For one of my very first trips to the cinema, my mum made me a little bag of pick’n’mix, full of bite-sized chocolates, dried fruit and nuts. At the time I was mildly annoyed that we couldn’t buy something from the foyer – some Poppets maybe, or a packet of Revels, which the child me thought were super-sophisticated and I still have a soft spot for, but now find too tooth-jangly sweet. But, whaddaya know, I still think of that day and the carefully put together bag of choccy delights, and wonder what I’d put in my own mix if I were making it today.
Rococo excels in this field and makes an array of wonderful bags of nut and fruit-covered chocolates that are delicious and feel treaty without sending you into a diabetic coma. But pick carefully. The cardamon and rose pistachios, for example, are superb, but would overwhelm anything they were eaten with. What you need instead are good mixers. Rococo’s milk chocolate macadamias are gorgeous and gobstopper big; the toffee fudge bites were a surprise and possibly my favourite this week. Then add in some Pump Street caramelised hazelnuts: but go for the 60%, nicer, I think, than the 75%.
No one does better milk chocolate buttons than Montezuma, so you need some of those and, if peanut butter is your thing, its peanut butter truffle bites are amazing. Artisan du Chocolat does wonderful malted balls – think posh Maltesers. Finally, Sloane’s makes these little chocolate pebbles meant for hot chocolate, but they are devilishly good to eat just as they are.
