The Only Chocolate Dessert You'll Ever Need

Okay, folks, don't kill the messenger. I've been asked by several of you for the recipe for the previously discussed yumtastic dessert, so here it is. If you make it, write me back and let me know what you think.

Chocolate Espresso Lava Cake
From “125 Best Chocolate Chip Recipes” by Julie Hasson

(From the book: “These cakes are really chocolate brownie soufflés that are baked in coffee mugs. They are truly delicious, embodying everything that a chocolate dessert should be. You can make them ahead of time, then pop them in the oven as your guests sit down for the main course.”)

Six 1-cup ovenproof ceramic coffee mugs, greased

1 cup all-purpose flour
¾ cup unsweetened Dutch-process cocoa powder
5 tsp. espresso powder (note: I didn’t use this and the dessert didn’t suffer)
1 ½ tsp. baking powder
1 cup butter, melted
1 cup granulated sugar
1 cup packed light brown sugar
4 eggs
1 ½ tsp. vanilla
¼ tsp. almond extract
¾ cup semisweet chocolate chips

In a medium bowl, sift together flour, cocoa powder, espresso powder and baking powder.
In a large bowl, whisk together melted butter and granulated and brown sugars until well blended. Whisk in eggs, one at a time, then vanilla and almond extract. Whisk in flour mixture. Divide batter among prepared coffee mugs (about 2/3 cup in each). (Note: I used little soufflé cups). Top each with 2 tbsp. chocolate chips. Gently press chips into batter. Cover and refrigerate mugs for at least one hour or for up to one day. (Note: I had leftovers that I used two days later and they were fine.)
Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Let mugs with batter stand at room temperature for five minutes. Bake, uncovered, until cakes are puffed and crusty and tester inserted into center comes out with thick batter attached, about 30 minutes. (Note: I put them on a baking sheet which was a good idea, since they overflowed a little.) Let cool in mugs on a rack for five minutes.

The recipe says to serve with espresso whipped cream, but we ate ours plain and they were perfect. I can only imagine if you paired this with whipped cream and raspberries or vanilla ice cream that it would just be complete and utter euphoria.

Best Dessert Ever. Best! Ever!

The ovens in the Yum Yum kitchen were working overtime this weekend. We were invited over to Sue MKAFFGGF's house for some "Beer and Steer" and I offered to bring the veggies and dessert. I figured I'd go with a classic steakhouse theme and make roasted asparagus, creamed spinach and cheesecake. But not just any cheesecake. Oh no, I had to get all fancy and make little individual lemon cheesecakes. (Note to self: labor-intensive desserts are off the list until the Sugar Baby leaves for college.) So I whipped up the batter for cheesecake and the directions said to lay a sheet of plastic wrap over a mini-muffin pan and then put the batter in. ("Don't worry!" the cookbook said. "The plastic wrap won't burn or melt!") Hmmm. Seems so counter-intuitive to put THIN PLASTIC in a 400 degree oven, but whatever.
Mr. Goodbar commented that it didn't look like such a good idea. "The book says it's okay!" I snapped. It had already been a long day. I put the pans in the oven and 30 minutes later-- ding! The timer went off. The house was filled with a light, lemony scent.
And the plastic wrap seemingly disappeared.*
Like any normal person might suspect, I now had plastic-infused cheesecakes, two dirty mini-mufin pans and no dessert to bring.
I breezed through my cookbooks and decided on these: Chocolate Espresso Lava Cakes. Only I didn't have any espresso powder, so instead I used almond extract. Let me tell you, these were incredible. Seriously delicious. The crusty outside was like a crisp, chewy cookie and the inside was all fudgy melty gooey. Unbelievable. If I had to be stranded on a desert isle with only one dessert (not candy, of course, just dessert), I'd pick this. And no, it's not like your typical lava cake. This one was different, I promise. I can't believe I was able to make something so good. So unbelievably good. And it was easy, too. Way more easy than plastic cheesecake. I love you forever, Chocolate Lava Cakes.

*When we got to Sue MKAFFGGF's house, I related this story to them. The Golden Nose said he had just read about cooking with plastic wrap and showed me the book. It said only certain types of plastic wrap can be heated. All the others throw off carcinogenic toxins into your food. And NEVER EVER heat it over 170 degrees. Okay, so what the heck???!

Candy Freak Show

I did it all for you, dear reader.
First, I bought candy at the Christmas Tree Shoppe, thereby breaking my own rule about not buying edible stuff from non-food stores and--
Second, I bought quite possibly the freakiest assortment of candy ever.
Where do I even start? Well, I'd heard of the Yogurt Dots and the Chewy Atomic FireBalls and I have to say, they sounded intriguing. Disgusting, but intriguing. The Dots came wrapped in cellophane and when I tore it off there was a subtle, icky odor. Definitely not a sweet, candy aroma. I opened the box and took a good whiff. Ooooh. So not good. Kind of like a cross between sour dairy and an old spice cabinet. The first one I tried was orange. Actually, it wasn't bad. It was very similar to a Creamsicle. Then I moved on to lime. Egads. What a mistake. This is what I imagine Pledge would taste like. I vowed to stop there, but as I'm writing this, I see the flavors on the side and the others include strawberry, banana and blackberry. I think I have to try the banana. Oh. Imagine chewy banana babyfood with a medicinal kick at the end.
Moving on. The Chewy Atomic Fireballs are smaller than I thought they'd be. For some reason, I envisioned them having almost a white marshmallow kind of center, but thankfully they don't. These are like bigger, round versions of Red Hots. Not bad, actually. These I might actually eat.
So I thought I had scored the ultimate candy mix when there, at the checkout, were these "Limited Edition! Junior Fruit Cremes" in black cherry, orange and raspberry. On the package, the drawings of the cremes look all bright and shiny and oozy in the center. In reality, they're grayish, and the centers are dry, like a thin mint patty. I can't even describe the taste. Gross, like a bad grammar school fruit dessert. I'm not even sure what that means, but it's what comes to mind. I can't imagine how these passed through a taste test. Maybe they didn't. (Note to Junior Mints people: next time you have a new product, give me a shout. We'll talk.) So that was my fun for the day. But it wasn't a total waste because it turns out that the Dots make for a great cat toy. Now they're all over my floor.

Check out these pictures

Wow-- you guys are great! Keep your responses coming for the licorice and Tootsie Pop Drop giveaways. There's still time to get your name in!
One of the wonderful readers who responded sent the link to her Flickr page where she has these fantastic photos of food from the 70s, including a picture of the original Tootsie Pop Drop package. So cool! I nearly fell off my chair, however, when I saw she had a picture of the plastic tooth filled with gum that I know I've written about before. (I just can't find the post.) My friend Melissa and I went to a store afterschool one day where we found these plastic teeth and she thought they were the funniest things. Check 'em out at Traci's retro site: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tracis_retro
So cool!!

Free Candy! Free Candy!

I must admit, I've sort of had writer's block about these new Tootsie Pop Drops. ("Tootsie Pops without the stick!") I'm not sure why, because I really, really dig them. The kind folks over at the Tootsie headquarters sent me a gajillion of these; some to taste, some to give away. So yes, dear readers, it's another fun candy giveaway! The thing is, I can't decide whether to send the whole big shebang to just one person, or divvy it up and share the love. I still don't know. So here's what you do. Leave me a comment telling me what your favorite Tootsie Pop flavor is (or one that you'd like to see) and I'll pick one or maybe a few people to send these to. I need to clean off my desk, so let's say I'll pick the lucky popinator on April 4. Now, on with my comments.

Totally addictive. I know I say that about lots of things, but these are sort of under-the-radar addictive. As in, you wouldn't expect to keep going back for more, but you do. These are great because a serving size is four pieces and only 60 calories, so you can eat a bunch and not feel like you've gone overboard. I was a little nervous about these, because I totally hated the Blow Pop Minis, but here's the difference: with the Blow Pops, you're left with gum and you have to decide whether you want to chew the gum or have another pop. Here, you eat the Tootsie Roll center, then move on to the next piece. No hard decisions to make.

I brought a bunch of these to Easter dinner for No Nuts and her brother D-Sword to try out. They attacked them like a pack of ravenous, starving college students, which makes sense, since that's what they are. I casually observed them and noticed this: D-Sword ate all the orange ones, and No Nuts ate all the grape ones. "Orange are the best," said D-Sword. (Just like my little friend Alexander!) "I don't like orange," said No Nuts.

Now you'd think they'd team up and do a swap or something, but since, as I mentioned, they're siblings of college age, they make it a point not to talk to each other. So there, on the Easter table, were two separate piles of "leftover" Tootsie Pop Drops. (Not for long, however, as I really like all the flavors, including the blue raspberry which, strangely enough, was absent from both D-Sword's and No Nuts' bags!)

So that's the story. These are new. These are yummy. These can be yours!

All Cupcakes, All the Time

Hey, check it out! My cupcake is #93 of the Cupcake Project! Spread the word ... tell everyone you know to draw a cupcake!

I, too, loved grape Nehi

Check out today's Derfwad Manor. Mrs. G takes a trip down candy memory lane!

Chocolate for Dinner

I will freely admit it: I love Mark Bittman's cookbooks. You know, those giant tomes that can double as doorstops, "How to Cook Everything," "How to Cook Everything Vegetarian," and "The Best Recipes in the World." (Although, frankly, I should be a little miffed since the first book is quite obviously titled incorrectly. If if really taught me how to cook EVERYTHING, then why do I need the other two?) I met Mark through my editor at the newspaper and frankly, I'm so envious of him I can't stand it. If his recipes weren't so darned perfect I'd have to hate him. Anyhoo, I was considering writing a blog called Bittman Bite by Bite in which I cook up all of his recipes, since that seems to be what I've been doing lately anyway. Which brings me to this post.

Last night we had Beer Glazed Beans from the vegetarian cookbook.

What does this have to do with candy, you ask?

The recipe calls for a tablespoon of honey, which I didn't have. But I did have that chocolate honey from Sue MKAFFGGF's sister. So what the heck? If chocolate is good enough for Mexican mole, it's good enough for beer beans!

And it was. Mmm, mmm, these were mighty good. Very sweet, thanks of course to the chocolate honey, and I made some whole wheat cous cous to go with them.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY, BARONESS!

Sister On Strike

I'm officially on strike as a sister. I got home yesterday to find that both my brother and sister had called during the day-- a very a strange phenomenon-- but there weren't any messages because the Sugar Baby had turned the answering machine off. As I was pondering this, the phone rang; it was Bazooka Betsy.

BB: "Did you get my message to call Andy?"
Me: (Panic striken) "What's going on?"
BB: "Rich had a stroke."

Holy crap. This is my brother's best friend.

BB: "You have to find out what's going on."

Wait a minute. Me? Why me? Why am I always the go-to person when there's a crisis? Why am I always the one who has to make the phone call/pay the visit/ bake the cake/ schedule the shrink appointment/ bail the nieces and nephews out of jail?

Well, I got on the phone and did my civic duty. Thank goodness Rich is all right and I filled Andy in on the details when he got back from T-ball practice. But that's it, man. No more. I'm done. On strike. I have candy to blog about!

Which brings me to ... here. I just got a package of Hershey Bliss in the mail, and it's too early to review, but I will say this... it keeps calling to me. Smooth, melty chocolate--- mmmm! Stay tuned for the full report.

Miscellaneous Ramblings About Gum Wrapper Chains

Sue MKAFFGGF sent me a page out of a catalog for an ultra-chic bag made out of gum wrappers. Very cool. Until I saw the price: $49 for a clutch, $229 for a bag. HUH? It's gum wrappers, friends. Whatever. Then I did a search and apparently you can buy all sorts of things made out of gum wrappers... rugs, wallets, cars. Well, maybe not cars, but you get the point.
I remember when I was little the Ice Cube Queen had a giant chain she was making out of gum wrappers. It was the coolest thing ever. I wonder what happened to it?
A month or two ago when the Von Schokolats were here, I tried making a gum wrapper chain as part of our jewelry-making efforts, but no luck. I got the folding part right, I just couldn't figure out how to attach them. Lame, I know, considering it's an activity for kids. In fact, here are some instructions from that venerable children's magazine/doctors' office staple, Highlights Magazine.

A Disclaimer

Yesterday I had a burst of energy and I thought, "I'm going to figure out this blog stuff!" Not being particularly tech savvy, I know there are all sorts of fun things that I'm missing out on. So, drumroll please-- you can now subscribe to Candy Yum Yum, so you'll know exactly when I've posted something new and exciting in the world of candy. (Just click on the "Subscribe to CYY" link at the right. Hopefully it'll work. If not, it's back to the drawing board.)
Anyhow, in all of my meanderings around the Internet trying to learn stuff, I stumbled upon this frightening tidbit: there's a blog called "Vegan Yum Yum." Oh, the horror! I want you all to know that I'm in no way connected with it. I mean, seriously, can you get more opposite? Candy is all about fun and tastiness; vegans just suck the fun and taste out of everything. When you can't even have honey or Jell-O, for crying out loud, where's the love?

And the Next Holiday Is ...

... National Licorice Day! Mark your calendars, folks. April 12 just happens to be the day when we take a moment to reflect and give thanks for all the twists, nibs, bites, coins, cats, pigs and all the other delicious licoricey yumminess in our lives. To celebrate, I'll be giving away a Red Vines box o' goodies to one lucky reader. Here's all you need to do: leave me a comment saying which you prefer, red or black, and I'll pick a candy lover at random. (Sorry, U.S. and Canada residents only. I don't have time to wait in line at the post office.) I'll announce the winner on April 11.

In Your Easter Bonnet ...

A very Happy Easter to everyone out there in Yum Yum land. May your baskets be brimming with chocolate bunnies, marshmallow Peeps, jelly beans and truffle eggs.

Cookies For the Easter Bunny!

Well, here you have it, gang: a whole mess of cookies made with the Lemon Creme Hershey Kisses I got a few weeks ago. They aren't very pretty but they are mighty tasty. I took a recipe from Mark Bittman's "How to Cook Everything" and tweaked it a bit. If I were to make these again, I'd add lemon zest to the batter and I'd put the dough in the fridge for about an hour before baking so that I could roll it into balls instead of the amorphous blobs we have here. But alas, there's only so much one can do with a toddler pulling on your pants saying, "Cookie!Cookie!Cookie!Puppies!YEAH!"

Hopefully the Easter Bunny will like these so much that he'll leave me a little basket, too!

Lemon Sour Crème Cookies
(adapted from Mark Bittman’s Butter Drop Cookies)

2 cups flour
1 teaspoon baking soda
Pinch salt
1 stick unsalted butter, room temp.
¾ cup sugar
1 tsp. lemon extract
1 egg
½ cup sour cream
Lemon Crème Hershey Kisses


Preheat oven to 375. Combine flour, baking soda and salt in bowl. Place butter and sugar in the mixing bowl of an electric mixer and beat on low until blended and creamy. Add the lemon extract and the egg and beat on low until well combined. Add about half the flour mixture, beat for a moment, then add sour cream. Beat for 10 seconds, then add remaining flour to make a soft batter that can be dropped from a spoon.

Drop rounded spoonfuls onto buttered baking sheets and bake for about 10 minutes or until the edges are browned. While the cookies are still hot, insert an unwrapped Kiss onto the top of each cookie.

Pop Trivia

I came across some interesting trivia today: the "mystery" flavor Dum Dum is actually a combination of two flavors. It's created when one flavor switches to another on the machinery. How bout that!
And here's some more info about everyone's favorite wee lollipop: in February, two new flavors were added, mango and tangerine. Sadly, chocolate, banana and coconut-pineapple will retire.

Sometimes Even My Own Blog Surprises Me!

I just noticed there's an ad down below for candy made by Trappestine nuns. Very cool!

More on the Starbuckery

I have to say, this has been quite an interesting adventure, trying these Starbucks chocolates. Yesterday I sampled the Citron Dark Chocolate Tasting Square. I liked the flavor-- very citrusy-- but I wasn't so keen on the texture. There were little herby things in there that threatened to stick in my teeth. Turns out they were Tazo tea leaves. Hmmm. Enough said.
Tremendous kudos, though, to the Passion Dark Chocolate Tasting Square. This is going to be difficult to imagine, but give it a shot: picture smooth, rich dark chocolate combined with juicy (I mean JUICY, like a hard candy) passionfruit flavor. That's what you get here. It's very odd, almost like eating two different things at once. If you like passionfruit, then you'll be in heaven with these. As for me, well, I've always had a hard time with tropical fruit. When I was doing my sensory training, the tropicals-- guava, papaya, passion, mango-- always confused me. I remember someone likened the flavor of one of them to "dirty vase water," and that was a perfect description. I'm more of an everyday citrus kind of gal. But do try the Passion Dark Chocolate, and let me know what you think!

Starbucks + Chocolate= Yumtastic Deliciousness

I'm a big fan of the Starbuckery. Yes, yes, I know it's a chain. Yes, I know if I quit my caffeine habit I could save $1.5 million a year. But there's just something comforting about the fact that a) wherever I go in the world, there's bound to be a 'Buckery, and b) I know what to expect. And their decaf Mocha was the only thing I could drink during pregnancy, so it will always hold a fond place in my heart. My only problem with them is that they use Tazo for their teas, and I led a solo boycott against Tazo because one of their reps totally dissed me at a trade show one year (as I was offering him the opportunity to have an article written about their stupid chai; no article for you, loser tea guy). Anyhow! The big news has been that Hershey has teamed up with Starbucks to create a new line of chocolates that will be available in stores and at the coffee shops.
Yesterday, a nice sampling of the chocolates arrived.
Now, I will fully disclose that my sense of taste/smell is still off from the Great Flu of 2008, so I can hardly review them for you. But I'll do the best I can.
The first piece I had was a Dark Chocolate Vanilla Bean Truffle. I had to get my schnozz right in there to get a whiff of the chocolate, but when I finally did, it smelled like good stuff. I thought the inside would be a fluffy vanilla center, but it was actually rather solid. That threw me off. But it was good, and the chocolate itself has a nice snap.
Second piece, Milk Chocolate Chai Truffle. Okay, so I lifted my self-imposed ban for these. First off, they're cute. They're shaped like little upside down teacups. As for the flavor, I must say, I was very impressed. When you hear "chai," sometimes you just get a sprinkling of cinnamon. This, however, had a full array of cinnamon, clove and ginger. Very exotic.
The third piece I had was a Dark Chocolate Espresso Truffle. Frankly, I didn't really think this would wow me; I mean, big deal, chocolate and espresso. But hello! Kapow! This was one super tasty, yumtastic chocolate. I mean, deep, dark, chocolatey, espressoey love!
I stopped myself there, but next up are Milk Chocolate Caffe Mocha Truffles, tasting squares in Milk, Dark, Mocha Dark, Chai Milk, Passion Dark and Citron Dark, as well as Milk Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans.
I really think this is a good thing that Starbucks is doing, because frankly they have the worst pastries ever. And what's a cup of coffee without a little nibble to go with it?

Happy St. Patti's Day!

May you find a pot of gold chocolate coins at the end of your Skittles' rainbow!

A Politically Incorrect Wee Blessing from the Baron

God Bless your name sake; you brought Christianity to the Green Isle. And now this celebration, brings us green beer, the endless hunt for the ideal four leaf clover and of course keeping our eyes open for a drunk leprechaun who might have lost his pot of gold. A Merry Saint Patti's Day to all. I plan on wearing this out with some customers Monday night.
P.S. - Sorry for any politically incorrect wording or viewpoints that might offend the Witchen/Pagan readers in Candy Yum Yum. I will send Halloween Pictures to show my equal support of all religious holidays.

"Right, Lisa, a wonderful, magical animal." *

It's not every day that Sue MKAFFGGF and I get a press release that we can share. But it turns out that the mischievous imps who created the absinthe lollipop have a new flavor out: Maple Bacon. I haven't tried these (and frankly, that's fine with me), but it just makes me wonder: who are all these people who enjoy pork products with their sugary treats?

Well, as it turned out, a reader happened to write me looking for suggestions for hard candy with savory flavors. Her sister-in-law suffers from a condition that won't allow her to eat solids anymore, but she'd like to find some way to experience the taste of food. I wonder if these will fit the bill? In any case, you can order these unique goodies at www.lollyphile.com. In the meantime, can anyone suggest any other hard candies with savory tastes?

(*Homer: Are you saying you're never going to eat any animal again? What about bacon?

Lisa: No.

Homer: Ham?

Lisa: No.

Homer: Pork chops?

Lisa: Dad, those all come from the same animal.

Homer: Heh heh heh. Ooh, yeah, right, Lisa. A wonderful, magical animal.")

Bon Bons and Chicken Soup

Hello? Anyone out there? I'm back from the dead. Hooboy, what a week, but today (fingers crossed, knocking on wood, throwing salt over my shoulder, locking the black cat in the closet) I'm starting to feel better. Fortunately, during my time of ailment I had these bad boys to keep me company. (Only imagine an egg-shaped container, not a Christmas tree.) I was very excited to receive a box of Ferrero Prestige, "an assortment of fine confections sure to delight the senses."

I've always been a fan of the Rocher. After all, what's not to love? Crispy wafer, rich smooth chocolate, whole hazelnut-- deleesh! But when I saw that they had come out with a dark chocolate goodie, I was way excited. Cybele did a spot-on review of these over at Candyblog. I completely agree with her when she said she expected the Rondnoir to just be a dark chocolate version of the original. But oh no, my friends. It's a completely different taste sensation. Instead of a nut in the center, there's a "black pearl" of chocolate, which is surrounded by creamy chocolate and then a crisp wafer, which is all crunched out with little chocolate cookie pieces. Very nice.

I was just as excited to try to the Garden Coco. Here's the description on the package:
"A savory combination of rich coconut cream surrounding a sweet almond, within a delicate crisp wafer... topped with meringue and shredded coconut." It was very sweet, very yummy and very tropical. It reminded me of Jamaica, even though I don't think I ate any coconut there. Tasting these made me realize that I really give white chocolate a bum rap. Sure, it's not "chocolate," by definition, and it certainly won't satisfy a chocolate craving, but it's good stuff in its own right. I need to be more tolerant. In any case, these "confections" were a bright spot of happiness during an otherwise not-so-fun week.

Please Stand By

The Candy Yum Yum staff has been quarantined due to the black plague. We'll post again as soon as we get our sense of taste back.

A is for Atomic Fireball

The problem with doing paintings of candy is that sometimes I end up eating my subject before I finish the artwork. Here's my latest: A is for Atomic Fireballs, and a picture of all of my ATCs together. I'm getting there. Next up, maybe B is for Bazooka or (Candy) Buttons.

I'm All Ears

Is this totally cute or what? It's a chocolate rabbit with four extra sets of ears, because that's what everyone eats first. You can get it at The Popcorn Factory.

Correction

Oops! I mentioned in the black jelly bean post that I was afraid they'd go the way of the black Jujy Fruit and Jeanna caught my mistake. No, black Jujy's are still around (whew!). I was thinking of the green ones that used to be mint but are now lime.

Exciting News!

I'm quite pleased to announce that Sue MKAFFGGF has started her own blog! It's called "Hops & Chops" and it's all about her love affair with beer and meat. Huzzah! Get on over there and check it out. Let's spread the bloggedy love to her. Now we just need someone to start a blog about bread and wine and we'll have all the major food groups covered.

Breaking News on the Homefront!

My mother sent me an e-mail. She and my father are officially addicted to Hot Tamales. They bought three boxes yesterday. Excellent!

Gretl Gives Them Two Thumbs Up!

The elder von Schokolats and I spent an evening tasting wines from the Baron's collection and we put the wee ones to work pouring for us. As a reward, I busted out some GudFud (sorry, I don't know how to make the umlauts) stuffed marshmallows that were kindly sent to me.

"Stuffed marshmallow?" you ask. Why yes. These little cutie-pies are like squished 'mallows stuffed with either chocolate, grape, strawberry or orange.

Gretl popped one of the strawberry ones into her mouth and literally shouted "Yummy!"

Liesel went for the chocolate one and very accurately compared the chocolate taste to a Tootsie Roll. I completely agreed with her. I had planned to try to roast some of them in the fireplace but I never got that far. The wine, you know.

I'd comment on the other fruit flavors, but they somehow mysteriously disappeared. All I could find were empty wrappers in Gretl's bed. Clearly *someone* loved them.

So here's the thing. If you're craving a candy bar, these won't satisfy that urge. However, if you're looking for something a little sweet but don't want to totally pig out, these are just the item. A package of three has only 50 calories. You can't beat that!

Start Stock Piling!

It struck me the other day that Easter is coming up very soon, so I hit the seasonal aisle at the grocery store and got some Russell Stover eggs-- coconut cream, caramel and marshmallow and vanilla cream. Can I just say that the coconut cream egg smells exactly like Easter?! Take a whiff; that's what I associate Easter with. Anyhow, I also wanted to get some black jelly beans and was shocked to find that they aren't as popular as I thought. I had to scour the entire aisle, looking through bags of speckled jelly eggs, spice beans, and all sorts of other "branded" jelly beans before I finally found a few measly bags of all-black. What's the deal? Aren't black jelly beans an Easter standard?

A friend came over yesterday and when she saw the bag on the counter, she commented how she and her husband both love black jellybeans. So much so that her mother-in-law stocks up on them and puts them in the freezer for them. "Who puts jelly beans in the freezer?" my friend said. I can't say I've ever heard of that, but it might not be such a bad idea. I worry that black jelly beans may be going the way of the black Jujy Fruit.

I Am Not Sitting On the Couch Eating Bon Bons

It's 12:25 and the Sugar Baby is napping. I'm supposed to be editing my book, as I've signed up for NaNoEdMo (National Novel Editing Month), but instead I'm here at Candy Yum Yum, with a blanket on me and the laptop making my legs all toasty warm. And alas, the Coconut Creme egg I bought this morning at the grocery store is calling to me. It's saying, "You don't need lunch. You need chocolate. I am creamy and delicious and will fill your tummy with gladness and your heart with joy. Come get me." But it's in the kitchen and I'm so comfy. Can someone please go get it for me? Thanks.

A Call to the CYY Reference Library

The phone rang the other day.

Me: "Hello?"

Alexandra: "Did you know that Hershey's makes both the Skor bar AND the Heath bar?!" (Not even a hello!)

Me: "I'm off to research this." Click.

She was causing quite a kerfuffle. She was in the mood for toffee and decided to take a closer look at the two. Yes, it's true, both are made by Hershey, and both have practically identical ingredients, except for Heath, which also has partially hydrogenated goopdy goo. How perplexing. Why on earth would Hershey make two such similar products? And do they really taste that different? I told her we have to do a blind taste test now. This should be fun!

These, Not So Much

There's something plain and simple and nice and celebratory about a bowl of Hershey Kisses. No, they're not fabulous chocolate, but still, they're good and they make people happy. The Hershey Kiss Trio, however, doesn't have the same effect as evidenced by this still-full bowl. I put these out when the von Schokolats were here, and then I also had them out when I had a house-full of people. And guess what? They're still sitting here.

The "Trio" name comes from the fact that they're white, dark and milk chocolate. Sounds good enough. But there's just something unappealing about these. They're very creamy. Maybe too much so. And they don't have that basic, chocolatey Hershey taste to them. I don't know. I can't figure it out. It's not that they're bad. It's just that they're not good.