A wonderfully Christmassy chocolate box filled with a selection of twenty-eight individual luxury Hotel Chocolat chocolates especially for Christmas.

The Classic Sleekster Christmas Selection Box is the essence of the Hotel Chocolat Christmas collection, brought together in a sleek and festive chocolate box; the flavours of Christmas mixed with quality chocolate and moulded into beautiful shapes, and let’s not forget a dash of booze in one or two.

The Classic Christmas edition Sleekster contains twenty-eight Hotel Chocolat chocolates in sixteen different mouth watering recipes, including:

• Zesty Marzipan Star – Two festive layers of silky smooth almond marzipan and zesty orange truffle with a deep dark shell dabbed with edible gold.
• Christmas Mess – Upliftingly fruity mousse, made with white chocolate and lots of strawberry and raspberry and finished with crushed meringue and strawberry pieces.
• 40% Milk Christmas Tree – Hotel Chocolat’s signature milk chocolate with classic creaminess and a good cocoa hit.
• Cinnamon Praline – A dome shaped milk chocolate truffle decorated with a star, inside is a beautiful cinnamon and hazelnut praline combination. The cinnamon gives the praline a rich texture without being too dense or affecting the cocoa flavours.
• Ginger Cheesecake – The firm textures and sour cream notes of cheesecake on top of a layer of spicy ginger.

• Rum Truffle – Lashings of premium golden rum from Saint Lucia in a milk chocolate truffle.
• Champagne Truffle – Our uplifting milk chocolate and cream truffles with an elegant splash of champagne.
• Sea Salt & Caramel Bauble – 40% milk chocolate with crushed caramel pieces and a hint of sea salt to intensify the flavours.
• Mulled Wine – The traditional winter spice flavours of cinnamon, clove and bitter orange, with a generous splash of warming, ruby red port.
• Chilli Truffle – Deep and dark truffle with a mouth-warming chilli tingle, an alchemic combination.

A mixture of white, milk and dark chocolates, fruit, nuts, marzipan, chilli, caramel, cinnamon and ginger, some with and some without alcohol a cornucopia of flavours and textures all wrapped up in a Christmas chocolate box – perfect for sharing or as a chocolate Christmas gift.

If you are not a fan of boozy chocolates or don’t drink then Hotel Chocolat have created another version of the Christmas Sleekster, the Sleekster Christmas Selection Without Alcohol the same delightful selection of flavours, textures and shapes but without the alcohol.

The Classic Sleekster Christmas Selection and the Christmas Sleekster without Alcohol both have the same amount of chocolates, twenty-eight in each, and the boxes are both the same size, designed to fit through the letter box, making them the perfect gift to send through the post.

£22.00 for 28 Christmassy Hotel Chocolat chocolates.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

Final Delivery

Both Christmas chocolate boxes and all of the chocolates from Hotel Chocolat can be ordered right up until 4pm on Friday the 23rd of December for delivery on the Saturday in time for Christmas.

cocoapod’s Build-A-Box personalised chocolate boxes, individual chocolates in a rectangle box and each chocolate can be personalised with a letter, shape or with a Christmas themed image to create a message in chocolate.

The Build-A-Box chocolates are chunky cubes of handmade Belgian chocolate and you can choose the type of chocolate and what goes on each one to create a unique box of chocolates.

There are three different box sizes to choose from, depending on the length of your message:

• The small has 16 chocolates, eight in each row.
• In the medium sized box are 27 chocolates, nine in each row.
• A massive 44 chocolates are in the large option, with eleven chocolates on each row.

You have a choice of either dark or milk chocolate squares for the letters, both give a dark background for the letters to stand out on.

The other squares, which can be used as spaces to break up words in your message, can either be left blank or you can choose fun Christmas decorations to go on them.

cocoapod have five different types and flavours of chocolates to go in the Build-A-Box, but the Christmas patterns are only on the milk, white and dark chocolates cubes. Fun dressed up penguins, jolly Santas, holly, stars, snowflakes and dots make up the Christmas range, but you can choose any of the other patterns to personalise your own box.

A simply, but clever, interface is used to select your letters and patterns or you can choose from some pre-made boxes, including “BAH HUMBUG”, “Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year”, “Thinking Of You At Christmas” and “Secret Santa” to name a few and you can still choose your own decorative squares. You can see all the different options here.

The cocoapod Build-A-Box chocolate boxes can be used to send a message to a loved one or as a gift for a family or friends to share, or you can be even more creative by using the chocolate blocks as decorations for your Christmas cake or even place names for your Christmas table.

Quality handmade Belgian chocolate with a personal touch, just one of the wonderful chocolate treats from cocoapod.

£7.50, small 16 chocolates.
£12.00, medium 27 chocolates.
£19.00, large 44 chocolates.

Labelled: Alcohol Free, Vegetarian, Wheat & Gluten Free.

The three different “packages”, as they call them, include chocolates from right across the Christmas chocolate range grouped together by theme, the Kids’ Gift Package is aimed at children with cute, fun and novelty chocolates, the Finishing Touches Package has a selection of chocolate decorations for the table and Christmas tree and the Family Package contains Christmas chocolates for the whole family to share.

The Free Chocolates

Each of the chocolate packages has a different free gift, to compliment the different chocolates in the set.

The Chocolate Santa is free with the children’s package, included in the Finishing Touches Package is the decorative Mini Chocolate Wreath and in the family Christmas chocolate to share set are the Christmas Dinner chocolates.

Both the Santa and wreath are £6.50 and the small box of chocolates is £7.50, or £6.50 when you buy four or more, and each completely free when you buy the chocolate package.

Children’s Chritsmas Chocolate Set

The very cute Kids’ Gift Package has lots of little individual chocolates featuring the adorable Christmas chocolate characters; Jolly Santa, Dasher the Reindeer and Cool Penguin.

Inside the kids’ chocolate package is;

• Christmas at Santa’s House, a children’s gift box filled with fifteen chocolate shapes in 40% milk chocolate.
• Dasher the Reindeer Gift Basket, A really appealing gift basket featuring Dasher the Reindeer filled with two small boxes of chocolate shapes, a chocolate lolly and a mini chocolate slab.
• Christmas Stocking, a traditional Christmas stocking filled with Christmas chocolate treats; a box of white chocolate Santa, milk chocolate drops, a reindeer chocolate lolly and a mini chocolate slab.

And the FREE Chocolate Santa worth £6.50.

£56.00.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Alcohol Free.

Christmas Chocolate Decorations Set

In the finishing touches package are chocolate the bits and pieces for the home to make it a little more festive.

• Rather Large Christmas Cracker, possibly the largest chocolate filled Christmas cracker you can buy, this huge table decoration is filled with enough hats and jokes for twelve people and a massive forty individual chocolates.
• Chocolate Christmas Tree Decorations, a pack of ten little boxes with gold ribbons, for hanging from the tree, each on has a single chocolate inside.

And the free chocolate is the mini chocolate wreath worth £6.50.

£53.00.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

Christmas Chocolate Gift Set

A Christmas chocolate box and smaller chocolate gifts are included in the family pack;

• Christmas Chocolate Box, Hotel Chocolat’s bestselling Christmas chocolate box the Classic Christmas Sleekster filled with a selection of twenty-eight festive chocolates and Christmassy recipes.
• Nutty Noel Pick Me Up Gift Bag, a chocolate gift bag filled with a Selector of Cinnamon Almonds, a Selector Six of Gingerbread Truffles and a dark chocolate penguin bar.
• Christmas Mini Wreath, a rather wonderful wreath of luxury fruit and nut and milk and dark chocolate.

And a free box of chocolates worth £7.50.

£40.50.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

All available from the Hotel Chocolat website.

An indulgent chocolate box, full of Thorntons chocolates from the most popular Thorntons ranges, individual chocolates and chocolate blocks all in one box.

The ideal gift for any Thorntons chocolate lover, bringing favourites from across the Thorntons range, a great way to sample chocolates you have never tried before.

Discover and enjoy a wide selection of individual chocolates from Thorntons Continental, Dessert Gallery and Classics ranges. Alongside mini chocolate blocks, chocolate covered raisins, toffee and toffee.

Thorntons Ultimate Chocolate Indulgence chocolate box makes a wonderful Christmas chocolate gift or chocolate to share at home.

£25.00, 500g of Thorntons chocolate.

One of the best things about Hotel Chocolat, apart from the fantastic chocolate of course, is the amount if effort they seem to put into their seasonal chocolate collections and Christmas 2011 is no exception.

Their colour scheme for this year is festive red, deep purple and vintage gold mixed in with Hotel Chocolat’s signature black and white, the range is brought together with an intricate star motif which features on, almost all, of the Christmas chocolates.

Most of the range is available to buy now; some hampers and some gifts will be ready closer to Christmas. You can see all of the Christmas chocolate on Hotel Chocolat’s site here. These are some of the wonderful chocolates ready at the moment.

Chocolate Boxes

At the heart of the Christmas range is a chocolate box called the Classic Christmas collection; milk, dark and white chocolates with and without alcohol in Christmassy shapes and flavours presented a seasonal Sleekster box.

The Classic Christmas Sleekster is always very popular and sells out fast.

The Classic Sleekster comes in three sizes; Double Layer (only available online), Luxe and Sleekster with fifty-six, forty and twenty-eight individual chocolates respectively. The Double Layer Classic is the largest chocolate box in the Christmas collection. The Classic collection is also available without alcohol, also with thirty chocolates but with the recipes containing booze removed.

The two Christmas Sleeksters, Classic and Without Alcohol, also come in H-Box size; the same flavours and recipes as the larger versions but in a smaller box containing thirteen chocolates, and colour coordinated.

For anyone familiar with the Simple Thanks mini chocolate box, you will be very pleased to know Classic collection also comes in the “eight” box and the even cuter “four” size, these miniature boxes make great gifts (and table favours).

So that is most tastes and budgets catered for in just the boxed chocolate selection, and one of two of my Christmas gifts bought already – they make great gifts in any size.

Chocolate Decorations

Simple calling the chocolate decorations is quite simply doing them an injustice. These decorative chocolates not only taste fantastic but look wonderful too, intricate chocolate wreaths and chocolate filled Christmas crackers, all in a variety of sizes.

Probably my favourite are the Christmas chocolate wreaths, chocolate beautifully sculpted into dramatic Victorian style wreaths, thick chocolate packed with a luxury fruit and nut in milk and dark chocolate.

The chocolate wreaths come in two sizes, large and the very cute but just as beautiful and delicious, mini wreath. The Purist Christmas Wreath is made from Hotel Chocolat’s award-winning 66% Rabot Estate dark chocolate and is dairy free/vegan. The other two wreaths are a mixture of both milk and dark chocolate.

For a more traditional Christmas look and feel, Hotel Chocolat have created their own Christmas crackers, mini cracker chocolate tree decorations and the very impressive Rather Large Christmas Cracker filled with chocolates, party hats and favours for all to share.

The large chocolate wreaths and the large Christmas crackers make wonderful centre pieces for a Christmas table and are complimented flawlessly by the mini wreaths, used as table favours, or the mini cracker tree decorations as they are all in matching colours.

Christmas Themed Novelty Chocolates

Fun shaped novelty chocolate slabs and figures, probably meant to be chocolate for kids, but I love them – I just think they are so cute they would make anyone of any age smile!

The milk chocolate 3D figures are hollow and come as two different characters, Dasher the Reindeer and Jolly Santa,

Both Dasher and Santa are part of the Christmas chocolate slabs line-up and are joined by the white chocolate Snowman. Santa and the Snowman have berry flavoured chocolate scarves and Dasher is all dark chocolate and dairy free.

Chocolate Stocking Fillers

Gorgeous little boxes of scrummy chocolates, perfect stocking fillers, handy little chocolate gifts or treats for you!

The Tiddly chocolate boxes are one of the cheapest chocolate gifts from the Hotel Chocolat Christmas range, they are available in four flavours; milk chocolate, caramel, white and vegan/diary free dark chocolate.

The three different shapes, snowman, reindeer and Santa Claus are the same charming characters as the chocolate slabs and novelty chocolates – perfect for children.

Slightly larger than the Tiddly chocolate boxes are the Chocolate shapes, in slim elegant boxes in three Christmas varieties; dark chocolate chilli penguins, Angel shaped caramels and “Christmas Dinner” shaped chocs.

Chocolate Yule Logs

Hotel Chocolat’s take on a Christmas tradition a chocolate version on the Yule Log, a choice of three flavours; chilli and orange, ginger and hazelnut or simply nutty.

Bars of gianduja studded with candied fruits and nuts, perfect stocking fillers for a foodie, a chocolate gift or dessert.

Children’s Christmas Chocolate

Quite a lot of the chocolates from Hotel Chocolat are ideal for children, especially the fun shapes and characters, but they have also created some gifts just for kids.

The Children’s Gift Box, Santa’s House, is a box filled with fifteen milk chocolates in fun shapes and Dasher the Reindeers Gift Basket has a selection of chocolate boxes and a mini chocolate slab in a very cute reindeer basket.

Giant Chocolate Slabs

And of course the giant chocolate slabs, festive versions of the famous huge chocolate bars weighing in at an impressive 500g, half a kilo. Wonderful Christmas gifts and perfect for sharing.

That’s quite a lot of chocolate and there is still more to come for Christmas 2011 including; flavoured hot chocolate, chocolate covered fruits, winter chocolates, chocolate hampers, gift sets, gift bags and a Christmas stocking! You can see everything on their website here.

Thorntons Winter version of their very popular Dessert Gallery, a selection box of mini chocolate cups filled with delicious chocolate versions modern and classic desserts, the Winter Dessert Gallery.

Not only does the Winter Dessert Gallery make a wonderful gift or treat for you, the chocolate box can also double dessert itself. With 28 chocolates you have a dessert menu to serve without any hassle.

The chocolate box contains seven different dessert flavours:

• Rhubarb Crumble – Layers of rhubarb jam and sweet fondant, topped with crunchy crumble.
• Double Chocolate Mousse – Rich dark chocolate truffle made from smooth bittersweet chocolate in a dark chocolate cup and topped with chocolate swirls.
• Tiramisu – The classic Italian dessert in chocolate miniature, whipped mascarpone with a hint of brandy blended with rich coffee and finished with a sprinkle of Amaretti biscuit.
• Sticky Toffee Pudding – Rich butter truffle and milk chocolate mixed together, reminiscent of the light sticky toffee pudding sponge, in a crisp chocolate cup and topped with toffee pieces.
• Sherry Trifle – Layers of real fruit jam, jelly and custard flavoured fondant in a milk chocolate cup, a true British classic pudding.
• Lemon Meringue – Lemon and white chocolate, a divine combination. A white chocolate shell filled with a sticky lemon centre and decorated with meringue.
• Christmas Pudding – Chocolate with all the flavours traditional Christmas pudding; mixed spice, fruits and of course the alcohol.

The Winter Dessert Gallery is a sublime collection of dessert centres in milk, dark and white chocolate cups from recipes created by the Thorntons Master Chocolatier.

£9.99, 380g of tempting chocolate desserts.

A small box of Christmassy chocolates in four different flavours in seasonal shapes and festive flavours, all wrapped in a sleeve and tied with a gros-grain ribbon featuring the Hotel Chocolat logo.

Simply calling this a small box of chocolates really isn’t doing it justice; these chunky chocolates are rather fabulous, packed with flavour, wonderful textures and looking very smart, they make a wonderful gift, perfect as stocking fillers or Secret Santa presents.

The chocolates in the “Classic Christmas Choc 8″ are taken from the abundant array of chocolate boxes available from Hotel Chocolat this Christmas, a sampler if you like of the whole range.

• Starberry – a milk chocolate square “Union Jack” with the Hotel Chocolat logo, filled with a light and fluffy pale centre with flecks of zesty pink fruits.
• Gianduja Praline – A thick shell if dark chocolate with sugar crystals on the outside for added crunch and inside is a beautifully smooth marble of praline, a wonderful combination.
• Praline with Crispy Pancake – A super smooth praline crammed with crispy bits and a very cute Santas hat on the top of the milk chocolate outer.
• Cinnamon Praline -A dome shaped milk chocolate truffle decorated with stars, inside is a beautiful cinnamon and hazelnut praline combination. The cinnamon gives the praline a rich texture without being too dense or affecting the cocoa flavours.

It’s really hard to pick a favourite but if I had to if would be the Starberry, also called the “Red Berry Mousse”, its light and refreshing and works perfectly with the milk chocolate and it is in all the Christmas Classic boxes, worth getting just for that one chocolate!

£8.00, 8 chocolates in 4 flavours.

Labelled: Alcohol Free.

One of the largest chocolate boxes for Christmas 2009 and the largest chocolate box available from Thorntons.

From Thorntons Continental collection, chocolates inspired by the travels of Thorntons Master Chocolatier, this huge chocolate box has four layers of delicious Thorntons chocolates, a staggering 120 chocolates in total.

Thorntons Continental Premium Chocolate Gift Box contains a selection of white, dark and milk chocolates from the Thorntons Continental range including:

• Turin: Italian hazelnut liqueur truffle with a ripple of hazelnut praline, for a subtle Italian flavoured chocolate.
• Sicilian Lemon Mousse: White chocolate decorated with milk chocolate covers whipped double cream and lemon purée for a zesty lemon mousse.
• Brandy Truffle: French cognac, chocolate and cream combined in a decadent truffle with an intense flavour.
• Vanilla Truffle: A smooth dark chocolate truffle enrobed in creamy white chocolate and hand finished.
• Diplomat: Italian hazelnuts and roasted almonds covered in smooth milk chocolate, and wrapped in foil.
• Catalana: A chocolate version of the Crema Catalana dessert, layered truffle, caramel mousse and honeycomb pieces covered in milk chocolate.

A spectacular collection of chocolates in a rather impressive box.

£50.00, 1575g

Labelled: Vegetarian.

A gorgeous box of praline filled chocolate stars, a selection of flavours for the season in an attractive Christmas box.

There are three Sparkling Stars chocolate boxes for Christmas 2009 from Hotel Chocolat; chocolate pralines, chocolate caramels and chocolate truffles.

The perfect chocolate gift for Christmas for anyone that loves pralines; fifteen chocolates in a choice of ten praline and chocolate recipes: cinnamon, lemon, orange, chilli, macadamia and coconut, peanut, gianduja, cane sugar, coffee and cocoa crisp.

£12.00, 15 praline filled chocolates.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Alcohol Free.

A stylish box of “Sparkling Stars” from Hotel Chocolat, a wonderful selection of caramel filled chocolates in two different star designs.

15 individual caramel chocolates each with its own caramel recipe, a chocolate tasting adventure in a box.

Each chocolate caramel is wonderfully decorated, with naturally coloured chocolate, to reflect the sparkling flavours within:

• Caramel with hints of fruit – Cherry, Toffee Apple, Banana and Blood Orange.
• Boozy chocolate caramels – Golden Rum, Orange Liqueur and Toffee, Whisky and Apricot Brandy.
• Gastronomic chocolate filled caramels – Caramel Crunch, Praline, Balsamic, Salted Almond and Salted Caramel.

Hotel Chocolat has three Sparkling Stars chocolate boxes for Christmas 2009, caramels, truffles and pralines.

£12.00, 15 individual chocolate caramels.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

Thorntons classic chocolate recipes in a special limited edition Christmas chocolate selection box.

Crammed with 36 chocolate the Thorntons Christmas Collection makes a perfect gift or is ideal for sharing with family or friends.

With a selection of milk, dark and white chocolates from the Thorntons Classics range there is something for everyone.

£10.00 for 442g of Thorntons Classics.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.