coated, and the inside, while creamy, basically tasted like generic alcohol filling. Not a super standout for me, 6/10.

Tequila Lime Truffle: Now this is a boozy truffle I can get behind. Also dark choco coated, and the inside was a nice really bright lime flavor, and also super creamy filling especially for a dark choco. I enjoyed it more than the Dark and Stormy even, really nice. 8/10.

Single-Malt Scotch Truffle: Oh no, this is literally the worst tasting truffle I've ever had. At least I am not allergic to it, but that's really all I have to say in its favor. The outside is normal dark choco, but the inside tastes like Very Strong Burnt Rubber. What on earth? To be fair, I don't love scotch, but this seemed much worse than even a shot of scotch would be. I literally could not finish it and had to spit it out. If you don't love scotch, stay far far away! 2/10

Chai Truffle: Holy heck, I ate this fully by accident because it had a coconut piece on top so I thought it was the coconut one, all the while thinking "this sure tastes like chai". But I didn't die, and was like "wow! why not?" until I googled and found that star anise (which is in this truffle) is NOT the same, or even close to, anise (which I am allergic to). So it was a lot of excitement for nothing. Anyway, this was OK, and it didn't kill me, so I like that. Spicy and tasted like the Aztec hocho. 6/10?

Raspberry Buttercream: As is typical of buttercreams, I liked this. I think it was actually dark choco although the description said milk choco, but that's OK because the inside is sweet and creamy enough to make up for it. Plus the cream was a bright pink, which is fun! 7/10
~

Chocolate Bars and Squares (not truffles):

Brandied Orange Bar: The choco bars were all good (though small!!). This one tastes just like a chocolate orange.

Mocha Latte Bar: Very coffee-y! Pretty, too.

Maine Chip Bar: Could have used more chips, actually, but this was sweet and smooth and salty; probably my favorite bar so far.

Lemon Ginger in White Chocolate: I thought this was really amazing! It had bits of lemon fruit mixed in to lovely white choco, with ginger powder on top. Good strong flavors and I love white choco. 8/10

Blueberries and Cranberries in White Chocolate: This was also good, but mostly just tasted like white chocolate to me; no strong berry flavor came through. Still good though. 8/10

English Breakfast with Puffed Rice in Milk Chocolate: OK, this was also really good. It made me nervous 'cause it looks like there could be allergens inside, but it mostly tasted like creamy milk chocolate with rice crisps in it. No strong tea flavor. But really good! 8/10

Overall
Cost: 3/10 (the shipping is the kicker)
Taste: 7/10