These chocolate brownies really ought to come with a warning on them. They are slightly addictive. I bake regularly and I can rustle up a pretty good brownie myself. But inside this little box lies pure decadence. I reviewed Bluebasil Brownies once before and in fact, it came to be one of my popular posts and giveaways. This time, my parcel had a festive feel, containing Bluebasil’s Christmas concoctions. Since trying them for myself the first time, I’ve sent many packages of these brownies as gifts, to friends and family. They are always met with sheer delight and they are always welcome on my doormat, too.
Bluebasil Gourmet Brownies are delivered throughout the UK every working day. The company is run by Nikki Taylor and the brownies are hand-baked in a professional kitchen on a farm in the Cotswolds. I want to go there!
Bluebasil use local, organic eggs, organic flour and butter from the Upper Norton Jersey Cream Company. The chocolate used is of excellent quality too, with a minimum of 70% cocoa solids. They also use Divine chocolate as the chocolate chunks in some of their flavours. The order process is very simple, you can phone up, or place an order online, chosing either 9, 12 or 16 pieces in a gift box. The best part of the process is chosing your flavours; the Classic Chocolate Chunk is the first one I always go for along with two or three others, such as Chocwork Orange, Banoffi or Hazlenut.
From 30th November 2012, Bluebasil are launching a selection of special edition Christmas flavours and they really are too good to miss.
The Dark Orange and Ginger, for me, was a clear winner. I savoured every little bite. Imagine sinking your teeth into a slab of the finest quality chocolate truffle you’ve ever eaten; rich and so smooth that they melt in your mouth. There were lots of layers of flavour going on in my perfectly formed square of delight. Alongside the organic eggs, flour and Jersey butter, Bluebasil have incorporated dark chocolate and ginger chocolate, along with natural ginger flavour, notes of Fairtrade vanilla, orange blossom water and a further pinch of ground ginger.
Rudolph’s Rumnut came a close second, with big chunks of Brasil nuts, raisins, dark rum and mixed spice. All the flavours you would want for Christmas. Eaten slowly whilst sipping a dark rum flavoured liqueuer coffee at home, it was a moment of pure pre-Christmas bliss.
The third Christmas flavour was Coffee and Irish Cream, again, very moreish, with Irish cream, extra cream, alcohol and coffee. These were my friend Monika’s favourite flavour. Yes, I did share them.
Luckily, arriving home after a busy day at school, the children got to nibble on the fourth flavour in my box, the Classic Chunky Chocolate, with a nice sip of organic whole milk to go with them. There were quite a lot of happy people around on that day!
I wouldn’t hesitate in recommending these brownies as a treat to send to a friend or a loved one, to cheer them up, to let them know you are thinking about them from afar. My poor friend Laura had a car accident over the summer, so I sent her a package of these and they temporarily made her feel better. I definitely think they helped with the shock. I’ve also sent them as a birthday gift to a friend in Devon and as a thank you gift to a lady in Surrey. You can personalise your message card, too. There are also gluten free alternatives in some flavours and every package comes with a full list of ingredients.
So, now I’ve got my fix, I’m very happy to be able offer one of my readers the chance to win a box of 9 chocolate brownies – to include the new range of special edition Christmas flavours. There will be a fight for these – be lucky!
With many thanks to Nikki and Laura for asking me to review the Christmas flavours and for organising a second box as a prize. The opinions expressed in this post are entirely my own, based on the very happy sampling, and in addition, my own experience of buying Bluebasil Brownies.
