Finding The Best Chocolate Hearts: Our Tests & Tips . . . And A Recipe!

Let’s talk chocolate hearts.

Sure, we test all sorts of things here for our articles. And when it comes to chocolate, we can be rather picky!

Chocolate hearts are a popular gift and like most chocolate, you can choose between different types: dark, milk and white chocolate. (Yes, we know—white chocolate doesn’t contain cocoa solids . . . but for this article, we’ll include white chocolate for its overall popularity).

Milk chocolate is probably the best popular type of chocolate hearts.

For our research into the best chocolate hearts, we always do blind-taste tests. Why? Well, that way we aren’t influenced by fancy packaging or well-known brand names. That keeps it fair—and sometimes we are surprised that smaller brands can outshine the big chocolate names.

Before we get to the winners, here is a cookie recipe that uses chocolate hearts, which are popular for thumbprint-style cookies!

Recipe: Chocolate Amaretti Cookies

Best Chocolate Hearts Dove-Recipe-Dark-Chocolate-Amaretti-Cookies

 

MAKES: 6 servings

INGREDIENTS

  • 6 DOVE chocolate hearts, plus 6 to garnish 1 egg white
  • 1/3 cup sugar
  • 1⁄4 tsp almond extract
  • 1 cup almond flour

INSTRUCTIONS

  1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F.
  2. Finely grate six DOVE chocolate heart candies.
  3. In a large bowl, use an electric whisk to blend the egg white and sugar until fluffy, adding the almond extract partway through.
  4. Gently mix in the almond flour, then gently fold in the grated chocolate.
  5. Roll the mixture into small balls, and place on a baking tray with plenty of space around them.
  6. Bake for 18-20 minutes.
  7. As a finishing touch, place a DOVE chocolate heart in the center of each cookie.

Recipe and photo credit: Dove Chocolates

About the Authors

Denise & Alan Fields are consumer advocates and best-selling authors. The Fields have authored 12 books with three million copies in print, including the best-selling guide to baby gear, Baby Bargains.

The Fields have been featured and quoted in the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Los Angeles Times.

As consumer products experts, the Fields have been guests on the NBC Today Show, Good Morning America and ABC’s 20/20.

How We Pick Products To Recommend

We often turn to our readers (3 million strong!) to find products to recommend. We ask our parent readers for their favorites and consider their real-world experiences in our recommendations.

When we test a product, we always purchase it with our own monies. We do not take free samples, as we believe that compromises our independence.

We also fact check manufacturer information with our own measurements. If a maker claims a product weighs X pounds, we will weigh it to make sure. If the battery life is supposed to be six hours, we will see how it stands up in the real world.

In some cases, we will do interviews with experts in the field to get additional feedback on products.

To get hands-on time with products, we regularly meet one-on-one with gear companies and even tour manufacturing facilities. (When we do this, we pay our own travel expenses).

Why Trust Us

We’ve been rating and reviewing products for the home and families since 1994. We do extensive research, evaluating products with an eye toward quality, ease of use and affordability.

We make our living from affiliate commissions, but we always recommend what we think are the best bets for our readers (not the ones that are the most expensive). We are always looking for products that offer the best bang for the buck.

Our independence is a key reason why we have been doing this so long. As we mentioned above, when we purchase a product for hands-on testing, we do so with our own money.

Here’s another key point: we don’t take money from the brands we review. No free samples, no sponsors, no “partnerships.” Our work is 100% reader-supported!