Candy bar round up

Okay Yumsters, I have a backlog of candies that I need to review, so I'm just going to do them all in one big lump. Right here, right now. Settle in.

First up, we have Nutffles. I found these at the grocery store for .99 cents and they came in different varieties. (I tried the almond and hazelnut; there's a red velvet variety that looks a little more tempting.) I was so excited to find something new and totally different. Only they weren't that different. Turns out these are a clone of Ferrero Rocher. Same creamy center with a nut, same crunchy outside. I was hoping there would be something really snazzy about them, but they were just okay. I haven't seen them since I initially bought them about six months ago. Like I said, maybe the red velvet ones are more unique.

Next we have Jelly Belly Snapple jellybeans. Back in my taste-testing days, I used to sip all sorts of Snapple flavors. These jelly beans are pretty true to the taste of the drinks, in flavors of Fruit Punch, Kiwi Strawberry, Mango Madness, Cranberry Raspberry and Pink Lemonade. A box on the back of the package says, "We include real ingredients whenever possible to create our famous true-to-life flavors." Um, real ingredients as opposed to what? That's kind of scary. I still prefer the Sour Jelly Bellies to all the other flavors, but if you're a Snapple lover, you'd like these. 

Lindt has two new Excellence bars out: Caramel with a Touch of Sea Salt and Coconut. I was initially surprised by the caramel. The picture on the box shows a square of chocolate with flowy caramel behind it, so I assumed this would be a liquid-center bar. However, the bar had crunchy bits of caramel and sea salt crystals in it. It was delicious, to be sure, but I think some people may be very surprised if they don't read the description first.

The coconut was delicious, as far as I can remember, because the Sugar Baby and Mr. Goodbar devoured most of it. You can't go wrong with dark chocolate and coconut ...

 ... except when it's in a 3 Musketeers. I saw the 3 Musketeers Coconut at a rest stop in Maine this past weekend, so I figured I'd try it, even though I've never had good luck with limited edition Musketeers in the past. This was no exception. To my taste buds, there are two types of coconut: fresh, tropical coconut and artificial, suntan lotion coconut. Unfortunately, this bar fell into the lotion category. It was overly sweet with that grainy, malty aftertaste of a regular 3 Musketeers, with "coconut flavor" thrown in. I'm not a fan.

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.