Chocolates Are Us - Cashew Brittle with Sea Salt product reviews

Oh my brittle takes me back to my childhood it was such a treat I remember going to my grandfathers and he would always have the old fashioned brittle that you had to break bits off with the little metal hammer it was such a treat and something I will always remember. I haven't had brittle in many years so when I saw this available for review I was very excited to try it. Cashew brittle especially as cashews have to be my favourite nut and with the addition of sea salt for that salty sweet taste I could feel my mouth already watering.

I love the fact that the brittle is dipped in chocolate and in bite sized pieces making it very easy to eat and ready to go certainly easier than breaking apart with a hammer but still with that old fashioned quality taste that you don't seem to get so much these days in mass producted chocolate products. The cashew brittle itself with the salty caramel was to die for and with the milk chocolate wrapped around it was a real luxurious tasty morsel. I really didn't want to share these with anyone.

I think the price is quite high but with the quality of the product I would be happy to pay it for a treat for myself or even as a fancy gift for a friend or relative, they are definitely a lot more special than your average chocolate. The packaging is very classic and traditional and at the same time appealing you can see it inside a fancy chocolate shop or gift boutique as it has more of the quality mark than cheap chocolate.

I'm a huge fan of salted caramel and love the combination of sweet and salty so I was really looking forward to trying this Cashew Brittle. It also helps that cashew nuts are one of my favourite nuts. My girls saw these and their eyes lit up so I had to tell them sadly that these were 'grown up' chocolates which didn't go down too well!

This Cashew Brittle comes in a resealable bag with a silver back and clear front window so you can see all the yummy goodness that is waiting for you. The brittle is obviously hand made as the pieces vary in size but they are all good sized chunks. The brittle itself is nice and thick with a good amount of dark chocolate on top with a sprinkle of sea salt on top of that.

I have to say that these were scrumptious! The brittle was lovely and buttery and the cashews and chocolate made it nice and sweet (only 19% of the brittle is cashew nuts which gives it a subtle but not overly nutty taste). The combination of all the ingredients made for a brittle that beats all the other brands I have tried (and I've tried a few!!)

There are three 50g servings per bag and although they are very sweet, they are very moreish! These would make for a great after dinner treat, if you're willing to share, or as a luxury treat or gift. I'll definitely be buying more!

Salted caramel seems to be the trendy food this year so I wasn't surprised to see a brittle with cashew and sea salt. I decided I was going to enjoy it by myself. I thought I was safe. The kids were in bed and my husband doesn't like anything salted caramel or sweets unless it is chocolate. As I was chilling out watching TV enjoying the cashew brittle my husband appeared and asked to try one. He then disappeared off into the bedroom to watch his DVD and reappeared a few minutes later asking for more. This shows how much he liked it as he wouldn't have normally left his movie for food.

The cashew has a thin layer of dark chocolate and a brittle with bits of cashew inside. The cashew were different sizes as were the pieces of brittle. This was as I expected a quality handmade sweet to be. The sea salt must have been mixed into the brittle as I didn't see it. Some bites had a strong salt taste and others I didn't notice at all. I liked that the brittle wasn't too hard that I had to worry about breaking my teeth. It also wasn't soft and sticky either. It was in the Goldilocks zone, just right.

I will be buying more packets of the cashew brittle to add to Christmas presents and gift hampers. The silver packaging with the window to see the product makes it an attractive gift. It is also handy that the packet is resealable but once we had tried it there was no way it was going to be saved for another day.

I must admit that brittle is something which I have never tried before but upon seeing this product I decided that it looked amazing, after all what's not to love about a combination that consists of cashews, chocolate and caramel? I was a tad unsure how the addition of sea salt may pan out but having tried a lot of salted caramel products in the last few years I decided that it was more likely than not going to taste great.

The Cashew Brittle comes packed in a cute resealable strong silver package which has a clear viewing window at the front, perfect for seeing the exact product you are getting before you buy. Looking through the window I noticed that the pieces of brittle were of uneven shapes and sizes which I take is due to the fact that this product is handmade and broken into pieces rather than cut, this didn't bother me at all, however Miss 4 did often get annoyed when she was given a little piece to eat rather than a big piece!

I love the way in which the brittle was created in layers, the first being a thick layer of smooth dark chocolate, which underneath it had a layer of creamy caramel flavoured brittle in which the roasted cashews were spread generously through. Upon trying my first piece of the brittle it reminded me of a texture that was not as hard as toffee, but also not as soft as a fudge, it was somewhere in between the 2. It had a really nice texture to it which was easy to bite through and the flavour of the caramel along with the crunchy cashews and rich and creamy chocolate was certainly a winner. The sea salt however I was left a little unsure about as in places it was not too strong but was just the perfect balance of sweet and salty whereas in other pieces it was just too strong and overpowering, so perhaps the way that this is added to the mix is something that needs looking into, my fellow reviewers Miss 4, my partner and his Mum all agreed with me on this.

With just under half of the brittle left in the package I decided to chop it roughly into smaller pieces and add it to some chocolate chip cookies I was making with Miss 4, this was easy to mix into the cookie dough without making it want to crumble up and easily rolled into balls. As the cookies baked in the oven I could see the brittle beginning to melt slightly (as expected) however when these were left to cool the brittle started setting slightly and turned it into a soft caramel, the flavours that the brittle with the cashews and extra added chocolate added to the cookies was so good, and I loved that this seemed to create a chewy texture in the cookies. I took these to work to share and everybody loved them, they were also a hit in my house.

This is a product I would love to buy again, and brittle is now something I would love to see if I can try and make at home one day also.

When my children were small, one of their favourite sweets was a bar made of almonds, chocolate and crisp toffee. It was known in Europe as a Dime or Daim Bar and was widely available. When my daughter tasted a piece of cashew brittle, she was amazed to rediscover her childhood favourite. The nuts might be different, but the taste and texture were exactly as she remembered it. We did a web search and found that the ingredients are pretty well the same although the almonds have been replaced by cashews in this version and the salt content might be a little bit higher. Hard to tell after all these years!

The rest of the family were all keen to try it too once she had finished. I was very happy to see that the chocolate was dark as this is my personal preference. My son-in-law was pleased that the nuts were not all tiny; he could see larger pieces of nut protruding from the sides of some of the pieces. The children just wanted to suck the chocolate off so they could crunch the rest. It was not long before everyone was enjoying a piece and it was fairly obvious from all the smiles that this was a product they would be buying again.

Miss Five was intrigued by the way each sweet was layered, and after sucking the chocolate off her own piece, she removed it from her mouth to inspect the way the nuts were organised in the toffee. Mr Seven said it depended which part you bit into first; he thought he might need to eat a second piece after his first so he could nibble it in reverse order. (That is an innovative way of asking for another helping!)

My son-in-law thought it was a reasonably healthy treat as, despite the high calorie content, it is almost 20% nuts and quite rich so it would be difficult to eat more than a couple of pieces at a time. The recommended serving is three pieces, but as the brittle is broken rather than cut, there is a huge range in size. The possibility of resealing the packet appealed to my daughter as it meant the product could be kept fresh for next time.

We all liked the packaging. The pack is a very sophisticated silver with the ingredients list and expiry date affixed to the back and the firm's logo on the front. The logo itself features a pohutukawa blossom, identifying it strongly as a New Zealand product, and the Whitianga origin appealed to the family as well because they spend a lot of time in the Coromandel during their holidays. Pricewise it is quite expensive, but acceptable for a treat, especially as the packet would last more than one session (although it might need to be concealed from the children!)

I have never actually had brittle before. I have heard of peanut brittle before (I guess from TV?) But have never actually eaten it, so this was an interesting thing to experience.A "brittle" candy that once you make a try of it you break it into pieces, usually with a wooden hammer of some sort. It's an interesting concept, as I've always been brought up with all my candy having a consistent size; by a chocolate bar,all the pieces are the same size. Buy chocolate covered almonds, they are all pretty much around the same dimensions. To open the pack and find some pieces 5-6 times larger than others was such an odd thing to come across.

This is a layered product; brittle, with cashews, then chocolate with sea salt. the brittle itself has a texture that it rather granulated. Much like a melting moment biscuit, or if you add too much sugar to your weetbix, you can feel the granulated texture of the sugar as it warms and softens. While it feels solid, each bite speeds up the rate with which the brittle dissolved. If you lick the chocolate, you can immediately taste the sea salt. More common these days, sea salt is a popular combination as it has the contrasting sweet and salty aspects. Despite it's ability to melt in the mouth, this product is not very messy. It left little mess in the packet, and even when handled, it left little residue on my fingers.

My biggest question with the product was around the use of cashews. I know they are generally an expensive product, so would the presence of cashews be minimal? Cashews flavour is also much more subtle compared to peanuts, so if there are less cashews, would the flavour be noticeable? Well it looks like they have gone with a more subtle flavour. The cashews are broken up and spread across the brittle a bit inconsistently. Some pieces are loaded with cashew bits, while others are noticeably absent. Regardless, the nutty flavour is not the main flavours in the brittle.

The big battle in ingredient flavour is between the chocolate and the sea salt. While the brittle adds sweetness, it doesn't bring much additional flavour, it just adds to the sweetness of the chocolate. The sea salt itself is definitely one of the most dominant players in regards to taste. At some points a little too strong, but in most cases it works very well.

Another major flavour does come from the brittle, however. And it is of the caramelised sugar. The flavour of slightly overcooked caramelised sugar, which reminds me a lot of caramel kettle popcorn. Perhaps Cashew brittle wasn't the best suited name for it. Salted caramel brittle (with nuts) may have suited better. With 322 calories per 50g, it is certainly a treat you would want to have sparingly.