The Man picked up some new stuff for the stockings this year. Besides the typical hard candies (Brach’s) and Hershey’s Kisses (in red and green foils) we got two new items:
Butterfinger Jingles (Nestle) - you know what’s great about these? They’re made with real milk chocolate. Instead of that waxy “chocolate coating” on the Butterfinger bar, Jingles start with real milk chocolate and then put little crunches of Butterfinger centers. They’re a bit bigger than a Hershey’s Kiss, which is a little too big in my opinion, but I’ll survive with a larger bite.
The other thing is, these made me realize is how clever Milton Hershey was when he decided how to wrap the Kisses with the foil wrapping “up” the Kiss, instead of putting the edges of the foil on the bottom. This is evident with the Jingles because all the foil edges are folded to the bottom of the Jingle so that it doesn’t have a flat bottom ... they wouldn’t sit straight for my photo.
The other new candy for us was the Hershey’s Mint Mix Miniatures. There are three different bars, Milk Chocolate with Mint, Semisweet Chocolate with Mint and White Chocolate with Mint and Candy Bits.
The Milk Chocolate with Mint is positively blasted with mint. Seriously minty. Not Altoid-level, but for a chocolate product, I’m surprised it was brown it was so minty. I had to sequester these bars from the rest of the stocking mix because they were contaminating the Jingles. No one wants minted Butterfinger Jingles. The dark one was nice, nothing to write home about and maybe a little sweet but I did actually enjoy the White Chocolate one. I know, white chocolate, most people go, “ew.” But I do have a fondness for misty mints and let’s face it, that’s all this is. The good news is that Hershey’s uses actual cocoa butter in their white chocolate, so at least it’s not jam-packed with trans fats. They are actually the best thing in this mix, smooth, not too sweet and not too artificially vanilla tasting.
If you see any of these on sale after Christmas, they’re well worth picking up to keep around for snacking. I really don’t care what my candy is dressed in, as long as it’s good.
Rating - 7 out of 10 (but if you can find them for 75% off, then it’s a 10 all the way)
I LOVE YOuR Blog! You are so creative!
The mint mix Hershey’s were the first candies in a long, long time that we actually threw out. The white chocolate ones were just okay, and the others tasted terrible! Bad mix of too much mint with Hershey’s slightly sour chocolate taste. Why they didn’t include the Cookies n’ Mint in there is a mystery to me.
Wish I’d seen this yesterday (or maybe it’s better I didn’t) - I saw some of the Jingles and thought “feh, that yucky chocolate, no need to buy these…”
Thanks for the praise, Sunny!
Jenn - I agree about the Cookies ‘n Mint which I really miss - and I always preferred those in the “nuggets” shape. You might want to try the Harry London Mint Cookie Joys that you can get at Trader Joe’s or right now through the Crate & Barrel website for $4.50 for 18 ounces in a tin. Yum!
Tricia - I also noticed that there’s a new Butterfinger bar that’s milk chocolate with Butterfinger bits in it. Strange sort of way of re-doing a bar. It’s also odd that Nestle doesn’t just pony up and put real chocolate on the Butterfinger.
I love mint chocolate in nearly any form… I like the Hershey’s mint mix miniatures. The white chocolate was fantastic, and the dark chocolate was good. The milk chocolate didn’t have the texture I like in mint chocolate and didn’t taste quite right- I expected more of an Andes taste. But they are still very good.
The jingles are okay (I’m eating them right now; it takes me about four bites to finish one) but the mints were dissapointing. Milk was okay, black sucked. The whites were good, though. No Hershey’s tang, and those nice crunches.
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