Happy Valentine's Day!!!

Happy Valentine's Day!  I'm still struggling with my life balance - dating a great guy, running my business, trying to keep working out AND writing the blog.  It's all obviously not going to happen.  So far, the blog has been taking a butt kicking.  Sorry gang!  The good news is I'm not buying my own Valentine's Day present this year, and I'm sooooo lucky to have love in my life.  But, I know what it's like to be solo, so I'm not going to turn into a sap.  For those of you who are single - hang in there - there's always chocolate and fun and loads of life to be lived.  For those of you who have love - hold it dear.  For those of you hanging on to someone who doesn't treat you right - get the hell out.  They are not going to change and you deserve better.  For all of you - this is my Valentine's Day gift to you!!!

Dove introduced these dark chocolate and cherry swirl heart promises:

I love the way they look:

I wish I liked the taste as much as their cool apprearance.  Too much cherry for me.  I still think the Hershey's Cherry Cordial Kisses do this combo best.

And while I think the messages in the wrappers could be better, at least Martha Stewart is out of the picture.  I just don't want that felon in my candy. 

Woohoo!  My freinds at Just Born haven't let us down!  Milk chocolate and dark chocolate covered Peeps!

You know how I like to compare.  Before now, my favorite chocolate covered marshmallow heart was from Hershey (hate the evil Russell Stover):

I don't know what happened to the Hershey heart, but it looks like it had a very bad night:

Look at what happened when I autopsied the Peep hearts!  Holy cow - this color has never before been seen without the help of a black light (those of you under the age of 35 probably don't even know what that is).  It's raspberry marshmallow - possibly from the planet Zenon.

And here's the autopsied Hershey Heart:

The verdict?  The marshmallow in the Peep Hearts is fluffier; it's more chewy in the Hershey Heart.  So marshmallow wise, I gotta go with the Peeps.  The Hershey milk chocolate is the best, but the combo of the super sweet raspberry marshmallow and the dark chocolate is a winner.  Overall - the best is the dark chocolate raspberry Peep Heart.  But if you don't like raspberry - hello Hershey!!  If you don't like marshmallow, well, keep reading.

I was amazed by these (I thought they would be horrible) - from Tootsie, maker of Junior Mints - raspberry cremes:

When I first saw them, I thought - what a great idea!  Why didn't they think of different flavors before?  And where the hell is peanut butter??? 

I popped the poor autopsy subject picture here into my mouth, honestly expecting them to suck.  I have to tell you, they are great!  A lot of it is that awesome size (totally poppable) and the chocolate shell/creamy filling combo that makes the Junior Mint so addictive.  I find these impossible to stop eating.  Go Tootsie Roll!

Thanks for reading!  I hope all of you have a fantastic Valentine's Day - regardless of the state of your love life.  I think it's a great day to celebrate our love affair with chocolate and with life - something that will never change!  Love to you all!!

Oompa Loompas and Peanuts

Nestle, like all the other big guns, had a pretty impressive booth at the Expo.  They were giving out samples of Butterfinger Snackerz:

These are crunchy and lighter than the regular Butterfinger.  I don't think they are better, mind you, but they are very good.  They have that awesome Butterfinger center surrounded by a "thin, crispy outer shell" - made of what, I do not know.  The whole thing is covered in chocolate with a drizzle of Butterfinger flavored - something.  These are well worth trying and should be out in convenience stores soon.  So keep your eyes peeled!  Who doesn't like Butterfingers?

This is the other side of the Nestle booth (how cool is Candy Expo?):

These were the samples they were giving out:

The top one is the Scrumdiddlyumptious Bar - made with bits of toffee, cookies and peanuts in milk chocolate.  Sounds amazing!!  I found it only average - hard to believe because I love all three of those!

The second one is the Domed Dark Bar - a dark bar with a milk chocolate "pillow" on top.  Again - average.

The bottom one is the Chocolate Waterfall Bar - see the full size here:

While it looks pretty....

It's not a very exciting bar - average chocolate.  Nothing special.  Pass.

I didn't get this at the Expo, but thought what the heck - it's a milk chocolate bar with graham crackers:

I just don't think Nestle's chocolate is the best - kind of waxy.  The graham crackers make this very sweet - textured like a Nestle Crunch, but sweeter.  There's something about this one that's addictive, even though it's not an incredible chocolate bar.  I had a hard time not eating the whole thing!

This is a limited Edition Snickers bar that Mars debuted at the Expo:

It's Snickers Extreme - all nuts and caramel - no nougat.  Autopsy photo is on the right (regular Snickers on the left):

I thought I would be all over this - loving it even more than the regular Snickers.  But you know what?  I don't!  I have under appreciated the nougat for years!  I prefer the standard Snickers to the Snickers Extreme.  There is nothing wrong with the Snickers Extreme - I mean, how could there be with caramel, peanuts and chocolate?  But I think the regular Snickers is better.  I'd love to hear what you all think.

2010 is the 80th anniversary of the Snickers bar (yep, it came out in 1930).  15 million Snickers are made each day and about 16 peanuts are in each one. 99 TONS of peanuts are used each day.  WOW!  It's the most popular candy bar in the United States.

For those of you who need sugar free candy, Dove may have the answer to your prayers.  Peanut Butter Promises were unveiled at Candy Expo:

They look great and I guess they probably are as far as sugar free goes.  But the regular ones are WAY better.  Sugar rocks!!  ; )

The peanut bar of chocolate lovers might just be this one:

This amazing bar by Green and Black is organic, but more importantly, it's a smooth delicious milk chocolate bar with caramelized peanuts and a hint of sea salt.  It's a wonderful sweet and salty combination with a delicious, high quality chocolate.  Wow!!!!  No Oompa Loompas, but the chocolate here destroys Nestle's.  And it's organic - God knows what toxins are in Wonka's chocolate river. 

More Easter Eggs - Candy Coated & Dark

Hi Gang! Are you loving the spring weather? I had to take a few days off from blogging to recovered from the great cake pig out. Good grief. But I won't be parted from sugar, fat and chocolate for long!

These candy coated chocolate Easter eggs are a great spring celebration - like M & M's but with more chocolate - what could be better than that?

Cadbury Mini-Eggs are my favorite of these:




This was the first year I saw the tube packaging:



Here they are:

They have a more powdery candy coating (more matte, less smooth and shiny) than the Hershey's version (below) and are a little smaller, but the chocolate is better.

Here's Hershey's:

They look great and chocolaty, but Cadbury's taste better.

Brach's offered these life-size milk chocolate robin eggs:

Wow - too sweet! Too much sugar - closer to Palmer in the sugar content - wow!! Sugar lovers rejoice!

Harry and David tries to compete with M & Ms with their Chocolate Gems (and I have to admit, I was skeptical):

While I love these crazy bright spring colors from M & M:

Harry and Davis wins this contest easily:

They have a much smoother and better taste. There really is a big difference - I was surprised at how much better the Gems were! Once again my preconceptions are dead wrong. Big advertising budgets do not mean quality. Market domination does not equal excellence.

I found these Italian Chocolate Truffle Eggs at A Southern Season and they really are different than most of these. They have the candy coating:

But they have a rich, creamy, truffle filling and there is definitely some hazelnut flavor here.

These are extraordinary! This is a creamy dark chocolate - more on the sweet side of dark and the hazelnut is what really makes them fabulous. It's really not fair to compare them to the others. Holy candy coating, Eggman!

I hadn't see the dark chocolate Cadbury mini-eggs before:

and they are good, but I like the milk chocolate ones better. But this is really a matter of personal preference - dark chocolate lovers will probably love these!

I picked these up at Harry and David. I love this line - Glimmers:

Also in dark chocolate, I thought these were about a million times better than the Cadbury Eggs. I like the Glimmer coating - it's soft, not crunchy and does a much better job of enhancing the chocolate. Delish!!

Milk chocolate still seems to be more popular than dark chocolate (just judging by the fact that there are so may more milk chocolate Easter offerings than dark chocolate ones). But I found a few!

See's had some dark chocolate eggs:

These were my least favorite - a little less creamy than the others. Also less of that fabulous dark chocolate taste:

Dove's pretty pink dark chocolate Elegant Eggs were better:

But not quite as good as Godiva's:

Godiva's dark chocolate had more depth and a richer flavor than the other two.

But the best of all was Neuhaus' dark:

This had the richest, deepest flavor and was smoother than Godiva and less sugary. If you love dark chocolate, this will put you in a state of ecstacy.

Lindt made their famous Lindor truffles in egg shapes for Easter:

(We already reviewed the peanut butter ones) - the dark blue foil eggs are dark chocolate:

Again, it's not fair to compare a truffle with a solid - that delicious creamy filling is sooooo wonderful! It should probably be illegal.

My chocolate adventures keep teaching me the same lessons:

Keep an open mind - what you think you know isn't always right.

Just because everybody likes something (or believes something or does something) doesn't mean it's right or the best or what you should do. The hardest voice to hear in this life is your own.

Candy is fun! Are you giving yourself permission to have any fun?