For those of you who subscribe to my e-mail updates, the last one didn't have the video link - so if you'd like to see it, please visit the blog at http://motivationbychocolate.blogspot.com/

For the rest of you - how funny are these Peep Kabobs?

They are so cute peeking out of their little box!

And this is a Peep Easter parade!!  Love those cuties! 

Since they come on a stick, they are perfect for roasting over a fire.  Yum!

Just Born is going crazy with the chocolate!  Last year they introduced chocolate covered Peeps, this year they've taken it to a whole new level with Peepsters.

Peepsters come in both dark and milk chocolate and Just Born is testing two packaging designs.  One is clearly trying to pattern itself after Dove and their Promises - chocolate as a luxury.  Rich, silky chocolate for grownups:

And then there's this packaging for the Peeps lover - see how big the trademark word Peeps is here?  Much smaller on the other package.

I love the Peep shaped window:

The bags are filled with these individually wrapped dark chocolate marshmallow filled treats:

What took me by surprise was how much more chocolate than marshmallow there was.  These taste way more like chocolate than marshmallow.  And they are really good!

They also come in milk chocolate:

These taste really good - nice chocolate and a slightly sweeter filling.  I couldn't even decide which one I liked the best = both the dark chocolate and the milk chocolate were delish.  Perfect little size - try them!!

Three Musketeers has a marshmallow Easter entry:

Would you believe the Three Musketeers is MORE marshmallowey than the Peepster?  It's a crazy chocolate world - where chocolate bars cross over to marshmallow and Peeps (of all things) go chocolate.

Just goes to show you - your past doesn't have to define your future.  This Easter (and the rest of your life) and be anything you make it. 

It Don't Mean a Thing if It Got that Fling!

I have found some new treats!! And I have also uncovered a fascinating marketing trail. We are SO doing candy CSI right now!

I spotted these a few days ago in Walgreen's:



They are good - light, crunchy. They taste like a layer of meringue with a whipped chocolate overlay all coated in milk chocolate. They are billed as "whipped-up chocolate truffle on a crisp layer enrobed in real milk chocolate." A real layer of WHAT? That's completely random. They don't really fill me up at all. If I'm gonna have chocolate, I'd rather have a regular Three Musketeers. But the crunch factor is kinda cool. You guys should try them and let me know what you think.

However, this is just a repackaging of what must have been a marketing disaster. The Fling bar:

It's tag line is "naughty, but not that naughty" and it actually has a slight pink shimmer (I kid you not). It's really had to see, but it's there.

Can you so tell this is exactly the same bar? The description here? "A delicate truffle on a subtle crisp layer enrobed in shimmering chocolate." (Still the random crisp layer.) Look at that crappy Fling lettering. That lame pink wrapper. I'm sure women were wondering - what the hell IS that? Birth control? Tampons? Packaging disaster.

And if we want to eat chocolate, we're going to eat it, dammit! Naughty? Please. This must have been thought up by a bunch of men - I can hear them now, "And let's make the chocolate shiny pink! Women like shiny pink things!" Either men or 13 year old girls. And if Mars is using 13 year old girls to design chocolate bars, then they deserve such a disaster.

The Fling was was unveiled at Candy Expo last year, and I liked it, but I haven't really seen much of it. I have to say, the repackaging is genius!! People know and love Three Musketeers, so maybe this will work. But I think women will choose the real Three Musketeers over this. It's just so much better. And so much more filling. I predict failure.

Now here's the real crime. Mars so ripped off this candy by the German company Bahlsen:

These are described as meringue biscuits (I KNEW it!)with cocoa creme filling and Swiss milk chocolate and they blow the stupid Fling/Three Musketeers Truffle Crisp out of the water. The chocolate is so much richer and creamier and it's no higher in calories (you get four of these little guys which is about the same size as two of the larger sticks). These have 160 calories, those have 170. Nice try, Mars! But I have uncovered your sneaky ways!!!

Now we're all familiar with the Milky Way bar:

I can take or leave the Milky Way. I think Snickers is so much better, that I never pick Milky Way. But it's not bad - I like the increased caramel.

But look what I found in Walgreen's:

It's ALL caramel. I like caramel, so I like this, but it is one rich bar. Holy smokes! I really felt like I needed some peanuts or something to break things up. Maybe a big glass of milk. Maybe a gallon of milk. Maybe a Holstein. Holy God. I actually think I like the regular Milky Way better.

I think this may also go the way of candy bars past. But I'd love to hear what you all think. Personally, my heart belongs to Snickers.

Okay - what have we learned?

Change your appearance and you might be able to change your life. I know - a million times I've talked about not judging a chocolate by its wrapper, but we do. Of course, if the bar really stinks, no wrapper will save it. But I can guarantee that new wrapper will sell a helluva lot more Fling bars than the old one. "Naughty, but not that naughty." Kill me.

Good ideas are everywhere. Somebody at Mars is checking out German cookies and got a new idea for a candy bar. I went to a Saints game and got a great idea for a sales meeting. Keep your eyes and ears open. Think. It's something we don't do as much as we should.

You can have too much of a good thing. Does the Milky Way really need at be ALL caramel? Reeses did the same thing with their Peanut Butter Lovers Cup. We need the chocolate - it really makes it work. That third trip to the buffet line ruins the other two. Moderation is a wise policy.

Just because you can do it, doesn't mean you should do it. Shimmery pink chocolate bars? Does Mars not realize that chocolate itself is the most beautful sight in the world? Some things just don't need any decoration.

Can I get an Amen, Church of Chocolate?

This is my Brain on Marshmallow

Happy New Year! I hope you all had a great New Year's Eve! I was out dancing to a great rock band AND was wearing three inch heels. Hip replacement? What hip replacement?

Anyway, my Sorbet Sistah, Sassy and I were out till three last night and as a result, my brain is somewhat marshmallowey today. Thus our theme - holiday marshmallow.

I went by Crate and Barrel a couple of days ago and all their holiday candy is on sale - so you might want to check it out. I have several of their treats - let's start with their S'mores:

These are nothing to rave about. The marshmallow is not evenly distributed (as you can see in the picture) - it sits in a blob roughly in the middle. The chocolate is okay. Real s'mores are better. Hell, Goldfish S'mores (reviewed months back) are better. There are much better treats out there.

They also have these mini mighty marshmallows - and the tag line reads - "drenched in milk chocolate - perfect for dunking in hot chocolate or for eating right out of the bag."

,

These would probably kick butt in hot chocolate - what a great idea! And as far as chocolate covered marshmallows go, they are good. Exciting? Nope. I just can't get really excited about the chocolate covered marshmallow. Unless......




Do you see that? It's peanut butter!!! Let's just check these bad boys by Harry and David out. There are three kinds in the box - dark chocolate and marshmallow:

Eh. Okay.

Let's do milk chocolate caramel next:

Looks good!! I have some high hopes!! Okay, NOW we're talking. These have delicious and not skimpy caramel which makes them awesome! The only ones worth eating yet. Very, very good - awesome chewy caramel, good milk chocolate, and the marshmallow really works - outstanding!

And the one I've been waiting for (drum roll please).....milk chocolate and PEANUT BUTTER!

Hmmm......while these are not bad, I don't think the marshmallow brings anything to the peanut butter. In fact, I think it takes away. Booo!!! I hate marshmallow. Now I want a Reese's Tree.

Harry and David also has these caramel marshmallow bars billed as "fluffy clouds of yum, wrapped in caramel":

These remind me of Modjeskas (blogged about in another post) and I won't lie to you, these are pretty darn good. But I prefer the Modjeskas I had that were completely covered in caramel. If you like marshmallow, you will do back flips for these. If you don't, pass and just get some caramel. These are super sweet, but somewhat light due to the marshmallow. Wow.

Look at these crazy things I found in World Market:

These are made by Tunnock's, a Scottish company established in 1890. And they are god-awful. They are covered in coconut and are filled with that whipped marshmallow - kind of like Fluff - that stuff some people put on sandwiches. They are very rich, yet at the same time have very little taste. They have a thin layer of something that tastes vaguely like coco and holds the thing together. Awful in a weird fascinating way, like when you can't help but look at a car wreck.

And now I have marshmallow fluff on my keyboard. Great.

You all are very familiar with how much I despise Russell Stover. But I can't seem to walk away. (Sounds a little like my love life - I keep going back to the same guys thinking they are going to be different). Anyway let's move to the world of festive marshmallow shapes:


Well, at least it looks like a snowman, pretty amazing for RS, King of Blobs. But when I performed the autopsy, look at that:


Chocolate marshmallow! Any good? Well, better than white marshmallow, but still not really worth anything. Caramel still way better. Crate and Barrel Mini marshmallows have better chocolate. RS just never really makes the grade. I wonder how much longer they are going to be around.


Speaking of blobs, check out this "Santa" by Georgia Nut company:




Are you kidding me? What the hell is that?

The Christmas Blob is filled with something with the same consistency of marshmallow fluff, but they call it "whipped vanilla cream". It's sinful. It's totally sweet and if you bite into it, you will eat the whole thing, even if you don't want to. I can't explain it. It's good, but it's also so sickeningly sweet that after you eat it, you immediately want to eat green vegetables. It's over-the-top.

The next one is chocolate covered marshmallow Santa's made by Brach's:

This Santa is just plain weird. I don't know how they make it, but you can see that it's kind of detailed, but the chocolate coating is so thin the white shows through and the whole thing looks weird. The taste is not horrible, just boring. At least these are cheap. I am reminded that I still don't like marshmallow and again want a Reese's Tree.

Before we go, look at these chocolate covered cherry cordial flavored marshmallow reindeer treats by a company called Melster Candies:

Okay - these are actually reindeer, not reindeer treats. But, what the hell. Again the weird detail, the thin chocolate, and this time, pink marshmallow peeks through. If you like cherry, you may like these, but it was too much for me. Cheap marshmallow, cheap chocolate, and overpowering cherry. Well, at least we have a different shape and some wildly colored marshmallow.

The take away?

What a celebration of marshmallow creativity! We had different shapes, and coatings, and flavors and fillings. Are you this creative with how you view yourself? Are you someone with a bad hip or a dancing queen? Are you too old to do what you want? Too fat to wear that? Or are you someone who does what makes them happy, convention be damned? You get to decide who you are - only you and no one else. Who will you be this year?

Your life is as sweet as you decide to make it. Happy 2010 - make it your year.