Ch-ch-ch-Cherry!

Valentine's Day candy is half price!! But it's going fast - so if you want any - get out there! And CVS has some crazy deals on Easter candy. I got some Snickers Eggs and some Reese's Pieces Eggs for eight cents! I have no explanation for it, but I was thrilled. I also am clearly insane in my candy consumption but that's another matter.


I've reviewed these before and I'm standing by my earlier review.

They have a cherry taste (obviously there ain't no real cherries in there). If you like cherry, I think you'll like these, but I prefer regular M & Ms. These are not so great. But, hey, I always like it when companies try something new. So, go Mars!

Now look at these - new from Harry and David:

They are called Glimmers and come in assorted flavors. (I have a bag of caramel Glimmers for a future post.) This bag is cherry, blueberry and raspberry and they are shimmery! Look at how pretty they are! For some reason the shimmer here doesn't bother me like it did on the Fling bar. I think it bothered me there because they took it away when they made it a Three Musketeers bar. It was a hokey, girlie thing and it still pisses me off!

But these are all about the shimmer! They are a LOT like the premium M & M's, but yet not. The flavors are completely different.

Pretty, shiny, sparkly! They are chewy rather than crunchy - no hard candy shell. And MUCH more fruity than the M & M's. I have to say, these are really, really good. Holy smokes! They are much better than I thought they would be. Why do I doubt you, Harry & David? Cherry is pink, raspberry is red and blueberry is, well, blue. The fruit taste is stronger than the chocolate taste, and the blend is good. Harry & David does a great job with their chocolates and these are no exception. I'm impressed.

Now let's get to the real fruit!! This Harry and David assortment has chocolate covered cherries, blueberries and peaches.

An autopsied cherry:

See the layers? Cherry, chocolate, and a red coating. I'm not going to pretend to know what the red coating is made of. Overall effect? Tart -which is good - the way a cherry should be. The chocolate and the red mystery layer add a nice sweetness. I like these - a lot. I can tell they are addictive and I'm already convincing myself of the antioxidant content of the cherries.

Here's a peach:

Peach, chocolate, and white coating. The blueberries were too small to autopsy. I can only do so much. These are good too, although a little sweet for my taste. I can still taste the fruit, which is really nice, but it's mighty sweet. I don't know if a dark chocolate would work here though - it might overpower the delicate peach flavor.

The blueberries are also good - nice and tart. But these were kind of puny. I get these at A Southern Season and they are much bigger. Flavor is great in both.

I found this assortment in World Market:

This assortment contains (starting with the pink and moving clockwise) pink strawberries, raisins, orange mangoes, Bing cherries, white apricots, and cranberries. I autopsied a cherry and a strawberry and you can see we've got the same layers as in the Harry & David fruits.

The red mystery layer is much thinner here and the chocolate thicker. These are not as sweet, or quite frankly, as good as the Harry and David ones. These cherries don't even taste that tart. Also there's an an odd aftertaste. You would think the increased chocolate would help, but it's not a great chocolate. BOO!!!

This one is more like the Harry & David chocolate to mystery layer ratio. And it is horrible. Truly horrible. Too sweet with a fake strawberry flavor. Also has a weird aftertaste. Ewww! These are all bad - the mango thing was also all orange stuff - no chocolate center with a tiny bit of mango. Apricot also has a funky aftertaste. The only two that were edible were cranberry and raisin and that was because they were covered only in chocolate. Avoid these like the Swine Flu.

I found these at Trader Joe's:

They look more like the World Market cherries than the Harry & David cherries. These are MUCH better than the evil and heinous World Market ones, but they are still not as good as the H & D ones. Their coating is cherry flavored in that weird maraschino cherry way. And you don't get that tart H & D cherry taste. I'm surprised at how much H & D is standing above the rest.

These are Trader Joe's dark chocolate covered cherries:

No red mystery layers - just cherries and dark chocolate. But taste? These could be giant chocolate covered raisins for all I can tell. There's no cherry taste at all. The chocolate is good, but it's so strong it completely overpowers the cherries. H & D kicks butt in this competition!

Now these don't have anything to do with cherries. But they were what I found in Trader Joe's for Valentine's Day.

Aren't they gorgeous?

Chocolate is so pretty! I love chocolate. And these are delicious - look at that creamy, dark chocolate truffle filling. Wow!!! These are a must for you dark chocolate lovers - that creamy center is to die for! Trader Joe's comes through after all!!

I think the best chocolate covered fruit enhances the fruit flavor. Only in the Harry and David chocolates could I still taste the fruit. The best partnerships are like that, aren't they? One person doesn't completely overshadow the other - both work to bring out the best in each other. Good friends listen to each other. Happy couples divide up work so one doesn't carry the full load. Love isn't about giving everything and losing yourself. It's about finding the person who brings out the best in you.

Or maybe it's just about covering yourself in chocolate.

Chocolate, Cherries and The Wolfman

Let me warn you all right now that this blog posting is not for the faint of heart. The autopsy photos are extremely gruesome. Please beware!

My buddy Chris and I went to see the perfect Valentine's Day movie yesterday - The Wolfman. Hearts (and other internal organs) were ripped out. Gypsies made wild predictions about love and being doomed. And the heroine tried to save the beast (also known as the bad boy) with her love. The outcome was the same as it is in real life, but for those of you who haven't seen the movie yet (or for those of you still in denial about your own relationships), I won't spoil it for you.

Let's just say we had a great time AND helped out a good cause. We smuggled in a box of Peanut Butter Patties Girl Scout cookies. YUM!

They were gone by the time the movie started, but what the hell. Hey - I TOLD you this was going to be gruesome!

Of course, the dreaded Valentine's Day is over and I still have candy to review. There is just too much candy and too little time. For the next couple of days, we're talking cherries. That kind of goes with President's Day (George Washington chopping down the cherry tree and all). I see chocolate covered cherries at Christmas too, but Valentine's Day seems to be their big holiday. Never have I seen so many displays of cherries. So here we go!

These are all cherry cordials. From Wikipedia: a cordial is a type of candy in which a fruit filling is placed within a chocolate shell. Wise Geek says there actually has to be a cherry in there (or I guess a blueberry if we were talking about blueberry cordials) which is preserved in cordial, a sweet liqueur or sugar syrup for the nonalcoholic version. Who am I to say which definition is right? All these seem to fit one of the definitions, so I'm going for it.

Let's start with Cella's. The box says that since 1864 Cella's has been devoted to only one thing - producing the very best quality chocolate covered cherries. They go on to say that their creation is unique - "selected cherries are surrounded by a delicious 100% clear liquid". Woohoo! 100% clear! I just love the taste of clear!

Yikes! This autopsy was messy! My subject kept bleeding out. There's the infamous 100% clear liquid. All I could think when I ate this was, "Good God, these are sweet!" I have to confess, they are way too sweet for me. One every 10 years or so would last me.

If I thought Cella's were sweet.....it was only because I hadn't yet had a Queen Anne cherry:

AAIIEEE! What a mess! We've got clear liquid, pink goo, some cherry guts - this looks like something out of The Wolfman. And that pink goo is the sweetest stuff on the planet. I am so going into a diabetic coma. Are these made for 12 year old boys? Surely these are too sweet for adults! I'm freaking out at their sweetness and I'll eat frosting out of the can! Get some silver bullets and kill these things!

Now for the sake of this blog, I had to try one of each of the "flavors." Dark chocolate was the best only because it offset some of the sweetness. I couldn't tell the difference between burgundy and milk chocolate - they tasted exactly the same. The ingredient list is exactly the same. I have no idea. Maybe there's a burgundy cherry? I think my heart rate is through the roof with all this sugar. Dear God.

Now look at these babies! From one of my favorite chocolate makers, Perugina:

Not so messy. Simple. All about the cherry. These absolutely destroyed the other two. These tasted like cherries and delicious chocolate. These are what a chocolate covered cherry should be. These were amazing.

Okay, Chicago (both Cella and Queen Anne cherries are made in Chitown) - you might need to step it up just a bit. Maybe create a less horrifying line for heath nuts or foodies? I mean once you've tried Perugina, these two are an embarrassment.

If you want to try Perugina, I found them in World Market. They are fabulous!!

These came out at Christmas in a different bag - red with white snowflakes:

But they are exactly the same on the inside:

And I have to tell you, I like these! I mean there are no real cherries involved and they are light years from the Perugina cherries, but for 20 calories each, I think they blow those real chocolate covered cherry death bombs away! Those are 70 calories each and they make me feel kind of ill they are so sweet.

I am proud of Little George Washington for manning up and admitting he chopped down the cherry tree. I think our lesson for the day is to take responsibility for your actions. And along with that theme, I am going to take responsibility for eating all these chocolate covered cherries and hit the gym.

In fact, I think if everyone in American could man (or woman) up and take responsibility for themselves, we'd be in a much better place. That's my political message in honor of the day. That and eat more chocolate!

More cherries are coming!! More cherries are coming!! (No George, not the British. Maybe the Chinese, but not the British.)

I Love Little Debbie

Little Debbie is full of surprises. Besides being the cutest little kid EVAH, she is rocking the house at Valentine's Day. I like the fact that the boxes boldly ask you to be her Valentine. And since it looks like I won't have another Valentine, I am taking her up on the offer. Hey - at least she shows up with cake!!



First up are the iced brownies:

Love the heart shape and really love the heart shaped sprinkles! (Not be be confused with nonpareils). As you know I don't think LD's brownies are the best in the world, but these are so festive and at $1.79 for a box of five, you can't beat them. After being snowbound with them all weekend, I have come to love them.

Each of these boxes has cheesy Valentine's Day cards you can cut out and give to your beloved. My favorite has a pic of two heads of lettuce and says "Valentine, lettuce us be together."

Now these just look gorgeous. They come two hearts to a pack:

Can you see the beads of moisture? I like the chocolate drizzle - makes them look elegant. Seriously - elegant Little Debbies! Who needs a fancy chef when you can just just whip these babies out?

Now here's the surprising and heartbreaking thing - the chocolate hearts were kind of dry. I know - shocking! After all, you can see the moisture! I don't know what happened, I'm just telling you. They were dry enough that I actually preferred these:

I KNOW - I couldn't believe it myself. I adore chocolate. I consider the Swiss Cake Roll an act of genius. But the pink cakes had a lot more creme (see for yourself) and were much more moist. They were a lot better. Maybe I got a bad batch of the chocolate ones - at the end of the creme line - who knows. But if you have to choose, go with the pink ones.

I've saved the very, very best of all for last:

These are amazing. Two cookie-sized cakes, with a thick layer of cherry creme (not too strong) between them, and the whole thing dipped in chocolate. These are amazingly delicious. You want a Valentine's Day treat - look no further. My heart belongs to Little Debbie.

And if I don't get out and get some exercise, my waistline is going to belong to her too!

Pavlov's Coupons

I'm happy to announce that my brother took his boys out Trick or Treating - dressed as a very cool Darth Vader and Boba Fett, I might add. And there were loads of Trick or Treaters where they lived. Yahoo!! The tradition lives!! At least for those on the dark side. : )

And my good friend Mike was visiting friends at the beach - and they had tons of Trick or Treaters. In fact - they almost ran out of candy. But they managed to save three white chocolate Reese's cups for themselves, so all was not lost. Happy Belated birthday, Mike! He was 30 minutes shy of being born on Halloween.

I'm feeling better about the future already.

I have come to realize in recent weeks that I am a sucker for coupons, especially those fabulous e-mail offers from companies like Bath and Body Works and Harry and David. In fact, I'm like Pavlov's Dogs. Remember them? The experimenter would ring a bell and then feed them. Pretty soon all the experimenter had to do was ring the bell and the dogs would salivate - food didn't even have to be present. Well, all these retailers have to do is send me a coupon and I immediately go to their website and buy things. I don't even have to need anything. Bow wow!

And they are smart - once you spend money and use a coupon, they send you more coupons! I'm salivating just thinking about it!

Well, this week I got a coupon for 25% off your entire purchase at Harry & David - sweet!!! That was a no brainer - I totally scored some great stuff to blog about! Wheee!! (This is a brilliant marketing strategy, by the way. Marketing directly to the people who are most likely to buy from you. Give them an offer they can't refuse - and voila - instant sales.)

So let's see what I got!

Harry and David has some pretty darn good chocolate. The truffles are smooth and creamy and the flavor good - not too subtle, not too overpowering.

Fruit flavors are seldom my favorites, but these are good. As you can see, these aren't those cheesy cream filled things like you get from my enemy, Russ Stover. This is delicious chocolate ganache. I liked cherry and raspberry better than orange, but it's all a matter of personal preference.

Now these truffles look like they have nuts on them, but look at the real picture below:

These are Moose Munch truffles. Moose Munch is their collection of popcorn blended with a variety of flavors. So crazy me thought there might be something more to these - like a crunch. They were described as "starting with a thick layer of decadent milk chocolate". "Inside, we've blended real nuts with even more creamy chocolate, then added toffee's crackle." Hmmmm.......the nuts are so blended that you can't detect them. And you can see the toffee. Not much crackle going on.

The flavor doesn't seem nutty - more like a like coffee flavor. Not bad, just not at all what I expected. These are not my favorite. Too wishy-washy. What makes the Moose Munch line is the crunchy popcorn and the mix of flavors and textures. These ain't got it going on.

Is this not the perfect collection? I LOVE all these flavors, so I'm pretty excited about this one! At the top is hazelnut - and you can see the nut there - no messing around! This one is delicious. BUT there are better hazelnut offerings out there - Perugina Kisses leap to mind.

The almond is smooth and creamy, but I think it should have a nut too. I actually prefer chocolate covered almonds to almond flavored truffles. Who knew? But I know now.

Peanut Butter is my favorite - no surprise there, huh? But are these better than Reese's Peanut Butter cups? I have to say no. I know, crazy right? The cost like a million times more. They just don't really kick. The peanut butter isn't particularly smooth and creamy or really peanut buttery tasting. Trader Joe's Peanut Butter cups are way better too.

So I just want to let you all know that Halloween is alive and well. And so is scientific theory.

Toot-Toot-Tootsie Goodbye!

I have long loved Tootsie Rolls. They are low fat and each one (of the Midgees anyway) only has 23 calories. I get a heck of a lot of pleausre and a good chocolately fix for that measley 23 calories. Midgees make me happy. (Although the name is kind of weak. I guess Midgets wouldn't be politically correct.) Here are the Holiday Midgees:

Festive. I like them. But....there is a usurper. I have found something I like better.

I didn't want to like these better. I just wanted to try these, thinking they would be far inferior to the lauded Tootsie. But the true test is which one is left in the candy bowl. And the truth is.....Toot - Toot- Tootsie, Don't Cry! I ate all the Cherry Cordials and left the Tootsie Rolls! Who am I?

I know - what the hell are these? They look cheap, they look cheesy. They are 2 for $5.00! They must be crap!

Oh no, baby! These rock! They are soft, chewy, and the perfect mix of cherry and cocoa. And they have only 30 calories and are also low fat. They kick Tootsie butt. Go crazy - invest the $2.50 and check them out.

I got them at Walgreen's with their sister candy:

I like these too - VERY festive. Also low in calories and fat, and I prefer the chewy peppermint to the traditional. And look at those trees - cute, cute, cute! (Hello, Russell Stover - some candy companies at least TRY!! I mean to get a tree in the middle - a green tree with a brown truck - wow!)

Let's look at all these guys naked:

Okay, maybe Brach's aren't perfect in appearance, but they are so soft, I think it kind of melts the design. But I don't care - they are good!!!

The lessons - do what you've always done and you might miss something better! Try new things, go new places, meet new people. And don't judge a candy by its wrapper.