My wife actually got these as a gift from someone, and promptly forgot about them…that’s where I swooped in (with her permission, of course). I knew these were from Dollar Tree, and I’m a huge fan of the name brand spherical truffles, so I was a little excited, but mostly nervous, to see what Dollar Tree could do with them.

The presentation is nice for a dollar store product, but not something that would be considered premium anywhere else: It’s in a cardboard container with a foldable top that can close back up, assuming you’re not like me and rip it first thing. The colors and design on the package are okay, maybe a step or two above similar products, but again, not really something that stands out all that much, with some rather muted, dark colors.My wife actually got these as a gift from someone, and promptly forgot about them…that’s where I swooped in (with her permission, of course). I knew these were from Dollar Tree, and I’m a huge fan of the name brand spherical truffles, so I was a little excited, but mostly nervous, to see what Dollar Tree could do with them.

Each truffle is individually wrapped in its own foil wrapper bearing the “Sherwood” name…because, as we all know, “Sherwood” stands for dignity, and class. All joking aside, it is an above-average presentation for a Dollar Tree product, which I guess has to count for something. There is one thing that pretty much outright ruins the visual experience: each truffle has what can only be described as a “belly button”; a large crater on the bottom of the truffle that seems to serve no purpose whatsoever. Is it to hold it up so you can set it down without it rolling away? I don’t know what the reasoning behind it is, but there’s just something about it that’s unsettling to me, and that almost completely ruins the attempt at “luxury”.

Okay…yeah, these do taste a little better than I thought they would, but it shouldn’t come as a surprise they are nowhere near the quality of the name brand. For starters, the filling in these seem to be even sweeter, with a sugary taste that partially overwhelms the taste of the milk chocolate.

The one area where I thought it would bomb – the texture – actually passes with flying colors: the outer milk chocolate shell is hard, but breaks easily at the first sign of teeth, as it should. The middle, although lacking a bit in the flavor department, at least nails the texture, with a smooth milk chocolate center that’s the perfect counter to the harder outer shell. It does seem to get slightly grainy towards the end of the bite – a sign of its cheapness, I’m sure – but it’s nothing too distracting.

It’s just a shame they couldn’t match the flavor characteristics, as well.

Overall: 5/10. These were initially better than I thought, and while I guess they still end up holding that “lofty” title, each bite gets less and less impressive. The texture is spot-on, but there’s a noticeable drop in the flavor department compared to other, more premium brands. You could certainly do far worse for a buck, but if you can spread your budget out just a little bit further, you’ll find much better options out there for just a little bit more, if you know where to look (and Aldi is a great place to start). Oh yeah, and the inexplicable “belly button” design does it no favors, either.