Saturday, December 13, 2008

Christmas Chocolate

How did Christmas get so close?? I have much candy to review and it's almost here! I love holiday candy, hell, I love ALL candy, but around the holidays new and different stuff comes out. Yay!

Let's start with one of my favorites - Hershey's Kisses. They have these two Christmas flavors:

Hot Cocoa looks just like a regular Kiss, maybe a little lighter in color, but it is VERY creamy. It does claim to be filled with hot cocoa creme. Good, but addictive. Do NOT sit a bowl of these on your desk - you might eat them all! But don't let these get away - try them!



Oh yeah, baby!! These look festive - and there are little red candy canes on the foil wrappers. They are great! Sweet, and I love the little peppermint chunks in them. These are a stocking must and would be VERY festive on baked goods or in desserts. Go Hershey!

Hershey also some some back wrapped Kisses in a pouch labeled Naughty and silver ones in a pouch labeled Nice. Brilliant marketing!!!!

Sugar Babies has an entry, and even though they are not chocolate I wanted to check them out:


Now it's been a long, long time since I've eaten a Sugar Baby, but I remember them fondly. These, however, are not good. They are really hard - like really stale Sugar Babies. Maybe the coloring didn't work so well? What a bummer - I was really looking forward to these. Also the green on the package looks great! The green on the candy is a pastel green. Not festive. Festive for Easter maybe, but not Christmas. Oh well, maybe they'll be better next year. Go with the regular ones for the stocking!

I've seen these around the holidays for years and always wanted to try one. I couldn't really get what it was:


I mean are these chocolate covered orange slices? Is there a real orange in there? What IS it?When you open the box, this is what you see:

I whacked it with a stapler, but it didn't really do much:


So I whacked it again and pulled the pieces apart:



They do come apart just like orange slices. If you like orange and chocolate, this is for you! It's milk chocolate and orange oil and it definitely delivers on the orange. It started as a big hit in the UK, now it's sold all over the world and is manufactured by Kraft. Get this - according to Wikipedia, "Its history dates back to the 1920s, when the so-called "Chocolate Apple" was first produced. The orange was launched in the 1930s and was much more popular than the apple, leading to the apple's phasing out in 1954.[1]" I can't image the apple tasting very good, although a REAL apple covered with or dipped in chocolate is fabulous. This is VERY fun for a stocking! Definitely more fun than a regular ol' orange.

Whoppers has a holiday entry - Whoppers Sno-Balls:





These are like regular Whoppers, but they have a candy coating. I liked them. The box is cute, they are addictive. Now, don't get me wrong - Whoppers can not compete with Chocolat Moderne's caramels. But as a fun Christmas candy - they are okay. (I like Reese's Whoppers the best, then the regular ones because they have more chocolate, but I swear I can't stop eating these!) The box is small - grab one!

The last candy is something that looked interactive:


I thought that maybe you were supposed to somehow decorate the star with the "snowballs"? I don't know - it seemed like they were supposed to go together. So I opened the package:

Um...I don't get it. The little "snowballs" really taste terrible. The dark chocolate star isn't bad, but it's not too good either. It's hollow and I'm not a big lover of hollow chocolate shapes. I like solid chocolate. Maybe you're supposed to split the star open and then load the snowballs in and eat that. Or just look at it. Maybe it's a decoration. I don't know, I really don't get it. There's also a Christmas tree. Don't buy these. They are weird. I'm scared of them.

I love the season - from the wonderful to the weird - how fun are all of these? How lucky are we that confectioners are working to develop new ideas and new treats for us? Yahoo!! Make sure you have some fun this season and try one or two new holiday candies. We'll be trying more here!!! On Donner, On Blitzen!

1 comment:

About Me said...

Thanks for opening that orange. I've always looked at those things in the store and wondered what they were like, and NOW I KNOW.