When Hotel Chocolat recently contacted me about trying their premium chocolates, how could I resist? Hotel Chocolat (shok-o-la) is a UK chocolatier that specializes in high-end luxury chocolates, so I jumped at the chance to check out their new hip shop on Newbury Street in Boston.
The store itself was warm, sleek, and inviting, with shelves and tables brimming over with their signature chocolate slabs, truffles, and whimsical chocolate bars. I expected the cool contemporary store, but was surprised by the very wonderful, friendly, and unpretentious service (and yes, I was shopping anonymously!)! I immediately felt at home asking all my foodie questions. All their chocolates are organic, and they actually own a cocoa plantation in St. Lucia and see the chocolate making process through from start to finish.
After perusing the store and sneaking in a few pictures, I decided I needed to sample a variety of treats. I selected the Christmas Goody Bag, which contained a cute solid milk chocolate penguin and Santa, milk chocolate Christmas pudding slab with crunchy shortbread cookies, Christmas Star hazelnut and caramel truffles, and a bag of Munchkin Snowballs, which are mini shortbread cookies surrounded in white chocolate and dusted with sugar!
Everything was incredibly rich and decadent. I couldn’t stop myself from ripping into the package on the train and was immediately transported to another place with just one luxurious bite! The chocolates sets are the perfect holiday hostess gifts and I was so happy I was able to try them – thank you Hotel Chocolat!
And don’t worry – Hotel Chocolat didn’t forget about you! I’m giving away a Christmas Goody Bag and Milk Chocolate Advent Calendar to two lucky readers!
There are two ways to enter:
1. Check out Hotel Chocolat’s Christmas Chocolate Gifts and leave a comment with a link to the item you most want Santa to leave in your stocking!
2. Tweet about this giveaway (using #cakebatterbowl), or post about it on your blog or Facebook. Don’t forget to come back and leave a second comment with the link for your second entry.
Entries must be in by Saturday, December 5 at 11:59pm EST. Good luck!
The fine print: Hotel Chocolat provided the chocolates I sampled for free and is sponsoring this giveaway, but I received no compensation for this post and all opinions are mine. The winners will be picked with random.org on Sunday, December 6 and announced shortly thereafter.