Eleanor’s Apple Crumble Snack from Graze

Photo from Graze.
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What’s In It:

raisins, cinnamon and honey almonds and apple

This snack was in my January Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

When I’m eating a “crumble” … I can think of no tea I’d rather have in front of me than a black tea … perhaps a warmly spiced chai?  So I chose to brew this Bourbon Chai from Vintage TeaWorks.  It’s honeyed sweetness melded wonderfully with the sweet flavors of this mix, and the spices accentuated the warm cinnamon notes of the almond.  This tea turned this snack into a dessert!

What I Think:

This is pretty good, but perhaps I’m a little spoiled on some of the previous fruit snacks that I’ve had from Graze previously, because I found myself wanting the flavor infused raisins that I’ve tried before.

The almonds are definitely my favorite part of this snack.  They are “candied” with honey and cinnamon, and that candied coating is absolutely scrumptious!

The apples and raisins are sweet.  The raisins are nice and plump golden raisins.   The apples are dried and chewy, and have a delicious, juicy taste to them.

My favorite way to enjoy this snack is to grab either a raisin or a piece of apple and eat it with an almond so that I get fruity goodness along with that delicious candied almond.  I wish there were more almonds to this!

My Final Thoughts:  

I enjoyed this snack (especially with the chai that I brewed to go with),  but I found myself wanting something a little more.  The candied almonds were delightful, but, everything else – while tasty – missed some of that excitement that I have experienced with the other snacks from Graze.  I didn’t “trash” this product, but, I didn’t like or love it either, I’ll keep it at a “try” status.

Gingerbread Spice Chocolate Bar from Theo

Photo from Knoshy.
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Product Information:

This organic, fair trade chocolate is crafted by Theo Chocolate in Seattle, Washington. Gingerbread spices are mixed with creamy milk chocolate that’s sweet, spicy and warming! Makes a perfect fireside treat to enjoy with a mug of hot cocoa. Limited seasonal release.

I received this chocolate bar in my December box from Knoshy!

Tea Suggestion:

Because I’m loving the notes of spice in this chocolate bar, especially the nutmeg, I decided to brew a cup of this Nutmeg Cream Tea from Butiki Teas!  I love the way the creamy notes of the tea marry with the creamy taste of the chocolate on my palate, and the the spice notes of the tea were in perfect harmony with the zesty spices of the confection.  Delicious!

What I Think:

Chocolate!

This is the first of two chocolate bars that I received in December’s box from Knoshy.  And I’m loving it.

There is a good amount of spice to this candy bar.  It’s a really delightful balance between rich, creamy milk chocolate and warm spices, and I like that they aren’t competing with one another.

When I shop for chocolate, I generally select a darker chocolate, but, I really like milk chocolate too, and I think that milk chocolate is the right choice for these particular flavors because it makes it taste almost like a chocolate “chai” but without the tea.  (Don’t worry, that can be easily remedied by simply enjoying the chocolate bar alongside a cup of hot tea!)

In fact, the spices here are very chai-like.  It’s got ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, cloves and nutmeg, as well as vanilla.  Most of these (and often all of these) are found in a masala chai.

My Final Thoughts:

I love this chocolate bar.  I am so glad that Knoshy included it in this month’s box.  It is rich, spicy, and chocolate-y … and absolutely delicious.

Hot Cross Yum Snack Mix from Graze

Snack Mix Ingredients:

sponge pieces, cinnamon and honey almonds and orange infused raisins

I received a tray of this snack mix in my November Graze Box.

Tea Suggestion:

For this “cake” like snack from Graze, I decided to go with a cup of hot black tea.  I chose this Shan Lin Xi High Mountain Black Tea from Eco-Cha.  The sponge “cookies’ and the almonds accentuated the sweet vanilla-like tones of the tea, and I found that the cinnamon notes of the tea came out a bit more when I enjoyed the two together.

What I Think:

The name of this snack is Hot Cross Yum and they certainly got the YUM part right.  I’m loving every bite of this snack!

The “sponge pieces” are like tiny, soft cookies.  Or perhaps a piece of slightly dry cake.  It’s sweet and yummy and reminds me a bit of a Nilla Wafer but without the crunch of the Nilla Wafer.

The raisins are amazing, and are quite possibly my favorite component of this snack, and that isn’t something I’d usually say about a raisin!  But the orange infusion adds a really interesting dimension of flavor to the otherwise boring raisin.  These taste bright and sweet and orange-y and delicious!

And the almonds add a nice crunch to this, as well as a delicious cinnamon-y note.  Of the three components, there were far fewer of the almonds than of the raisins or the sponge, and I think I would have appreciated a better balance of ingredients, but, since I really liked the raisins I didn’t really mind that there were more raisins than the other two ingredients.

My Final Thoughts:  

I “liked” this snack.  It’s definitely yummy.  I love the sponge pieces and the raisins are amazing.  A really tasty combination of flavors, made even better with a cup of black tea.

Cinnamon Crunch Corn Snacks from Cosmos Creations

Product Information:

Cinnamon has long been known for its healing qualities. We can’t think of any better therapy than our unique blend of cinnamon sugar-infused caramel. Craving the perfect recipe? This is sweet relief. Pure, natural ingredients combined to make a snack that’s deliciously addictive.

I received a bag of these yummy corn puffs in my September Love With Food box.

Tea Suggestion:

Since these have a delicious cinnamon-y taste to them, I wanted to go with a pure tea so that i could enjoy the cinnamon notes.  I decided on a tea with some natural cinnamon flavors to it, so I chose this Vietnam Black OP1 from Single Origin Teas.  I loved how well the tea complemented the corn snacks.  The cinnamon notes of the snack brought out the cinnamon-like flavors of the tea.  Really tasty!

What I Think:

Having enjoyed both the caramel and the salted caramel Cosmos Creations, I was fairly certain I’d enjoy the Cinnamon Crunch variety.

Sweet, warm with cinnamon, crunchy … I like that these are slightly less sweet than the caramel version as the cinnamon cuts through some of the sweetness.

As I’m eating these, though, I can’t help but imagining them in a bowl with milk and eating them like a cereal.  This flavor, especially, has a very “cereal-ish” quality to it.  That’s not meant to be a criticism or a praise … just an observation.

My Final Thoughts:

I like these.  I can definitely seeing myself buying more of these and fortunately, I have seen them in stores, so I won’t need to order them.

Figs & Cinnamon & Love Herbs Raw Chocolate Bar from Great Bean Chocolate

Photo from Knoshbox.
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Product Description:

Great Bean is on a mission to deliver the highest possible state of wellbeing through raw, organic chocolate. After working as a professional chocolatier in Austin, Texas, founder Nora Hamerman became well known throughout town for her creations. In 2012, she set out to create an innovative, healthy, and environmentally-conscious chocolate company. Great Bean chocolate was born to nourish, indulge, and regenerate.

I received this bar of chocolate in my February Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

I like eating chocolate bars with a cup of pure black tea, preferably one with a natural chocolate-y tone to it.  However, because of the lovely notes of cinnamon in this tea, I thought that I’d select a tea with a slightly spicy intonation, like this Grand Yunnan Imperial from Le Palais de Thés.  It was an excellent pairing,  I like the way the warmth of the tea brought out some of the deeper flavors of the chocolate bar, and the sweet fruit notes of the tea accentuated the flavor of the fig in the confection.

What I Think:

It’s chocolate!  OK, I’ve got a confession … I tend to ‘hoard’ my gourmet chocolate bars that I receive in these boxes for times when I really need … good chocolate.  That’s why … I haven’t reviewed this chocolate bar until now.

This is really yummy.  I am not always as excited about raw chocolate as I am for roasted chocolate, because the roasting of the cacao bean brings out some really lovely flavors in the chocolate.  But the combination of the fig, cinnamon and herbs really works to the raw chocolate’s advantage, I think.

There is a really sharp snap to the dark chocolate. The cinnamon melds beautifully with the chocolate to give it a warm flavor … something that I think would be “lacking” in the raw chocolate otherwise.  The cinnamon sort of gives this candy bar that sort of warmth that it needs.  In addition to the herbs I taste sea salt and of course – the fig!  I love the fig in this bar!  It adds a neat texture that is chewy and the seeds of the fig crackle in my mouth!  And it’s sweet and really quite yummy.

My Final Thoughts:

The bar is not overly sweet, it is a good balance of bitter and sweet flavors.  There is a really nice depth of flavor to this bar … it’s a delicious, multi-dimensional candy bar.  It is at once bitter, sweet, salty, and just … INTERESTING to eat!

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn from Rocky Mountain Popcorn Company

Cinnamon Sugar Popcorn from Rocky Mountain Popcorn

Product Information:

Cinnamon Sugar is our newest flavor that tastes like your mom’s cinnamon toast! We are proud to have this fantastic product in our line up and we are sure you will love the sweet taste.

I received a bag of this popcorn in my December Goodies Box.

Tea Suggestion:

Because this popcorn already has a delicious sweet and cinnamon-y taste, I decided to go with a pure tea (rather than a flavored tea!), so I chose this delicious Royal Golden Safari Black Tea from Butiki Teas.  The natural spice notes of the tea were accentuated by the cinnamon sugar coated popcorn.  A really delightful tea time!

What I Think:

After trying some other gourmet flavored popcorn, Cinnamon Sugar popcorn just seemed kind of … ho-hum.  Boring.  Or so I thought until I tried it!  This is really yummy! It reminds me a lot of kettle corn, but with a delicious cinnamon-y twist.

The popcorn has a fluffy yet crispy texture, and I didn’t find the hulls to be too bothersome.  I was a little disappointed in the state of the popcorn … there were more small pieces of popcorn rather than full-sized, popped kernels … as if the package had been smashed or something.  I got some full-sized kernels, but there were considerably more “crumbs” than anything to this pouch.  The “crumbs” are still tasty, of course, but it’s easier to eat the full-sized kernels than the crumbs so it was a little less than ideal to snack on because the majority of my package was crumbs.

I did find a few un-popped kernels, as well as a few half-popped kernels.  I like half-popped kernels, so I’m not going to complain about that, but, when the package is mostly crumbs, and I’m left needing to pour the crumbs in my hand to eat them, and I bite down on an un-popped kernel in the handful … that’s a little unpleasant.

My Final Thoughts:

Overall, I enjoyed this snack, it was tasty … I just wish that there were more big, fluffy kernels and fewer kernel bits.

Mighty Maca Chocolate Energy Bar from Bearded Brothers

Product Description:

Hand crafted in Austin, Texas these chocolate maca energy bars will power your next adventure. Made with 99% organic ingredients, 100% natural, raw, vegan friendly and gluten free.

I received this Energy Bar in my January Knoshbox.

Tea Suggestion:

Since this is a “raw” energy bar, I decided to go with a tea that also offers “raw energy” – a Green Tea!  (Although, I guess it could be argued that steeping is a ‘cooking’ process, right?)  I chose Blissful Buds Green Tea from Mellow Monk.  The savory notes of the tea were a nice contrast to the sweetness that I tasted from the dates.

What I Think:

I am liking this for what it is – an energy bar.  Energy bars are not something that I eat often, mostly because I prefer “real” food to a condensed meal in bar form.  But this is tasty as far as a meal in bar form goes.

It has a chewy consistency with a seedy crunch.  I’d liken it to a fudge-y nut brownie texture … if the nuts were crushed.  As far a chocolate-y flavor, though, I’m not getting a whole lot of what the name of this bar promises.  That is to say the chocolate flavor is lacking.  If I had been given this bar “blindly” and not told that it was a chocolate energy bar, I wouldn’t have guessed that it was.  I do taste a fruit flavor though … dates?  And it has that sugary sweetness of the date.  I also taste the cinnamon and I’m liking that. I don’t taste the almond or cashew specifically … I taste a nutty flavor, but, it isn’t a distinct almond or cashew flavor.  I also taste the chia seeds … or perhaps I should say, I notice their texture.

I like that this isn’t overly sweet … I get the sweetness from the dates and from the other ingredients, but, it isn’t overly “honeyed” or sweetened with excess sweeteners.  I like that it’s organic.

My Final Thoughts:

Overall, this was decent.  I don’t know that I like it enough to want to buy it again, but, I didn’t hate it, and if I were ever asked for the name of a good energy bar, this one would be on a short list of ones that I enjoyed.

Crunchy Cinnamon Apple Chips from Barefruit

Crunchy Cinnamon Apple Chips

Product Description:

These 100% natural apple chips are crisp and satisfying. They’re slowly baked in a wood-burning oven to intensify the apple’s natural sweetness, then kissed with a whisper of warm cinnamon. Only 50 calories per serving, no added sugar or preservatives.

I received a sample pouch of these apple chips in my December Goodies Box.

Tea Suggestion:

I love these apple chips as a tea-time snack!  The naturally sweet, apple-y taste goes along so well with this Dong Ding Oolong from Far Leaves, because I liked how the cinnamon notes of the chip and the sweet, apple flavor melded with the natural caramel-y undertones of the Oolong. It made for a really lovely treat!

What I Think:

Apple Chips are often a swing and a miss with me, because they are either so thin and wispy that they lack a good, strong, apple-y flavor or when cut thicker, they often lack crunch, making them more like soft, dry fruit chunks rather than something I’d call a chip.

These are great!  They thicker cut – no wimpy, thin cut apple slices here!  And they pack a crunch too!  These taste like apples with a lovely cinnamon accent.  They have a very pleasing, crisp texture that I want when I want a snack chip, and they are sweet and flavorful too.

I did get one or two “chewier” textured chips that were reminiscent of the aforementioned “soft, dry fruit chunks,” but overall, these were a definite HIT with me.

My Final Thoughts: 

Apple Chips are not something I frequently indulge in, primarily for the reasons I mentioned in my first paragraph of this review … I simply haven’t found apple chips that I found to be satisfying in both flavor and crunch.  These Apple Chips from Barefruit offer both sweet, delicious apple-y (and cinnamon-y!) flavor as well as a that great crunch that I look for in a chip-like snack.

Honey Cinnamon Almonds from Nunes Farms

Product Description:

California-grown almonds are roasted to crunchy perfection, and then seasoned with  a blend of sweet honey, spicy cinnamon, and floral vanilla.

I received these nuts in my December Love with Food box, and they can be purchased on the Love with Food website.

Tea Suggestion:

These almonds make a delightful tea-time snack!  I enjoyed these nuts with a cup of Kyobancha from Tealet!  I thought this was a perfect pairing – the natural nutty tones of the Kyobancha and it’s delicious roasty-toasty flavor complemented the almonds so nicely … allowing the natural goodness of the nut to shine through the sweetness of the honey, the warmth of the cinnamon and the touch of salt.

What I Think:

Yum!

The best part about these is the cinnamon, it gives the sweet, candied nut just enough extra interest to keep it … well, interesting.  After a while, candied nuts – while delicious – end up tasting all the same, and it seems like this time of year almost every one of my tasting boxes has at least one type of candied or flavored nut in them.  I don’t mind this, of course, I enjoy these offerings, and they make a somewhat healthier option versus all the sweet candies and cookies that are also sent in the tasting boxes.

However, it’s nice when I open a pouch of candied almonds like this and find something just a little different about them … and with these, Nunes Farms added a touch of cinnamon (maybe a little bit more than just a touch!) to give them some warmth and spice without making them spicy.  These aren’t an ordinary “spicy-sweet” kind of candied nut, or even just a sweet candied nut.  They are really quite extraordinary!

My Final Thoughts:

Well, first of all, the pouch was too small, because the almonds disappeared too quickly!  (ha!) but, I loved the portion that I received.  These are crunchy, a little salty, sweet from the honey (but not sticky!) and have just a little exciting twist with the cinnamon note.  Really yummy!

Toasted Orchard Granola Bars from Nate’s Naturals

Picture from Knoshbox. Click on the pic to go there.

Product Description:

These bars are wheat-free, all-natural and made with local apples from Bishops Orchard in Guilford, Connecticut. The flavors and aromas of the bars will bring back memories of apple picking in the orchard and drinking warm cinnamon apple cider on a cool autumn night.

They’re made with: organic rolled oats, Connecticut wildflower honey, organic oat bran, organic sunflower seeds, almonds, pecans, golden raisins, cranberries, canola oil, natural vanilla, organic lemon juice, cinnamon, nutmeg, malt syrup, cardamom, sea salt and ginger.

I received this bar in my October Knoshbox, and they can be purchased on the Knoshbox website for a limited time.

Tea Suggestion:

This granola bar has a lot of flavor on its own, so I didn’t want to choose something that might have a competitive flavor profile.  I chose this High Country black tea blend from Trail Lodge Tea, and it was an ideal choice.  The richness of the tea complimented the sweet, toasty flavors of the granola bar, and the earthy tones of the bar highlighted the tea’s earthier qualities.

What I Think:

When it come to granola bars, I typically prefer the softer variety over the crunchy.  This granola bar seems to fall somewhere in between the two … it’s not as hard as the commercially produced granola bars that you’ll readily find in the grocery stores, it isn’t pressed the way those bars seem to be.  You know what I’m talking about right?  It seems like the ingredients for those granola bars are compacted into a solid, brick-like form that is almost as hard as a brick.   That’s not the case with these bars, You can see all the ingredients, and they don’t appear to be quite as SMOOSHED together as the brick granola bars, but these DO have a certain toothy crunch to them that makes them similar to the crunchy granola bars.

But, what makes them crunchy are the chunks of nuts (I can taste the almonds and especially the pecans!  YUM!) and the toasted oats and sunflower seeds.  The texture is brought on naturally, not by over-processing.

My Final Thoughts:

I love that I can identify each ingredient that is listed in the above list.  I can taste the honey, and the cranberries and each of the spices too!  It’s really a warm and delicious tasting bar – definitely very “Harvest-y” … a perfect granola bar for this time of year (and for the Autumn Harvest themed Knoshbox!)  While I do generally prefer my granola bars to be slightly softer, I like that the crunchiness of this bar comes from the toasted textures of the ingredients.

Overall, this is an enjoyable, hunger-satiating granola bar … and one that I enjoyed enough that I might purchase it again.