Family fun with a tasty bit of cashback (John Adams Chocolate Coin Maker)

Member Name: kayo

Product:	John Adams Chocolate Coin Maker
Date:	22/05/09 (29 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Fun to do with good results overall.

Disadvantages: Chocolate melting takes a while.

This toy enables you to melt, wrap and stamp your own chocolate coins or medals. It is aimed at children aged 6+

My 8 year old daughter saw this product advertised on television and kept asking for it. I resisted for a while since I imagined that it would be another one of those fancy, over-marketed toys that would only get used once. Eventually I bought it for her and I have to say I have been pleasantly surprised. I paid £14.99 for it from the local Toymaster shop, but it is possible to pay a bit less if you order online. Refill packs of wrapping foil, chocolate and net bags cost around £5.99 but you can easily substitute ordinary kitchen foil and a bag of chocolate buttons from the supermarket for a fraction of the price.

The packaging is a colourful and sturdy box, which is quite robust and good for storing the toy when not in use. The age range is clearly marked on the front, as is the fact that there is "chocolate included". On the reverse are instructions to make your coins, and a list of contents. The box should contain the following: the main "factory" unit (for cutting foil, wrapping and stamping); melting unit; net bags and foil; rings, tops and bases for shaping and handling the coins; spatula; chocolate; instruction manual and design discs. Check carefully though - mine did not have the gold foil inside so I had to pay another visit to the shop to get the problem sorted.

The design discs include a choice of various stars, flowers and swirly shapes, "I Love You", snowman, present, football, "Champion", "Good Luck", skull and crossbones, smiley face, sunshine, "Happy Birthday", "Happy Christmas", "Best Dad", "Best Mum" and "Congratulations". There is also a partly blank one for you to add your own design.

To make your coins, you fill the melting unit (a small square plastic bottle) with hot water. The plastic base and moulding ring then fit onto the top. The instructions then advise you to add 13 chocolate chips gradually and stir them round until they melt due to the heat of the water from the container underneath. Now I have to say that whilst this is a safe method, it is also very slow and laborious. This is not made any easier by the fact that the water cools down as you go, making it take even longer. In the end we found it much quicker and easier to dispense with adding the water to the melting unit, just assemble the base and moulding rings and then melt the chocolate in the microwave for about 40 seconds. Obviously the manufacturer wouldn't advise this, and it needs adult supervision, but as long as you are sensible it works fine. The one thing you need to be aware of if you use the microwave, is that the chocolate coin will take longer to set than the instructions state.

Whilst the chocolate is setting you can cut the foil - easy and safe to do using the covered cutter in the factory unit - and choose your stamp design.
After the coin has set (15 minutes in freezer 40 minutes in fridge - longer if you used the microwave to heat the chocolate) you remove the top and bottom of the mould but keep the ring on, to transfer the chocolate disc into the wrapping unit. The foil is then wrapped separately around the top then the bottom of the chocolate disc by depressing the big button on the top of the unit. Sometimes this does not work that well and the disc gets stuck on the underside of the unit, however it does not cause too much of a problem as you can ease it off again with a flat knife and it does not affect the end result.

Once you are ready to stamp, it is a simple matter of sandwiching the coin between the two design discs in the little tray, then turning the handle to imprint the design. The instructions say that in order to successfully stamp the coin, the chocolate needs to be freshly set, not left in the fridge overnight, but I find this not to be the case. On several occasions we have left coins overnight and stamped them successfully the next day. Once you have finished with it, the main factory unit it wipes clean easily. Removable parts can be hand washed.

Conclusion

And the end result? Not bad at all! Not as pristine as commercially made coins, but perfectly acceptable and my 8 year old is very pleased with her results. We have used the Golden Coin Maker on many occasions, so I am happy that it wasn't a "one play wonder". Family members have enjoyed receiving personalised chocolate coins as a fun, novelty gift. I personally don't like the chocolate that is supplied with the unit as the taste is a bit greasy, but you can use any other kind of chocolate - 6g makes one coin.

Summary: A couple of minor drawbacks, but otherwise a great toy that does what it is supposed to do.