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9-Yummy

Monday, June 9, 2008

Reese’s Chocolate Peanut Butter Bats (Dark Knight)

Reese's Dark Knight Bats

One of the items teased at the September 2007 All Candy Expo was the series of The Dark Knight (Batman) tie in products. As the Indiana Jones Mars products (Mint Crisp M&Ms & Snickers Adventure Bar) found their way onto the shelves about 6-8 weeks in advance of the movie release, I was keeping a close watch for the new Reese’s & KitKat products in the past weeks.

The Limited Edition line features:

  • Reese’s Pieces - black and dark blue Reese’s Pieces (peanut butter with a crunchy candy shell) - comes in both large bags and single serve size.
  • KitKat Special Edition - a regular Milk Chocolate KitKat with a bat symbol molded onto the fingers. (I’m really sorry they didn’t bring back the dark chocolate KitKat for this tie-in.) Photo here.
  • Reese's Peanut Butter Bats

  • Reese’s Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bats - mini oval medallions of dark chocolate filled with Reese’s peanut butter sold in 10.5 ounce bags.
  • Reese’s Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bats - mini oval medallions of milk chocolate filled with Reese’s peanut butter sold in 10.5 ounce bags.
  • Reese’s Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bat - a single serve (1.2 ounces) dark chocolate with peanut butter version of the Reese’s Peanut Butter egg in the shape of a bat.
  • Reese’s Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bat - a single serve (1.2 ounces) dark chocolate with peanut butter version of the Reese’s Peanut Butter egg in the shape of a bat.
  • Reese's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter BatI found the bags of the medallions at Target yesterday. They also had the Reese’s Pieces, but frankly, different colored RP just weren’t distinctive enough to get me to buy them. A new proportion of chocolate and peanut butter and the further enticement of dark chocolate is enough to get me to buy them, though.

    The Reese’s Dark Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bats bag is a rich chocolate brown, setting it apart from the regular Reese’s orange offerings (though it has that signature orange on the wrapper as an accent).

    There’s also some sort of a sweepstakes thing going on where you can Find the bat-signal and win instantly but there was no game piece in either bag so I’m left to wonder how this thing works. (If it’s not a regular game piece that you open to find out if you’ve won, then what prevents someone from going through all the bags at the store and peeking through the little “window” in the package to see if there is a winning game piece?)

    Reese's Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Bat

    The dark ones are just shy of 1.75 inches in length and a little over 1 inch across and a half an inch tall. They weigh about 10 grams each (a regular Reese’s Miniature Peanut Butter Cup is about 9 grams).

    I assume that these are absolutely fresh, and have an expiry date of April 2009. However, the sheen of the chocolate was slightly greasy, as Reese’s products usually are. (The exception is pretty much the Fresh from the Factory cups.) The bag smells like dark roasted peanuts.

    The chocolate is very soft, so the whole thing has a mellow fudgy bite to it. It melts quickly, rather slick on the tongue but pretty smooth. The peanut butter filling, on the other hand, is exactly the sort of Reese’s peanut butter center you’d expect. A little sandy in texture, a bit salty and sweet.

    The dark chocolate is actually bitter, so there’s a whole mix of flavors here - sweet, salt and bitter plus the textures of the chocolate and light crunch of the rough peanut butter.

    It’s a great combination and really refreshing. The proportions here are weighted heavily towards the dark chocolate (which isn’t really “dark” as it has milk fat in it), much more than the previous regular-sized Limited Edition Reese’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups.

    The foil wrapper is also very appealing; it’s a bronzy brown around the sides and the top has the Reese’s logo and bat logo.

    There’s a strange molding anomaly on them, just about all that I unwrapped had little bubbles on either end of the top. (I opened quite a few, looking for a pristine one for the photo, then finding this to be the norm, photographed it.)

    Rating: 9 out of 10

    Reese's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter BatThe little oval medallion has the stylized bat-signal symbol molded into the top of each piece. Yes, the logo on these is a little different. As with most continuations of classic franchises, the bat-signal has evolved. The original was not an actual bat, but Batman & his cape ... at some point them omitted his head. Back in the old TV show days and the first few movies it looked like this which was pretty consistent with the TV series emblem.

    But just as superheroes change their costumes, the logo became more angular and lost some of its bat-ness and wing fringes. (To me it looks more like a car logo now.)

    Reese's Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Bat

    The Reese’s Milk Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bats are simply tasty. They’re everything you’d expect in a flattened Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniature. The chocolate is sweet and pretty mellow but has a slight cool feeling on the tongue. The peanut butter center is immediately salty, squishy and has the dark roasted flavors of peanuts & a sandy texture.

    There’s less peanut butter, so fans of the peanut part and not the chocolate part should probably stick with the original or seek out the single serve size Bats (I haven’t found those yet).

    Rating: 8 out of 10

    Overall, this is a good tie in. I like the use of dark chocolate on a tried-and-true favorite. I also like that they tried a new shape instead of just tossing some different foil on the regular minis. (Of course then it just makes us sadder when they go away.) The proportions on the milk chocolate just didn’t have the same appeal as the regular minis or the larger eggs - but I’m sure some other folks will find them to be their ideal version.

    Anyone found the large sized bats yet?

    Related Candies

    1. Colt’s Bolts
    2. Elvis Reese’s Peanut Butter and Banana Cup
    3. KitKat Mint Dark Chocolate Minis
    4. Darth M&Ms
    5. Bleached Reese’s
    Name: Reese's Dark Knight Chocolate and Peanut Butter Bats
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Hershey's
    Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
    Price: $3.49
    Size: 10.5 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 142
    Categories: Chocolate, Peanut, United States, Reese's, Hershey's, Kosher, Limited Edition

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:15 am    

    Friday, June 6, 2008

    Domori Cru

    Domori Gran CruI’ve heard that Domori makes some of the best chocolate bars ever.

    I’m not reviewing those. (I will someday, but I’m afraid that trying the best chocolate in the world would be like flying first class, I’d never want to go back to coach.)

    Instead of I got a hold of these lovely little 8 gram tasting squares of Domori’s 70% Cru single origin chocolates at the Fancy Food Show back in January. Besides being made from extremely rare beans, Domori also uses no soy lecithin in this line - it’s all cacao and pure cane sugar at work here, a fascinating experiment in flavor.

    As I often do with tastings, I did my notes blind and then later looked at the descriptions & origin information. You can read along to see how I did. But I’ll save you the suspense, this is good stuff and lives up to its hype. The consistency of every piece was silky smooth on the tongue - incredible melt & quick release of flavors then a lingering revelation of more notes.

    DomoriCareno Superior

    Origin: Venezuela - It is a trinitario-type cacao grown in the Barlovento area of Venezuela.

    I say: Mild with some light blueberry notes and peppery carnation. Smooth, as were all others.

    They say: It has notes of dried figs, raisins and cashews with great character, smoothness and finish.

    Domori ApurimacApurimac

    Origin: Peru - It is a recent hybrid (trinitario-type cacao).

    I say: So buttery smooth. There’s a bit of a bitter high note to it, kind of reminiscent of asparagus. But the texture is so dreamily silky, it’s rather staggering. Cool on the tongue.

    They said:  It has notes of flowers, caramel and cream. It is very mild with a nice sourness.

    Domori Sur del LagoSur del Lago Clasificado

    Origin: Venezuela - It includes more trinitario-type cacaos with a high content of criollo genotype.

    I say: Dark olive notes rise to the top, it’s sweet but has a tangy bite. Silky, caramel.

    They say: It has mild notes of almond and coffee, excellent finesse, smoothness and finish.

    Domori Rio CaribeRio Caribe Superior

    Origin: Venezuela

    I say: One of the more mellow pieces. It has some tangy elements and most notably a dry finish.

    They say: Notes of nuts, ripe fruit, raisins, tobacco and chlorophyll. It has a nice acidity, a great smoothness and a long finish.

    Domori ArribaArriba

    Origin: Ecuador - It is a Nacional-type cacao.

    They say: It has notes of hazelnut, banana and citrus. It is very fresh and mild.

    I say: This one was a bit more bitter, with coffee notes and flavors of sweet cashews. A weird chalky feeling to it, even though it was actually quite smooth. Dry, acrid.

    Domori SambrianoSambriano

    Origin: Madagascar

    I say: Strong tangy & raisin notes, lemon and bitter orange.

    They say: It is a light-colored cacao with unique notes of berries along with a very pleasant sourness. It has a long finish, great sweetness and smoothness.

    Overall, my notes weren’t far off from theirs, though sometimes I think it’s like the astrology column from the newspaper. With some single origin kits I’m not always able to distinguish the different bars blind, but these were quite distinct. Though the chocolates are available as single bars, you can also get assortments of these individually wrapped tasting squares in boxes. They’re still quite expensive, over a dollar a piece from Chocosphere. Though these don’t have nuts in them, they are made in a facility that processes nuts, milk and soy. Domori also does a version of these that are 100% (no sugar).

    Related Candies

    1. Four 99%-100% Chocolate
    2. Amano Single Origin Bars: Madagascar & Ocumare
    3. Michel Cluizel Les 1ers Crus de Plantation
    4. Dagoba Single Origin
    5. Single Origin Chocolate
    Name: Cru 70% Assortment
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Domori
    Place Purchased: samples from Fancy Food Show
    Price: retail $25 for 18
    Size: .28 ounces
    Calories per ounce: unknown
    Categories: Chocolate, Italy, Single Origin, All Natural

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 1:21 pm    

    Friday, May 30, 2008

    Japanese Black Sugar & Tropical Chews

    This short work-week has been a bit of a round-up period, I’m doing a lot of these short reviews in long posts to try to cover a lot of the candy I have.

    Morinaga Black Sugar CaramelI first had these a couple of years ago, at a time when I was gobbling up every Japanese black sugar candy I could get my hands on. Japanese black sugar (kuro sato) traditionally comes from Okinawa and is similar to molasses or muscovado sugar.

    I couldn’t resist buying a few boxes of the Morinaga Black Sugar Caramel (Kokutou) in my last order from JList, mostly because I was also ordering other black sugar items and wanted to remind myself.

    They don’t look like much, but the little bullion cube sized morsels are packed with dark creamy flavor. Not too sweet and just slightly rummy at the end. They come in oodles of other flavors. I’ve tried the original Milk Caramel, Matcha, Black Sesame and Azuki, but I always come back to the Black Sugar.

    Rating: 8 out of 10

    Chelsea Black SugarWhile Morinaga has their line of milk caramels, Meiji has their toffee squares called Chelsea that similarly come in many varieties: Yogurt Scotch, Butterscotch, Matcha, Azuki and even mixes like Dessert.

    When I saw that the Black Sugar Chelsea variety was available in the single flavor box, I jumped and ordered three packs.

    The design aesthetic of the Chelsea line can’t be beat. The little box with it’s slide tray & bronzy flower design is easily distinguished from the other flavors, yet easily identified from a distance as Chelsea.

    The flat pack box is easy to stash in a pocket as well, and the individual wrappers keep it all fresh.

    Chelsea Black SugarThe little foil wrappers are gold with brown and magenta flowers. I wish I was more crafty and motivated, because these would make a stellar bracelet or bag. I’m saving the wrappers, just in case.

    The smooth tile of candy has no voids. Though it’s sweet, it’s pretty mellow and milky, kind of like a chai without the spice. There’s a background of woodsy flavors like brown sugar. It’s not as intensely “black sugar” as I’d like, but these are really refreshing. They don’t feel heavy and have a sort of jasmine tea finish that feels so fresh.

    Chelsea also comes in bags with plastic wrapped pieces. I don’t like those as much, I really like the foil wrappers (though they’ve done a nice job of designing the sealed wraps).

    Rating: 9 out of 10

    Banana & Tropical Fruit HiCHEW

    Even though I already had two packs of Banana HiCHEW sitting around from a trip to Mitsuwa Marketplace earlier this year, I just had to order the Tropical Mix along with the Pineapple.

    The Tropical Mix package seems to promise peach, white grape, banana and pineapple. I’d assumed that this was a mixed flavor package. But when I opened it I found that each piece was identically wrapped. Sadly (well for me and my silly expectations) it was a fruit punch and not a mixed pack. The flavor of the fruit punch is actually quite nice, I can actually detect the peachy and banana flavors in there.

    My Pineapple HiCHEW were backordered (probably because I bought three packs). I was certain they were good and I wasn’t disappointed. They have a light yellow center and were extremely fresh and soft.

    They start sweet then build with a tangy and kind of woodsy pine essence. The flavor lasts all the way to the end and still leaves a fresh feeling in the mouth.

    Banana Rating: 7 out of 10
    Tropical Rating: 6 out of 10
    Pineapple Rating: 9 out of 10

    Tsubu Tsubu Hi-chew Chocolate BananaI bought these on a lark. Last year I picked up something called UHA Puccho Baked Custard, which sounds dreadful but it was pretty dreamily good. Of course I wanted to buy it again and have had no luck finding it. (It probably said limited edition on the wrapper, but I don’t read Japanese.)

    So when I saw this Tsubu Tsubu HiCHEW Chocolate Banana, I thought that sounded something like a custard-like chew. For $1.25 I could take a chance.

    It’s a HiCHEW banana base, soft and bouncy and included in the chew are little things that look like large nonpariels (sprinkles). I guess that’s supposed to be the chocolate part. It’s not really. The crunch is nice but not as well defined as the Puccho does with their gummi & crunchy inclusions.

    While I think that HiCHEW is made for people of all ages, my guess is that the Tsubu Tsubu is probably for kids and my grown-up palate just couldn’t get into it.

    Rating: 5 out of 10

    Related Candies

    1. HiCHEW Yuzu & Valencia
    2. Das French Salted Caramels
    3. HiCHEW Assortment
    4. Almond Crush Pocky
    5. Bali’s Best Coffee & United Coffee Candy
    6. Meiji Mild Bitter Chocolate Sticks
    Name: Black Sugar candies & Tropical HiCHEWs
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Morinaga & Meiji
    Place Purchased: JList
    Price: $1.00 - $1.50 a pack
    Size: varies
    Calories per ounce: unknown
    Categories: Toffee, Caramel, Chew, Japan, Meiji, Morinaga

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 7:26 am    

    Thursday, April 3, 2008

    3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch

    Theo 3400 Phinney - New BarsTheo Chocolate, the only all Fair Trade and Organic chocolate company that makes their confections from bean to bar in the United States is growing. This year they added two new bars to their 3400 Phinney line, bringing the total to four milk chocolate bars and four dark chocolate bars.

    They are all a standard format of two ounces in four sections and feature artwork on the wrapper by Kitten Chops.

    3400 Phinney - Fig, Fennel & Almond in 65% Dark

    I picked my full-sized samples of the new bars at the Natural Products Expo last month. The Fig, Fennel & Almond in 65% Dark was the one I was most looking forward to.

    Let’s see, favorite things:

    Figs? I never knew fig love until I had my own tree. Check!

    Fennel? Love it in salads, prefer licorice in candy. Check!

    Almonds? I eat them every day. Check!

    65% Dark Chocolate? Not too dark, not too dry is the way I like it. Check!

    Upon first bite this was too dark, too complex, kind of a mess. But like some Philip Glass piece, the spareness of each note eventually started making music.

    It took about half the bar, but I started liking it more and more. The fennel stands out in the scent of the bar, a light and grassy licorice or anise note. Upon letting a bite melt it becomes a bit acidic, a little tangy and rather like raisins, but fresher. Not quite figgy but the seeds help. Later the little bits of crushed almonds pull it all back together.

    The chocolate is dry and not quite as buttery as I’d like for a “candy bar” but for a chocolate bar, it has a nice bitter component that keeps the figs from feeling to sticky sweet. Still, it requires a bit too much effort for me to just eat the bar.

    Rating: 6 out of 10

    3400 Phinney Hazelnut Crunch in Milk Chocolate

    I had a very hard time with this bar ... I have a very hard time not eating it all before I finished writing this review.

    It’s simply called Hazelnut Crunch Milk Chocolate.

    It smells hazelnutty, and has little bits of crushed hazelnuts and a toffee crunch mixed into the creamy and rather dark milk chocolate.

    The toffee bits are what makes this really fabulous. They’re very salty (in fact, there’s a lot of salt in this bar: 140 mgs) but man, each little milligram makes a little jolt of electrical energy delivering those flavors right to the pleasure centers of my brain.

    Rating: 9 out of 10

    Where I had trouble with the FF&A, the Hazelnut Crunch was one I couldn’t believe I ate the whole thing when it was gone. It’s a perfect afternoon bar, not too filling, not too sickly sweet and the little dose of nuts makes it feel very satisfying. In fact, I’d probably eat it anytime, anywhere ... but the Fig, Fennel & Almond would definitely need to be the kind of bar where I’d need to be in the mood.

    Theo’s 3400 Phinney line is now Kosher (dairy).

    Related Candies

    1. Zotter Candy Bars
    2. Theo Confections
    3. Vosges Haut-Chocolate
    4. Figamajigs
    Name: 3400 Phinney: Fig, Fennel & Almond and Hazelnut Crunch
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Theo Chocolate
    Place Purchased: samples from ExpoWest
    Price: $3.25 retail
    Size: 2 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 140 & 165
    Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, Toffee, United States, Theo, Kosher, Fair Trade, Organic, All-Natural

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 11:22 am    

    Saturday, March 22, 2008

    Tootsie Pop Drops

    Tootsie Pop DropsTootsie Pop Drops are back.

    This is what I remember about the original Tootsie Pop Drops: they were about the size of a quarter, they came in all the Tootsie Pop flavors and they were individually wrapped.

    The new version differs in two ways from that: they are not individually wrapped and they are smaller (about the same diameter as a penny).

    The do still come in the same flavors as the regular lollies.

    Tootsie Pop Drops are marketed as Tootsie Pops without the Stick! I also like to think that they are Tootsie Pops without as much packaging (after all, they’re not individually wrapped and have no rolled-paper stick). Perhaps they’re the eco-sensitive Tootsie Pop!

    Tootsie Pop DropsThe come in five flavors: Cherry, Chocolate, Orange, Blue Raspberry and Grape. (I’m guessing they’re using the Blue Raspberry because the regular red Raspberry looks too similar to the Cherry.)

    The original version was sold (to the best of my recollection) either in bulk bins or in pre-pack bags of at least 10 ounces or so, just like Tootsie Rolls. There was no single serve package available.

    Tootsie Pop Drops

    Out of the little plasticized foil pouch they’re a bit dusty (I wiped them off for the photo, cuz I like my candy dead sexy), probably from the friction of rubbing together making candy dust. They’re pretty easy to tell apart, really only the chocolate and grape are a bit difficult to discern from time to time. There were about 16 drops to a bag.

    They fit in the mouth nicely and the best thing about them is that they’re much smoother than the Tootsie Pops.

    If there’s one thing that I can’t stand about Tootsie Pops it’s that they’re real mouth-abusers. There are little voids and air bubbles in the candy that get sharp and have a tendency to cause little tears on the roof of my mouth.

    These fit easily in the roof of the mouth and for some reason have no bubbles or sharp bits.

    Tootsie Pop Drops (Close Up with Penny)They’re exceptionally easy to eat whether you’re a cruncher or a sucker.

    I liked the old larger size, if only because the proportions more closely resembled a Tootsie Pop. These are more like the dreadful Blow Pop Minis, except they don’t suck. For some reason, I don’t mind a little nibble of Tootsie Roll at the center instead of nugget, probably because it’s a Tootsie Roll, which I prefer in combination, not as the main event.

    That said, the amount of Tootsie Roll at the center seemed to vary. (And the sample in the photo above was something that I dissolved away in my mouth so some loss due to tastiness is to be expected). There were certainly instances where it seemed like much more Tootsie Roll than depicted in the photo.

    The flavors are all decent. In fact, I even liked the Cherry.

    My ranking of Tootsie Pop (& Drop) flavors goes like this:

  • Orange
  • Grape
  • Chocolate
  • Blue Raspberry
  • Cherry
  • In the bags that I got, the randomness was less than balanced. I opened four bags just to get three Blue Raspberry for the photos, and one bag was almost all Orange (not that I’m complaining, please see ranking above).

    This sort of format would make Tootsie Pop Drops a good movie candy ... it’s made up of small pieces, easy to share and a good variety of taste and texture.

    Tootsie Pop DropsTootsie Roll was kind enough to send me an extra box to give away to readers. Yes, that’s a whole box of 24 package (2.25 ounces each). And maybe some other stuff if there’s room in the box.

    So, if you’d like to try these resurrected treats (far better than the Good & Fruity as Zombie candies go) here are the rules:

     

  • I can only ship to addresses in the USA or Canada (so if you don’t live in one of those places but want to play along, feel free, but you’ll have to give me a North American address)
  • Leave one comment with an email address that works (so I can notify you, don’t worry, no one else sees it) and answer the following question: What was the last piece of candy you ate?
  • All comments must be left by March 29th, 11 PM Pacific time in order to be eligible
  • If there is a problem with the commenting system (which wouldn’t surprise me), you may also email your entry using the subject line “Tootsie Pop Drop Drawing”
  • If you can’t wait to see if you’ve won, these should be appearing in convenience stores right now.

    UPDATE 3/29/2008: SugarHog is also giving away a box! So is Candy Yum Yum!

    Also, for those who mentioned the old format where they sold Tootsie Pop Drops in a roll, I found a picture on Flickr. The old tagline was “We filled the hole with a Tootsie Roll” (because they were sold like Lifesavers).

    Finally, I have to bump the rating up to a 9 out of 10 (from my original 8 out of 10 rating). I’ve eaten five bags since this review, that pretty much means they’re yummy.

    UPDATE: 4/1/2008: I drew a winner over the weekend and it was Maggi! Congratulations. The box o’ TPDs is on its way (along with some other stuff like two bags of Tootsie Pops and some of the recent Snickers Limited Edition bars but I can’t guarantee how they’ll take the heat).

    Comments are open again so you’re free to talk about anything now, but the drawing is closed. I really enjoyed hearing what everyone was eating, I hope you did too!

    Related Candies

    1. Good and Fruity
    2. Candy Teases: Edition Three
    3. Tootsie Rolls & Fruit Rolls
    4. Tootsie Pops - Regular & Super Sized
    5. Tootsie Roll Mini Chews
    Name: Tootsie Pop Drops
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Tootsie
    Place Purchased: samples from Tootsie
    Price: $.75 retail
    Size: 2.25ounces
    Calories per ounce: 106
    Categories: Chew, Hard Candy, United States, Tootsie

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:49 pm    

    Tuesday, March 18, 2008

    Lindt Chocolate Carrots

    Lindt Chocolate CarrotsI stared and stared at these at the Target a couple of weeks ago and thought, “I have these eggs, that’s enough Lindt for one Easter.”

    But then I was back in Target again last week and there they were, further on sale (only $1.33 for the package instead of $1.66 on sale). It was the fact that they were hazelnut that got me. Or maybe that they were carrot-shaped. Or maybe that I only had one item and I’d already walked about 2.3 miles around the circumference of the new Harbor City store and that negates any calories in my basket, right?

    The little box holds four of the carrots. They’re billed on the box as, “Solid Milk Chocolate blended with Hazelnut.” That sounds like guanduia!

    Lindt Chocolate Carrots (or are they umbrellas?)

    Honestly, I was thinking it would be a hazelnut paste filling, not a whole stick of guanduia, but I’m not saying I’m disappointed.

    Out of the foil the little confections stop looking like carrots and now look like folded umbrellas completely with a hooked handle. Very springy! They’re about 5.25” tall, with the chocolate portion at about 2.75” high. Each portion of chocolate is rather small, about .4 ounces or so (rather like the little traditional Piedmontese hats).

    The chocolate is less milky tasting than the regular Lindt variety, instead it has some dark roasted nut notes and of course that rib-sticking hazelnut satisfaction.

    They’re a cute little novelty, and at that price and with no artificial ingredients, it’s hard to beat. Unless you want some pretty foil-wrapped mockolate. I’m sure there’s something you can do with the leftover little sticks too, maybe something for Barbie or GI Joe. Definitely an item to pick up on clearance.

    Made in Austria.

    Related Candies

    1. Milka Alpenmilch
    2. Caffarel Gianduias
    3. Caffarel Chocolate Truffle Mushrooms
    4. Lake Champlain Hazelnut Eggs
    5. Caffarel Gianduia 1865
    Name: Chocolate Carrots
      RATING:
    • 10 SUPERB
    • 9 YUMMY
    • 8 TASTY
    • 7 WORTH IT
    • 6 TEMPTING
    • 5 PLEASANT
    • 4 BENIGN
    • 3 UNAPPEALING
    • 2 APPALLING
    • 1 INEDIBLE
    Brand: Lindt
    Place Purchased: Target (Harbor City)
    Price: $1.33 (on sale)
    Size: 1.8 ounces
    Calories per ounce: 153
    Categories: Chocolate, Nuts, Austria, Lindt, Easter

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 12:09 pm    

    Friday, February 22, 2008

    Same old things, different flavors

    Since I’m still down with this aggravating illness, I thought I’d do some short & sweet briefs on a few things that I’ve been eating. Mostly it’s stuff that I’ve reviewed but in different flavors & varieties ... so they don’t warrant a full write-up on their own.

    Strawberry Gummy Choco

    I took a little jaunt to Little Tokyo three weeks ago because I was craving the Gummy Choco I had last year. Mitsuwa Marketplace (3rd & Alameda) has an awesome selection, including single flavor packs of Muscat and Strawberry. I opted for the Strawberry Gummy Choco. (Oh, and I got another tube of the mixed fruits.) However, the price seemed to be better at Nijiya Market in Little Tokyo Village at only $1.49 instead of $2.49 ... but of course parking is a little more difficult over there at times.

    They have a milk chocolate coating with an innner coating of real white chocolate. The gummy center is a rich and jammy strawberry. Ultra-soft and combines well with the creamy chocolate.

    They’re still a satisfying candy to eat when you have no sense of smell, the combination of textures and the zap of the tart berry center keeps me amused.

    Rating: 9 out of 10

    Wheat ChocolateI picked up another brand of Wheat Chocolate at Mitsuwa. This bag was a little smaller, but basically the same price per ounce and had the same decent quality chocolate coating.

    It’s as simple as can be, just puffed wheat (I think puffed barley, actually) that’s covered in a shiny & thin coat of milk chocolate.

    It’s sweet and kind of earthy and freakishly addictive. I don’t know if it’s my imagination, but I think I prefer the Japan Confectionery brand, if only because each kernel was separate from the others. It seemed like more of these were stuck together. ($1.69 for 4 ounces ... which doesn’t sound like much, but there’s a lot of air in there.)

    This stuff should be sold in movie theaters ... it’s an ideal movie candy.

    Rating: 8 out of 10

    Charles Chocolates Candied Hazelnut Chocolate BarBack in November I visited with Chuck Siegel at Charles Chocolates and saw all the new stuff, including a preview of one of his new bars that sounded right up my alley: Candied Hazelnut in Dark Chocolate.

    What has me so excited (besides the prospect of creamy dark chocolate with perfectly roasted hazelnuts) was that it might be an easier to find version of that wonderful Spanish bar I had last summer: Avellana Caramelizada Chocolate by Mallorca.

    Charles Chocolates Candied Hazelnut Chocolate Bar

    Instead of whole hazelnuts encased in a crunchy sugar glaze, these were bits of hazelnuts. The bits were crunchy and fresh, but didn’t have quite the burnt sugary crust that I was aching for. (But how was Chuck to know that’s what my expectation was?)

    It’s still a great bar, I love his 65% dark chocolate blend. It has an excellent soft and silky melt, it’s a little tangy with mostly mellow flavors that let the other inclusions shine. I would have liked slightly bigger crunchy bits.

    The packaging has changed slightly with the Charles Chocolates bars as well. When I first tried them each bar was wrapped in a microthin piece of foil. Now they’re a metallic airtight pack inside the box. Probably a much better way to keep the chocolate fresh in the stores, but not as easy to reseal if you tear the bag when opening.

    Rating: 8 out of 10

    Lifesavers - New & OldThe last item is kind of a fun thing that I picked up last summer. I noticed that there were two different designs for the same roll of Cryst-O-Mint Lifesavers on the shelves at Walgreen’s, so I picked them up.

    Over the years Lifesavers has changed more than their packaging. The only thing that has remained the same is the shape of their product. The familiar donut shape is here to stay, even if they’re made in Canada now.

    The Cryst-O-Mint is unlike the other mint Lifesavers in that it’s a boiled sugar sweet, not a compressed dextrose candy.

    It’s not an intense mint like an Altoid, just a soft and clean peppermint flavor. The production of the candy is good, the pieces were all intact and didn’t have any voids or sharp spots like some of those Brach’s Ice Blue mints.

    Also a plus, there are no artificial colors in there, because they’re colorless. If they’d just left out the High Fructose Corn Sweetener, they’d actually be an all-natural candy.

    You can read more about the Lifesavers redesign here.

    Rating: 6 out of 10

    Related Candies

    1. Short & Sweet: International Flavors
    2. Candy Dump 2008 part 2
    3. The Candy Dump 2008
    4. Welcome to the Candy Dump
    5. Charles Chocolates Bars
    6. Lifesaver Musk

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:55 am     CandyReviewCharles ChocolatesMeijiWrigley'sChocolateCookieGummi CandyHard Candy & LollipopsMintsNutsWhite Chocolate6-Tempting8-Tasty9-YummyCanadaJapanUnited States

    Tuesday, February 19, 2008

    Things that Won’t Be There Anymore: Baldinger’s (updated)

    Baldinger'sA couple of years ago I was in Pittsburgh visiting family and because my brother knows how to show me a good time, we went to Baldinger’s.

    Baldinger’s is in Zelienople in Butler County north of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania and billed themselves as having Foods from All Nations. What they were known for though was their incredible candy selection, including their actual penny candy that cost a penny a piece.

    Baldinger’s was a family affair, started by Dorothy & Allen Baldinger in 1933. They started as a roadside fruit stand and carried other food items and items like cookie cutters and later found that the candy was a real hit. After the Baldinger’s died, the store passed to Dorothy’s sister, Lois Dodge. Dodge left the day-to-day business of the store to Betty Sabo, who managed the store, she started working there in 1943 as a teenager. But the land under the store was recently closed with the understanding that the store would stay open as long as Betty Sabo continued to manage the store. This was complicated recently when the owner, Lois, passed away. The store is slated to close in June of this year.

    Organized Candy

    While the rest of the world seemed to pass them by, including I-80 and the Turnpike leaching more traffic from route 19, they never even updated the original cash register that never rang more than $9.99. When I was there, my purchases were written up on a slip of paper, added by hand but the cashier.

    Baldinger’s boasted an excellent collection of candies. Much of it was bulk items and classic hard-to-find items like anise squares, Nik-l-Nips, wax lips and Mary Janes. They had seasonal candies as well, as that’s half the fun of candy along with candy bars from all over the country, limited editions and not the just the biggies. I also found a great selection of Dutch and other European Licorices and at only $6 a pound (half of what I pay for them at other places in San Francisco).

    Baldinger's

    If you’re in the neighborhood before summer, it’s definitely worth a trip to see them, a little piece of history, before it’s gone. It’s a completely different kind of nostalgia than the manufactured (Dylan’s Candy Bar) and franchised (Powell’s Sweet Shoppe) style that has replaced it. (It’s kind of in the Economy Candy style.)

    The penny candy selection is what I’d call “obligatory” since it contains very small pieces of candy, all made in Brazil or Mexico and not any names you’d recognize. But once you get up into the five cent and by the pound stuff, it’s all pretty good. I picked up individually wrapped Goetze’s Caramel Creams, various boxes of Lemonheads & other fruit heads, a full set of Pearson’s, a limited edition Take 5 chocolate cookie, Boyer’s Mallo Cup & Smoothie. I also got a bunch of Peerless candies (but I just ate those, they weren’t for reviewing). All the prices were great when I was there 65 cents for any candy bar (they also had some import consumer bars) and the bulk candy ranged from $2.00 a pound to $4.00 a pound. Mind you this was 2006, but I doubt that much has changed.

    Read more about the store: The Pittsburgh Channel (with video) & Pittsburgh Post Gazette, Wikipedia.

    22105 Perry Hwy
    Zelienople, PA 16063
    Phone: (724) 452-9310

    UPDATE 4/9/2008: It looks like Baldinger’s may get a new location and continue! Check out this story in the Pittsburgh Post Gazette. I’ll check up on the new space next time I’m in Pittsburgh.

    UPDATE 5/29/2008: The new address is 519 Perry Highway (Rte 19) - they’ll be across the street from the Exxon station. They expect to move into the larger space sometime in July. So if you’re planning on stopping by this summer, just call ahead to see where they’re at.

    POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:12 pm     CandyI Miss9-YummyFeatured NewsShopping

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