White Chocolate Cote d'Or Bouchées (Kingdom of Sweets)

I've been on the hunt for these little white elephants for an extraordinarily long time. It must be almost a year ago that I was told that Cote d'Or make my favourite chocolates in the entire world in a white version too. White chocolate covered Bouchées? You've got to be kidding me! Could I find them for love nor money though? You bet your bottom dollar I couldn't. Every family member travelling to Europe was sent on a mission to hunt for these Belgian chocolates, and every one came back fruitless (or chocolate-less I should say). I had just about given up hope when I spotted Kingdom Of Sweets on Oxford Street the week before Christmas, and begged my friends to let me go and ogle at the many different varieties of Oreos and Reese's products that I could see through the window. Inside the store was a veritable heaven for sugar addicts and chocoholics. Floor to ceiling was rammed full of every kind of sweet laden treat you could imagine and I started to expect that Willy Wonka himself was going pop out from the staff room. I wanted to move in.

"White chocolate with hazelnut cream filling"

It's not the cheapest store, but my scroogy student ways were almost completely forgotten the moment I spotted the Cote d'Or stand. There they were: individual white chocolate elephants or a pack or 8 for £6, next to the FudgeNuts that I reviewed a while back. I should explain for a second that they had a very short date on the Bouchées, my fridge at home was already full of chocolate, I was bound to receive some more Reese's treats in a week and I'd just been given a huge box of Thorntons from my colleagues -i.e, I didn't really need any more chocolate. But, I had been searching for so long, and I knew that Bert was unlikely to buy me food for Christmas, so I decided that he could treat me as part of my stocking -thanks Bert*! To the till I went with our joint account card and a pack of 8.

Each little truffle -which admittedly don't bear much resemblance to elephants- was individually wrapped. It's a good job really otherwise the temptation might be too much to bear! Peeling off the covering revealed the snow-white chocolate in all it's glory, and the excitement mounted. 

Biting into the bouchée was a celestial moment. The sheer joy of creamy sweetness against the nutty filling was true chocolate perfection. I pity those of you who have never tried Cote d'Or's Bouchées, they're simply wonderful. I didn't think they could improve on the original, but the white chocolate version is my new favourite.

The ratio of chocolate:praline is spot on and the quality is inarguable. I'm surprised they haven't been meddled with considering these are in fact made by Cadbury's wreckers Mondelēz, but it seems that the Bouchées are safe, for now. 

10/10

*I knew he wouldn't mind, and of course he didn't, the good egg.