Cuckoo for Coconut

Ah - summertime! I hope everyone had a great 4th! The weather here was downright amazing for this time of year - temps in the 80s! Unheard of!  I really thought I was in the islands, mon.

I found these crazy things in T.J. Maxx.  You know, I had no idea TJ Maxx carried such a strange array of gourmet treats.  They have candy, chocolate, cookies - but in random weird quantities and, depending on the store, in kind of beat-up condition.  TJ Maxx stores seem to range from okay to kinda ghetto. 

Anyway, these are butter pecan and toasted coconut Jordan Almonds from Maggie Lyon Chocolatiers:
http://www.maggielyon.com/index.html?cart=12755409484409486

Maggie Lyon is a company in Atlanta, Georgia, and if the rest of their candy is as good as these, we should plan a road trip.  Seriously.  These are not rock hard like a lot of Jordan Almonds and have a really meaty almond center.  And the coconut and butter pecan flavors are good - subtle, not overpowering.  A perfect addition to the almond.  VERY well done - I LOVE these!!

Of course, if we're gonna talk coconut we have to cover the classics:

Now, I actually prefer the Almond Joy to the Almond Joy Egg.  And it's the same reason I prefer the Reese's Egg to the Reese's Cup.  I just love peanut butter WAY more than coconut.

As you can see, the Almond Joy egg has only one almond and more coconut than the standard Almond Joy bar.  I prefer two almonds and less coconut (more chocolate).  The Reese's Egg has a higher peanut butter to chocolate ration than the Cup and I like that!  Peanut butter is way better than coconut in my book.  But again, it's all a matter of taste.

This is the Bounty Bar made by Mars in the UK.  I got this one at World Market.

It's okay.  I found the coconut a little dry.  And no almonds.  I really like the coconut almond combo.

Another classic - Kris - I know you love these!!

Me?  Not so much.  I like milk chocolate better in this case - don't know why.  Like the dark chocolate better with the Godiva Truffles.  I have no explanation.  Maybe it's the almonds.  Maybe it's childhood memories.  Maybe I'm insane.  Another chocolate mystery.

Anastasia Confectioners in Florida specializes in coconut.  They have some crazy flavor combinations - some of which I've reviewed before.  Here's Key Lime:

Regular coconut:

And those two naked with almond at the far right:

I'm not a big key lime person (heresy to some, I know) but in the world of candy, lime just doesn't fall anywhere near the top for me.  But, as I've said before, if you like it, that's all that matters for you.  You can have all my Key Lime pie, cookies and candy from here on out.  Unless that's all there is, then we'll have to negotiate.

My favorite is the regular old coconut.  And you know what, if you are a die-hard coconut fan - this is the "bar" for you.  It is all about the coconut - serious chunks of coconut with chocolate only as an accent.  Kris - you have got to try these - I think you'd LOVE them!  The back of the "slice" is coated in chocolate as well.

Almond is actually pretty good.  The flavor is less overpowering than the lime and the mango and works great with the coconut (IMHO anyway).  In fact, it's pretty hard to choose between this and the plain coconut.  I just love that almond coconut combo!!

I recently found a box of the mango and I didn't like these:

The mango just tastes kind of funky.  I'd much rather have just plain coconut.

Are you enjoying our island excursion?  We have more coconut to come!!! 

Tips for having a great life:

Just remember - what you like best is the best for you.  Your opinion is the most important for you.

Try a lot of different things - the thing you thought was the best might not be that great at all!

Try it even if you think you won't like it - sometimes you will be wrong.  (I find I'm wrong all the time.)

Stay open to new flavors, new experiences, new people - the best is yet to come!

More Eggstravaganza!! Cuckco for Coconut

I have to tell you, I still don't know how or why coconut became an Easter/Spring flavor. If anybody has any ideas, please let me know. I mean, why not banana? Or orange? Or the dreaded and horrifying lavender? But, hey, I'm rolling with it. (The White House doesn't have the only Egg Roll in town.)


The first coconut offering is from Lake Champlain Chocolates (LCC). This egg is dark chocolate with their awesome logo on it:







I hate to say this, because I love LCC, but this coconut is a joke. It's a great dark chocolate egg, but the chocolate completely overwhelms this "coconut" filling. I say "coconut" because it didn't really taste like anything other than dark chocolate.





I have another bone to pick with LCC. This egg was part of an assortment:





The assortment has six flavors - gorgeous colors - very pretty. But when I took them all out and counted them, it had:



9 java - boo!

9 peanut butter - yea!

5 hazelnut

4 coconut

2 raspberry

1 caramel



Call me crazy, but I expected a more even mix. I only got 1 caramel (which I LOVE) and 9 java (which I hate). Not happy. I think we need to redraw the egg districts.



You know how I feel about Russell Stover. I bought their crummy candy at Halloween and again at Christmas and then decided No Mas! Compared to all the other chocolate makers, I just found their stuff inferior. But they had some great egg flavors I hadn't tried, so I decided to give them yet another chance.






They don't look bad - hell, even Russell Stover can make an egg shape. (Santas are WAY out of their league, but they can handle the egg). I like the nest - it's cute and using the jelly beans actually took some creativity! Go RS, it's your holiday!


The nest is really good, it is basically the Christmas Wreath I loved with three jelly beans on it. Nice and coconutty, moist - the only RS candy I really, really like.

The egg, however, is disappointing. It's the only egg that says it's a coconut CREAM egg, so maybe that explains why it's a little more gooey than all the others:

I think the "cream" might be marshmallow. This tasted sweet and not very coconutty. I didn't like it. If you like coconut, get the nest, forget the egg. (Boy, if only more people took that advice......)

You can't talk about coconut without talking about:

I was REALLY looking forward to eating this egg. I always liked Almond Joys, but I haven't had one in forever. Now get this - it has a weird taste. The only way I can describe it is like a cooking odor got into it. I know, gross, right? But that was what it was like. I opened another sealed one, tried it too - same thing. I don't know if I got a bad batch or what, but these were seriously disappointing.

The final coconut egg is from See's Easter candy - it's the giant one at the bottom:

See's has an Eggsortment (my make up word - you know I work fast and loose with the English language) containing peanut butter, coconut, and two flavors we'll review next. I like the sheer size of these eggs. Yay See's!

See's coconut egg is much better than Stover's, but it's very sweet. I like more a coconut taste. But of the eggs, See's was the best. And the biggest! WooHoo!

LCC has to get an honorable mention (even though I am still bitter about the assortment) for the deliciousness of their chocolate. It was definitely the best of the bunch. (or the dozen - eggs don't really come in a bunch, coconuts do........).

Now this isn't an egg, this is a bar made by Mars but not available everywhere. I got this one at World Market. It looks a lot like an Almond Joy (sans Almonds):

This bar ROCKS! It was the best of all the entries - at least as far as coconut goes. Nice chewy chunks of coconut - yum! Looks just like the Almond Joy egg when autopsied, so no real info there. If you're looking for a good coconut bar, this is the one for you. Happy Easter, My Little Coconut!