It's beginning to look a lot like Christmas ...

... in the candy aisle! At the grocery store the other day, I saw some interesting new products. There were vanilla York Peppermint Patties and dark chocolate mint Kit Kats. Both looked really yummy, but the fact is, I'm still loaded down with candy and I need to make some more room in my cupboards before buying more.
I visited with my in-laws over Thanksgiving and had hoped they'd be able to find me a limited edition Elvis Reese's, because they live near Memphis. But no such luck.

All candy, all the time

Just a reminder, there are lots of great candy-inspired blogs out there. I started writing for Sugar Savvy this week. Hey, a girl can't possibly have too much to say about candy, can she?! And over at Candy Blog, Cybele talked about missing Bar Nones. Oh yes, can I relate. Those choco-choco-chocolatey candy bars with crispy wafers and nuts. I think the last one I had was in 1988 when I was working at CVS. I somehow got drafted into unloading the truck with the two night managers at 3 a.m. By 9 a.m. I was wiped out and needed a quick fix. I wolfed down a Bar None and I remember it felt like a hole was burning in my stomach. I hadn't eaten anything else and it was just a little too much chocolate at one time. I never touched one again, but had I known that they were going to be discontinued, I might've thought twice.

Holy candy update

My mom stopped by today with the bulletin from church. Here's Father John's report about Halloween:
"I know that this Thursday as I give thanks for so much and so many in my life, you are at the top of the list... (and thankful, too, for the 107 kids who showed up trick-or-treating Halloween night, breaking the record and raising the bar! Add the adults who rang the bell in costume, and we're up to 122!.... and I always thank God for the young at heart!)
AMEN!

Busy week in candy land

As a freelance writer, I get assignments on all sorts of different topics, from how tequila is made to how to tell if you're healthy via the size and shape of your bowel movements. (Sorry for the graphic image, but we all really should pay attention to our colons.) I love my job because I'm always learning something new. But every now and then I hit pay dirt and this week, it's time to celebrate. I'm doing a trade article on (drumroll, please) chocolate and confections. Fantastic. I've started getting some samples already and it's been quite interesting talking to people about manufacturing and retailing of the sweet stuff. I'll be sure to post here about all the interesting little tidbits I learn in the coming days.

Peanut Butter Points to Ponder

My friend Alex just sent me these points to ponder:


1) Why is it that a regular size Reese's Peanut Butter Cup tastes much better than any other size Reese's PB Cup (i.e. the mini ones?)

2) White Chocolate AND Peanut Butter? What were they thinking?

I'll add my own:
1) Why does Reese's peanut butter taste so different than every other type of peanut butter and chocolate candy? When I worked at the chocolate shop, the chocolate peanut butter squares we sold weren't nearly as tasty. They were blander, less salty, less peanutty.

2) Why don't they make a candy bar with almond butter? Or cashew butter?
3) Why, oh why, do I love chocolate and peanut butter so much? The best ice cream ever is Baskin Robbins' chocolate and peanut butter. Oh.My.God. I love the way the peanut butter is smooth and in big chunks throughout the ice cream. Curse you Alex for taunting me so early in the morning!

Orange Cream Mounds??

A reader wants to know where he can get Orange Cream Mounds. Anyone? I haven't seen these, although they do sound really yummy.

Good News!

The other day I received an envelope in the mail from a fellow writer. Her name is Kris and she lives in Hawaii with her husband and sons. How cool is that? Anyhow, she sent a note saying, "Thought you could use a little good news," and in the package was a candy bar. It has the shiniest wrapper I've ever seen-- it practically blinded me when I opened it. In fact, it's so shiny that I couldn't even photograph it. It just came out as a white blur. It says "Hawaii's Favorite," which makes you think that it must contain coconut or macadamia nuts or something. But in fact, it's chocolate, peanuts and caramel, which gets one wondering how many ways can you do those three ingredients? Well, this was different than a Snickers or Baby Ruth or Reggie bar or any of those other bars with similar ingredients. It's pretty flat and mostly caramel with chopped peanuts. The thing is, it has a weird aftertaste, almost like a cherry cough medicine flavor. I checked the ingredients to see if there were any clues as to where the flavor came from, but the only unusual things were sweetened condensed milk and brown sugar. Although now that I think about it, it is a little surprising that there are no artificial colors or flavors other than artificial vanilla. The other ingredient that perplexed me was crisped rice. You can definitely taste it, although it's not like a Nestle Crunch or 100 Grand. It's very subtle. Just enough to give the bar some texture.