Sour Patch winners!

Congrats to Ellen and Axel, the two lucky recipients of the Sour Patch swag! Keep coming back ... we should have more giveaways soon!

Sour Patch Giveaway

Hey, have you heard? It seems the Sour Patch Kids are up to no good, or so it seems. Check out the Sour Patch Kids Facebook page to see all the evidence that fans have uploaded. And, in recognition of this event, the folks at Sour Patch Kids are giving away candy and T-shirts to two lucky Yumsters! Here's all you have to do: leave a comment telling me what your favorite Sour Patch Kid flavor is, and I'll select two lucky recipients. Be sure to leave an email address where you can be contacted. U.S. residents only, please. I'll pick the two winners on Saturday, August 18. Good luck!

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.

Hot chocolate

This heatwave we're experiencing is not exactly the best weather for chocolate (or me, for that matter). The kind folks at Alter Eco Foods contacted me a month or so ago and asked if I'd like to try their chocolate. I said yes, and they sent me a few bars. The full-on heatwave hadn't yet started when the bars arrived, so I was surprised when I opened them and found they had clearly reached a molten state at some point during their travels. I don't usually mind trying chocolate that's bloomed or melted, but these had suffered pretty badly. The foil wrapper had melted into the chocolate, so I didn't even try to sample them. When I told the company the sad news, they said they'd ship out another package, which they did. Guess what? It arrived on my doorstep on a 90 degree day. This time, though, I ran the package straight to the fridge with the hopes I could save it.

The good news is, I was able to salvage the chocolate bars. The better news is that it was fantastic. Usually a nibble or two of plain dark chocolate is satisfying enough, but this was so perfectly balanced that I kept wanting more. Even Mr. Goodbar said it was the best chocolate he'd had in a long, long time. I love the descriptions of the chocolate. The Dark Noir is "fruity and malty, smooth and rich with a firm snap, a strong bite and a hint of licorice." The Dark Velvet, with a "touch of milk," is "melty smooth, with a subtle flowery bouquet and honey finish." I love a good chocolate that has a nice snap to it, and I prefer my dark chocolate on the fruity, rather than bitter, side. These bars were so, so good. They have other flavors, including Dark Twist with crystallized orange peel and Dark Quinoa with nutty toasted quinoa. I've got to try those. The Dark Coconut Toffee was incredible. Little bits of crunchy toffee combined with real toasted coconut. Good stuff. They're available at different health food stores and Whole Foods.

Limited edition art from the Sugar Baby

Look what the Sugar Baby brought home from school one day. A candy masterpiece! Admittedly, I didn't know what it was until he told me, but now it seems so obvious. Up top, we have chocolate coins, a candy Lego piece, a stick of rock candy, a lollipop, a wax bottle filled with black syrup and those smiling people? Those are Air Heads. I'm so proud.

Girl Scout Cookies + Nestle Crunch

Remember the good old days when limited edition candy bars seemed to come out one after the other? That's certainly slowed down lately, so when Nestle announced it would be releasing candy bars with a Girl Scout cookie theme, people went crazy. I admit, I was one of them. I love Thin Mints. I love them so much that I don't buy them, because I can eat a whole sleeve in one sitting. I couldn't wait to try the Nestle candy bar version.

When I opened the package, the aroma was definitely similar to a box of Thin Mints. The bar is made up of wafers and chocolate and the top is sprinkled with crushed cookies. So how did it taste? It was good, but ... I found myself wishing that I just had the cookies, not the candy bar. The second one I tried is modeled after the Samoa, with coconut and caramel. This is my second favorite Girl Scout cookie. Again, I thought it was good but not great. The last one I tried was Peanut Butter Creme, an homage to the Tagalong. Strangely enough, I never really liked Tagalongs, but I liked this bar the best.
The bars are exciting in that they're something different for the summer, but overall, I'd rather have a plain Nestle Crunch and a box of cookies.

My kind of vote

Have I mentioned lately how much I love Vermont? On our last trip up there, we went to the charming (albeit overpriced) Vermont Country Store and what did we find? This.













A contest to vote on candy! Talk about being in the right place at the right time. When we stepped up to the table, this nice lady Bev said, "Looks like we have some candy experts here." I told her, "You have no idea!"

Some of the candies on the ballot were gummi butterflies, sour lips, green apple candies, sea salt and chocolate almonds, S'mores, and ZOTZ. The Sugar Baby sampled them all, of course, and voted for the butterflies. I thought I'd go gaga over the almonds, but the S'mores really won me over. I don't know which one won in the end, but it was a fun way to kill a few minutes before we went into the store and dropped a wad of cash on even more candy. (I had a salted caramel truffle that was excellent. No picture, though. I ate it too soon.)

Best Candy Bar You're Not Eating

The candy company Just Born is most famously known for Peeps, but here's what I have to say: they make the most underrated candy bar in America today. I've said it before and I'll say it again: Goldenberg's Peanut Chews are one of my all-time favorite candy bars. According to the company's website, they were developed in 1917 and used in World War I as a ration bar. My memories of them go way back to when I was a kid and my mom stashed them in the candy cabinet in the livingroom.

Just Born is rolling out a new campaign, "Chewin' it Old School Since 1917." I hope this attracts a new generation of Peanut Chew lovers, because they are so darn good and there's no other bar to compare them to. Yes, they have peanuts and chocolatey coating like other candy bars, but there's something truly magical about the molassesy chewy center. The traditional chews are dark chocolate, but there's also the newer milk chocolate variety. They can be hard to find, but if you put your zip code into the finder on their website, you can get directions to the nearest Goldenberg's dealer.

Lindt Vanilla White Chocolate Truffles

You don't run across vanilla candy too often. White chocolate, yes, but vanilla, not so much. Lindt, which makes superb milk and dark chocolate, has now entered a whole new territory with its Vanilla White Chocolate Truffles. A few weeks ago, I received a big, purple box with a pretty white bow.  I opened it to reveal lots of the new truffles. I was pretty psyched to try them. The Sugar Baby, however, was even more enamored with the box. "It looks just like a present," he said. Well, yes, I guess it did.

 Like their other truffles, these have a hard outer shell and a decadent, rich, soft inner core. Mr. Goodbar is the vanilla aficionado in the house, and apparently he really enjoyed them, because I watched the box dwindle pretty rapidly. I love the purple wrappers, which would make them really fun for a party or a wedding.

The rumors are true! Nestle Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars

There's big news in the candy world today. A few months ago, rumors started flying around that Nestle Crunch was going to come out with a Limited Edition bar incorporating Girl Scouts Thin Mints. People went wild, including me. I love Thin Mints, so much so that I can't have them in the house. I can down an entire sleeve in no time flat.
Well people, here's the announcement we've all been waiting for. (I'm giving it to you straight from the press release):

Today Nestle Crunch confirmed it has created the new Nestlé Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars, designated “the world’s most valuable candy bars” by the world’s largest auction house of collectibles, Heritage Auctions. Having officially authenticated the first set of the three limited edition Nestlé Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars, Heritage Auctions has appraised the bars at $500, an amount almost 200 times greater than the bars’ suggested retail price -- making them the most valuable candy bars currently in existence.

The bars will come in three varieties:

·         Thin Mints™ – Dark chocolate cookie wafers and mint chocolate crème, topped with airy crispies and a rich, dark chocolatey coating

·         Caramel & Coconut – Cookie wafers layered with coconut caramel crème and chewy caramel, topped with toasted coconut and drizzled with caramel stripes

·         Peanut Butter Crème – Cookie wafers layered with smooth peanut butter crème, topped with airy crispies and a creamy, chocolatey coating

Beginning tomorrow, May 9, you can log online to purchase the candy bars through a special, limited supply pre-sale program at www.Facebook.com/NestleCrunch while supplies last. After the pre-sale, the Nestlé Crunch Girl Scout Candy Bars will be available as limited edition candy bars this summer at participating retail stores nationwide, beginning June 1 through September.

Good friends, good cookies

Say what you want about Facebook. Is it an invasion of privacy? Yes. Is it a stalker's playground? Yes. But it also brings some good into the world. For example, through the magic of social networking, I reconnected with an old friend from my high school and Mr. Goodbar's college. Turns out she was in town a few weeks ago, so after 20 or so years, we actually met up with each other again. It was wonderful to meet her family and to reminisce about old times. It was a great visit. Oh, did I mention she brought cookies?
Berger cookies. Ever heard of them? I hadn't. They're a Baltimore thing. The cookies are vanilla and cakey. Not as spongey as a black-and-white cookie, but definitely soft. Each cookie is dipped in thick fudge. They definitely reminded me of something but I still haven't been able to put my finger on it. My first thought was that the fudge was similar to the chocolate center of a Stella Dora Swiss Fudge Cookie, but I don't think that's it. In any case, the cookies are so sweet and so rich that just one will take care of any sweet craving you might have. (Unless, of course, you're me, in which case two is even better.)
You won't find these cookies in a store near you unless you live in the Baltimore area, but you can order them at www.bergercookies.com.

And just a note. Yes, I realize that I didn't take any pictures of my friend and I together, but I did take two pictures of the cookies. So, so lame.

Welch's Filled Licorice

When I was in college, I had three wisdom teeth removed. It was a nightmare experience and I always swore I'd never have the last one removed. Then, low and behold, at my last dental cleaning, the hygienist looked at my X-rays and said, "You have a cyst behind your last wisdom tooth. That has to come out." Fantastic. I explained that there was no way in heck I was going to do it, but then the thought occurred to me: Could this be causing my vertigo? Long story short, I had the tooth removed. It was a much better experience than the first time, although it didn't affect the vertigo at all. What does this have to do with candy, you ask?
The day the tooth got pulled, I received some Welch's Filled Licorice samples. What a tease. The Concord Grape and Strawberry licorice sat on my desk for weeks taunting me while I subsisted on a diet of popsicles and rice pudding. The Sugar Baby kept asking about them. I desperately wanted to try them, but my teeth were so sensitive that even the thought of licorice caused me to cringe. Finally, I couldn't wait anymore. I took small nibbles and chewed on the opposite side.

For some reason, I thought the licorice would be filled with a drippy, gooey liquid. It turns out that the inside is more like a jelly (that shouldn't be a surprise, I guess). The flavors are good, classic "candy" grape and strawberry. Gretl von Schokolat tried them and said she was shocked. She thought they'd be sour but they were sweet. Not too sweet, just sweet enough. I'm not sure the filling made much of a difference. The flavors and textures seemed to blend together, but overall, they were pretty yummy and were rather teeth-friendly. Red licorice lovers should find these to be a tasty alternative to the usual.

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. 

Happy Valentine's Day! (And some new bars from Trader Joe's)

Happy Valentine's Day, Yumsters! What did you all get from your sweeties this Valentine's Day? I want to hear all about your giant hearts filled with chocolates since I don't have one of my own. (I did, however, get something *almost* as good; Mr. Goodbar replaced one of my kitchen cabinets, which have been down in the basement for a year.)

I haven't been eating much candy lately, but I did score some new bars at Trader Joe's recently. One was Dark Chocolate filled with Chocolate Buttercream. The other was Dark Chocolate filled with Speculoos (Cookie Spread). Yes, you read that right. Cookie spread. Can you imagine anything more delicious? First I tried the buttercream bar. The chocolate was good, but not stellar, like in their giant 3 pound bars. The filling was really sweet. It reminded me of a cream-filled chocolate from a box of candy.
I was really excited to try the speculoos bar, because I've never had cookie spread before. I don't know that I can really compare it to anything, but it was sweet and creamy and a nice treat. Not anything that I'd have to have again, but it satisfied my sweet tooth.