Product Review: Dear Coco Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon

Product: Dear Coco Polar Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon – $4.50

Oh, the weather outside is frightful.  No…really…it is.  For the first time all year, we actually have snow accumulation here.  And I’m kind of unhappy about it.  While I do love the snow…I don’t like being out in the snow.  That being said, my roomie and I braved the slick and unplowed streets to go into work, only to be sent home just before lunch.

And, for some reason, I decided that it would be totally awesome to plant myself in the snow and make a snow angel at my apartment.  Snow…down my shirt and jeans.  Makes for one very cold Celiathlete!  Trust me.  My roomie, however, found this incredibly amusing.  Go figure.

I think, perhaps, Cuisine Cube knew that winter had one last blow to deal us.  Because inside my February 2015 (Happy V-Day 2015) Cube, was one of the most interesting and exciting products ever.  It was a bonus item.  A beverage.  And, as many of us know, Cuisine Cube ships a box off each month to your doorstep that has 5-6 items in it.  A breakfast, lunch, dinner, snack and dessert…always.  But this time…there was a beverage slot to fill.  Cuisine Cube is a subscription service where these amazing gluten-free products from lesser-known, smaller artisan companies make there way to you via the mail once a month.  The service starts at $29.99…and it is totally worth the investment.  I have fallen in love with this service.  You will too, if you give it a try.

So…February…snow…beverage…

Cuisine Cube introduced me to Dear Coco.  Dear Coco is a boutique artisan chocolatier specializing in innovative small batch chocolates, which are handcrafted in Maryland and designed to transport around the world.  The company, Dear Coco, says that each of their chocolate sis a journey and they invite everyone to explore every destination, whether familiar, exotic, or unexpected.  By that, they mean they have a variety of different flavors of chocolates that you are sure to find something that entices and delights your taste buds.

In this particular cube, I had a Dear Coco Polar Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon.  The idea behind these little treats is that you can enjoy a decadent and gourmet hot chocolate in minutes, complete with a fluffy (and vegan) marshmallow already inside.  These Hot Chocolate Spoons are created with handcrafted dark chocolate ganache topped with a vegan marshmallow and dipped in premium tempered Belgian dark chocolate.  The gist is…you warm up your milk (be it dairy or not…for me…almond milk) in the microwave and then place the hot chocolate spoon into the hot chocolate and stir until it is completely melted.

I didn’t do this, however.  My roommate wanted to try it as well so we just ate it without making it into hot chocolate.  We had hot chocolate with it…but we devoured the spoon it it’s original form…as a dark chocolate coated vegan marshmallow.

It was AMAZING.  So, now I feel the need to order more of these so I can actually make it into hot chocolate as it was intended.  But, without allowing it to melt into beverage form…this was one amazing treat.  The chocolate was dark and rich and really high quality…no extreme bitterness.  The marshmallow was melt-in-your-mouth good.  And the peppermint flavor in the Dear Coco Polar Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon didn’t overpower or overwhelm, but rather complimented the entire treat.  I need more of these…stat.

The Dear Coco Polar Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon is made from premium Belgian dark chocolate, non-GMO vegan butter, organic brown rice syrup, pure peppermint extract, vegan marshmallow, salt, dried mint leaves.  These are vegan, gluten-free, dairy-free, kosher, contain no corn syrup, no trans fat, no preservatives and no food colors.  LOVE IT.  They come in three different flavors: Polar Peppermint, German Gingersnap, and Belgian Double Chocolate.

I don’t know about nutritional information as none is listed on the packaging or the Web site…but it is super delicious and made from real and high quality ingredients.  And…who cares.  It’s hot.  It’s chocolate.  It has a vegan marshmallow.  We all win.

I really loved having a beverage option in my Valentine’s Day Cube from Cuisine Cube.  It was a super nice change and a great surprise to open up and find.  I sort of wish I had used it as intended, but that’s why they are available for order on the Web site.  Regardless, the Dear Coco Polar Peppermint Hot Chocolate Spoon was a decadent and sweet treat to savor on a cold, snowy afternoon.  And I am now planning my order because now I really want to just use these as hot chocolate.  I mean…dark chocolate…hot chocolate…vegan marshmallow…dairy-free goodness.

Yep…I’m completely enamored.  LOVE!