ABOUT

FEEDS

CONTACT

  • .(JavaScript must be enabled to view this email address)
  • Here are some frequently asked questions emailed to me you might want to read first.

EMAIL DIGEST

    For a daily update of Candy Blog reviews, enter your email address:

    Delivered by FeedBurner

CANDY RATINGS

TYPE

BRAND

COUNTRY

ARCHIVES

Target

Friday, December 18, 2015

Dove Holiday Mint Cookie Promises

DSC_0093I have a soft spot for Girl Scout Thin Mint Cookies. Mostly the soft spot is in my memory, because I don’t find the current day item meets my pickier standards. It shouldn’t be that hard to make a chocolate cookie with a minted chocolate coating.

So, if I can’t get my itch scratched with Thin Mints, perhaps I should turn it on its end and have something chocolate with cookies, instead of cookies with chocolate. Mars’ new Target-exclusive Promises for Christmas are just that: Dove Milk Chocolate Holiday Mint Cookie Promises.

DSC_0190rb

The idea is simple, and certainly not original. They’re milk chocolate, lightly flavored with peppermint along with some crunched up chocolate cookie pieces.

The milk chocolate is fudgy and sweet, but definitely smoother than many other brands like Hershey’s and Nestle that are on the shelves at the moment. The little cookie bits are sandy and crunchy with a bitter note of charcoal and cocoa. Mostly they just sit in the crevices of my molars. The effect is a nice textural change from the smooth melt of the chocolate and a slight note of salt.

The ratio of chocolate to cookie is very good, definitely more chocolate, but they weren’t stingy with the cookie bits, they were in every bite. They were a little on the sweet side, which is really the profile of the Dove Milk Chocolate. Still, I’d love it if someone would do these in dark chocolate.

I hope Target brings these back next year and hopefully they’ll get wider distribution so everyone can enjoy them. But now I’d like someone to explain why I can’t have them all year, like the long gone Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Mint bar.

Related Candies

  1. Nestle Girl Scout Cookie Bars - Thin Mints
  2. Christmas Bars: Hershey’s, Niederegger, Ghirardelli & Hachez
  3. Wonka Exceptionals Peppermint Shortbread Chocolate Pieces
  4. Mint Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites
  5. Mint Crisp M&Ms (Indiana Jones)
  6. Head to Head: Cookie Joys vs Cookies n Mint
  7. Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Mint


Name: Dove Milk Chocolate Holiday Mint Cookie Promises
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $3.99
Size: 7.94 ounces
Calories per ounce: 155
Categories: Candy, Review, Christmas, Mars, Chocolate, Cookie, Kosher, Mints, 9-Yummy, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:38 pm     CandyReviewChristmasMarsChocolateCookieKosherMints9-YummyUnited StatesTarget

Monday, December 7, 2015

M&Ms Cafe Mocha

M&Ms MochaTarget’s newest seasonal edition of M&Ms is a rather nonseasonal but welcome classic: M&Ms Milk Chocolate Cafe Mocha.

They’re far more expensive than regular M&Ms. At Target they were on sale 2 bags for $6, but the regular varieties were larger bags. Milk Chocolate M&Ms come in an 11.4 ounce bags. For Halloween picked up the Pumpkin Spice Latte in a 9.9 ounce bag. The same is true for the returning Peppermint White Chocolate M&Ms, they’re now in an 8 ounce bag.

M&Ms Mocha

They’re larger than standard M&Ms, basically puffier. If you eat them carefully by cleaving them in half you can tell that the milk chocolate center is created in two layers. It’s like they took a regular M&M and then gave it another chocolate coating and then a candy shell. I’m not sure why the Limited Edition flavors are all this shape, but they are. It’s interesting to note that the Walmart exclusive flavor of Hot Chocolate M&Ms does have a different center. I have to wonder if this is because the manufacturing process is re-purposed from the failed M&Ms Premiums line from 2008.

The shells are green or red. My bag contained mostly green, it was tough to find reds to populate the photos, they’re less than a third of the package. There’s no actual coffee listed in the ingredients.

M&Ms Mocha

They don’t smell like much in the bag, a little less like chocolate but not fully like coffee. The bite is not at all soft, the chocolate is a little chalky and fudgy. The melt gives off a lot of sweetness and a little note of bitterness at first as well as a good whiff of coffee. The chocolate is okay, not great but the bitterness of the coffee notes, the roasted and woodsy aspects kind of cover for the milk flavors. It’s not really a latte flavor, its more of a coffee with milk and cocoa. It might have been fun to see them try this with a dark chocolate, but I’m patient. This is their first try at coffee M&Ms since the Premiums line. (And there will be another version of coffee and peanuts next spring.)

Mars does a great job with their coffee flavors, it’s well rounded without too much of a fake flavor note to it (like some other buttery things they’ve done). I’d love to see these come back as a seasonal tradition, but at all stores. I’ll pick up more bags soon, just in case they don’t.

Related Candies

  1. Milk Chocolate M&Ms Pumpkin Spice Latte
  2. Russell Stover Big Bite Coffee
  3. Dove Mocha Latte & Dark Chocolate Swirl Promises
  4. Ritter Sport Coffee and Hazelnuts (Winter Edition)
  5. Lindt Hello Coffee Blast (Limited Edition)
  6. Meiji Corot & CoffeeBeat
  7. Javaz - Milk & Dark Chocolate Covered Coffee Beans
  8. M&Ms Premiums
  9. KitKat Mocha


Name: M&Ms Cafe Mocha
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $3.00
Size: 8 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Christmas, Mars, Chocolate, Coffee, M&Ms, 8-Tasty, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:13 pm     CandyReviewChristmasMarsChocolateCoffeeM&Ms8-TastyUnited StatesTarget

Tuesday, November 10, 2015

Nestle Toll House DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling

Nestle Toll House DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint FillingThe package for Nestle Toll House DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling says that they’re a baking product. But we all know that chocolate chips are just candy you put in baked goods.

Nestle’s new twist, introduced last year, are filled morsels that come in a variety of combinations for baking. The pieces are just slightly larger than a standard Toll House Dark Chocolate Morsel, so they easy to add to cookies or just eat as candy. The current varieties are dark chocolate with cherry flavored filling, milk chocolate with caramel or peanut butter filling. And then of course, the version I picked up.

Nestle Toll House DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling

The pieces are actually better looking than regular morsels, they were less scuffed up, some were downright glossy. The package only holds 9 ounces, not the usual 12, but for 3.29, I thought they were a pretty good price. The chocolate is real, but the mint filling is made with palm oil, milk, sugar, peppermint oil and food coloring. I was hoping they’d be a better version of Andes Mints, which I love but really aren’t very good quality.

The dark chocolate outside isn’t very complex or even very dark. The cacao content isn’t listed, but it’s pretty sweet. The filling is a little fudgier, a little grainier but also lightly salty. The mint flavor is clean and I didn’t get any notes from the artificial coloring.

Nestle Toll House DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling

The difference between these and any old mint flavored dark chocolate morsel is that the filling makes these a softer bite. It’s not really obvious when I eat them that they’re filled, per se, but there’s definitely a change in the intensity of the flavors based on melting them on the tongue (lots of chocolate, then lots of mint) versus chewing them to get a balance of chocolate and soft mint.


I haven’t seen anyone I know use these in baking yet. But as a candy on their own, this is a great item for snacking at the movies, mixing into a trail mix or perhaps a strange after dinner mint. I think the other flavors are quite interesting, especially the caramel and cherry, since there aren’t other morsels like that already.

Related Candies

  1. York Peppermint Pattie Minis
  2. Nestle Girl Scout Cookie Bars - Thin Mints
  3. M&Ms Mint Dark Chocolate
  4. Hershey’s York Pieces
  5. M&Ms Premiums
  6. Nestle Toll House Mint Holiday Gems
  7. 3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate
  8. The Mint Kisses: Chocolate Mint & Candy Cane


Name: DelightFulls - Dark Chocolate Morsels with Mint Filling
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Nestle
Place Purchased: Target (West Hollywood)
Price: $3.29
Size: 9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 162
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Nestle, Chocolate, Kosher, Mints, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:21 pm     CandyMorselizationReviewNestleChocolateKosherMints7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Monday, November 2, 2015

Spearmint Mix Tic Tac

DSC_9970rbTic Tacs are reliable and shareable little mints that come in a dispenser box that you can always find by the sound it makes.

The Spearmint Mix Tic Tac is pretty simple, and not that different than the classic Peppermint.

Spearmint is a less common mint flavor when it comes to candy (though an easier herb to grow than peppermint, strange how that happens). The package holds equal quantities of medium and light green mints. I picked these up at Target a little over a month ago, but no I can’t seem to find them again.

DSC_9974rb

If there’s a difference in the flavor between the two colors, I’m not sure I ever figured it out. It’s possible the darker color was stronger but both were suitably flavorful.

The nice thing about Tic Tacs are the smoothness. The coating on the outside is slick and kind of eases me into the minty notes. I’m a cruncher, so I get to the very minty core pretty quickly. They’re quite strong for such a small mint, though not as caustic as Altoids can be.

But here’s where things go awry. As I was preparing this review, I wanted to make sure I knew what all the allergen specifications were and noticed that the ingredients on the package said that this variety includes sucralose (sold as Splenda in yellow packets). I rechecked old reviews and packages posted online to confirm that this is not the case with other varieties. I specifically avoid artificial sweeteners and some are actually called out on the labels like allergens, but in this case the sucralose was just in the list way at the end and the word resembles sucrose at first glance. (And there’s some printing in a different direction on that part of the label that’s rather confusing, design-wise.)

Basically, I’m bummed. I have never experienced a reaction to sucralose specifically (my problems are with Aspartame, but I’m tarring a lot of other sweeteners with that brush, because, well, why not, it’s a big world and I should be able to get candies with sugar in them.) At first experience I was very enthusiastic about this variety, now I don’t care to eat Tic Tacs any longer. They were my go-to mint for full sugar and shareability.

Related Candies

  1. Ice Chips: Spearmint
  2. Glee Lemon-Lime and Spearmint
  3. Zitrone Honig Tic Tac
  4. PUR Gum: Xylitol Sweetened
  5. Choward’s Spearmint & Lemon
  6. Tic Tac Pink Grapefruit
  7. Barley Mint Mentos
  8. Tic Tac Bold!


Name: Spearmint Mix Tic Tac
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Ferrero
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $1.39
Size: 1 ounce
Calories per ounce: 114
Categories: Candy, Ferrero, Mints, 4-Benign, Canada, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 4:54 pm     CandyReviewFerreroMints4-BenignCanadaTarget

Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Brach’s Sea Salt Chocolate Candy Corn

DSC_9719rbBrach’s has a few new versions of their classic Candy Corn this year, in addition to the return of Apple Pie, Pumpkin Pie and Caramel Macchiatto. The Brach’s Sea Salt Chocolate Candy Corn says it’s made with real honey and comes from the same factory in Mexico that makes all the other Brach’s candy corn.

The image on the front of the bag shows what looks like chocolate truffles coated with far more salt than anyone should be eating. The good news is that it’s just an artistic representation, it’s there’s not that much salt on them and certainly none that’s visible.

Brach’s classic candy corn has 70 mg of sodium per serving of 19 pieces. The Sea Salt Chocolate version has 95 mg of sodium. The ingredients label lists both regular salt and sea salt as ingredients. The sea salt, which is the defining feature that the product leads with is way down at the end of the list after the first salt, after the palm kernel oil, after the natural and artificial colors and some extra dextrose. The only items lower on the list are gelatin, honey and the artificial colors plus sesame oil and soy lecithin.

DSC_9767rb

So, back to that picture on the front of the bag, it took me a little while of eating the pieces in layers to realize that the picture is actually a code for the candy.

The base layer is sweet, though a little less sweet than a standard candy corn fondant. There’s a light cocoa note, like that feeling that you get when you go into the kitchen and realize that someone left a package of hot cocoa mix open. The next layer, the middle one, is pretty much the same, expect I think I caught some fake butter notes. Then the white top layer is not that “bland white tip of the candy corn flavor”, instead it’s actually salty. There are actually little crunchy bits of salt in there.

DSC_9771rb

The whole thing tastes every so slightly less sweet than standard orange and yellow candy corn, but not actually chocolatey. It’s missing the honey notes and the weird butter flavoring really didn’t belong at all.

Of the recent novelty flavors, I think the Caramel Macchiatto was my favorite, but I’d love them to try an espresso or maybe affogato. This one seemed a little too late for the trend and not well executed.

Related Candies

  1. Brach’s Peanut Butter Cup Candy Corn
  2. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Salted Caramels
  3. Brach’s Caramel Macchiato Candy Corn
  4. Charms Candy Corn Pops
  5. Theo Salted Almond Dark Chocolate
  6. Toblerone Crunchy Salted Almond


Name: Sea Salt Chocolate Candy Corn
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Brach’s
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $2.79
Size: 15 ounces
Calories per ounce: 103
Categories: Candy, Halloween, Valentines, Brach's, Ferrara Pan, Fondant, 5-Pleasant, Mexico, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:58 pm     CandyReviewHalloweenBrach'sFerrara PanFondant5-PleasantMexicoTarget

Wednesday, September 16, 2015

Lindt HELLO Pretzel Bites

Lindt Hello Pretzel BitesThe last of the three new Lindt HELLO Bites collection that I picked up for review is the blue-themed HELLO Pretzel Bites.

The concept is truly simple, a small, spherical pretzel is coated in milk chocolate. (The image on the front shows pretzel twists, but they’re not pieces of pretzels, they’re actual full spheres.)They’re very similar to the Toffee Bites, not that innovative, this product is definitely an American take on a standard confection.

The cheeky text on the front of the package reads: HELLO, I’m a handful [of] Pretzel Bites. You be the sweet, I’ll be the salty. (Nice to Sweet You)

Lindt Hello Pretzel Bites

Like the Toffee Bites and the Minty Bites, the chocolate here is excellent. Though it’s very sweet, it’s immediately creamy and smooth with a strong hint of cocoa. The salty pretzel center is crispy and light with enough crunch to offset the sweetness of the coating.

Still ... I wish they were dark chocolate. Or maybe a mix of the two would be fun.

Like Minty Bites and Toffee Bites, these are made in the USA. They’re on the expensive side for chocolate covered pretzels, and I don’t see myself buying them often, but of the three versions, this was my favorite and the one that I finished first.

Related Candies

  1. Lindt Hello Toffee Bites
  2. Lindt Hello Minty Bites
  3. Brach’s Chocolate Caramel Pretzel Bites
  4. Lindt Hello Dark Chocolate Cookie
  5. Revisit Reviews: Pretzel M&Ms, Rally Bar and Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road
  6. Snyder’s Peanut Butter Pretzel Sandwich Dips
  7. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Covered Pretzel Bites


Name: HELLO Pretzel Bites
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Lindt
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $4.00 (on sale)
Size: 5.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 148
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Lindt, Chocolate, Cookie, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:16 pm     CandyMorselizationLindtChocolateCookie9-YummyUnited StatesTarget

Tuesday, September 8, 2015

Lindt Hello Toffee Bites

Lindt Hello Toffee BitesLindt Hello Toffee Bites is the second review I have for the line of Lindt’s HELLO Bites line. They’re pretty simple, just milk chocolate covered toffee bits.

Now that I’ve purchased the full set, I’ve noticed the packaging for the line. It’s an odd design style. The HELLO line is a very friendly, with that hipster coffee-house style mix of hand printing and script. The embossed Lindt logo, on the other hand, is old-world elegance. The rest of the package is just an image of the product. In this case it’s a bowl of toffee bites and some pieces of toffee (I know, the photo makes it look like they might be pats of butter). Each of the packages for the HELLO Bites has a different metallic color on the top band. For the toffee, it’s bronze, for the mint it was green and for the pretzel line, it’s a light blue (which is consistent with the M&Ms Pretzel which is also blue).

DSC_9653rb

The pieces a little on the small size, mostly the size of a garden pea. The milk chocolate is very light in appearance, like the Minty Bites, there’s no indication of the cacao content. The coating is very creamy, with no detectable waxy glaze to interrupt the immediately melty chocolate.

The chocolate to toffee ratio is very balanced, so there’s enough of both to give full flavor development and texture. The toffee is crispy and has a good crunch. There’s a hint of butter and a touch of salt with some good toasty flavors to balance it. The milk chocolate has a lot of dairy notes, but not so much of the dried milk flavors that I don’t care for in a lot of Swiss-style milk chocolates.

These are easy to munch but also such high quality that it’s fun to savor them as well ... the chocolate has a delightful melt and the consistency of the toffee is great if you’re a cruncher or a dissolver. The key here is that this is a simple item that can be done poorly with cheap ingredients and no attention to detail ... instead Lindt has delivered an excellent product and actually surpassed my expectations.

Related Candies

  1. Lindt Hello Minty Bites
  2. Lindt Hello Dark Chocolate Cookie
  3. Lindt Hello Crunchy Nougat
  4. Hershey’s Heath Pieces
  5. Poco Dolce Popcorn Toffee
  6. Lindt Holiday Almonds
  7. Kraft Daim
  8. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Almond Toffee
  9. Lindt Excellence Toffee Crunch
  10. Recchiuti Asphalt Jungle Mix


Name: Lindt HELLO Toffee Bites
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Lindt
Place Purchased: Target (Glendale)
Price: $4.00 (on sale)
Size: 5.3 ounces
Calories per ounce: 156
Categories: Candy, Morselization, Lindt, Chocolate, Toffee, 9-Yummy, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 5:31 pm     CandyMorselizationReviewLindtChocolateToffee9-YummyUnited StatesTarget

Thursday, September 3, 2015

Milk Chocolate M&Ms Pumpkin Spice Latte

DSC_9743rbThere are two new flavors of M&Ms out for fall this year. M&Ms Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte is a Target exclusive and M&Ms Milk Chocolate Pecan Pie is a Walmart exclusive.

I picked up the Pumpkin Spice Latte, though I admit I was a little confused about how different this was from the Pumpkin Spice Milk Chocolate M&Ms from 2013.

It’s always a little odd to pick up “seasonal” items when I live in Los Angeles. The package here shows the brown M&M all bundled up with steamy drink. It was 96 degrees in the shade when I got back to my car with the purchase (it’s also hot in a lot of other places around the country, it was still August when these hit the shelves).

DSC_9747rb

The pieces are large, as all of the specialty flavors lately have turned out to be. They come in orange, cream and dark brown. (The earlier 2013 Pumpkin Spice were orange, green and dark brown.)

The ingredients list no specifics about the flavors, there are no lists of spices and definitely no actual pumpkin or coffee. What I expected to be different about this variety is more of the latte beverage experience. So, I’m hoping for creamy milk notes, maybe some espresso and of course the spice mix known as pumpkin.

DSC_9749rb

The flavor combination here is immediately cinnamon with a touch of coffee and chocolate. The spices are warm, but not very evenly balanced, it’s almost all cinnamon and not much in the way of nutmeg or ginger. The coffee notes keep it from being as sweet as some others, though it’s a little inconsistent. The chocolate itself is grainy and not terribly creamy. In general the chocolate quality on M&Ms is disappointing as a chocolate item, but fine as a candy.

I’m a little confused how this whole coffee craze can come about and there are no coffee M&Ms, but some how a beverage that includes coffee can actually get the M&M treatment.

Related Candies

  1. Birthday Cake M&Ms
  2. M&Ms Milk Chocolate Gingerbread
  3. Limited Edition M&Ms Cinnamon Milk Chocolate
  4. M&Ms White Chocolate Candy Corn
  5. Bosco Milk Chocolate
  6. Limited Edition Strawberried Peanut Butter M&Ms
  7. Mint Crisp M&Ms (Indiana Jones)
  8. M&Ms Razzberry - Limited Edition


Name: M&Ms Milk Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Latte
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Mars
Place Purchased: Target (Eagle Rock)
Price: $2.50 (on sale)
Size: 9.9 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Candy, Halloween, Mars, Chocolate, Cinnamon, Coffee, Kosher, M&Ms, 7-Worth It, United States, Target

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:35 pm     CandyReviewHalloweenMarsChocolateCinnamonCoffeeKosherM&Ms7-Worth ItUnited StatesTarget

Page 2 of 21 pages  < 1 2 3 4 >  Last ›

Meticulously photographed and documented reviews of candy from around the world. And the occasional other sweet adventures. Open your mouth, expand your mind.

 

 

 

 

Facebook IconTwitter IconTumblr IconRSS Feed IconEmail Icon

COUNTDOWN.

Candy Season Ends

-2537 days

Read previous coverage

 

 

Which seasonal candy selection do you prefer?

Choose one or more:

  •   Halloween
  •   Christmas
  •   Valentine's Day
  •   Easter

 

image

ON DECK

These candies will be reviewed shortly:

 

 

image