Halloween and Peanut Butter - Yay!!

I love peanut butter.  I love Halloween.  I was so excited when the Halloween candy starting hitting the shelves.  I kept going back to all my favorite candy haunts (heh, heh, heh - get it, haunts?) looking for the new, the exciting, the different.  And was so disappointed this year.

Sure there were the usual miniature candy bars, but that's the same every year.  We need new, exciting candy - simple pleasures to take our minds off foreclosure rates and unemployment figures.

At least Nestle made a Butterfinger pumpkin:

I like the design - a bit creepy and a bit friendly all at once.  Pretty impressive.

This guy is chocolate with Butterfinger pieces mixed in.  It's okay.  I prefer the mini Butterfingers taste.  Nestle's chocolate isn't as good as their Butterfinger filling.  I'd really like this if it were all Butterfinger filling.  I don't think it would hold together very well, but damn, it would be good!  And it would be orange.  Nestle candy makers - read my blog and make us a Butterfinger (no chocolate) pumpkin!  Crunchy!  Peanut buttery!  Yum!

This is new fall packing for the Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkins.  I'm still bitter they didn't make the mini ones this year.  But I still think these are the best peanut butter treats on the market.  They still have the old Halloween themed purple packaging from last year (you can see it in last year's post if you really care that much).  Maybe this is so they can keep the Reese's pumpkins on the shelf a little longer - making them a fall treat?  These could stay out through Thanksgiving.

I think we should be giving thanks for these all year long!

This is the only Russell Stover candy I bought this year.  I didn't see anything else new and I hate Russell Stover anyway.  I think they own Whitman's so the marshmallow candy corn was one of theirs too.  I did like it.  But I still hate Russell Stover.  Not as much as the Naked Cowboy, but close.

I was intrigued by this because the wrapper says it's solid peanut butter and it's flat as a pancake.  I wanted to see what it was:

Reese's next to Russell Stover:

My soul mate:

You have got to be kidding!  Why even bother with this? 

No creaminess, the peanut butter taste is too sugary and fake.  It's just a travesty.  Gross.  See why I hate Russell Stover?

I reviewed these last year, but they are so random and weird, I threw them in again this year:

Palmer's Creepy Peepers peanut butter filled eyeballs.  Made with the world's cheapest chocolate but at least they have decent peanut butter filling.  I like the peanut butter but that chocolate is just so waxy and bad.  But they are creepy (in a good Halloweeny way) and the packaging is a riot - "Eye love it, You'll Love it!"  "Another eye-catching idea from Palmer"  Campy!!  Love it!

These are another of my favorites - Hallowscream Caramel Balls from Harry and David:

Oh yes, babies - that is peanut butter wrapped around that caramel center.  These are the best EVAH!  Totally addictive, totally great.  Very peanut buttery and the mix of textures - crunchy candy coating, creamy peanut butter, chewy caramel - genius!!!!!  Get thee to a Harry and David and grab some of these - they are sooooo good!!!!!

I don't know about you, but I'm having fun!!!  I love Halloween and getting to see all the cute kiddies in their costumes!  And what better excuse for a middle aged woman to be stalking the candy aisle? 

Hope you're doing some fun things this week!  I'm gving my "Motivation by Chocolate" session for the hospital staff at Roanoke-Chowan  Hospital.  How much fun are we going to have?    Join in the fun - take some candy to work, wear a costume, or visit a corn maze or haunted house.  Life is short - celebrate!

Harry, David, and Russ - The Boys of Chocolate

The Great Pumpkin is almost here! But first let's hear from the Boys of Chocolate. Let's start with two I'm becoming increasingly fond of - Harry & David. Remember the kickin' pumpkin malt balls and the pumpkin caramel balls? H & D are producing some stellar treats. And these are no exception:

These are Halloween Scream Balls - caramel, milk chocolate and peanut butter covered in a candy shell. Can you say, "Addictive"? These are really, really good - the combo of the textures - chewy and crunchy and peanut buttery - BAM! I think they could use a little more peanut butter, but then I think everything can use a little more peanut butter.

I had a bag of these on my desk and I couldn't stop eating them - maybe that's why they call them scream balls - you realize you have eaten them all and you start to scream. These alone are worth a trip to a Harry & David store near you. (I'm betting they'll be on sale soon - I don't think most shoppers realize what they are - so you might score a deal. I thought they were just those foil wrapped chocolate balls until I looked a little closer.) I'm falling in love with Harry & David - both of them - what a dilemma.

Russ Stover, however, does not have a piece of my heart. But he's about to get a piece of my mind! Love York for making their Peppermint Pattie Pumpkins both orange and a pumpkin shape. Love Palmer for their complete creativity and artistic genius. Hate Russ Stover's laziness. See the proof below.

Behold the Christmas Coconut Wreath:

No red, no green, no bow, no hole in the middle. More like the Christmas blob.

But wait, behold the Coconut Nest (for Easter):

That would be the Christmas blob with some jelly bean eggs.

And now, the Buzzard Nest:

The Christmas blob reworked for Halloween with some different color jelly beans. They could have at least used candy corn. Come on!!

This is the only Russell Stover candy I actually like, but I sure would like to see a little more creativity. It's not like it's THAT great - I like Almond Joy better - more coconutty. So at least they could get a little more creative. It wouldn't take much - have red and green sprinkles on the wreath. Go crazy - make it an actual wreath. Call the Easter thing a basket and put some green candy in there that looks like grass. Have fun! Come on, Russ - show us something!!!

How about you - is there some way you can use that powerful creativity of yours? I think we get in a rut and do the same things over and over - and there is so much more in us! In the candy shop of life - who to you want to be? Boring Russ? Dynamic and delicious Harry & David? Wild and crazy Palmer? You get to pick - every day. Just make sure you do. You don't want to be on your deathbed as a Christmas blob when you know you were really a Halloween Scream Ball.

OMG - only one more post before Halloween!!!!!! And stay tuned - it's going to feature Godiva!