The Festive Marshmallow

Ah the marshmallow. Used in so many confections, and so often, such a disappointment.

Kraft just can't stop, offering StawberryMallows for Valentine's Day:

They still have the choking warning on the bag, thank God. I almost killed myself with these.

These are pretty much the standard marshmallow with a vague hint of strawberry. ZZZZZZ

They might be okay in hot chocolate or a S'more for something different.

Of course, in my book, Just Born is the King of Marshmallow. And they've pulled all the stops out for Valentine's Day:

The chocolate mousse bears were new last year. They are really good - for marshmallow that is. Way better (and way cheaper) than those Williams- Sonoma marshmallows. and so cute!!! These are chocolate through and through as you can see in the pic below.

These are different - they are strawberry creme flavored:

And let me tell you, these have some SERIOUS strawberry flavor. they are WAY better than the Kraft marshmallows - they are really soft and, well surprisingly good. And you have to love the cute red hearts.

Both of these are just regular marshmallow flavor:

Like the I heart U - very creative! And look at the close uu - its sugar is glittery!!!

Very festive!!!

Here are the autopsy photos:

You can see the strawberry in the smaller red heart.

And there's the cocoa in the bear. Even if you hate Peeps, they are some of the most festive candies out there. And they are low in fat and calories!


This is a whipped creme cherry heart by Georgia Nut Company:

At least this one looks like a heart.. Georgia Nut is notorius for blobs. The cherry flavor is there but fairly subtle. These are soooo rich because of the creme filling, but because it's creme, it's better than marshmallow. I've said it before - it's like Fluff. For some reason I like these. You'll only want one - too rich, but for only 140 calories it tastes pretty darn good!

I can't explain it - it's good!


These surprised me and I have no explanation for it. I tried them at Christmas - they were red and green - and didn't like them:

These I liked! It makes no sense unless they have somehow changed the ingredients. Maybe the green in the crisped rice freaked me out. Maybe I am insane. I dunno. But these were pretty good. Are they the greatest thing ever? Oh hell, no! But if you want a Valentine's Day rice krispy treat - this is for you!

The marshmallow disappoints me more than it delights me, but as long as there are Peeps in the world, it will always make me smile. And I do believe the world would be a lesser place without the marshmallow. It doesn't have a lot of taste, but often marshmallow is the glue that holds the rest of the confection together.

Hey, everybody can't be chocolate.

This is my Brain on Marshmallow

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve! I was out dancing to a great rock band AND was wearing three inch heels. Hip replacement? What hip replacement?

Anyway, my Sorbet Sistah, Sassy and I were out till three last night and as a result, my brain is somewhat marshmallowey today. Thus our theme - holiday marshmallow.

I went by Crate and Barrel a couple of days ago and all their holiday candy is on sale - so you might want to check it out. I have several of their treats - let's start with their S'mores:

These are nothing to rave about. The marshmallow is not evenly distributed (as you can see in the picture) - it sits in a blob roughly in the middle. The chocolate is okay. Real s'mores are better. Hell, Goldfish S'mores (reviewed months back) are better. There are much better treats out there.

They also have these mini mighty marshmallows - and the tag line reads - "drenched in milk chocolate - perfect for dunking in hot chocolate or for eating right out of the bag."

,

These would probably kick butt in hot chocolate - what a great idea! And as far as chocolate covered marshmallows go, they are good. Exciting? Nope. I just can't get really excited about the chocolate covered marshmallow. Unless......




Do you see that? It's peanut butter!!! Let's just check these bad boys by Harry and David out. There are three kinds in the box - dark chocolate and marshmallow:

Eh. Okay.

Let's do milk chocolate caramel next:

Looks good!! I have some high hopes!! Okay, NOW we're talking. These have delicious and not skimpy caramel which makes them awesome! The only ones worth eating yet. Very, very good - awesome chewy caramel, good milk chocolate, and the marshmallow really works - outstanding!

And the one I've been waiting for (drum roll please).....milk chocolate and PEANUT BUTTER!

Hmmm......while these are not bad, I don't think the marshmallow brings anything to the peanut butter. In fact, I think it takes away. Booo!!! I hate marshmallow. Now I want a Reese's Tree.

Harry and David also has these caramel marshmallow bars billed as "fluffy clouds of yum, wrapped in caramel":

These remind me of Modjeskas (blogged about in another post) and I won't lie to you, these are pretty darn good. But I prefer the Modjeskas I had that were completely covered in caramel. If you like marshmallow, you will do back flips for these. If you don't, pass and just get some caramel. These are super sweet, but somewhat light due to the marshmallow. Wow.

Look at these crazy things I found in World Market:

These are made by Tunnock's, a Scottish company established in 1890. And they are god-awful. They are covered in coconut and are filled with that whipped marshmallow - kind of like Fluff - that stuff some people put on sandwiches. They are very rich, yet at the same time have very little taste. They have a thin layer of something that tastes vaguely like coco and holds the thing together. Awful in a weird fascinating way, like when you can't help but look at a car wreck.

And now I have marshmallow fluff on my keyboard. Great.

You all are very familiar with how much I despise Russell Stover. But I can't seem to walk away. (Sounds a little like my love life - I keep going back to the same guys thinking they are going to be different). Anyway let's move to the world of festive marshmallow shapes:


Well, at least it looks like a snowman, pretty amazing for RS, King of Blobs. But when I performed the autopsy, look at that:


Chocolate marshmallow! Any good? Well, better than white marshmallow, but still not really worth anything. Caramel still way better. Crate and Barrel Mini marshmallows have better chocolate. RS just never really makes the grade. I wonder how much longer they are going to be around.


Speaking of blobs, check out this "Santa" by Georgia Nut company:




Are you kidding me? What the hell is that?

The Christmas Blob is filled with something with the same consistency of marshmallow fluff, but they call it "whipped vanilla cream". It's sinful. It's totally sweet and if you bite into it, you will eat the whole thing, even if you don't want to. I can't explain it. It's good, but it's also so sickeningly sweet that after you eat it, you immediately want to eat green vegetables. It's over-the-top.

The next one is chocolate covered marshmallow Santa's made by Brach's:

This Santa is just plain weird. I don't know how they make it, but you can see that it's kind of detailed, but the chocolate coating is so thin the white shows through and the whole thing looks weird. The taste is not horrible, just boring. At least these are cheap. I am reminded that I still don't like marshmallow and again want a Reese's Tree.

Before we go, look at these chocolate covered cherry cordial flavored marshmallow reindeer treats by a company called Melster Candies:

Okay - these are actually reindeer, not reindeer treats. But, what the hell. Again the weird detail, the thin chocolate, and this time, pink marshmallow peeks through. If you like cherry, you may like these, but it was too much for me. Cheap marshmallow, cheap chocolate, and overpowering cherry. Well, at least we have a different shape and some wildly colored marshmallow.

The take away?

What a celebration of marshmallow creativity! We had different shapes, and coatings, and flavors and fillings. Are you this creative with how you view yourself? Are you someone with a bad hip or a dancing queen? Are you too old to do what you want? Too fat to wear that? Or are you someone who does what makes them happy, convention be damned? You get to decide who you are - only you and no one else. Who will you be this year?

Your life is as sweet as you decide to make it. Happy 2010 - make it your year.

Back to the Chocolate Pumpkin Patch 2009

Last year we had a face-off between Hershey's Marshmallow Pumpkin and Russell Stover's Marshmallow Pumpkin. Hershey crushed Russell Stover in my opinion. But there's a new kid in town this year. I found this contender hanging out in Cracker Barrel:

Made by the never heard of Chocolate House, aka the Georgia Nut Company http://www.georgianut.com/. The wrapper seems mysteriously similar to the Hershey wrapper:

The Hershey one is better, but both feature purple foil and giant orange pumpkins. Maybe just a coincidence, but in Chocolate CSI we know there are no coincidences.

Here they are naked:

Hershey is on the left, looking more like a pumpkin. Georgia Nut's version is a little flatter, but actually weighs a tiny bit less.

Autopsy:

Hershey has marshmallow, whereas Georgia Nut (GN) has marshmallow creme. It's like that Fluff stuff you can put on sandwiches - very sticky, kind of yucky. So sticky it gets all over your fingers, and lips, and elbows and maybe even on your eyelashes.

So they have two very different tastes. I prefer Hershey - it has a more chocolately flavor. In the GN version, the fluff overpowers the chocolate. But for only 120 calories (130 for GN), they are both pretty good Halloween treats. Not much calcium though - don't get your hopes up.

New to the patch this year is Palmer - remember the peanut butter pumpkin I reviewed a few posts ago? I admired its artistry. It had the ugliest wrapper I have ever seen, but the candy itself was very festive. Well, check these out:

The ugly wrapper tradition continues! But look inside:

So cute! Look at the green stem! That's no blob - look at those leaves - admire the detail!! We're talking Chocolate Michelangelo here! As far as taste? Well, this IS Palmer, but again, the chocolate cream filling saves it. These are actually pretty good. We're not talking artisan chocolate, but for 39 cents - it's a winner!

Bad wrapper:

But, look at this!

Look at that orange - yahoo! But as soon as you notice the orange, you are hit with an overpowering, sickly sweet orange creamsicle smell. And WOW these are sweet! Too sweet - unless you really like orange creamsicle - in which case you have just died and gone to heaven. For the rest of us - no. This is not a maybe, this is a no. But it's festive!!

Now after a feast like this, we need an after dinner mint:

These are solid - York Peppermint Pattie Pumpkins are just as you would expect. The dark chocolate is not the richest, best dark chocolate and the mint isn't creamy, but they're good. And so cute and little - about the size of a fifty cent piece. I like cute, little candy - you can tell yourself they have hardly any calories. A slice of fried pecan pie? Not so much.

I'm proud of the York people - they didn't have to bother to but a stem on the PPPs - and they didn't have to put that unholy orange color in there. They could just have put regular ol' peppermint patties in orange wrappers. But no - they made special ones for the holiday. Yay York!!

You never know who out there appreciates what you do. You may have been kind to someone just in passing, but it made their day. You might have helped a customer and not thought twice about it, but it meant the world to them. Heck, right now someone could be blogging about you - making you the unsung hero of the candy world. I bet the York workers have no idea how cool I think their efforts are and how it makes my Halloween! Realize that what you do doesn't go unappreciated. You impact many more people than you know. Never doubt that you make a difference - what you do matters to more people than you will ever know.

And Russell Stover, I'm watching you.