Chocolate Jackpot

Today, I hit the chocolate lottery. Walking down the holiday candy aisle at the drug store I stumbled across an old favorite of mine: Chocolate Stars. I let out a sigh and lamented that "those definitely aren't vegan." Laying next to the so-not-vegan milk chocolate stars was something new to me: Dark Chocolate Stars.

Like most commercial dark chocolate candies I assumed that it would also include some form of dairy, but just for kicks I picked the bag up to check out the ingredients:

I don't know if you can read that, but they are totally vegan! Also, surprisingly, very minimal in ingredients. I haven't ripped them open to try yet, so I hope they don't let me down.

At Big Lots I found these:

They are by Valor and Barton's. Nothing special, I know, but I tend to buy boring chocolates, plain with not a lot going on.

My name is Lauren...and I am a choco-holic.

So it seems lately that I have begun collecting chocolate bars. I have heard about so many fabulous brands that I cannot find around here, so when I see one I have to buy it...in triplicate. No, it's not that bad. Yet. Yesterday I called in sick to work. I mean "sick." I did a little Christmas shopping with my free time. I drove 30 miles to the closet city to this mudpuddle and went to Target. Oh, the chocolate. Oh, the variety. First off:

Chocolove. I haven't tried it yet, as I am afraid I will combust with delight. There were so many more flavors to chose from, but this one called to me. My love of ginger in all forms brought me to the decision to buy this one. I will not be disappointed. I promise.

I am pretty sure that Ritter Sport bars are my new favs. I had two, but one didn't make it home. It barely made it to the car. It was the Marzipan bar, and everything that dreams are made of. I loved how smooth that the dark chocolate was, as I have always had a hard time adapting to dark chocolates. I would normally eat dark chocolate in moderation because too much makes me ill, but the Marzipan bar was gone in a flash - very much like a dream. Sigh. Above is the extra dark bar that I have yet to devour.

The Endangered Species bar. I have had my fair share of these, but had to grab some of these since they were on sale. This is the smooth organic dark chocolate, but my heart lies with the Dark Chocolate with Deep Forest Mint.

I also got some new cooling racks. My old ones weren't getting the job done since they don't hold much. So now I have these:

The Wilton website has a much better photo. They're stackable, obvs. Also non-stick.

Another shot, for good measure.