Isala Amaretti

This summer, a scientist from the Italian branch of my company came to work at our lab for a couple weeks. Before she left, she shared some treats from Italy. Our lab interns warned me that they tasted weird, but I was undeterred; I thought the Amaretti macaroons looked delicious!

Almond can be an intense flavor, and I think that might have been what scared off some of my coworkers. My dad (who works in the same office) sampled the cookies before me and described them as fragrant. For the record, he enjoyed them.


The Amaretti smelled strongly of almond extract, heavy with woodsy, cherry-like notes. I was surprised that the cookie was very soft and had a sugar-like crunch. It chewed from a light and fragrant fluffy nut paste to a slightly bitter but very sweet finish. I got a strong sensation of amaretto, but there was no alcohol taste.

The Amaretti was moist with a gritty, soft crunch - not at all doughy. The delicate texture reminded me of French macarons, although the Italian Amaretti were much denser and had a much stronger flavor. I enjoyed the heavy aromatic almond sensation, but those less keen on almonds or amaretto would do well to avoid these.

B+

Ferrero Gran Soleil Caffe Cappuccino

The laboratory for which I work has close ties with our facilities in Italy, and people from my office are constantly traveling there for business. I haven’t gotten this opportunity yet, but at least when people from my department go to Italy, they often bring back sweets for my blog.



Gran Soleil is an interesting, ice cream-like treat my boss found in the check-out lane at an Italian supermarket. It comes in other flavors, but this one is Coffee Cappuccino. My boss doesn’t speak much Italian (nor do I), so neither of us knew what it was, but we gathered that it had to be frozen. My stepmother-in-law, who speaks some Italian (thanks to several lengthy assignments there), was able to gather from the instructions that I needed to freeze the package overnight. It was a snacking experience unlike any I’ve had.





Before freezing, the Gran Soleil sounded like gel when I shook it. It solidified after freezing, and since there were two packets, my husband and I each had one. The frozen paste didn’t really look like the picture, but it was still somewhat ice cream-like. It was quite sticky and had an intense coffee scent.



Gran Soleil must have contained a fair amount of water, because there were plenty of ice crystals. True to its scent, the coffee flavor was strong. This was a good thing, though, because the mixture was syrupy and sweet, even a little cloying. Still, the experience of freezing the package myself was fun and new. I think I’d like to try other flavors, though.



B



Gran Soleil website

Ferrero Mon Cheri and Pocket Coffee

My dad's job has always given him chances to travel internationally at least once or twice a year, and even though I've moved out and grown up (somewhat), he still brings souvenirs for his kids. On a recent trip to Italy, he bought these two Ferrero candies and divided the boxes among the family.

Neither of these candies were quite what I expected. The Mon Cheri seemed like they would be a generic chocolate covered cherry, and I assumed the Pocket Coffee would be solid coffee flavored chocolate. I was completely wrong on both accounts.


The Mon Cheri smelled like a cherry chocolate, but when I bit into it, some of the strongest liquor I've ever tasted in a candy came pouring out. It actually burned a little going down. There was also a candied cherry inside for texture, but the flavor was dominated by chocolate and liquor. It was delicious, but packed quite a punch. I'm not a huge chocolate/cherry fan, but this was unlike any other liquor or cherry candies I've tried, so I was very impressed. My husband, who loves chocolate covered cherries, liked these even more than I did.


Pocket Coffee was another surprise. It smelled strongly of coffee, and it was a little hard to smell the chocolate. There was a crispy, grainy layer just below the chocolate, and a little online research told me that it was a layer of sugar. It made for an interesting and tasty texture mixture. Oh, did I mention that there is actual strong liquid coffee in this? The chocolate and sugar adds an excellent balance to the bitterness of the coffee. This is not a good bedtime snack, but I'd recommend it to any coffee or espresso fan.

A

Candyblog and Slashfood have both reviewed Pocket Coffee, and Jim's Chocolate Mission has a review of Mon Cheri.

Ferrero website