Review: Johnny Doodle chocolate bars - triple orange and Citrus & Elderflower blossom

On one of my visits to the Hudson's Bay department store in Rotterdam, I discovered these two chocolate bars from Johnny Doodle. The brand is famous for their fudge, but it has also branched out to chocolate bars. Just like my favorite chocolate bar brand, Tony Chocolonely, it is a Dutch company, which likes to innovate in the chocolate bar industry and it comes out with new flavors every once in a while. These two chocolate bars are limited edition flavors made for Easter, hence the bunnies on the wrapper and the orange color. There is also a third flavor, Milk crispy carrot & honey, and it is inspired by the dish: honey glazed carrots. I have tried a chocolate bar with carrot in it before and I didn't really like it, so I didn't get that one.    

Johnny Doodle Dark chocolate triple orange

It is the first time I bought a chocolate bar from Johnny Doodle, so I was really curious if I would like it. When I opened the chocolate bar, I was surprised to see "JD" and a speaker engraved into the thick chocolate bar. On the back, you can clearly see the ingredients in the chocolate bar: orange blossom sugar rocks, orange jellies, and orange peel cubes. With triple orange, they meant orange juice, orange peel, and orange blossom flowers. The orange juice is turned into jellies (yellow-orange cubes), the orange peel cubes is sugared (white bits), and the orange blossom flavor is infused in sugar rocks (orange rocks).   

What do I think?: The dark chocolate has a nice hard and crunchy texture, but the dark chocolate flavor itself is not really one of my favorites. You taste the orange blossom flavored sugar rocks the best, while the orange peel and the orange jellies add texture to the chocolate bar and also a hint of orange. The orange jellies are a very soft kind of jelly and they practically melt in your mouth. The orange peel is not the orange zest that you often grate on top of desserts, but the white part of the orange peel. It has a fluffy and cushiony texture.    

Johnny Doodle White chocolate Citrus & Elderflower blossom

The combination of citrus (one of my favorite flavors and scents!) and elderflower blossom (my newest obsession, after tasting this flavor in a drink) is what convinced to buy this chocolate bar. In the back, you can see grapefruit & citrus jelly drops and candied elderflower rocks.    

What do I think?: The grapefruit (apple, grapefruit, lemon) and citrus (apple, orange, lime, and lemon) jellies are harder and bigger than in the previous chocolate bar and although you need to chew a bit longer, it still melts around the same time as the chocolate and you don't end up with large pieces of jellies still in your mouth, after all the chocolate melted. The jellies are also more on the soft gummy side instead of being very hard. The elderflower flower flavor is not really strong, but you do taste a bit of a flowery note. While the dark chocolate isn't entirely to my liking, the white chocolate has a sticky and buttery feeling in the mouth and a nice milky and vanilla flavor. The citrus and flowery notes in the chocolate bar cuts through the sweetness enough, while still keeping the white chocolate flavor.  

Compared to Tony Chocolonely

It was quite hard to break the chocolate bar in equal pieces as there aren't any clear lines. I almost hurt my hand, while breaking them in chunks. But I do like that the ingredients are visible on the bottom of the chocolate bar, as it looks very appetizing. The ingredients can also keep their interesting texture better than mixing them in the chocolate, like Tony Chocolonely. Their chocolate bars have the flavors really infused into the chocolate, while with Johnny Doodle chocolate bars, the ingredients and the chocolate (aka the different flavors) gets mixed inside the mouth.