Chocri Chocolates

I love chocolate (as I'm sure I've mentioned before). I recently had the opportunity to try out some chocolate from a company that currently is in business in Germany, but in January is coming to the US. Chocri Chocolates was started by childhood friends back in 2008. Franz, one of the founders, was trying to find the perfect gift for his girlfriend's birthday. He decided he would decorate a chocolate bar with her favorite toppings. This first bar was white chocolate with gummy bears, dried nuts and fruit. From there, the business grew by word of mouth and soon this idea was launched as a business at chocri.de.

At Chocri, you can build your own chocolate treat. You choose the base - dark, milk or white chocolate and up to 5 inclusions/toppings for it. The topping list is diverse and amazing, with over 80 different toppings to choose. After customizing your bar, you even get to name it.

We created 3 candy bars, one using each base.

My candy bar was of course dark chocolate and included caramel, marshmallows and sea salt. Being very clever, I called my bar: Caramel Marshmallow
My husband used milk chocolate and topped his with strawberries, coconut, banana chips and banana shaped sprinkles. He named his Cocoa Nana Berry Bar.

My children went with white chocolate topped with banana chips, cashews, candy coated chocolate, strawberry flakes and sprinkles. They called their bar, Banana Sprinkled Strawberry Cashew Nut.

The candy bars were very good. Of course, the fact that we each got to choose our favorite type of chocolate and our favorite toppings, made the bars a real treat. It's not something you would likely do every day, but for a special occasion or a unique gift, a Chocri bar would definitely be a great option.

Chocri will officially launch in the U.S. on January 11 (perfect timing for Valentine's Day gifts!), but you can check it out a little before that. They will have an invitation-only launch on January 5. To get the invitation code, you only have to give your email address at www.createmychocolate.com (there's a box on the left). They will only send the password - no spam - so people can enter the website before the general public.

The chocolate in these customized bars is organic and fair-trade chocolate from Belgium. And Chocri donates part of their revenues to DIV Kinder, a charity organization that cares for the needs of homeless and orphaned children on the Ivory Coast. You can find more info at the Chocri blog about their contributions and support of charity.

What would you top your Chocri bar with?

I received no compensation for this post. I did have the opportunity to create three custom candy bars for my family to sample and enjoy.