Check in to Hotel Chocolat: Soho London

I didn't even want to go in here. I know that sounds like a lie, but I was truly looking for other things at the time and did not want to get absorbed in endless shelves of chocolate.  But I'm a team player.
And when the fiance asked if we could go in I resisted and then gave in; mostly because he was already in the store eating a sample.  And I can't turn down a sample.  Something about the words "free" and "chocolate" together ringing in my brain render me pretty much unable to focus on anything until said chocolate has been acquired. Before fiance finished chewing he grabbed a package of the chocolate and started reaching for his wallet.  

The swag.

 So I asked the lady who gave us the sample what she would recommend that contained my favorite pairing with chocolate: toffee.  What she recommended coincidentally contained another favorite ingredient of mine:

Toffee Vodka: Toffee vodka ganache in a milk chocolate shell decorated with caramel chocolate.

We dig it.  Its not as sweet as I normally expect toffee and chocolate to be, but I that's the appeal for some people. You definitely taste the vodka.  My fiance enjoyed it a lot more than I; but he still held firmly onto the original package he purchased, the one with which he sampled in the store and devoured (we'll call it 2 pieces for modesty):

Christmas Mess:
Cranberry and cinnamon mousse in a white chocolate shell, decorated with meringue and cranberry pieces. 

Apparently this is a holiday version of Hotel Chocolat's Eton Mess which is high-cocoa white chocolate with strawberry mousse and crisp meringue.  Wikipedia describes Eton Mess as a cream dessert including a summer fruit like banana or strawberry served at Eton College's annual cricket game. Very english. For me the meringue is what makes it.  The light and airy crispness of it is just perfect with soft white chocolate.  I plan to make a fudge inspired by these flavors for Christmas and I'll post about it when I do.

Until then:

Boom.