This is a pretty simple product and is part of a large line of Halloween candies from Russell Stover.
The Russell Stover Dark Chocolate Covered Marshmallow Pumpkin is what it says. A marshmallow in the shape of a pumpkin covered in a thin shell of semi-sweet chocolate.
The wrapper follows the same design, a stylized colored pumpkin drawing ... this one features a darker background from the milk chocolate version. It’s also smaller than they used to be. My 2006 review showed them at 1.25 ounces, but as sugar & chocolate prices go up, either the candy increases in price or gets smaller.
It’s a big, rather flat and vaguely pumpkin shaped piece. About 2.5 inches across at the widest. Even though they’re just wrapped in a little mylar sleeve, they seem to take traveling pretty well. This one only has a crack from me trying to get it to sit upright for the first picture, not anything that happened in transit or at the store.
Breaking it in half is not advised. This is a candy that’s best bitten & eaten in one sitting. The marshmallow is soft, moist and bouncy. It has a good pull, it almost looks like caramel or latex when I tried to pull it apart. The flavor is only the lightest vanilla, it’s mostly about the fluffy texture and sweet melt. The dark chocolate is decent. The sticky marshmallow keeps it from flaking off, even when it cracks. It also keeps the whole thing from tasting too cloyingly sweet.
I definitely prefer them over the standard milk variety and hope they do the Marshmallow Rabbits in a dark version next year.
For those watching their calories, this is a nice, spare treat. It’s only 110 calories but feels rather filling. (Of course as a marshmallow product it contains gelatin. They’re not Kosher and are made on shared machinery with peanuts, tree nuts, eggs and wheat.)
Other traditional Russell Stover Easter treats are now restyled for Halloween. So if you can’t wait until spring you can get Solid Milk Chocolate Pumpkins, Sugar Free Marshmallow Pumpkins, Caramel Pumpkins, Milk Chocolate Marshmallow Pumpkins, Coconut Cream Pumpkins, Strawberry Cream Pumpkins, Orange Marshmallow Pumpkins, Coconut Buzzard Nest, Strawberry Cream Buzzard Egg, Vanilla & Chocolate Creme Buzzard Egg, Marshmallow & Caramel Creme Buzzard Egg, Peanut Butter Ghosts, Marshmallow Ghosts and Coconut Ghosts.
Related Candies
- Russell Stover Eggs (2009 edition)
- Pete’s Gourmet Confections: Marshmallows
- Elmer’s Toasted Marshmallow Eggs
- Russell Stover Eggs
- Russell Stover Orange Marshmallow Pumpkin
- Frankford Marshmallow Pals
- Russell Stover Eggs (2007 edition)
Wish they made some of these with white chocolate!
Some how I expected the marshmallow to be orange when you broke it open! I like your point about the dark chocolate taking the edge off the sweet marshmallow. I wonder how it would be with a layer of caramel? Fantasy candies….
Love the Russell Stover Easter eggs with coconut cream surrounded by dark chocolate. Yum that they’ll be available in the fall.
I’ve watched this trend of candy companies restyling classic lines for other holidays—such as the Cadbury “ornament” which is really just a creme egg. Of course, it was nice to have fresh ones in December.
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