Sweet, sweet Friday

I had a banner day on Friday. 1) I was writing a nostalgia piece about a bakery from my youth-- a bakery that made the best doughnuts and giant chocolate chip cookies ever. They closed four years ago. By some sprinkling of magic fairy dust, I discovered that the bakery had re-opened just two months ago. I am pleased to report that the cinnamon doughnuts and the cookies are even better than I remembered and I'm now able to pass this tradition on to the Sugar Baby who ate such a huge cookie that he had a stomach ache. And 2) I came home to find a giant box of all sorts of candy on my doorstep. The National Confectioners Association will be hosting their Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago next week, but unfortunately, I won't be able to attend due to No-Nuts' college graduation. But the good news is, I now have 25 pounds of all sorts of new and exciting candy to share with you all thanks to the kind folks at the NCA. So between the new/old bakery and the candy extravaganza, my diet is pretty much shot. Luckily the Reese's Kid and the Carry On Candy Girl will be here for a week to help me taste test.
In the meantime, I couldn't wait to try the Reese's Minis. I suppose I should've saved them for the Reese's Kid, but I only have so much willpower. The package says, "Conveniently Unwrapped Mini Cups." These are ideal for the Sugar Baby, who often forgets that Reese's have a cup wrapper and doesn't remember until he realizes he's chewing paper.
For contrast, I decided to compare them to Palmer Peanut Butter Cups. Now, in the past I've been known to comment on the fact that Palmer "chocolates" don't really contain any chocolate. This, again, is the case. The ingredients are: sugar, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, peanut butter, whey, lactose, cocoa, peanut flour, skim milk, salt emulsifiers and vanillin. Compare that with the Reese's which contain: milk chocolate, peanuts, sugar, dextrose, cocoa butter, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, salt, PGPR (an emulsifier) and TBHQ (a preservative).
Hmmm. It's safe to say that neither is a health food. Both contain partially hydrogenated oil, or as I like to call it, the devil's fat. Just because Reese's contains milk chocolate doesn't mean I should go getting all snotty about the Palmer peanut butter cups.
So here's the breakdown: the little Reese's Minis were cute and would be great for cookies. As for just plain eating, though, I prefer the larger cups. It's strictly a textural thing. I like the thick rim of chocolate on the normal sized cups.
The Palmer cups were actually not bad, especially considering the fact that I expected them to be gritty and nasty. Would I take them over the Reese's? No. But it would be interesting to a more in-depth blind taste test at some point. I'll put that on my list of things to do. In the meantime, here's a little teaser of just some of the candies I'll be talking about this week:

• Mike and Ike Bubblegum
• Wonka Whipped Wingers Gummies
• Necco Wafers Chocolate
• Starburst Summer Fun Fruits
• Ferrara Chocolate Milk Chocolate Strawberry
• Goetze's Double Chocolate Bullseyes ...
• and much, much more!