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Tag: sweets

Trader Joe’s Mini Chocolate Mousse Desserts Review

December 8, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Good dark chocolate taste, but they are truly mini in size.

Well, when Trader Joe’s says mini, I guess they really mean “mini”. The photo shows two of these Mini Chocolate Mousse Desserts ($5 for 6) on a tea saucer. They are tiny. But if you are counting calories or carbs, this is a great way to treat yourself. The chocolate mousse has a strong chocolate flavor, a nice variety of textures, and is not very sweet. In all, it’s an elevated version of the Belgian chocolate pudding they used to sell, denser and softer (it’s a mousse, not a pudding) but with a similar flavor profile. I liked them very much.

The package comes with a plastic mold surrounding six mini-mousses. You can presumably remove each mousse while frozen to defrost in the fridge (for at least 2 hours), but I ended up defrosting the whole thing, as it was easier. Each mini-mousse is surrounded by a plastic film. Unfortunately, they didn’t keep their shape when removed while they were thawed. It might work better if you remove it when it’s frozen, if you want to preserve its look.

In all, while they are expensive (thank Trump for his tariffs), they are a high quality treat. They are made in Belgium and contain “cream, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, flour, butter, cocoa powder and cocoa butter” in addition to milk products and emulsifiers. I’d buy them again, as they fit my need for small sweets, but next time I’ll defrost them one at the time.

Nutty Fruity Dubai Chocolate Bars Review

December 7, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Good but sweet – but isn’t everything?

I’ve been late to the Dubai chocolate craze. Indeed, my first encounter with Dubai chocolates didn’t come until last week, when my husband gave me one of the Nutty Fruitty Dubai chocolate bars he had bought at Costco ($17 at Costco).

The bag came with 15 individually packaged square chocolates, approximately 1 1/2″ x 1 1/2″). The chocolates basically consist of pistachio butter in a milk chocolate coating. They are pretty good, quite tasty but I found them too sweet. As I’ve found pretty much every confectionary I’ve tasted in the last few weeks “too sweet,” I have to conclude that’s a me problem.

My husband liked them as well, but he was a little annoyed at the fact that they are not really chocolate, the chocolate covering is there as a wrapper, rather than to contribute much to the flavor. I’m not sure if that’s true with other Dubai chocolates, I’ll probably give another one a try at some point.

Guolis Conitos Review

March 6, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Are these conitos better than Havanettes?

Once upon a time, conitos – or as we then knew them, Havannets – were my favorite treat. These are small cone-shaped sweet with a thin cookie base, and dulce de leche coated with chocolate. If you like dulce de leche, you’ll like them.

While for decades, conitos were the exclusive province of Havanna and maybe Balcarce – the two posh brands of alfajores Argentina had -, as new brands of gourmet alfajores exploded in the 90’s, so did conitos. They are now available from a large variety of brands, at least in Argentina.

Guolis is one of the brands having a moment right now. My cousin Adriana brought me a box of them when we saw her in Washington DC. She told us they had become popular as they are overstuffed with dulce de leche.

Indeed, they are, but otherwise they didn’t seem very different to me than Havannets. I don’t think I could tell them apart in a blind taste. They were very good and I enjoyed them, but not more or less than an Havannets. I’d buy them if they were available for sale – as long as they cost the same or less than Havannets.

By the way, I buy my Argentine treats through Pampa Direct (this is a referral code that if used will give both of us a $5 off coupon).

San Leandro Bites: Mochinuts

March 11, 2024 / / 0 Comments

Crispy Corndogs and Mochi Donuts, what is not to like?

Mochinut is a newish chain fast food restaurant/bakery that serves just four products: Korean-style corn dogs, mochi doughnuts, canned drinks and soft serve ice cream. Their concept reminds me of Hot Dog on a Stick, a chain of food stands serving corndogs and fried cheese that was very popular at malls in California when I was a teenager. Mochinut already has over two dozen stores in seven states and continues to expand. It opened in San Leandro a few months ago.

I hadn’t been super-impressed the first time I got donuts from them, but decided to give it another try and try their hot dogs as well.

Their hot dogs look similar to corndogs, which is why I’m tempted of calling them that, but they are encased in a batter made from Korean rice flour. This results in an extremely crispy exterior – though it also means the dogs are very high in carbs, about twice as much as what you can expect a regular corndog to have.

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We got both an original hot dog ($5) and a half-and-half ($5.50) one. The latter was half hot dog and half cheese (rather than hot dog surrounded by cheese). The cheese wasn’t very flavorful, but the hot dog itself was tasty. I’d order them again. In addition to these rather plain dogs, they also have some covered with crunch cereal, hot cheetos, takis and even ramen. You can get just a fried mozzarella stick, but they also seem to have a hotdog with cheddar that I might try next time.

Of course, Mochinut is mostly famous for its mochi doughnuts, and my reviews of these are pretty mixed.

I love how elastic the dough is, which gives them a pleasant, light chewiness. But they are overwhelmingly sweet. The churro donut was, perhaps, my favorite simply because it wasn’t as sweet as the others – but I’m not a huge fan of cinnamon and it’s messy to eat. Both the original glaced and the mango one were too sweet for my taste.

That said, I do look forward to trying other flavors, thought for about $10 for a box of three, this is a very occasional treat. They are served beautifully, though.

Mochinut
Pelton Shopping Center
185 Pelton Center Way
San Leandro, CA
(510) 969-7247
M-Su 12-7 PM

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