Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Pastel Malted Milk Eggs Compared

Pastel Malted Milk BallsOne of my favorite candies is malted milk balls. Easter brings the pastel version, which is egg shaped and has a candy coating. I rounded up four of the most popular versions in stores today for a little comparison.

I have various sized bags from Jelly Belly, Necco, Brach’s (Ferrara Candy) and Whoppers (Hershey’s).

Pastel Malted Milk Balls

Though there are some size differences in the eggs, and some other sizes available from these brands, pastel malted eggs are usually larger than malted milk balls and less focused on the milk chocolate coating.

They’re generally an attractive candy, but with a large variation on the look and texture of the shell and color palettes.

Malted Milk Eggs

From left to right: Necco Mighty Malts, Jelly Belly, Whoppers and then Brach’s.

Mighty Malt EggsName: Mighty Malts Speckled Malted Milk Eggs
Brand: Necco
Size: 5 ounces
Price: $1.00
Shell: This is the only version of the assortment that doesn’t have a hard shell. Instead this is just sealed with a glaze and a little speckling.
Chocolate: This isn’t chocolate, it’s some white confection. It’s absolutely terrible. The only good thing about it was that at certain temperatures, I could peel it off. It might have been flavored, the pink one was strawberry, which actually wasn’t bad flavor-wise but I was thankful that the gritty malt center scrubbed away the waxy grease it left behind on my teeth.
Malted Milk Center: The centers redeem these eggs. The malt is so airy and crispy, but still packs a malty punch.

DSC_8857rb

Verdict: It’s too messy to eat around the awful coating, so I can’t recommend these at all for eating, only decoration.

Jelly Belly Speckled EggsName: Speckled Chocolate Malted Eggs
Brand: Jelly Belly
Size: 4.6 ounces
Price: $5.95
Shell: The shells are very thick, crunchy and pretty strong. The odd part though is that they’re also flavored. Green is lime, yellow is lemon and lavender is actually grape. It’s so strange.
Chocolate: Jelly Belly uses real chocolate in their eggs, but it’s a rather thin layer and because of the ratios, it really takes a back seat to the other flavors and textures.
Malted Milk Center: This malted center is sweet and has a strong cereal flavor and a light touch of malt and maybe honey. It dissolved well, a little grainy but not at all chewy.

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Verdict: The shells are very thick, probably too much shell for me and the flavor was not a good mix for the other flavors. I still loved the colors and have eaten two full bags so far this season. However, they’re also very expensive ... about 5 times more expensive than the Necco Mighty Malts, though imminently more edible.

Whoppers Robin EggsName: Whoppers Robin Eggs
Brand: Hershey’s
Size: 10 ounces
Price: $3.49
Shell: These look ridiculous. They look like lumps of sidewalk chalk, not like food. That said, the texture of the shells is pretty amazing, they’re very durable as in the fact that they don’t crack, but once you bite, they’re very crunchy and thin.
Chocolate: The mockolate coating on these is just so bad. It tastes like damp junk mail. It has a cool melt on the tongue and at least takes up very little in the bulk of the candy as a whole.
Malted Milk Center: The center is crispy with an excellent dissolve that rarely gets tacky or deflated. The malt flavor is the best thing about this candy.

DSC_8863rb

Verdict: The unappealing pink shells and less appealing mockolate layer just make these unbearable. I actually find myself doing the extra work on the Necco Mighty Malts instead of eating these, even though they have an excellent malt center.

Brach's Malted Milk Pastel EggsName: Malted Milk Pastel Fiesta Eggs
Brand: Brach’s (Ferrara Candy)
Size: 7.5 ounces
Price: $2.50
Shell: It’s crisp and has the texture of actual egg shells, a little bit of crumble, generally flavorless.
Chocolate: It’s passable stuff. It’s real chocolate, but not great quality. The texture is fatty and smooth, but also extremely sweet, there’s very little cocoa flavor to it.
Malted Milk Center: The texture is very dense, with a lot of milky notes but less malt than the others. It’s not overly sweet and not overtly salty.

DSC_8866rb

Verdict: Of the four, I prefer these, though they still don’t quite shine on their own merits, only in comparison. I’ve eaten two bags so far this season and do find them comforting, but I only keep eating them on the naive hope that I’ll find “a good one” as if that’s ever happened or will happen.

The result of this tour only confirms that I love the idea of a great Malted Milk Pastel Egg, but I haven’t found it yet.

Related Candies

  1. Mars MaltEaster Bunnies
  2. Sugarfina: The Chocolates
  3. Ovomaltine Chocolate Bar
  4. Brach’s Fiesta Malted Milk Eggs (2012)
  5. Target’s Market Pantry Malted Milk Balls
  6. Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Malted Milk Eggs (Plus a Bonus)
  7. Whoppers Milkshake Strawberry

POSTED BY Cybele AT 2:54 pm Tracker Pixel for Entry     CandyReviewEasterBrach'sFerrara PanHershey'sJelly BellyNeccoChocolateMaltMockolate4-BenignUnited StatesDollar TreeTargetWalgreen's

Comments
  1. Maybe one day Wilbur will make their excellent chocolate covered malt milk balls into a pastel egg for Easter. If they got the shell right they would be perfect.

    Comment by SM on 3/25/15 at 10:55 am #
  2. Thanks for the comparison.  I had been thinking of getting malted milk eggs, now I know which one to get. Didn’t know the Necco one was white confection. You should look for the Paas Splashed Malted Milk Eggs in Ice Cream Flavors, in a mostly green bag.  Found mine at Walmart.  The only decent flavor was the orange.  I’m giving the rest to my BIL who’ll get just about any candy.

    Comment by Liz on 3/25/15 at 11:06 am #
  3. outstanding!

    Comment by snake on 3/25/15 at 2:28 pm #
  4. I didn’t like the paas ice cream flavors at all. Will stick with old reliable whoppers robins eggs

    Comment by Bambi C on 3/31/15 at 7:27 pm #
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