End of Season half price sale, 50% off Christmas chocolate from Hotel Chocolat.

Hotel Chocolat’s chocolate sale gives you a wonderful opportunity to buy some delicious chocolate, half price!

Discount chocolate from the luxury chocolate brand, a great way to buy your thank you gifts or to get yourself something yummy for half the price.

View all the chocolate on sale here. Hotel Chocolat is not the only online chocolate shop having a sale; even more cheap chocolate is available from other shops.

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.

Only a few online chocolate shops have given specific times and dates for Christmas, hopefully more will soon.

Christmas Last Orders.

Express Delivery is either be Special Delivery by Royal mail, if they are not on strike again! or from a courier service; DHL, Parcel Express etc. and will cost more.

Because of the of the snow in some areas, it may be best to double check with the sites if delivery is effected and it might be better to use the next day option where you can – just to be safe.

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.

A hamper of fun novelty chocolate shapes and figures for Christmas, ideal for children big and small.

Filled with a selection of chocolate novelties and presented in a ribbon tied hamper with a Jolly Santa on the front the kids chocolate hamper contains;

Three chocolate figures, decorated with coloured, white chocolate:

• A large milk chocolate Santa, carrying a sack and teddy bear.
• A grinning white chocolate snowman, dressed for Winter and carrying a broom.
• A very cute milk chocolate reindeer, playing in Santa’s sack.

And two bags of foil wrapped chocolate treats:

• A bag of milk chocolate stars, ribbon tied
• Santa tree decorations, also in a ribbon tied bag.

Each of these chocolates are also available individually, along with similar novelties, from the Chocolate Trading Company as part of their Christmas range.

£29.95

Labelled: Alcohol Free, Nut 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.

Cadbury biggest Christmas chocolate hamper, a traditional wicker basket filled with a selection of Cadbury Christmas chocolate and Cadbury favourites, only available online and exclusive to Cadbury Gifts Direct.

The Ultimate Christmas Hamper contains:

Seven Cadbury Selection Boxes:

• Two large; Cadbury Christmas Stocking and Cadbury Reindeer Selection Pack.
• Two medium sized selection boxes; Santa and Snowman.
• Two Cadbury Treatsize Character Bags; Santa and Reindeer.
• A large Cadbury Team GB Selection Box.

Two Christmas themed tubes filled with Cadbury Buttons and Cadbury Dairy Milk Chunks.

Two Cartons of Chocolate:

• Cadbury Dairy Milk Chunks Carton.
• Cadbury Koko Assorted Truffles Carton.

A gift box of Cadbury Wishes, a pouch of Cadbury Roses and a London 2012 Heroes Bus Tin.

Chocolate Stocking Fillers:

• Cadbury Snowman.
• A bag of Cadbury Snow Bites.
• Ten Magical Elves.
• A net of Cadbury Chocolate Coins.

And a pack of chocolate Christmas tree decorations.

A huge selection of chocolates from Cadbury, perfect for a family to share.

£80.00, largest chocolate hamper for Christmas from Cadbury.

With so many beautiful chocolate Christmas tree decorations available to buy from lots of different online shops, this is a quick list of some of them and the three main types of chocolate decorations for the tree; chocolate baubles, chocolate shapes and tree chocolates.

Chocolate Baubles

There are two different types of chocolate baubles, chocolate filled baubles and baubles made from chocolate either wrapped in foil or clear wrappers. Both types of bauble hang from the branches of the Christmas tree, either by a ribbon or cord already attached to the decoration.

Chocolate filled baubles tend to be a little pricier that normal baubles, but they can be refilled and reused year after year.

Heidel’s chocolate filled Christmas bauble features a jolly Santa Claus, the same design which matches the rest of the Heidel range, and is filled with mini chocolate bars. Thorntons bauble tin is bright red with silver and black detailing and also celebrates their centenary and inside are chocolate praline Melts. The Christmas Tree Baubles from Plush Chocolate each contain a bag of Belgium fairtrade milk chocolate caramels and are decorated in red and gold.

Chef Marshall at John Lewis has two chocolate baubles in ribbon tied clear wrappers, both in with the same Christmas tree design and in two different sizes; the Chef Marshall Chocolate Bauble and the Mini Chef Marshall Chocolate Bauble.

Foil wrapped chocolate baubles; Rita Farhi chocolate baubles come in a range of different coloured foils; reds, golds and blues, some with stars and some plain, presented in a clear box. The chocolate Christmas tree baubles from Montezumas are a mixture of milk, white and dark chocolate. Rita Farhi Chocolate Christmas Tree Decorations, similar to the chocolate baubles but with different shapes and colours.

The classic Christmas colours, red and gold, are used for almost all of the Christmas baubles meaning you can mix and match between brands and they will work well with each other and look fabulous.

Chocolate Shapes

Chocolate shapes are very similar to the Christmas tree baubles, they also hang from the tree with either a ribbon or cord, but they are different shapes and sizes.

The Chocolate Trading Company has a wonderful selection of chocolate novelties some of which hang from the tree, these solid milk chocolates are wrapped in festive foil with gold cords attached and are available in three different designs; Angel, Nutcracker Soliders and Santa.

chocolatebuttons stock the wonderful Christmas tree decorations from Plush Chocolates, along with the chocolate filled baubles, all of the chocolate from Plush is fairtrade and organic.

The Plush Chocolate Filled Christmas Tree Decorations are festive boxes filled with chocolate buttons, featuring cute designs with Santa, snowmen and reindeer, the Plush Chocolate Star Christmas Tree Decorations are solid star shaped chocolates, in milk, white and dark chocolate and the Plush Chocolate Filled Christmas Stockings are red and white fabric stockings which also have chocolate buttons inside.

Hotel Chocolat’s Chocolate Christmas Tree Decorations are individual chocolates in little boxes which hang from ribbons, in red, gold and purple in a pack of ten and Thorntons Chocolate Santa Christmas Tree Decorations are hollow milk chocolate Santas with cords in a box of nine.

Chocolate shapes are more novelty and fun chocolates; they work well with most themes and add some festive joy to a tree.

Tree Chocolates

Tree chocolates are chocolates which are not necessarily meant to be used as Christmas tree decorations, but ever since I was young we have always has chocolates in the tree, normally chocolate Santas or other foil wrapped chocolates, but you can use anything which is light enough to sit in the branches of the tree.

The Lindt Gold chocolate figures are ideal for decorating a tree, light enough not to bend larger branches and they add a splash of gold, along with the classic Lindt Gold Bell and Lindt Gold Reindeer is the Lindt Gold Bear, each of the Lindt chocolates are in gold foil with red ribbons round them.

Christmas crackers are always fun to put in a Christmas tree and two of Hotel Chocolat’s crackers will work perfectly; Hotel Chocolat Mini Christmas Crackers and Hotel Chocolat Chocolate Filled Christmas Cracker.

If you are decorating your tree with crackers, it would be a good idea to finish your tree first and then add the crackers after – this way when you take the crackers off it won’t look bare.

Hotel Chocolat’s Alternative Mince Pies; six milk chocolate cups filled with caramel, topped off with a layer of chocolate praline and a decorative star.

Presented as a small, gold, box of chocolates with black detailing and a clear window on the top so you can see the chocolates peeping through from inside.

I am not sure if these are alternative mince pies or an alternative to mince pies, I will go with the latter as they seem to be more chocolate cupcakes to me or rather a version of a cupcake made from chocolate, delicately fluted milk chocolate cups filled with a generous helping of salted caramel below a layer of praline and finished off with a chocolate star.

The case gives a gentle snap before the glossy caramel is released, the rich salted caramel is runny and almost liquid inside, and enriched with the salt the flavours are wonderful, added to that is the smooth layer of praline for extra texture and a hint more of chocolate.

The cupcake vs. mince pie issue aside the six chocolates in their little Christmas box are just delicious; sweet, sticky, gooey and rather indulgent, and I highly recommend them.

£7.50, 95g 6 chocolates.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Alcohol Free

More Caramel Chocolates

The Alternative Mince Pies are much more about the salted caramel inside rather that the chocolate, if you are a fan of Hotel Chocolat’s caramel chocolate I would suggest either Chocolate Penguins or the Caramel Angels.

All from the Christmas 2011 chocolate collection.

Green & Black’s Christmas Chocolate Table Collection, bundles of miniature chocolates bars, Christmas favours for the table, tree decorations or mini stocking fillers.

Twenty four miniature chocolate bars from Green & Black’s tied up with ribbons into twelve little parcels each with two bars and presented in a gift box.

The mini bars cover most of the flavours available from Green & Black’s, dark chocolate, milk, creamy milk chocolate, white, milk with almonds and milk with butterscotch, dark with cherry and dark with ginger, a tasting collection for Christmas.

£16.50, 24 15g mini chocolate bars.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Oragnic and GM Free.

The Discovery Christmas chocolate hamper from Godiva, a round leather gift basket filled with a selection of Christmas chocolates.

• Limited Edition Truffles: A long gold and green box of Godiva classic truffles with new limited edition recipes for the season.
• Godiva Milk Chocolate Tablet: A large milk chocolate bar, 31% cocoa smooth and creamy chocolate.
• Godiva Christmas Gift Box: A selection of twelve classic Godiva chocolates in a red Christmas gift box.
• Godiva Classic Chocolate Box: Godiva signature Gold Collection with pralines, caramels and ganaches, with a festive satin red ribbon.
• Godiva Chocolate Spread: A jar of luxury chocolate spread.
• Godiva Christmas 2011 Bear: An adorable teddy bear dressed for winter, with a jumper and scarf and “Godiva 2011” embroidered on his left foot.

A wonderful selection of chocolates, with a cute bear presented in a unique basket, perfect a gift for one or broken up into chocolate gifts and stocking fillers for more.

£70.00, a hamper of Christmas chocolates from Godiva.

More Godiva Hampers

The Godiva Discovery is the smallest of three Christmas chocolate hampers available from Selfridges. The other two are the Luxury and the Indulgent.

Each hamper contains limited edition chocolate boxes and seasonal recipes, and each is presented in the luxury leather box.

If you love a perfectly laid out Christmas table with coordinating table cloth, runner, napkins and Christmas crackers you may need to rethink you colour theme to make sure it matches Hotel Chocolat’s Rather Large Christmas Cracker.

This stunning Christmas cracker is decorated in Hotel Chocolat’s 2011 Christmas colours, matching perfectly with the rest of their Christmas chocolate collection, white with vintage gold detailing and motifs on the outside and deep purple inside, tied with ribbons to add that finishing touch. Making the perfect Christmas table centre piece, either by itself or with the smaller chocolate filled Christmas crackers.

Crammed with 40 chocolates, a balanced selection of dark, white and milk chocolates, some with alcohol and some without, each one individually wrapped. And the Christmas cracker essentials, 12 party hats and jokes.

64cm across, that’s a massive 25inches, the Rather Large Christmas Cracker by Hotel Chocolat is easily the largest Christmas cracker available.

£38.00, 12 Luxury Christmas Crackers in one.

For me selection boxes are just as much a part of Christmas as the stockings and the tree.

A traditional gift I normally give to friends and family members, as just a little something extra for them to unwrap on the day.

Now, I know you can buy Cadburys chocolate selection boxes almost anywhere but not all of the shops and supermarket chains stock all the sizes and styles, and there are some “deals” you can only get online, like exclusive sizes and discount wholesale prices if you buy in bulk.

Both Cadbury Gifts Direct and chocolatebuttons have the best variety in Cadburys selection boxes, with Cadbury Gifts Direct offering special online gift sets and the extra large selection pack and chocolatebuttons allow you to bulk order chocolate (a great way to buy lots of presents all at once) at wholesale prices.

Cadbury Gifts Direct

Cadbury Gifts Direct only sell Cadbury chocolate, but in a slightly different way to the high street or other online retailers who also stock Cadbury, they put the chocolate together either in pairs, in hampers, as collections or with Cadburys branded merchandise to create gifts – with some of the selection packs and additional items only available online.

New for Christmas 2011 are the Character Bags, selection packs of Cadbury Treatsize chocolates in two different designs; Reindeer and Santa. These small selection boxes each contain ten Treatsize chocolates and make wonderful stocking filler by themselves, but they are also available in a chocolate gift pack with tubes of Cadbury Buttons and Cadbury Dairy Milk Chunks, and in two gifts sets with the Cadbury teddy bears.

All of the Cadbury selection boxes, apart from the giant selection box, are in the Christmas Selection Box Hamper.

Cadbury Gifts Direct also sell Cadbury branded toys, mugs, jigsaws etc. so if you are a Cadbury fan and want to get you hands on the Dairy Milk Gorilla or some limited edition gift sets, this is the site for you.

chocolatebuttons

chocolatebuttons sell sweets and chocolates which are normally only stocked in newsagents and supermarkets, most of which is actually quite hard to buy online. A lot of their products can be bought in bulk, but not all and some can only be bought in larger packs, making the price per item cheaper than supermarkets, in some cases.

The selection packs contain different varieties of Cadburys chocolate including; Cadbury Chomp, Cadbury Fudge, Cadbury Flake, Cadbury Caramel, Cadbury Buttons, Cadbury Crunchie, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Cadbury Wispa and Cadbury CurlyWurly and all in different sizes with different designs, so the choice really comes down to which has your favourite in it.

A set of ten chocolate Christmas tree decorations with very cute milk chocolate shapes in elegant little boxes, each with a ribbon so you can hang them from the tree.

Cast in milk 40% chocolate, the chocolates inside, are some of the adorable characters seen throughout Hotel Chocolat’s range; a chubby Santa, Dasher the Reindeer and the sweet Cool Penguin.

The little decorative boxes are in the 2011 Hotel Chocolat Christmas colours; red, gold and purple, so they will match any other Hotel Chocolat chocolate decorations perfectly.

Because the chocolates are inside boxes there is always the temptation to “sample” them, luckily Santa’s House is filled with fifteen of the same chocolates and can be used are replacements.

£15.00, for ten chocolate filled Christmas tree decorations.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Alcohol Free.

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.

A very cute chocolate gift bag, filled with Hotel Chocolat chocolates, the perfect gift to put a smile on someone’s face.

The chocolate goody bags have windows in the sides so you can see all the delicious chocolate, charming Hotel Chocolat characters and Christmas shapes within.

In side the goody bag you will find; a milk chocolate slab with a Christmas Gift on, a very cute Pocket Reindeer bar, a Selector Six of Billionaire shortbread and the milk and dark chocolate mini festive wreath.

Wonderful as a Christmas gift, but they also make great party bags and alongside the Goody Bag of the Season, you can have a choice of party bags.

£17.00, 350g of Hotel Chocolat chocolates in goody bag.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Alcohol Free.

The largest Christmas chocolate hamper from the Chocolate Trading Company, filled with a selection of the Chocolate Trading Company’s own chocolates and chocolates from Michel Cluizel and Niederegger marzipans.

The Christmas hamper contains:

Two boxes of chocolates:

• The Superior Selection Christmas box, a chocolate box with twenty four chocolates in twelve different flavours, a selection of milk, dark and white chocolates, finished with a Christmas design.
• Niederegger’s Marzipanerie, a selection of flavoured marzipans covered in chocolate.

Chocolate covered treats:

• Orangettes, candied orange enrobed in a fine dark chocolate.
• Kirsch cherries, Morello cherries soaked in Kirsch and covered in fine dark chocolate.
• Dark chocolate, 60% cocoa, covered caramelised almonds from Michel Cluizel.

And three Christmas gifts:

• A bag of Christmas stars, individually foil wrapped milk chocolates shaped like stars.
• A Chocolate Santa.
• A bag of, 72% cocoa, hot chocolate flakes.

Presented in a Christmas themed Chocolate Trading Company hamper, with a similar design to the box of chocolates, finished with a satin ribbon and “Merry Christmas & a happy new year” on the lid.

£75.95

Labelled: Vegetarian.

Californian almonds, caramelised to release the flavours and add a touch of sweetness, covered in 40% milk chocolate flavoured with a hint of festive cinnamon and presented in a smart tin – Hotel Chocolat’s Cinnamon Chocolate Almonds.

From experience I always imagine chocolate covered almonds or even sugar coated almonds, for that matter, to be a little bit dull and the almond inside to be a little moist and chewy, but as it turns out not all almonds are created equal and I was more than pleasantly surprised by Hotel Chocolat’s offering.

The almonds themselves have a wonderful texture, having been caramelised they have a richer darker colour and are delightfully crisp with a satisfying crunch, with an enhanced flavour not what was I was expecting at all.

The cinnamon in the milk chocolate gives the chocolate covered almonds a delightful smell which escapes each time you open the tin; warming, welcoming and very tempting, the cinnamon flavour is subtle against the 49% cocoa but does add a richness and depth to the chocolate.

Combined together the two are simply charming; a thick layer of milk chocolate with the mild spice of cinnamon followed by the sweetness of the sugar and finally the satisfying crunch of the nut inside.

Little moan: although I do like the new tins I think they were probably designed more for the Liquid Chocolat range rather than the enrobed nuts. My main problem with them that the tin is just too big, 250g of chocolate covered almonds only fills half of it, so when you open the tin for the first time it is a little disappointing and make that “ohh” sound, which kind of distracts from the rather special chocolate treats inside.

£10.00, 250g of chocolate covered almonds, in a reusable tin, which are definitely worth trying.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Alcohol Free

Chocolate Covered Nuts

Also from the Chritsmas range at Hotel Chocolat are the Dark Chocolate Brazil Nuts, in the same style tin.

And from the Selector collection, Dark Chocolate Caramelised Almonds and the chocolate covered selection with chocolate covered hazelnuts, raisins, peanuts, the dark chocolate almonds and a milk version to name but a few.

A luxury Christmas advent calendar from Artisan du Chocolat filled with a selection of fine chocolates hidden inside twenty five little boxes, one for each day including Christmas day.

Using only three colours on the outside; red and white on a black background, the advent calendar has a very modern look to it; this combined with the charm of the Christmas illustrations creates an original and alluring Christmas gift.

Commissioned by Artisan du Chocolat celebrated British paper cut-out artist and illustrator Julene Harrison designed the cover, creating the shape of a Christmas tree from the phrase “It’s Christmas in the heart that makes Christmas in the air” in white letters with some words cut out to reveal the red of the second cover beneath. Surrounding the Christmas tree are Christmas tree baubles, wrapped Christmas presents, candy canes and stars.

Opening out the two covers reveals the colourful chocolates boxes hidden inside; twenty five numbered parcels stacked up and filled with Artisan du Chocolat chocolates.

Each chocolate box is decorated with multi-coloured Christmas pictures, the same illustrations as on the cover but in colour and with a few additions such as baubles and love hearts.

Much more than just an advent calendar Artisan Du Chocolat’s limited edition advent calendar is akin to a chocolate tasting box with chocolate pearls, liquid salted caramels, mini chocolate bars, enrobed fruits, panned nuts and truffles.

A delightful chocolate gift for an Artisan Du Chocolat lover or a wonderful introduction to their fine chocolates.

£35.00, a limited edition, chocolate tasting, luxury advent calendar.

A box of ten penguins cast in dark chocolate with a hint of chilli, to tingle the taste buds at Christmas.

Two layers of 70% cocoa dark chocolate chilli penguins, these very cute little chocolate penguins have been spiced up with a hint of mouth-warming chilli.

One of three mini chocolate boxes filled with Christmas Shapes from Hotel Chocolat, these Christmas chocolate boxes which make perfect chocolate stocking fillers, Secret Santa presents and chocolate gifts.

£7.50 for 10 dark chocolate chilli penguins, 110g.

Labelled: Alcohol Free, Dairy Free and Vegan.

Multi buy

The Dark Chocolate Chilli Penguins are one of three small chocolates which are on multi buy; the other two are the smooth milk chocolate The Christmas Dinners and the delicous Caramel Angels. Buy any 4 or more for £6.50 each.

All three boxes are the same size, so if you are buying for siblings there will be no quibbling about who has a bigger present.

The magic of Christmas in a giant chocolate selection box, well two giant chocolate selection boxes, packed full of all your favourite Cadbury chocolate bars and treats.

A chocolate selection box is a must have at Christmas, they make perfect gifts and you get a great selection of different chocolates. These selection boxes are a bit special, not only are they Cadbury but they are the largest selection boxes available from Cadburys and they are exclusive to Cadbury Gifts Direct, so you can’t get them in shops or supermarkets.

Each Giant Cadbury selection box contains a selection of family favourites including:

Almost all of the Cadbury Dairy Milk varieties:
Dairy Milk Whole Nut, Cadbury Dairy Milk, Dairy Milk Turkish, Dairy Milk Bubbly, Dairy Milk Caramel and Dairy Milk Fruit & Nut.

And some new and classic chocolate bars:
Cadbury Crunchie, Cadbury Time Out, Cadbury Flake, Wispa, Twisted, Curly Wurly, Picnic, Cadbury Chocolate Buttons, Flake Praline, Fudge and Chomp.

Something for everyone.

£22.00 for the biggest Cadbury chocolate selection boxes you can buy.

A beautiful luxury advent calendar, brimming with mini chocolate truffles, designed especially for couples or those who like to share.

Behind each window are two gorgeous chocolate truffles, a selection of milk chocolate and dark chocolate truffles with ganache and praline filled centres, some with a hint of booze, and decorated with a splash of colour, using natural colourings, making an impressive 48 luxury chocolate truffles in total.

Dramatically decorated with white and purple stars on a black background, using the same intricate star design which adorns all of Hotel Chocolat’s 2011 Christmas chocolate collection, the luxury Truffles to Share advent calendar makes the perfect gift for a couple, any adult or a chocolate truffle lover.

One of five chocolate filled advent calendars from Hotel Chocolat, this is the largest and most expensive of them all, counting down to Christmas 2011 in style, and of course with chocolate.

£25.00, for a stunning Hotel Chocolat Truffles to Share Advent Calendar.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.

If you are have been searching high and low for the perfect Christmas gift, this might just be exactly what you have been looking for…

The exquisite Booja-Booja Luxury Gift Box contains 30 award winning handmade chocolate truffles, the largest selection of Booja-Booja truffles.

Handmade in Norfolk from 100% organic products, all of Booja-Booja chocolate truffles are gluten free, wheat free and dairy free making them suitable for vegans and vegetarians.

The luxury gift box contains a selection of 30 beautiful organic chocolate truffles, in the six Booja Booja flavours:

• Organic dark chocolate and champagne truffles.
• Chocolate and coffee, Around Midnight Espresso truffles.
• Hazelnut Crunch.
• Rum sozzled sultana truffles.
• Banoffee toffee chocolate truffles.
• Organic stem ginger chocolate truffles.

Booja-Booja work closely with artists in Kashmir, who create these stunning gift boxes, which are hand painted, velvet-lined and made from papier-mâché. Like the Booja Booja Easter Eggs each box is a unique work of art, beautiful, highly collectable and reusable.

This year Booja Booja have introduced three new flavours, replacing old flavours, and new edition boxes for their bestselling truffles; Champagne, espresso and hazelnut, these new boxes are larger and have new designs.

The new range is called the Artist Collection and the artwork is by a company called Persian Dowry based in Kashmir, India who also make the rather special boxes for the luxury gift box and the Booja Booja eggs.

£65.25, 355g. Chocolate truffles and a rather special gift box.

Labelled: Vegan, Vegetarian, Dairy Free, Organic, Gluten Free and Wheat Free.

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.

cocoapod’s Chocolate Christmas Tree Kit, a fun and creative build your own chocolate Christmas tree gift/decoration.

This imaginative kit contains all the chocolate pieces you need to create a, 3D, standing Christmas tree made from Belgian chocolate.

Inside the kit you get all the tree sections with a chocolate star to top the tree off, a bear and two presents to go under the tree and the base to stand it all on. An easy to follow instruction sheet, chocolate buttons; the chocolate “glue”, a brush and even the bag and bows to wrap it with when you have put it together.

The chocolate pieces are hand made and decorated using white and milk Belgian chocolate and all the sections are solid chocolate, including the very chunky Christmas tree pot.

The kit is very easy, and fun, to assemble you simply melt the chocolate buttons and use them to stick the tree branches to the pot, starting with the largest first, and then add the star and presents under the tree, more specific and useful instructions are included in the kit!

When it is finished chocolate Christmas tree stands approximately 130mm tall, depending on how much chocolate you use to stick it together and if you use the base.

Because absolutely everything you need to make the chocolate Christmas tree is included in the kit, you can either choose to buy the kit as a gift itself or buy it and make the tree to give as a gift or keep for yourself to use as a decoration, the size makes it perfect for the top of a Christmas cake.

I have to say this is one of my favourite chocolate gifts for Christmas 2010, not only is it entertaining to put together but you get a wonderful sense of achievement when you finish it, even though cocoapod did most (OK all) of the hard work…

£10.00, 250g of fun chocolate.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Gluten Free.

One of Cadburys chocolate hampers for Christmas the “Christmas Magic Hamper”, one of two medium sized hampers filled with Cadbury chocolate treats.

A rather large collection of selection boxes, boxes of chocolates, chocolate biscuits and sweets, making it ideal for sharing with family and friends or work colleges or as individual chocolaty presents, packed into a hamper.

The “Christmas Magic Hamper” from Cadbury contains:

Three Cadbury selection boxes:

• A Giant Selection Box, exclusively available online.
• A Winter Selection Box and a Medium Santa Selection Box, filled with your favourite Cadbury bars.

Five boxes of Cadbury chocolates:

• Four cartons of chocolate; Cadbury Eclairs, Cadbury Roses, Cadbury Heroes and Christmas Chunks.
• A true classic, a box of Milk Tray.

A selection of treats and sweets:

• Two pouches of chocolate; Cadbury Giant Buttons and Caramel Nibbles.
• A selection of Cadbury Dairy Milk bars.
• 400g Cadbury Collection Biscuit Tin.
• Cadbury Chocolate Coins.
• Two bags of chocolate Snowbites and Cadbury Wishes Star.
• A selection of sweets.

£50.00 Christmas hamper of Cadbury chocolate.

Hotel Chocolat’s Tiddly Caramel Chocolate Santas; a box of eight, very cute, caramel flavoured chocolate Father Christmas’s.

These miniature chocolate Santa’s are new for Christmas 2010 and are one of the cheapest chocolate gifts from Hotel Chocolat, making them ideal stocking fillers and Secret Santa gifts.

Cast in solid 33% cocoa milk chocolate flavoured with caramel, probably my favourite flavoured chocolate from Hotel Chocolat; these are rather wonderful little chocolates.

The box they come in isn’t the biggest in the world, just 8cm by 11.5cm, but the little chocolate treats are crammed in, with four on each level, each chocolate Santa is quite chunky and very satisfying.

As you open the box you get a beautifully sweet aroma of caramelised sugar, which matches the flavour of the smooth chocolate. The caramel slightly stronger than I was expecting but as the chocolate melts it really works to create a very pleasing and moreish chocolate experience.

There are three different “Tiddly” chocolate shapes in four types of chocolate. The chocolate shapes are based on the Best Dressed characters, which can be seen throughout the Hotel Chocolat Christmas range. The caramel chocolate Santa’s are the only flavoured chocolates, the other are “plain” milk, white and dark chocolate.

Probably deigned to be kids Christmas gifts, but I would be very happy to receive any of the Best Dressed chocolates, the Jolly Santa is just so adorable, and the caramel chocolate Santa’s are just delicious.

£5.00, eight chunky chocolate Santas.

Labelled: Gluten Free and Alcohol Free.

A fun and festive chocolate stocking filler made from white and milk, Belgian, chocolate by cocoapod.

The Candy Cane disc is a 33% cocoa milk chocolate disc decorated with an edible transfer with little holly leaves and berries and twinkling stars, on top of the disc a striped candy cane tied with a bow shaped from white chocolate and hand painted with bright Christmassy, natural, colours.

At its widest the milk chocolate disc 92mm and with the white chocolate on top 10mm deep, there are five other designs which are the same size and four smaller design. You can see the in the Christmas discs section on the cocoapod site.

Although it does come in a clear box, making it very simple to wrap – it did seem rather a shame to cover up all the bright colours, so I thought it would make a fun Christmas tree decoration.

To do this I simple made a hole in the top of the disc and tied a ribbon to the top, giving me something to hang it from the tree. I used red ribbon to compliment the colours in the design, green or white would have worked too.

Now all I have to do is guard the tree until Christmas day…

£4.00, 62g of fun Belgian chocolate.

Labelled: Gluten Free.

A stunning chocolate Christmas tree, luxury fruit & nut milk chocolate beautifully shaped into a giant tree and decorated with dark chocolate and truffles, a mouth-watering centrepiece for the Christmas table.

Smooth 40% milk chocolate with cranberries, caramel Florentines and crunchy roasted almonds; luxury fruit and nut chocolate, finished with smooth Gianduja truffles and chocolate decorations.

This gorgeous chocolate truffle tree is a chunky 2cm deep, 22cm across at its widest point and 35cm tall, and weighting in at a massive 580g (over half a kilo!) – a very impressive chocolate creation.

£22.00, 580g of Christmassy Hotel Chocolat chocolate.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Alcohol Free and Gluten Free.

A Montezuma’s chocolate goodie hamper filled with an assortment of milk and dark chocolate treats for Christmas and a selection of chocolate bars.

‘Turtle Dove’ is the smaller of the two chocolate Christmas hamper’s from Montezuma’s, an assortment of Christmas chocolate and a few favourites from the permanent range.

Presented in a gift box tied with a Christmassy ribbon the chocolate hamper contains:

• Mini Bar Gift Box: Ten mini chocolate bars, two of each flavour Dark with Chilli, Dark Side & Butterscotch, Dark Peru with Sea Salt, Very Dark and Smooth Milk.
• Christmas Dainty Dollops: Thin dark chocolate drops flavoured with mandarin and butterscotch.
• A bag of Christmas Truffles: A selection of Christmas inspired chocolate truffles.
• Christmas Drinking Chocolate: 54% cocoa with Christmas spices to create a warming hot chocolate.
• The Organic Stack: Four of the Foundation chocolate bars, dark, milk and white chocolate.
• And a 45g Snackle Bar.

£39.99, six gorgeous chocolate treats in a Christmas gift box.

Labelled: GM Free, Preservatives / Additive / Colouring Free and Vegetarian.

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.

A luxury gift bag filled with an assortment Hotel Chocolat treats from their Christmas chocolate collection, just a taster of the whole delicious range.

This large chocolate gift bag is three gifts in one, just the right size for a couple or small family to share or somebody really special, with both milk chocolate and dark chocolate goodies and a smattering of white chocolate in the selection box there is something for everyone.

The chic white bag is decorated with snowflakes and cocoa pods in red and silver tied with a ribbon and finished with a gift tag. Inside is:

• The Alcohol Free Christmas Chocolate Sleekster, a box of Christmassy chocolates.
• A box of milk chocolate shapes, design to look like the Christmas Dinner!
• A mini dark chocolate fruit & nut wreath.

I like to stock up on a few emergency presents, for those people that turn up unexpectedly or a last minute party invite, and gift bags, chocolate boxes and boxes are perfect. This chocolate gift bag is ideal as it is already wrapped, ribboned and tagged so all you have to do is write out the tag and social crisis averted.

£35.00 for three chocolate treats in a gift bag.

Labelled: Alcohol Free.

It just wouldn’t be Christmas without a tin of chocolate biscuits and one tin absolutely has to be Cadbury chocolate biscuits.

A large tin of biscuits covered in Cadbury milk Chocolate, with ten different types of Cadbury chocolate biscuits including; Raspberry Oat Crunch, a raspberry and oat crunch biscuit covered in thick milk chocolate. Cadbury Chunk, a very thick chunk of Dairy Milk with a digestive style biscuit hidden inside and Toffee Flavour Cream Wafer, chocolate wafer with a lovely toffee flavour.

£14.00 for an 800g tin of Cadbury chocolate biscuits.

Montezuma’s dark chocolate advent calendar containing 300g of dairy free dark chocolate, behind each of the twenty four little doors, counting down to Christmas day is a chunky block of organic house blended chocolate.

The advent calendars design combines the traditional in a modern style, characters from the Twelve Day of Christmas in the foreground creating the outline of a tree on a red background with subtle snowflakes, stylish, festive and most of all scrummy.

Out of all the advent calendars for 2010, Montezuma’s advent calendars; this dark chocolate one and the mixed white & milk chocolate version, have the most amount of chocolate inside.

£12.50, 300g of dairy free chocolate for Christmas.

Labelled: Dairy Free/Vegan, Organic and Gluten Free.

An alluring collection of dark chocolate treats from the Hotel Chocolat Christmas and Purist ranges, all brought together in a chocolate gift bag.

This mainly vegan dark chocolate collection contains four Hotel Chocolat Christmas chocolate and a dairy free Purist chocolate bar – a dark chocolate adventure with exciting flavours, luxury chocolate and festive goodies.

Hotel Chocolat dark chocolate collection bag contains:

• A dark chocolate wreath
• A mini version of the chocolate log.
• Dark chocolate Chilli Penguins
• A Purist Bar
• A Selector Six of dark chocolate Cranberry & Almond chocolates.

Presented in a ribbon tied gift bag with a tag so no need to warp, just fill in the card and your chocolate gift is ready to be enjoyed.

£35.00

Milk and dark chocolate goodie bag, a selection of spiced and mellow chocolate treats for Christmas.

A gift box of Hotel Chocolat chocolates for Christmas, an ideal last minute present, secret Santa or stocking filler, all in a festive black and gold tented box with clear panel so you can see all the chocolate inside.

The Gold Christmas Pick-Me-Up contiains; a Cinnamon Crunch 100g slab, a zesty orange dark chocolate Penguin, a Selector Six of Caramel & Praline Stars, Holly cast in honey milk chocolate and a milk chocolate Santa Lick.

£10.00.

Labelled: Alcohol Free.

Fruit and nut chocolate wreath from Hotel Chocolat, 50% cocoa milk chocolate and luxury fruit and nut beautifully crafted into a Christmas wreath.

This stunning chocolate creation is perfect to slice and share, great as a dessert after a meal or just a treat for the family and friends.

Deliciously smooth milk chocolate packed with cranberries and raisins for moist texture and pistachios, almonds and hazelnuts for that nutty crunch, shaped into an exquisitely designed Christmas wreath.

The fruit and nut chocolate Christmas wreath is 20cm round and a chunky 2cm deep.

£15.00, 450g.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Alcohol Free.

Twenty four Hotel Chocolat chocolate recipes especially selected for the Signature Collection, a gorgeous chocolate box for Christmas.

Luxury hand finished Hotel Chocolat chocolates, presented in a chic deep red embossed box. Inside the chocolate box the chocolates are lined up by shape, tempting you to savour the experience.

A sample selection of the gorgeous truffles, mouth watering caramels and fabulous flavours within the Signature Collection:

• Mocharetto Star: A dreamy, super soft ganache made with Columbian coffee, a dash or two of smooth cream liqueur and a little almond oil to give it an Italian feel with amaretto-style almond flavour notes.
• Banana Split: A gorgeous combination that plays on the winning blend of banana and caramel flavours – with the fruity flavours of red banana balanced by the rounded sweetness of caramel.
• Vanilla Butterscotch: The first thing you will notice about this chocolate is the gorgeous light whipped buttercream peppered with tiny vanilla seeds, encased in a mellow chocolate shell.
• Almond and Raspberry: A brand new take on the concept of fruit and nut with two layers just waiting to melt away. The first is a velvety smooth praline made with finely ground almonds and the second is a silky soft mousse with the zippy
  flavours of all natural raspberry.
• Striking Strawberry: Inside this creamy white chocolate shell you’ll discover there’s a striking fruity experience waiting for you – it’s bursting with the fresh flavours of natural strawberry blended into a white chocolate mousse.
• Orange Marmalade Praline: This milk chocolate praline has been blended with essential oil of bigarade orange, prized for its full flavour, which delivers more edgy citrus flavours than those of sweeter oranges.

The exquisite Hotel Chocolat Signature Collection is available in three sizes; each a multiple of twenty four, so you always get at least one of the fantastic flavours.

The Christmas Signature Collection 24, containing one of each of the sought-after chocolates, can also be found in two of the Personal Shopper gifts bags, gifts bags with tag and a bow so no need to wrap, alongside a bottle of red or white wine.

A spectacular array of Hotel Chocolat chocolates bound to impress, no matter the size of box.

Signature Collection Chocolate Boxes:

• £25.00, 360g – 24 Chocolates.
• £40.00, 720g – 48 Chocolates.
• £65.00, 1.35kg – 96 Chocolates.

Personal Shopper Bags:

• £45.00, 360g 24 Chocolates, and 75cl Prosecco, white.
• £45.00, 360g 24 Chocolates, and Chateau Chocolat, red.

Montezuma’s ‘Leaping Lord’ chocolate gift hamper, the largest of Montezuma’s Christmas chocolate gift hampers.

A perfect Christmas gift to share with family and friends, a selection of ten chocolate gifts from Montezuma’s in a Christmas hamper.

Montezuma’s ‘Leaping Lord’ chocolate gift hamper contains:

• A box Montezuma’s chocolate truffles, special flavours for Christmas.
• Large milk chocolate Christmas tree.
• Chocolate and marzipan Stollen.
• Forbidden Fruit, chocolate covered brazil nuts, ginger and cherries.
• Milk and dark chocolate snowmen, solid organic chocolate snowmen.
• Fab Four, four of Montezuma’s organic chocolate bars.
• Milk Brazil Choco:Block, a block of milk chocolate with brazil nuts.
• Kirsch Cherries, cherries soaked in Kirsch and covered in dark chocolate.
• Chocolate for Drinking No.1

£100.00

Hotel Chocolat’s interpretation of the traditional Christmas log, smooth dark chocolate mixed with Piedmont praline and nuts to lift the chocolate flavour and add texture.

Christmas logs, or Yule logs, represent the last log to be brought in to be burnt on the fire, big enough to see the family through the winter months.

Traditionally the Yule Log cake is made from rolled sponge, like a Swiss roll, and then cover in chocolate icing.

The chocolate log from Hotel Chocolat is the grown up version, of the classic chocolate cake, dark chocolate blended with praline, Piedmont hazelnuts which milled to produce a velvety smooth praline, studded with pistachios and more hazelnuts and shaped into a Christmas log.

Part of the Sweet Obsessions range from Hotel Chocolat, classic British chocolates and sweets.

£7.50, 190g.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Dairy Free, Vegan and Alcohol Free.

Three Christmas themed chocolate tins each beautifully decorated and filled with individually wrapped Lindt chocolates.

Each tin opens to reveal fifteen individually wrapped Lindt chocolates inside, the same shape and design as the tin itself.

You get all three tins; the snowman tin, a snowball tin and the Babushka, Russian doll, tin.

The tins make great gifts and Christmas decorations, the snowball has a ribbon attached so it can be a hung from a tree, and once you have shared the Lindt chocolates inside you have a keepsake tin, which can be reused and refilled.

£27.00, 450g.

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 great chocolate hamper for the family to share, packed with Hotel Chocolat chocolates for everyone.

Sparkling Prosecco wine for the adults to share over a selection box of chocolates, chocolate treats for the children, a hamper of chocolate for the family with flavours to discover and enjoy.

Hotel Chocolat’s Christmas Bliss Chocolate Hamper contains:

The Hotel Chocolat Christmas Selection Chocolate Box; the Christmas edition Sleekster. A box of 40% Milk Chocolate Batons, slim bars of solid chocolate cast in Hotel Chocolat’s house blends. A cute bag of chocolate covered Brazil Nuts; roasted Brazil nuts tumbled in ultra smooth milk chocolate and cocoa powder.  Christmas Pralines Chocolate Box; a praline selection box. A box of cute Tiddly Snowmen. A bag of Snowball Munchkins.  A box of Dark Chocolate Chilli Penguins.  A box of milk chocolate Festive Fairies.  A tub of Winter Liquid Chocolat.  A gorgeous Cookies & Caramel Chocolate Wreath and a 75cl bottle of Prosecco.

All presenetd in a smart white, Hotel Chocolat, box.

£100.00, 2.5kg hamper of Hotel Chocolat chocolates.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

All the Cadburys chocolate you and your family need this Christmas all in one Cadburys chocolate Christmas sharing hamper.

A tasty selection of Cadbury chocolate favourites, great for sharing with family and friends or a easy way to buy fantastic Christmas gifts and stocking fillers all in one go.

The Cadburys Chocolate Christmas Sharing Hamper contains:

Three Cadbury chocolate bar selection packs:

• Large Stocking Selection
• Super Winter Selection Box
• Reindeer Selection Pack

Two Cadbury chocolates packs:

• The New Cadbury Roses Pouch 700g
• Cadbury Heroes Carton 220g

Two Cadbury Bitesized Bags:

• Cadbury Chocolate Raisins 200g
• Cadbury Chocolate Peanuts 200g

Two Cadbury Dairy Milk Bars:

• Cadbury Dairy Milk Bar 230g
• Cadbury Dairy Milk Caramel Bar 140g

A tin of Chocolate Biscuits 400g, the small version of the Extremely Cadbury Chocolate Biscuits Tin, a selection of Cadbury treats including Cadbury Chocolate Coins, a tube of Dairy Milk Buttons, a Cadbury Dairy Milk Tube and a packet of Snowbites.

£35.00

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.

Easter just would not be eater without the Lindt chocolate bunny, so it is only fair that Christmas gets its own novelty chocolates from Lindt as well.

The Lindt chocolate reindeer is the Christmas version of the Easter bunny, the same smooth chocolate and cute little bell but in the shape of a reindeer, and you get three in the Lindt novelty chocolate Christmas pack.

This Christmas chocolate selection has ten novelty chocolate characters, each one is hollow and cast in thick Lindt Swiss chocolate wrapped in decorative foil, ideal for Christmas gifts or cute stocking fillers.

The Lindt chocolate Christmas pack contains:

• Two large milk chocolate Santa’s 125g each.
• Two milk chocolate Lindt Gold Reindeer 100g each.
• One dark chocolate Lindt Gold Reindeer 100g.
• One milk chocolate Snowman 100g.
• The Lindt Gold Bell 100g
• Three mini milk chocolate Santas 40g each.

£26.96, 870g of Swiss chocolate for Christmas.

Limited edition for Christmas handmade chocolate truffles in a bag from Montezuma’s.

Montezuma’s chocolate truffles are given a Christmas re-design with new flavours and Christmas packaging.

These very special chocolate truffles are made using the best ingredients in the Sussex countryside, in one of Santa’s secret elf chocolate shops.

A selection of milk chocolate truffles and dark chocolate truffles, with approximately 8 truffles in each bag, depending on the weight of each chocolate.

£4.75, 120g of Montezuma’s chocolate truffles.

Labelled: GM Free, Preservatives / Additive / Colouring Free, Vegetarian, Soya Free and Gluten Free.

If you are stuck for Christmas gift ideas or you’re not that big a fan of wrapping presents, then the Personal Shopper chocolate gift bags from Hotel Chocolat are what you have been looking for!

A selection of luxury chocolate, so you don’t need to worry about choosing them, in a smart gift bag, so no need to wrap, with a bow, so no need for ribbons, with a message card, so you won’t forget.

The Large Christmas Personal Shopper bag contains;

Two chocolate boxes:

• Christmas Sleekster – a chocolate selection box full 30 Christmas chocolates.
• Sparkling Stars Chocolate Caramels – 15 individually flavoured chocolate caramels.

Two Mini Chocolate Slabs:

• Orange Nice Spice – a dark chocolate slab with orange and chilli.
• Nutty Noel – a slab of milk chocolate with crunchy nuts.

Two Chocolate Gifts:

• Enrobed Raisins – whole raisins covered in 50% milk chocolate.
• Baublicious – decorative milk chocolate baubles.

£55.00, 840g. Six chocolate gifts in a gift bag, bagged, bowed and with a message card.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

A beautiful modern interpretation of the classic, chocolate, advent calendar without losing any of the charm and appeal of the original idea and a little extra room for some miniature chocolate bars.

This rather large chocolate advent calendar is not only unique and fun, but also sustainable as it can be used year after year – all you need to do is top up the chocolate.

The “tower block” advent calendar, designed by Lisa Stickley, is made from organic cotton and with wood from a renewable source, allowing the advent calendar to be hung up. Each of the numbered little pockets is big enough for a Green & Blacks miniature chocolate bar or two.

Green & Blacks hanging organic cotton advent calendar comes with 24 miniature chocolate bars, each 15g. A selection of Green & Blacks dark chocolate mini bars and Green & Blacks milk chocolate mini bars, including: milk with butterscotch, dark with ginger, milk with almond and dark with cherry.

£34.00, 24 Green & Blacks miniature chocolate bars and advent calendar.

An irresistibly cute milk chocolate reindeer, dressed up for winter in his flavoured chocolate scarf.

Novelty chocolate at its best, cast in solid 40% cocoa milk chocolate with a winter berry chocolate scarf, the adorable “Best Dressed” chocolate reindeer from the Hotel Chocolat Christmas chocolate collection is sure to bring a smile to anyone’s face.

One of two “Best Dressed” chocolate characters, the other being the “Best Dressed” snowman who features on the giant chocolate snowman slab and the mini cinnamon chocolate slab.

£6.50, 150g of endearing novelty chocolate.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free and Alcohol Free.

A gorgeous dark chocolate Christmas tree, from French chocolate expert Michel Cluizel, decorated with dried fruits and nuts.

The dried fruits and nuts; candied orange, almonds and pistachios, give this delightful chocolate creation a rustic charm.

Michel Cluizel produces high quality chocolate by choosing the best cocoa beans from around the world and this chocolate Christmas tree is no exception.

Presented in a Michel Cluizel branded clear bag, the dark chocolate treat makes an enchanting chocolate Christmas gift or stocking filler, the top of the tree also has a whole through it so it can also be used as a hanging chocolate Christmas tree decoration simply by threading it with ribbon.

£5.95, 70g.

Luxury fruit and nut surrounded in irresistible dark chocolate, sculpted into a stunning chocolate wreath.

A classic combination of fruit and nuts with chocolate, with added luxury.

The contrast of colourful fruit and whole roasted nuts against the deep dark chocolate is simply mouth watering. Pistachios, cranberries, hazelnuts, raisins and almonds peep through the 72% cocoa chocolate tempting you in.

The dark chocolate fruit and nut wreath not only a beautiful chocolate gift for Christmas, but also makes a rather dramatic table decoration which can then be shared out to your dinner guests for dessert.

£15.00, 450g.

Labelled: Vegetarian, Gluten Free, Vegan, Dairy 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.

A great little stocking filler, not only charming and amusing but also made of chocolate!

Standing 9.5cm tall, wearing a Santa hat and holding a candle this hollow little chocolate novelty has a more traditional Christmas feel about him.

Made from high quality milk chocolate and decorated with white chocolate, dark chocolate and red coloured chocolate, the chocolate Christmas bear with candle will bring a smile to anyone’s face.

Presented in a small clear gift bag with red ribbon.

£3.50, 50g.

Amedei Cioccolata In Tazza, luxury hot chocolate from Amedei of Tuscany, Italy.

Fine granules of quality dark chocolate, with ground almonds and hazelnuts and a hint of vanilla to enhance the rich aromatic flavour, presented in smart tube.

Amedei’s hot chocolate, Cioccolata In Tazza in Italian, is part of the “Amedei For You” collection from the multi award winning chocolate maker, Amedei.

Simply add the 63% cocoa dark chocolate to milk, hot or cold, for a truly flavoursome hot chocolate.

The chic packaging and quality chocolate make this a perfect give by itself or as part of Christmas chocolate hamper.

£12.99, 250g.

A great little box of Christmas chocolate goodies, Discovery Boxes from Hotel Chocolat explore the tastes and textures of the season in chocolate.

Presented in a gold slide open box with the four chocolate goodies inside, this is a wonderful way to sample the festive flavours from Hotel Chocolat before you buy your chocolate Christmas presents, purely for research purposes, of course. It also makes an ideal Christmas gift as it can be one easy to wrap gift or four chocolate stocking fillers.

The Christmas Chocolate Discovery Box by Hotel Chocolat contains:

• Cinnamon Almonds Munchkins – Whole roasted almonds wrapped up in mellow milk chocolate and warming cinnamon.
• Cinnamon Crunch Slab 100g – Mini milk chocolate slab, featuring the “Best Dressed Snowman” and flavoured with cinnamon and caramel.
• Snowball Munchkins – A bag of white chocolate snowballs with crunchy cookies centres.
• Selector Six – A selection of six, caramel praline and gianduja, chocolates from the Christmas range.

£18.00, 440g of Christmas chocolates.

The traditional German Christmas cake is given a modern makeover with a chocolate twist as Montezuma’s Marzipan and Chocolate Christmas Stollen.

A wrapper Stollen is a Christmas cake that can be given as a Christmas gift in Germany, the moist bread-like fruitcake was originally meant to represent the baby Jesus wrapped in swaddling clothes.

Montezuma’s Christmas chocolate version or the Stollen is simply marzipan and chocolate. The very best almond marzipan is flattened out, covered in almond paste and rolled into a rather large marzipan log. This is then covered in smooth chocolate and drizzled with milk, white and dark chocolate for decoration.

Presented in a clear fronted box, in Montezuma’s Christmas 2009 colours, the Marzipan and Chocolate Christmas Stollen makes a wonderful gift, dinner party dessert or present for the marzipan connoisseur.

£15.95, 450g.

Labelled: Preservatives / Additive / Colouring Free and Vegetarian.

Hotel Chocolat’s “chocolate bars” are a little bit special; the chocolate is shaped into a rather chic chocolate slab rather than bars. Organically shaped solid chocolate slabs, the luxury chocolate bar.

The chocolate slabs come on three main types; giant slabs, mini slabs and The Purist range, but all quality chocolate in differing sizes and flavours.

There are four mini chocolate slabs in the 2009 Christmas chocolate collection from Hotel Chocolat:

Cinnamon Crunch Mini Chocolate Slab

A very cute mini chocolate slab featuring the “Best Dressed” snowman.

Melt in the mouth 40% milk chocolate with cinnamon spiced crispies for a warming Christmassy flavour and crunch. Pressed into the milk chocolate base is the caramel flavoured chocolate snowman. And it’s even decorated to look like its snowing!

£3.95, 100g.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Alcohol Free.

Orange Nice Spice Mini Chocolate Slabs

Slabs of 70% cocoa dark chocolate with a dash of chilli to warm you up in the cold winter months and zesty Valencia orange to lift the notes of the smooth dark chocolate, a gorgeous spicy combination.

Finished with a dramatic splash of, naturally coloured, orange chocolate.

£3.95, 100g.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Alcohol Free.

Marzipan Ingot Boxed Mini Chocolate Slab

Chirstmas simply would not be complete without the gorgeously traditional pleasure – authentic marzipan, brimming with almonds, enrobed in 40% cocoa milk chocolate.

A must have for the marzipan chocolate connoisseur.

£3.95, 100g.

Labelled: Vegetarian.

Nutty Noel Boxed Mini Chocolate Slab

Milk chocolate slab with crunchy whole roasted almonds, hazelnuts and pecans giving the chocolate a rather fetching marbled effect.

The chocolate in the Nutty Noel chocolate slab is a slightly stronger, 50% cocoa milk chocolate blend, which balances perfectly with the nuts.

£3.95, 100g.

Labelled: Vegetarian and Alcohol Free.

If you are stuck for Christmas present ideas, you can’t go too wrong with a chocolate slab from Hotel Chocolat, a huge chocolate bar that always impresses and makes a spectacular chocolate gift for any chocolate lover!

Very cute and very Christmassy, the background of the giant slab is milk chocolate, the 40% cocoa Hotel Chocolat house blend, which makes a smooth milk chocolate with just the right amount of cocoa for the chocolate hit. The “Best Dressed” snowman, a very popular chocolate shape in the Hotel Chocolat Christmas range, is made of creamy white chocolate and his scarf is also white chocolate but flavoured with winter berry.

The Hotel Chocolat chocolate slabs come in elegant bags with handles, so I personally don’t think they need to be wrapped, making a perfect Hotel Chocolat Christmas gift.

£12.50, 500g. A huge half kilo of delicious chocolate.

Organic chocolate moulded into a Christmas tree shape, decorated by hand, wrapped up and finished off with a ribbon – a perfect Christmas chocolate gift!

These gorgeous little hollow chocolate Christmas trees stand about seven inches tall and are available as milk chocolate, white chocolate or dark chocolate. With the dark chocolate option suitable for vegans.

As on of Montezuma’s most popular Christmas products last year, these will sell out fast.

£7.95, 150g.

Labelled: GM Free, Preservatives / Additive / Colouring Free, Vegetarian, Organic and Gluten Free.

Special Christmas edition, Hotel Chocolat – Cinnamon Hot Chocolate, flavoured chocolate flakes that melt deliciously into smooth and warming hot chocolate.

Slivers of rich dark chocolate with sweet hazelnut praline and warming cinnamon, just add warm milk and you have a beautiful hot chocolate drink with a wonderful aroma that fills the house and makes it feel just a bit more Christmassy.

The Cinnamon, Liquid Chocolat hot chocolate flakes ara a Chritsmas edition from Hotel Chocolat’s Liquid Chocolat range. A templting selection of easy to make drinking chocolate and gifts, that can be drunk hot or cold. I prefer them hot as I do with most types of drinking chocolate.

£7.50 for 275g of drinking chocolate flakes in a cute little bottle.

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.