Jive talking

You might've heard about all the crazy snow we've been having up here in the Northeast. If memory serves me correctly, we've had five snow days since Martin Luther King, Jr. Day. Crazy. Yesterday I had 2 1/2 precious hours to myself while the Sugar Baby was in school, so I went to the spa went to Costco, the dollar store and, for some unknown reason, Aldi's. Well, actually I know the reason. I made a wrong turn and ended up in the Aldi parking lot and thought, what the heck. Let me just go in. I've decided that place completely and totally creeps me out, but they do have some interesting candy. (At least from what I could see, thanks to the woman who parked her cart right in front of all the chocolate and couldn't be bothered to move it. Harumph!) In any case, I found two things of note. The first was a Route 1 Jive bar: "Crunchy biscuit topped with caramel and a creamy milk chocolate coating." Uh oh, chocolate "coating." But since it was only 49 cents, I figured what the heck. I love the description on the back of the wrapper:
"Candy bars are loved by millions worldwide. With so many made every year, they could easily stretch right across the USA-- all along Route 66!" Um, what? The bar is called Route 1 but now they're talking about Route 66. To further confuse, it's made in Germany. I don't pretend to understand. As for the taste, it was very similar to a Twix, although ever so slightly larger. These weighed in at 2.1 oz., whereas a regular Twix is 2 oz.
When I eat a Twix, I like to pull part of the caramel off the top with my teeth to reveal the little holes in the cookie part underneath. You couldn't really do that with the Jive. The top layer of cookie came off onto the caramel, so I couldn't tell if there were holes in the cookie or not. All in all, though, this was a pretty good candy bar, even if it was chocolate "coating" and for 49 cents, it was a bargain.The other find was a Choceur "Deliciously Crispy Peanuts & Flakes" (Rich Milk Chocolate with Crunchy Peanuts and Cornflakes). Now, you know how I feel about Ritter Sport Cornflake. It is my favorite candy bar of all time. So I was nervous to try this. Frankly, I thought the peanuts wouldn't be a good addition. But I have to say, this is a damn good candy bar. The combination of peanuts and cornflakes gives it an almost peanut brittle-like taste. I still prefer the Ritter, but then I did the math. The Choceur was $1.99 for 7.05 oz., versus the Ritter which is $2.69 for 3.5 oz. Clearly the Choceur is the better choice. I just wish Aldi wasn't so creepy.

The Best Candy of 2010 (and the Worst, and the Strangest)

Happy New Year everyone! I hope you all had a wonderful Christmas. Looking back at 2010, I feel like it was kind of a low-key candy year. There weren't a lot of new candy releases, and there wasn't much that totally rocked my world. But, having said that, there were some definite highlights to the year.
Worst Candy of 2010
Let's get the negative stuff out of the way first. Unfortunately, it's usually pretty easy for me to pick the year's worst candy, and 2010 was no exception.The Sugar Baby got a nasty expired Chick-o-Stick and Cow Tale in his trick-or-treat bag, although I can't really claim that was the worst, since it had everything to do with the date and nothing to do with the product. So the winner (or loser, I suppose) is Haviland Wintergreen Mint Patty. I don't feel too bad saying that, since the product has since been discontinued. Their Orange Mint Patties, however, are delicious.

Most Unusual
The most unusual candy I tried this year was a Shiitake Mushroom Truffle. What was even stranger than the truffle was the post I wrote about it.

Other candies of note that I tried this year included:

Some more deliciousness from Q.bel (which was the Best Candy of 2009).

I took one for the team and sampled some Sorbee Sugar Free Chocolate.

There were near-riots in the house between me, Mr. Goodbar and No-Nuts over See's Easter Truffles.

I was excited to try Toblerone Fruit and Nut.
I loved the whole concept and taste of South 'n France Bon Bons (especially the coconut ones).

Wonka impressed me with their new bars, Marvels and fruit jellies.

While not my all-time favorite M&M flavor, the Pretzel ones were fun to try and a good option for dieters.

A company I'd never even heard of before-- DeMet's-- surprised me with their yummy caramel Treasures, and the fact that they're made just a few towns away from me.

Best new packaging goes to Crown Nuggets Creme & Liquor-Filled Caramels.
People
2010 was a year for personalities. The Sugar Baby introduced me to "Mr. Candy," an invisible (hopefully) character in his life. He came up in several conversations before fading away.

I made some new friends this year. Kendra from Ontario, I still owe you some chocolates! I haven't forgotten. You're the sweetest!

The Candy Professor brought some real street cred to the candy world.

I was so psyched to be able to interview April Winchell, a.k.a. Helen Killer from Regretsy, about her father's role as the Tootsie Pop Owl voice.
And someone actually wanted to interview me! I love Jen's blog, My Morning Chocolate.

A fun event for me was a conversation about candy that actually turned into a three-part news story.

And what a way to end the year. Yumster Philly sent me a photo of a cupcake that she created from my drawing of Mr. Candy Corn! How awesome is that?!

Birthdays

2010 was the year of the big 4-0 for me and lots of my friends. Candy buffets and gifts were plentiful.
There was also the Sugar Baby's 4th birthday which was a candy theme.
And now, the moment you've all been waiting for. What was the best candy of 2010? I've narrowed it down to the following:

Green & Black's Organic Milk Chocolate Peanut: caramelized peanuts with sea salt in creamy milk chocolate.
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits: "a crunchy mix of almonds, cashews, pumpkin seeds, pistachios and sweet toffee. They're kettle cooked in small batches, then dipped in rich, dark chocolate and sprinkled with just a touch of Fleur de Sel, for a superbly sweet and slightly salty treat."
Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme: Creamy, crunchy and tangy.
Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Shortbread Stars: Lovely dark chocolate and crunchy cookies.
Trader Joe's Pound Plus Milk Chocolate: Seriously creamy, decadent milk chocolate.

Hmmm. Notice a trend here? Trader Joe's did a bang-up job this year in the confection department. I suppose I have to disqualify the chocolate stars, though, as they are really cookies. I loved the Ritter Sport Strawberry Creme, but I still prefer their Cornflake version, so that rules that one out. I think I have to say, based on taste, uniqueness and all-around good lovin', I'm going to choose Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Nutty Bits as the Best Candy of 2010. Would you believe I don't even have a picture? It just so happened that I tried these during a time when I was having camera woes. In any case, I would have preferred to choose a candy that is readily available throughout most of the U.S., so my apologies to you Yumsters who don't have a TJ's near you. Perhaps 2011 will be a more all-inclusive year.

Here's hoping that 2011 will be the sweetest year yet!

Ritter Sport Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme: Somebody Say 'Amen!'

I wear my heart on my sleeve when it comes to Ritter Sport. I love, love, love them, particularly the Corn Flake variety. So when I was asked if I'd be interested in sampling their newest flavor, Milk Chocolate with Strawberry Creme, I was like, hell yeah! Not only did they send the new flavor, but some classics, as well.
I was excited to see the Yogurt bar. I've tried the Strawberry Yogurt variety and loved it. This one was just as good. Tangy white yogurt contrasted with creamy milk chocolate. I actually put off trying the Strawberry Creme for a while because strawberry isn't one of my favorite flavors and the package said, "With strawberry pieces from select fruit." That didn't sound particularly appetizing. But man, this is one tasty bar. The chocolate, as usual, is creamy. The filling is tangy and the strawberry pieces are actually little crunchy bits that give the bar an added dimension. It's fantastic. Even better, Ritter is donating $100,000 to the Leslie Simon Breast Cancer and Cytodiagnosis Center.
In keeping consistent with my other Ritter reviews, I say run-- don't walk-- to get yourself one of these bars. And let me know what you think.

Introducing Frau Marzipan

A couple of weeks ago there was a knock on my front door. It was my friend, fellow taste-tester, and loyal Yumster Frau Marzipan, bearing gifts of Germanic candy goodness. Huzzah!

She went to a little import shop and found these assorted goodies: Strawberry Yogurt Ritter, Prince Polo dark chocolate wafer, Kinder Chocolate, Yogurettes and those taffy-ish kind of things to the right (the name escapes me and my eyes are going so I can't read it.)

The Strawberry Yogurt Ritter was absolutely YUM as most Ritters are. (Except for the Roasted Almond one I bought a few weeks ago; what a disappointment). The yogurty part was tangy, just like a real yogurt.

The Prince Polo was really dark and crispy crunchy yummy.

Kinder Chocolates? Always a treat.

The Yogurettes weren't as good as the Ritter, but still tasty.

The other gem she gave me was this copy of "The Chocolate Bible" that she found at a tag sale. I haven't had a chance to really look at it yet, but when I flipped through it, it seemed really cool. An update awaits!

Who has the best friends?! Me!

Belgique Chocolate: Worth Its Weight in Gold?

A few weeks ago Mr. Goodbar and I were feeling particularly sassy and decided that it was high time to hit the road and go explorin' like we used to do, way, way back when before the Sugar Baby. The New York Times had a piece about a street festival in Kent, Connecticut and it sounded so charming and small-town New Englandy that we decided to go. Okay, here's where I 'fess up: I mostly wanted to go so I could go to Belgique and buy some chocolates. I wrote about this tiny little chocolate shop a few years ago and told y'all that it was quite simply the BEST chocolate ever. Ever.

Mr. Goodbar had splurged and bought me an entire pound of it while I was pregnant, but alas, my stomach would have none of it, so he got to eat the whole darn thing himself. So I figured I was owed.

What can I say? This stuff ain't cheap. At $65 a pound, it costs more than, oh I don't know, lobster, filet mignon, overpriced seaside vacation fudge, Summer of '08 gasoline ... you get my drift. So being recession-minded, we got just a few pieces.

For me: a vanilla buttercream in dark chocolate and a sea-salt caramel. For Mr. Goodbar: a cognac chocolate and a raspberry heart. For No-Nuts: a raspberry heart and a regular caramel.

The woman handed us the bag (at these prices, even a single piece should be put in a box) and warned us that their chocolates are made with fresh cream so they MUST BE KEPT COOL. Yeah, okay, not a challenge on a sweltering summer day. So we drove for two hours holding the king's ransom in front of the air conditioner.

I can hear you already: "So ... how were they?!"

Well, here's the deal. I'd had the vanilla buttercream before and it's truly decadent. She wasn't kidding when she says fresh cream. It's like a chocolate shell filled with vanilla whipped cream. Lovely, light, flavorful-- a true treasure.

The rest? They were good. Very good. But $3 a piece good? Eh, not so much. Mr. Goodbar loved his selections and still contends that they're the best chocolates ever. No-Nuts was completely unimpressed. She said the raspberry was too thick. I will stick with my original declaration and say these are damn good chocolates. The problem arises when you compare them to say, a $2 bar of Ritter Cornflakes. Then you have some deciding to do: little piece of really, really good chocolate or big bar of really, really good chocolate?

(By the way, the street festival sucked.)

Ritter Sport Cornflakes

RESTRAINING ORDER

Dear Ritter Sport,
Candy Yum Yum has asked that you cease and desist any and all contact with Madame Yum Yum. Please do not make yourself known to her in the supermarket or at Target or anywhere else. She acknowledges her willing participation in your past relationships, but cannot continue with you anymore. This includes all varieties of Ritter Sport, but particularly the crispy-crunchy-chocolatey-super-yummy-best-candy-bar-she's-had-in-a-long-time Cornflakes version. Please respect her boundaries.
Sincerely,
The American (Chocolate) Bar Association

(Editor's note: this is just to say that the Ritter Sport Cornflakes bar is so yummy delishus that you should go out right now and buy one. They're on sale at Target this week: 2 for $5. Worth every penny.)