Candy Corn Gone Wild

Halloween is fast approaching!!  And I have to say that, compared to last year, this year's Halloween candy is lame.  Thank God Just Born offered something new with their chocolate covered Peeps pumpkins.  The rest of the crew just served up the same old boring stuff.  I couldn't even find the mini Reese's peanut butter pumpkins this year.  Hershey, hast thou forsaken me?

Target, however, has a line of candy corn in flavors including green apple, strawberry and loads of others.  I picked a couple to try.  Pumpkin Pie:

These taste just like candy corn with a hint of pumpkin.  Not enough pumpkin as far as I'm concerned.  If you like candy corn, I think you'll like these.  If you're looking for pumpkin pie, look somewhere else.

Now this is a good idea - chocolate covered candy corn:

I like the way it looks better than the way it tastes.  Although chocolate covered candy corn is better than naked candy corn, it's too sweet for me.  But a great idea!

I thought I'd also try chocolate covered toffee candy corn:

YIKES!  This was just terrible.  I like toffee, but definitely not toffee candy corn.  Remember our old adage - just because you CAN do something, doesn't mean you SHOULD do it.  This was really terrible.  Yipes!

Whoa - look at this crazy marshmallow candy corn from Whitman's:

I have to admit - it's festive as hell. 

And, shockingly - it's pretty good!  Now - you have to consider that it's just marshmallow covered in a sugary candy shell, but the marshmallow was really creamy.  I am now diabetic.

These are some weird things I found in World Market - they are made in Ireland:

This might be one of the weirdest candies ever.  They have a really strange "tutti frutti" smell - so I was kind of scared of them.  But they were oddly good.  Weird green candy eyeballs from Ireland - what more could you want for Halloween?
Yahoo!!!!  The holidays are beginning!  Are you having fun?

Soft and Smushy on the Inside

I am alive!!!!  I know I've been off the radar for the past month or so, but I have a great reason.

First, let me catch you all up.  Flower Man (the guy who I had a lunch date with and who sent me flowers the next day) disappeared.  He had said we might go out that weekend, but I heard nothing.  In the meantime, I had a date with someone else.  He and I have been going out ever since.  Flower Man e-mailed a week later, said he called and left a message on the wrong voice mail.  Seriously? 

The good news is the new guy does what he says he will and loves to eat almost as much as I do.  I feel I've found my soul mate when we're picking an ice cream flavor to share and he chooses Cake Batter.  He makes me laugh.  He even saw me speak before we went out so the dreaded Big Personality doesn't bother him.  He even took the time to read my book!  So things are good, but finding time to work, work out, date AND blog is tricky!  Thanks for not giving up on me!!!

In honor of my mutation into a big marshmallow, I thought I'd review this great new product:

As you all know, I've been railing that something like this should be made!  Those horrible chocolate "flavored" marshmallows are creepy.  Those marshmallows at Candy Expo with some dark chocolate drizzled on them (Zebras) didn't have enough chocolate.  Kraft finally got it together!!!  These are miniature marshmallows, which makes the chocolate to marshmallow ratio perfect.  They are addictive alone and would be great in trail mix, over ice cream, in popcorn - you name it!

Not only are they impossible to stop eating - I ate the whole bag today - but the whole bag has only 300 calories.  Yahoo!!!

One comment - Kraft has got to change the choking warning.  It says: Eat one at a time.  (HA!) For children under 6, cut marshmallows into bite-sized pieces.  Children should always be seated and supervised while eating. 

For God's sake, Kraft, lighten up!  These are MINIATURE marshmallows, after all!  And who wants to sit down and be supervised while eating marshmallows?  I want to eat them while running with scissors!

And speaking of marshmallows, the new guy and I went to a fondue place this weekend - ordered the Triple Play - peanut butter, caramel and chocolate in the fondue pot with pretzels, fruit and marshmallows to dip in.  He let me have almost all the peanut butter.  Is he a good man or what?

Coconut, Summer and S'mores!

One of the very cool things about going to Candy Expo as a blogger is that you are considered "press".  And the press get a great big bag full of candy.  This was one of the things in there:

Atkinson's (makers of the Chick-O-Stick) also makes these.  I saw a booth that sold ONLY these in all the colors of the rainbow.

While it looks festive, I thought the taste was pretty lame.  Kind of dry and tasteless.  And no chocolate involved.  Bleech.

This one from Candy Farm http://www.candyfarm.com/  (a division of Dayton Nut Specialties) was actually a lot better:

It was thicker and the coconut was much less dry.  But this is still a boring candy to me.  They come in different flavors - I liked the chocolate flavor here, but much prefer a real chocolate coating over my coconut.  Coconut lovers - what do you think of these?  They must be popular, I saw a few companies making them.  Anybody have some thoughts?

For 320 calories a slice (these are called coconut slices, BTW), they just aren't that good.

Since I've been planning to blog about coconut, I had to snag these in A Southern Season (my favorite, but oh so expensive food store in Chapel Hill, NC):

They are handmade toasted coconut marshmallows:

And they are pretty darn amazing!  You can see the shredded coconut all over the top.  They also contain almond  and vanilla extract - the almond gives them an awesome taste.  And the marshmallow is so soft and fresh - wow!  I'm not the world's biggest coconut or marshmallow fan, so this is really saying something!

When I got them to the register, they told me there was a BOGO (buy one get one free) sale, so I HAD to get another bag.  I opted for Vanilla Bean (lavender marshmallow just sounded too gross):

These were just average to me.  They would probably be AMAZING toasted, but I'm not going to all that trouble.  I'm happy they were free.

Speaking of toasting marshmallows, I was at a conference last week where the dessert was served outside by a big fire pit where we made s'mores.  (How cool is that?  Go Embassy Suites, Concord, NC!) The hotel had a great set-up, but they were using DARK chocolate disks.  Dark chocolate disks don't melt.  Classy, but we really needed milk chocolate.  So, if you're going to make s'mores this summer - use milk chocolate.

One cool thing they did was add a swipe of cream cheese to the graham cracker.  Never had that before - it was really good!  So experiment - have fun!

If you don't want to make your own s'mores, you could get these:

They really are mini - a little bigger than a penny:

And, as usual, they don't really look like the picture on the box.  Verdict?  Please.  How can this even be compared to a s'more?  They taste like little cheap cookies.  Not even very graham crackery. Definitely not marshmallowy.  In fact, I'd say these taste nothing like s'mores.  Either go real or don't go at all. (Goldfish S'mores - covered in another entry - are better.)

I found these at Candy Expo - they are made by the GudFud company (http://www.gud-fud.com/).  And, in concept, they are great:

Little prepackaged chocolate filled marshmallows.  They also some in fruit flavors which I didn't try.

They are horrible.  Think stale, flattened marshmallow filled with some chocolate-like substance.  YUCK!

Their company tagline is "the best thing to ever happen to a marshmallow."  No, it's not. 

But THIS might be!

These are soooo cute!  And at 10 calories a piece, you can't beat them!  Would make great decorations (cakes, cupcakes, etc.) and they taste good too.  Instead of having that weird powdery coating, these have one that's more like granulated sugar, but very fine.  From Harry and David - YUM!

This bar is also from Candy Expo and is billed as a "feel great super food" - which usually means "tastes like crap":

I have it here because it is called an "exotic COCONUT almond bar":

While it looks good, it tastes pretty boring.  I'd rather have a handful of almonds.  I couldn't even taste the coconut.  But it's all organic!  Kumbaya!  You'll live forever eating these, but you won't want to.

While these have been out for a while now, Hershey was pushing them hard at Candy Expo:

And I gotta tell you, these are good!! They taste coconutty and I swear there are little chunks of coconut in there.  I think they blow the coconut M & M's away.  The M & M's taste more chocolately - not very coconutty.  These are like little Almond Joys.  Well done, Hershey!!!

Since I had the coconut M & M's to compare with these, I tried Sarah Silverman's M & M trick. (38 seconds in the microwave)  Holy God!  She is right!!!  Try, it, try it, try it - it's awesome!!!!!!

Try something new - microwave your M & M's, make some s'mores with different ingredients - it's summer!  Celebrate food and fun!

The Many Phases of the Moon Pie

For some reason, all things remotely festive have been consumed around my birthday.  This post started with the Moon Pies with sprinkles .  For some reason, sprinkles just say "party!" to me.

I've never been a big Moon Pie person, but when I saw this in Cracker Barrel, I thought I'd just check it out.  I am such a sucker for nostalgia!

It looks like the current Moon Pie, but flatter:

And you know what?  I like it A LOT better!  The "cookie" part is much less dry - it's almost like cookie dough.  I thought it was like 10,000 times better!  It's made by the same people (Chattanooga Bakery) who make the standard Moon Pie.  I'm so bummed this recipe was replaced with the new one.  Not that I've given it one iota of thought before now.

I wanted to try these solely because of the sprinkles:

As usual, nothing lives up to the image on the box.  And now I'm ruined now by the Scooter Pie.  This seems way too dry and flavorless to me.  Even sprinkles can't save it.

These sprinkles seem to say "hangover" more than "party!".

I've reviewed these before and they really are nothing like a Moon Pie.  No marshmallow, no weird cakey/cookie slab:

This is a chocolate cookie with peanut butter filling dipped in chocolate:

These are okay.  Not enough peanut butter in my book.  (Is there EVER enough peanut butter?)

These are like the peanut butter ones, but with mint:

This has more in common with Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies than a Moon Pie:

If you like those Thin Mint Girl Scout cookies, you will adore these!!  I think they did a better job with the mint than the peanut butter.  Mint and chocolate lovers - get thee to Cracker Barrel and stock up! 

These are just like the regular Moon Pies to me:

Dry and crappy.  Sorry Little Debbie.  The original Scooter Pie kicked butt.

These are like the other Little Debbie marshmallow treats I've reviewed.  And what makes them so addictively good is the base.  It's a brownie - a thin base of brownie that works great with the marshmallow.  These are way better than the standard Moon Pie!

And they look really good too!  Aren't they pretty?

All they need are some sprinkles!!!  Party!!!!

Marshmallow and Easter Candy Weirdness

Well, since we got started with some marshmallow, let's just continue with the sticky stuff.

Since I'm off the evil RS (well, mostly.....), let's look at the old standard for the marshmallow egg:

These are good - but the marshmallow didn't seem as soft and fresh as it should. In fact - the chocolate covered Peeps were better!!! WAY better. Hershey - what the heck???

I've noticed that the chocolate covered Peeps seems to be sold out everywhere - I must not be the only one who LOVED them. I'm serious - I appreciate them even more now that I've compared them to the competition. (Maybe I'll get to drive that Peepmobile yet!)

These marshmallow eggs were made by Whitman's:

The colors are really pretty and festive:

And the marshmallow inside is delicious - nice and soft and creamy, but the outer shell is too sweet. I sooooo wished it was chocolate! Rats!!

From Kraft we have BunnyMallows to go with our Halloween GhostMallows:

For some reason these bunnies make me think of dinosaurs:

These are in great colors and I like the attempt at a holiday shape. The taste is perfectly average marshmallow. I have no complaints, but there is nothing really exciting here. They might be really good dipped in chocolate! Yum!

These marshmallow chicks and bunnies by Frankford Candy and Chocolate Co. of Pennsylvania are unbelievably horrible:

Are those parrots? (Why do they have pink wings? Are those wings?) The taste and texture of these are so, so, so bad. They come closest to tasting like really stale cotton candy - but that is generous. Anyone who disses Peeps should eat a couple of these. They are truly horrifying.

I can remember these from when I was a kid:

And I don't like them any more now than I did then.

They come in a bunch of colors and are festive enough. They have a thick sugary shell and something inside that looks kind of like marshmallow, but tastes weird. I'd have to say these are pretty awful.

These are an Easter staple, but are probably best as decoration. Personally I think they waste valuable Easter basket space that could be filled by chocolate!!

I'm not a big candy corn fan, but lots of people are wild about it. It is kind of cool to see it in Easter colors:

It says on the bag that this is made with real honey -and I believe it - you can taste the honey. I think honey has kind of an odd taste, so these don't set me on fire. If you like honey, though, these might be your new fav. There aren't that many candies that have a strong honey taste.

You can see the off-white color - shows the honey:

These are new this year:

and are totally weird, yet somehow fascinating. I love Brach's Nougat peppermint candies. I love their Nougat cherry chocolate candy. These are good too, but not as good as plain old jelly beans in my book. They are made out of jelly bean pieces in sugary, chewy nougat:

Some have lots of jelly bean pieces, some have no jelly bean pieces. And some are kind of mutated:

But when they get it right, they are really pretty - like a glass mosaic:

These are very sweet and have ingredients like apple cider butter, strawberry jam, grape jam, and grape jelly. If you like chewy, sweet and fruity, these are for you!! I do give Brach's huge points for coming up with something new and original, even though a lot of jelly beans had to give their lives for it. But still, sacrifices have to be made. I say - yay!!

These are from my friends at Just Born (of course, if they were really my friends I'd be cruising around in that Peepmobile right now):

These are the best jelly beans I've had this year:

This is the Americana Medley and the flavors are Savannah Strawberry, Laredo Lime, Chesapeake Cherry, Napa Grape, Indian River Orange and La Jolla Lemon. And they are all good with no weird aftertaste (like all the others reviewed below). Apparently making a good jelly bean is way harder than you'd think. Not that I've ever really thought about it. Until now.

Isn't this a great assortment from See's? We'll review the chocolate eggs soon:

See's makes two types of jelly eggs:

Regular jelly beans on the left and non-pareil jelly eggs on the left:

Now let me tell you, I love jelly beans, I really do. And these look great! But they were very disappointing. The jelly beans have a too thick outer coating and just taste crummy. And where's red - the most popular flavor??? These were so bad, I tried 'em, spit 'em out and threw the whole bag away. (I consider that a huge sin, but sometime candy is too terrible to even give away.)

The jelly eggs are no better - and the texture kind of creeps me out. Too jellyish, with those too hard non-pareils on them. Ugh. Boo to both of these!

I thought these were festive and I really wanted to see what was inside them:

This is the Harry & David Easter Candy Mix:

There are lots of little molded sugar candies - two different rabbits, an Easter egg, a duck, and a rooster. They are in white (I have no idea what flavor this is, but I didn't like it), lemon, lime, pink (cherry? strawberry? not good), and purple (grape? horrible taste!). These were MUCH better in the Jelly Belly assortment (below). They were really, really bad.

There are non-pareil jelly eggs like the See's, but with multicolored non-pareils instead of white. While these look terrific, the taste is not so wonderful. These vile things are jelly beans without the usual candy shell. Instead the gelatin bean is coated in these round sprinkles. Just creepy. The regular jelly beans were really good though!! Loved them!

The white, pink and purple balls are those great chocolate covered, candy coated mints. These were really good.

There was ONE foil covered chocolate egg which was terrible - surprising from H & D. The Jelly Belly chocolate eggs were better (see below). Although neither mix had enough chocolate. Wait - the H & D chocolate was so bad, there was too much of it.

This is the Jelly Belly Deluxe Easter Mix:

It also has pastel candy corn, but it's white and has no taste of honey. I prefer this to the Brach's, but it's really too sweet for me. Good jelly beans kick Easter candy corn's butt. If it had a butt. And if jelly beans had legs.

Both mixes have these little pastel candy shapes - this one has three different rabbits, a duck and a rooster. They are in lemon, lime, strawberry and grape. They are way sweet and way fruity. I would never crave these and plan to never eat them again. But they are weird and festive - and I love weird and festive.

There were a bunch of Jelly Belly jelly beans - but I wish they were in better flavors - hate lemon and lime, don't care for cantaloupe or grapefruit, I did like the blue (not sure what flavor it is, but it's good) and the purple had some kind of funky aftertaste. Boo!!!

There were three foil covered chocolate eggs which were fine - average.

There were also two malted milk eggs which we'll review in the next post. You're going to learn more about malted milk eggs than you ever wanted to know.

Lesson - it takes guts to try something new. Does it always work? Will honey flavored Easter candy corn become an Easter staple? Will weird Jelly Bean Nougat? I have my doubts. But I think the chocolate covered Peep is going to be a huge success! It's easy to do the same old thing - it's safe and no one will mock you in blog postings. But doing the same old thing gets boring - trying something new keeps life interesting and keeps you growing. Try one new thing this week - personally and professionally. You've got nothing to lose except stagnation. Peep, peep!