Easter review

The Ice Cube Queen sent me an e-mail on Easter. She was dismayed that I had no coverage of Easter candy. What can I say? Better late than never, that's what!
The Easter Bunny did indeed visit our house and left the Sugar Baby a basket filled with Starburst jelly beans, a tube of orange M&Ms that looked like a carrot, a mini carton of Whopper's malted milk eggs, a "Snapsy" bunny, which you break into pieces, and this:

a bag of Russell Stover Iddy Biddy Bunnies.


Look how cute!

The Easter Bunny also scored big points with these: two cans of "Kidffitti Spray Chalk."

Now I'm just taking a guess here, but I think the Bunny must've thought these were a good idea at the time. But I'm guessing he didn't really think things through, considering 1) it's like training spray paint for a future graffiti artist and 2) the big sticker on the cap that says, "REMOVE CHALK WITHIN 24 HOURS WITH A BRUSH AND WARM SOAPY WATER." So yes, I spent the latter part of Easter scrubbing the back patio with soap and a brush. And guess what? It didn't really come off completely. Color me surprised.

You win some, you lose some

Yes, Easter came and went without a peep (no pun intended!) from Candy Yum Yum! I took lots of pictures of some of the new candy that I saw on the shelves, but I just wasn't motivated this season. Even the Easter Bunny didn't really pull through for the Sugar Baby. He brought some jelly beans, some gummies and a chocolate rabbit, but overall it wasn't a big sugar rush here. I guess I've just been in a candy funk lately. That doesn't mean I haven't been eating candy, of course. It's just that there's not much to say about eating half a bag of Hershey Kisses, especially when you only meant to eat four.

In any case, here's something new that I tried recently: a Trader Joe's PB&J Milk Chocolate Bar. My first thought was, why ruin a peanut butter cup with jelly? But then I tried it. It's a different taste experience than a peanut butter cup. Obviously, first of all it's a bar. The peanut butter is very smooth and creamy and the jelly is more like the liquid filling you find in "fancy" candy bars, like the Godiva raspberry bar. It wasn't overly sweet, which I liked. I would definitely do this one again.
However, the same can't be said about the Snickers 3X Chocolate. Snickers with three times the chocolate? What's not to love, right? Well, let me just say that this bar was a dud. It was actually 2 mini bars inside one package. I like that concept, because sometimes you just don't want a whole candy bar. The description says "milk chocolate, chocolate flavored nougat, chocolate caramel and peanuts." All of that adds up to, well, practically no taste difference between the ingredients. I missed the lip-puckering maltiness of the regular Snickers nougat and the chocolate caramel just seemed blah. I really uphold Snickers as probably the most iconic candy bar, so this was a huge disappointment.

Allergen-free candy from Gimbal's

I don't often run stuff straight from a press release (Candy Yum Yum is one place where I can be blissfully free from marketing banter), but in this case, I was impressed enough to want to share this info with you. (And, coincidentally enough, I happened to buy a bag of Gimbal's jelly beans the other day specifically because they're made in the U.S. and don't contain high fructose corn syrup). So here you go. Check this out:  

"Gimbal’s Fine Candies confectionary is one of the only major confectionary manufacturers in the USA that has committed to be free of the eight major food ingredients that are responsible for over 90% of food allergies. These food allergens include peanuts, tree nuts, milk, eggs, wheat, soy, fish and shellfish. In order to eliminate risk of cross contamination, these eight foods are not included in Gimbal’s recipes, nor are they permitted inside their production and packaging facilities.  

Additionally, the company is proud to manufacture all its confections right here in the United States, so people know when they purchase any candy, they are supporting American made products and jobs."

Easter's on its way!

Hey Easter Peeps! It's been a while, I know, but rest assured: candy is still always on my mind. Of course, the big day is coming up and I've been on the lookout for something new and fun to try this Easter. I was very excited to find coconut Hershey Kisses. I liked these a lot. They don't have an overwhelming suntan lotion flavor like many coconut-flavored things tend to have, and they had bits of toasted coconut mixed in the cream filling, which gave them a nice texture.
Last week I had wisdom tooth removed, so the night before I thought I'd finish off my last meal with some Cadbury Mini Eggs. Man, was I disappointed. For some reason, the candy shells weren't crunchy. I don't know if it had anything to do with the freak warm weather we were experiencing or what, but it didn't make for the chocolate orgy I had been anticipating.

And last but not least in my Easter stash is a Lindt Gold Bunny. This is my favorite bunny to give and receive. The chocolate is smooth and creamy and, although it's hollow, it's got pretty thick walls. This year, Lindt is doing something that's really cool. They're donating 10 cents for every bunny purchased to Autism Speaks, a science and advocacy organization. They're also donating $1 for every free Lindt Easter e-card sent. Check it out at www.lindtgoldbunny.com. 

More Easter Sweetness

Marshmallow seems to be a big thing this Easter. I had high hopes for these 3 Musketeers Marshmallow squares. I was fantasizing that they'd be soft and slightly gooey, like marshmallow tends to be. Sadly, they were not. The insides were just like a regular 3 Musketeers-- that kind of whipped, slightly nougatey/fudgey texture-- and had that strange 3 Musketeers throat burn. The marshmallow part was, I guess, the flavor, but I'm thinking that if you gave one of these to someone without telling them what it was, they'd say it was a plain ol' Musketeers bar.I have the chocolate-covered Peeps Peepsters on my list for this week. They're on sale at CVS, if I can ever get over there.In the meantime, Mr. Lindt Easter Bunny is anxiously awaiting spring. It's taken all my will power this week not to chomp off his ears. Hopefully my strength will hold out until Easter, although I wouldn't bet on it.

Good mailboxes make good neighbors

Who has the best neighbors? I do! I do! Big Tony and the Necco Door Neighbor clan asked if I could bring in their mail last week while they went off on a jaunt. At first I thought it was just a ruse, that they were just trying to show off their new mega-awesome, kick-butt mailbox they had installed after this winter of discontent (in which the town snow plow sheared away everyone's mailboxes). But they really did go away, as evidenced by this:the motherlode of Cape Cod chocolatey goodness.
When the doorbell rang last night, I thought it was yet another pizza being delivered (mistakenly) to the House of Yum (123 Chocolate Hill Road) instead of the House of People Who Eat Pizza Nearly Every Night (123 Chocolate Road). But to my happy surprise (and clearly, someone else's), it was the Necco Door Neighbor bearing a bag o' candy.

I love, love, love the big egg with the vignettes of the bunnies busily toiling away at the Easter eggs. The Sugar Baby and I have been playing "Easter egg hunt" all day with the little foil eggs inside.
The chocolate-dipped Peeps are great; kind of gives you an excuse to eat the whole darn row at once. (Not that I'd ever do that, of course.)
And look at that deviled egg from Chatham Candy Manor. Is that not the cutest thing ever? I LOVE this.
Last but not least, we have about 20 pounds of Bailey's Irish Creme fudge from the Provincetown Fudge Factory. (Insert your own joke here.)
So what's the lesson we learn here? It's two-fold. First, when you move, make sure you get cool neighbors. And second, when they ask you to take in their mail, say, hell yeah I will! (Even if you do kind of feel jealous of their fancy mailbox with the slide-out tray.)

Creme Egg Cad-apult!

Feeling a little passive-aggressive? You've got to try this: http://www.returnofthegoo.ca/en/

Putting the Choco Treasure Egg to the Test

I had to do it, folks. I had to find out about the Easter Choco Treasure first hand. I shelled out the buck and put the egg in my purse so as to hide it from the Sugar Baby. Of course, what did he see when he was getting out of the car? There was no way I was going to give it to him, so I told him it was his special surprise for afterschool. Then I swapped it with a Cadbury Caramel Egg (made in Canada).
So here's what I found.
Upon uncrinkling the foil wrapper, it gives the recommendation for children 3+. Too bad you can't see that more readily. Once you tear off the foil, the chocolate egg immediately separates into two halves and a pretty heavy-duty yellow egg capsule is exposed. This is the secret to getting FDA compliance, I'm sure. Because the chocolate breaks away, you know what part you're supposed to eat and which part you're not supposed to ingest. My egg contained a strip of stickers.
Now for the real test. The taste test. Frankly, it wasn't too bad. I expected the absolute worst, but this was decent enough. If I was a kid on Easter morning, I'd definitely chow this down.
But my kid will not be chomping on one of these. I'm back on my "no-chocolate-from-China" horse. Not only do we need to keep jobs here in this great country, but we also need to make sure we do our best to know what goes into our kids' mouths. When it comes to candy that's shipped from the other side of the world in a country with no regulations, it just ain't happening in this house.

Easter in the U.S.A.

This is the time of year when people start stocking up on Easter candy, thinking that by some miracle they'll be able to resist the sweet siren call of that bag of black jelly beans squirreled away in the closet. Good luck with that. In the meantime, I've been scouting out the aisles, looking for new candy and candy that's made in the U.S.A.-- not as easy to find as you'd think. There's Peep's, everyone's favorite marshmallowy delight, including (apparently) Justin Bieber, who was doused with hundreds of them on Conan recently.Russell Stover eggs are "Proudly Made in the U.S." according to the caramel egg package.
There are Lindt bunnies and ladybugs, some of which are made in Stratham, N.H. (where my wonderful friend formerly known as KrisFromFlorida, now KrisFromNewHampshire, just got a job; BOOYAH!). Pez are made in Connecticut and the store shelves are stocked with bags of little mini Easter Pez. Yes, there is candy out there that is made in the U.S.; you just have to hunt for it.Having said all that, I was pretty surprised to find these on the shelves: Easter Choco' Treasure. These are chocolate eggs that have a plastic capsule inside that contains a toy. As anyone who's ever traveled to Canada or Europe knows, there is a similar product (made in Italy) called Kinder Surprise. These are chocolate eggs (and really yummy chocolate, I might add) that contain a capsule with usually a very clever little toy inside. In January, a woman was stopped at the border between Canada and U.S. and found herself in a bit of hot water because she was found to be carrying in a contraband Kinder Surprise. Yes, the eggs are banned by the FDA because they pose a choking hazard. Hmmm. So how did the Easter Choco' Treasure (made in China) make it onto the shelves?
I've done a little searching, but still have yet to come up with an answer. I'm not the only one. The Surfing Pizza has asked the very same question (although he was brave enough to actually buy a bunch). As one might expect, he wasn't enamored with the chocolate, and was even more disappointed by the toy.

Let the Easter reviews begin!

I must admit, I've been in a huge candy rut lately. Nothing has excited me. My sugar soul is weary. Fortunately, Easter candy has arrived! My first foray into the land of springtime candy is Dove Coconut Creme eggs. I was not thrilled that they were covered in milk chocolate; doesn't every candy aficionado know that coconut goes best with dark chocolate? In any case, I wanted to try these. The Sugar Baby had one last night and said, "Coconutastic!" He likes them.
Then I handed some over to the Easter Island statues that have taken up residence in my home. They seemed suspicious at first. The Rapa Nui king had this to say: "They are tasty, but unfortunately have that sort of fake coconut/suntan lotion flavor. If they had been made with dark chocolate, they would be better. Also, I wish the creme was fluffy instead of the same consistency as the chocolate. Still, they're better than a kick in the head."

Make Your Own Creme Eggs!

I'm not a big fan of Cadbury Creme Eggs-- way too sweet for me-- but when my friend KrisFromHawaii sent me a link on how to make your own on Instructables, I thought that was really cool. But then when I saw that they are having a candy making contest, well now.... Check it out.

Easter Sugar Crash 2010

Well my goodness gracious, I'm wiped out. These candy holidays can really take a toll on a person. So much build-up to the big day and then CRASH! Too. Much. Candy. Must. Have. Salad.
In any case, let's tie up a few loose Easter ends.When life (or the mailman) gives you a See's Easter candy catalog, you make puppets. That's what we've been doing for weeks. Cutting and taping pictures of chocolates onto popsicle sticks. The Sugar Baby asked me to draw sad faces on them. (I'll be accepting donations for his future therapy via PayPal.) He currently has them all nestled inside his lunchbox and he sleeps with them. Trader Joe's offered milk chocolate peanut butter eggs this year. What can I say? They were good, but nothing can ever compare to a Reese's egg with its perfect balance of sweet and salty. Really, there's no reason for any company to ever make a chocolate peanut butter candy because Reese's will always win out.
The Sugar Baby got these adorable bottles of bubbles in his Easter basket. They look like Peeps and the bubbles smell like them, too. Fun!

So Yumsters, what was in your Easter baskets? Do tell!

Happy Easter Everyone!

Happy Easter Yumsters! I hope the Easter Bunny has brought you all the yumminess in the world. As you can see, the Sugar Baby got a big basket full of candy and toys. Hooray! The Reese's Pieces carrot seems to be a particular hit.
And here we have some of Chef Sugar Baby's Easter creations: Easy Easter Nests with Eggs and sugar cookies, which were supposed to be for dessert today, but strangely, there are only a few left.
Have a wonderful, joyous Easter!

An Easter Basket Primer

(The Easter Bunny paid an early visit to the von Schokolats' this weekend)

I thought I'd write up an Easter basket primer for those of you who may be creating your first-ever basket. There are three types of baskets for you to choose from: Old Skool, Contemporary and pre-packaged.

Let's start with the easy one: pre-packaged. These are the baskets that are sold at drug stores. They usually contain cheap candy and even cheaper toys. These are a travesty and should be banned from the earth forever. Under no circumstances should you ever buy one of these, unless you are Eastern Orthodox and your Easter happens to fall a week later than everyone else and they're the only things left on the shelves.

An Old Skool Easter basket must contain at least three of the following:

• Plastic Easter grass that gets everywhere
• Chocolate bunny (hollow is fine; bonus points if it's driving a race car or holding a carrot)
• Big fat jelly beans-- a bag of mixed colors and a bag of black
• Peeps
• Those weird eggs that have a candy shell and mysterious marshmallowy-type center
• Foil-wrapped chocolate eggs
• Malted milk eggs
• Panoramic sugar eggs
• Paddle ball
• Stuffed bunny
• Play Doh, chalk or bubbles

Contemporary:

• A really good quality bunny, definitely solid
• "Gourmet" jelly beans
• Homemade marshmallows
• Truffle eggs
• DVDs

So ... what's going in your Easter basket?

See's Easter Candies: Go for the Truffles!

The See's Easter catalog arrived just in time the other day. I took a nap while the Sugar Baby sat in bed next to me and "read" it. Here's what I love about the See's catalog: it's very comforting as opposed to, say, the Vosges Haut Chocolat catalog which makes me feel like I'm standing in some funky New York bar all by myself wearing sweat pants. Does that make sense? I'm just not hip enough for bacon-flavored chocolate Easter eggs. I'm more of a purist. Anyhow.
I was offered some samples of their Easter offerings and here's what I have to report.

Assorted Decorated Eggs: these come in a package of six small eggs, two each of Vanilla Chip, Bordeaux (Brown Sugar buttercream) and Chocolate Butter. Each egg is about three decent bites big. I know this because Mr. Goodbar and I tried to evenly divide the eggs after the recent chocolate debacles in the House of Yum. These are the perfect size because they are most certainly rich. In fact, it was impossible to hold them for longer than a minute because they melted so quickly. My favorite was the Bordeaux. It reminded me of penuche fudge. I'm not sure which Mr. Goodbar preferred, but he obviously liked them all. At $5.40 for a box of six, these are a fun, affordable hostess gift (or perhaps a gift from the Easter Bunny).

The second thing I tried were Jelly Bird Eggs. These really intrigued me because they're unique: little jelly eggs coated in white nonpareils. The flavors (according to the catalog) are lime with orange peel, lemon with orange peel and raspberry preserves. Unfortunately, I'd never guess that by taste alone. I was expecting a big burst of citrus flavor, but instead it was more of a super sugary bland gumdrop. It's too bad, because they're so pretty.

The last thing I tried were their Springtime Truffles, little white chocolate squares with raspberry and lemon centers. I pulled these out from hiding when No-Nuts arrived back for spring break. That's when all hell broke loose. These truffles are big time yummy. The lemon is deliciously tart with flecks of real lemon zest and the raspberry ones are like biting into a chocolate-covered berry. There were five in the box, leaving the three of us to fight over the remaining two. They're still talking about the truffles even though they're long gone. I might have to order a few more boxes.

Check 'em out at www.sees.com.

For the Hostest with the Mostest

If I was of the age where my friends were getting married, I'd be totally rocking this as my go-to gift. Who wouldn't want a Lenox Peeps Salt and Pepper set? If they come out with flatware, I'm signing up.

Chocolate Covered Peeps

I went to Walgreen's last week in a driving rain storm to buy some pain patches for my back because, you know, I'm old. The only saving grace of this trip was that I knew I'd get to check out the Easter candy.
I think Easter offers the most variety of any of the candy holidays: Halloween, Christmas and Valentine's. I love seeing all the different bunny- and egg-shaped candies and of course, marshmallow is majorly predominant. I loves me some good marshmallow. So I was thrilled to buy a dark chocolate covered Peep. (They also come in milk chocolate.)
It sure is a pretty thing, all shiny and dark. I wasn't sure what to expect on the inside, but it turned out to be bright yellow (like a Peep) only without the sparkly sugar coating. Unfortunately, I thought these had just a slightly medicinal taste to them and the chocolate was pretty grainy. The fact that the majority of the Peep has sat on my desk uneaten for about five days says something. It says, if you want a Peep, buy a box of Peeps. If you want chocolate-covered marshmallow, go for the Russell Stover.
In other Peep news, I went to the mall today and now that the Sugar Baby is old enough to notice such things, I realized that there are candy machines and claw game machines everywhere. He found one particularly enticing: a machine full of big, clear bouncy balls with Peeps in the center. They were pretty cool, I must admit. I was almost tempted to give him the 50 cents to try it. But then I thought better of it. No need to start that bad habit yet.

Let the Easter Fun Begin!

Isn't it amazing how quickly all the Valentine's candy was cleared away and replaced by Easter candy? There was barely any time for the shelves to be empty before they were loaded up with jelly beans and chocolate bunnies.
My first official Easter purchase was a bag of Sour Patch Bunnies. It was a difficult choice between those or Swedish Fish Eggs.
If you didn't tell me these were bunnies, I'm not sure what I'd think they were. They sort of resemble a bottle of Aunt Jemima pancake syrup. I hadn't had any Sour Patch candies in a long time, so I'd forgotten how much I like them. These are one of the few sour candies that start off and stay sour. The flavors are bright, fresh and citrusy-- a nice juxtaposition to the usual super sweet Easter basket offerings.

Cadbury Mini Eggs Smackdown: U.K. vs. U.S.

Exhibit A: Cadbury Mini Eggs from the U.K.
Exhibit B: Cadbury Mini Eggs from the U.S.

Bazooka Betsy and her candy-hating other half presented me with two baggies of Cadbury Mini Eggs the other day. They had gotten some genuine, bona fide British eggs from some friends and they were excited for me to taste the difference.
“They really taste different!” said Monsieur Candy Hater, as if I would be surprised by this. Of course they’d taste different. Any chocolate aficionado knows there’s a big difference between chocolate from the U.S. (often not even really chocolate) and chocolate from overseas (often better quality).
I was sure I’d like the U.K. version much better.
Guess what? I was wrong. Pretty shocking, actually.
The American version was milkier and the shell was sweeter, as opposed to the U.K. eggs which weren’t as milky and the shells had a slight sour tang to them.
A note about Cadbury Mini Eggs: people, even those who aren’t necessarily “candy people,” tend to go bonkers over these. Sue MKAFFGGF and the Golden Nose apparently went through several bagfuls throughout March. I think I’m one of the few people who can really take ‘em or leave ‘em. If they’re around, I’ll eat them, but I don’t think I’ve ever bought a bag for myself. What about you? Are you obsessed?

Thanks Easter Bunny! Bok! Bok!*

Look who was here! The Easter Bunny! As of 8 a.m., the Sugar Baby had devoured the entire cartridge of cherry Pez. Let's see what fun and mayhem that brings on. So far he's loved playing with the foil-wrapped eggs-- arranging them, counting them. He does NOT like the purple Easter grass and the chocolate bunny is questionable. He still hasn't discovered that the Easter Bunny hid some chocolate carrots in the coffee tree:

But wait! What's this? An Easter basket for me? Leave it to my mom! A basket just like the strawberry one I had made her, but this one is filled with a bunny, a caramel egg, a coconut creme egg and-- oh yeah!-- champagne. I have the best mom in the whole world! (Hopefully the Sugar Baby will say the same about me when he's 16 and wants a skateboard and video games instead of--or in addition to-- candy.)

Cheers! Happy Easter everyone!

(*If you get this reference, you're a product of the '80s. If not, ask your parents!)