I was given a lovely gift box of these Kras Bajadera chocolates from Croatia. You can clearly see the almond and hazelnut on the package, but I had no idea what might be in these at first. On the back of the box they are described (in 11 languages, no less) as a “Hazelnut Almond Nougat product”. How insightful, I thought to myself before popping one into my mouth.
I have never tasted a chocolate like this one before and I don’t think that the word “nougat” would even have crossed my mind. It is a very firm candy, with top and bottom layers of very creamy milk chocolate. The interior portion is smooth but not soft and lightly flavored of almond and hazelnut.
On the Kras website, it describes them thusly:
Bajadera is a dessert of the highest quality, combining central European confectionery artistry and luxurious oriental flavor. Bajadera is a queen among desserts, with the distinctive flavor of fine nougat enriched with almonds. For generations of customers, Bajadera has been the symbol of the ultimate dessert. We are proud to say that Bajadera was the first sweet confection to receive the designation “Original Croatian†from the Croatian Chamber of Commerce. Its uniqueness is also recognized by numerous customers in many countries.
I also discovered that the Bajadera won the Monde Selection Gold Medal in 1998 as well as having recieved numerous quality awards before that.
Kras also produces many other candies, among them a brand called Dorina Chocolate, which may be more widely available.
So far, I have only found one business that carries Kras products. I plan on ordering the Dorina Chocolate Ice , which I hope is mint and not royal icing, the Runolist “Dorina” Milk Chocolate and the Dorina Super Milk . Rather amusingly, there is also a candy bar called “My first Chocolate” (or something similar) that appears to have a milk filling. They also carry Bosnian Filo dough, which I wanted to order in the interest of having something to post about despite my doubts as to how that will hold up during shipping, but are sold out at the moment. We’ll see how everything is (hopefully) soon.
Alicat
December 14, 2004I’ve always been a bit dubious of foreign candies and chocolates…I hope the phyllo (filo?) dough works for ya if you end up ordering it.
Oh P.S.! Thanks for voting! I’m really hoping Domestic Goddess wins personally! 😛
Nic
December 14, 2004I’m wary of many alien food items, but the ones I tried were so good I wanted to give their other products a shot. And when you’re already ordering something, you may as well toss in one of the weirder items, too!
Anonymous
January 16, 2006Sorry, you both feel that way, there are several very wonderful varieties of chocolate from Europe and even those who do not normally care for chocolate, fall for these. They are not available at every candy store here. The worse part is, we only know how good they are when we taste them.
probably they do not advertise like we do.
Mikado
January 25, 2006Being Croatian, I grew up on Bajadera, which is heavenly (much better than, say, Toffifee — although I like those, too). But Bajadera is just the ultimate treat for me, and everyone here *loves* it. I also like Griotte, a chocolate bonbon with a cherry inside, also made by Kras. But my favourite chocolate at the moment? Mikado, hands down. Not too sweet, just enough rice-y, crunchy enough… Mmmm.
(I linked to the site that I Googled, if you want to see it. Tastes much better than it looks, though!)
Anonymous
April 7, 2006I am always up for trying something new. I love chocolate. My Croatian boyfriend introduced me to the Dorina Milk Chocolate candy bars. They are the BEST!!!
Nougat USA
June 27, 2006Humm… that sounds intresting, I’ve never heard of that before. I think I’ll have to give it a try and perhaps carry it one day! 😉
Nougat
whitebambus
November 14, 2006Croatian chocolate is the best! When my dad went there on a business trip i asked him to bring me back some chocolate…i’m eating it right now actually!