As long as I can remember, Hershey’s Kisses have been a staple part of the candy dish assortment in the living rooms of everyone I know. Such a simple concept, an over sized chocolate chip, has never garnered more success. Every time you pop a Hershey’s Kiss in your mouth it is followed by the inevitable craving for more, and before you know it, you have a mound of silver foil to pick up.

Throughout the years Hershey has been good to us, surprising us by coming out with different variations of the Kisses every so often. They have had every conceivable variety and combination, and some unconceivable ones. Personally, I have enjoyed most of their creations.

Here come the Special Edition limited time Hershey’s Butter Crème Kisses. I snacked on these with my morning coffee and it was great. The Hershey’s chocolate was delicious as usual, sweet and rich, but the simple addition of the butter crème filling gave the whole thing a new elevated taste. It was so rich in flavor, I was surprised. The chocolate and butter crème make a wonderful fusion of a luscious sweet and smooth taste. There is a slight vanilla taste to the butter crème, but it is sweeter.

The taste reminded me of a childhood favorite of mine called the Kinder Surprise Egg, or Uberraschungsei, in German. These are not available in the United States so it had been a while since I tasted something like it and I was very pleasantly surprised that the Butter Crème Kiss was reminiscent of that. These seasonal treats are only available for a limited time, so get them while you can!

As I was eating the Nestle Crunch and Creamy Caramel Nest Eggs, I wondered “what majestic chocolate bearing creature could have laid these eggs?” These little treats are an excellent addition, if not requirement, for a perfect Easter Basket. Get them while you can because their only offered that one special time of year!

I started with the Nestle Crunch Nest Egg. This egg met all my expectations. I am a big fan of Nestle Crunch so I was very glad that this was, in essence, an egg version of a Crunch Bar. Being in an egg shape made it a delicious pop-in-your-mouth snack, a ball of Crunch, one might say. The milk chocolate was good as always and the crisped rice added that delicious crunch to it all. If you’re a fan of Nestle Crunch, you will be a fan of Nestle Crunch Nest Eggs.

The Nestle Creamy Caramel Nest Egg was delicious. The shell is comprised of a thick layer of milk chocolate. Within this lays a soft layer of gooey caramel, thicker than in most other chocolate eggs, but still smooth. The Creamy Caramel Nest Egg had a very rich taste to it. These things are sweet and a little addicting, so beware not to make a meal out of them, or you’ll be clearing your throat for days.

Nestle Nest Eggs are great for this time of year. They are a little hard to open, but all the more worth it. Unwrap one today, or two, or three.

Mars has done it again! Not the planet, the candy company, although the new Special Edition Snickers Fudge Bar could be considered astronomical. Just when we all thought we had curbed our hunger with all possible variations of Snickers bars, they release this bad boy of chocolate for a limited time.

I’m talking Nougat, Peanut Butter, and Peanuts, slammed with Fudge and wrapped in that delicious Milk chocolate that we all know better than our Mom’s cooking. The Snickers Fudge Bar is a simple change from the standard Snickers bar, a kind of change that we all thought of, but never dared to whisper out loud, well now you can yell about it, if your mouth isn’t too full.

This is the Snickers bar for the chocolate lover; everything you love about a normal Snickers bar, except the Caramel is replaced with Fudge. This makes the bar more solid in its overall consistency, and you don’t have to deal with that stretchy caramel oozing all over your face. Like in our favorites Snickers, Milky Way, and 3 Musketeers bars, the peanut butter Nougat is fluffy and light and the peanuts are tasty as usual, but the Fudge adds a new dense consistency to the center layer, which makes for a “chocolate punch to your dome” effect for the overall bar.

Usual of their limited edition bars, the bar is smaller than a standard Snickers bar, the smallest yet, to be exact at 1.78 ounces. But at 250 calories it doesn’t need to be bigger, and trust me, if you’re wondering whether it will satisfy your Snickers craving, after you bite into this chocolate juggernaut you’ll be singing Benny Benassi’s “Satisfaction” in no time.

Snickers Fudge bars are available for a limited time, so get them while you can at www.candydirect.com

The popular diet drink has made its way to the candy aisle! Crystal Light Sugar Free Hard Candies are relatively new to the market, released by Sorbee, a Philadelphia-based sugar-free product developer. This product’s availability is good news for calorie counters who can’t seem to release their sweet tooth. From the image on the wrapper, you can tell this is a candy meant to please adults, not kids. There are no cartoon characters here—just the familiar label and giant images of fruit on the Pepto-Bismol pink, 3-ounce bag. Advertising 50 percent fewer calories than regular hard candies, these Crystal Light lozenges boast less than 7 calories per piece. How’s that for diet candy? Sweetened with Splenda, the candies are also kosher, utilizing natural and artificial flavors.

The star flavor out of this package is Orange. Tasting like an orange popsicle, this flavor is smooth and bright, with a bit of tang to it—and not the orange drink. Strawberry pretty much tastes like a diet drink, so there are no surprises here. With a hint of chemical to the flavor, I found Strawberry to be overwhelmingly strong and too fake in the taste department. Cherry and Raspberry are almost indistinguishable in color, with the latter being a shade lighter. Cherry tastes a bit like wax lips you’d wear at Halloween and Raspberry tastes like Lip Smackers raspberry chap stick. Take that as you will. What I do like about theses hard candies is the individually-wrapped packaging style, perfect for tossing in your bag. The candies themselves have a nice shape to them, like LifeSavers with the middle filled in.

Overall, these candies are okay if you’re on a diet, but don’t expect to enjoy them more than you would a Jolly Rancher or a bag of fruity LifeSavers. You may just get hooked on Orange, though.

Tags: Crystal Light, hard candy, non chocolate, sugar-free candy, sweets

What can we say about the Wazoo Candy Bar? Originality is key here, meaning there’s nothing like this on the market—no candy even comes close. With carnival-colored sprinkles dressing up a cotton-candy-colored blue chew, this rainbow-inspired candy bar is sugar and corn syrup at its best.

The inside boasts a layer of bright pink taffy atop turquoise chew, giving you an overall raspberry flavor that’s pretty close to perfection. Surrounding the taffy bar is a layer light blue layer resembling white chocolate. Think of a Charleston Chew gone completely fruity, and slap on some purple, yellow, red and pink sprinkles for good measure. Even the aroma of this candy is appealing, with floral undertones. After finishing this candy, you can’t help but scope out the wrapper for remainders. Were there any orphaned sprinkles? Yes…and with the taste of rainbow Nerds, the sprinkles are in fact the best part. This candy bar isn’t without its caloric content, however. The modest-sized bar boasts 170 calories and 5 grams of fat. For you’re the same taste you could get from fat-free taffy, you can probably satisfy your sweet tooth elsewhere and be just as happy.

The Wazoo Bar is brought to us by Topps, the company famous for bubble gum in baseball cards. The company’s marketing materials beckon candy fans to “excite their taste buds with Wazoo.” After diving in, I’d have to say that’s easy to do with this fun-tastic candy bar. Also available in Wild Berriez flavor, this candy is a delight with yellow and pink taffy, wrapped in lavender-colored coating with multi-colored sprinkles. Can’t decide on a flavor? You’ll probably want to try pick up a few of both flavors, because all of your friends will want a bite of this unique candy bar. And at just over 4 inches long, you’ll likely find that there’s really not enough to go around.

Tags: Wazoo, fruity candy bar, non chocolate, chewy candy, sweets

As a limited edition product, Hershey recently released Cherry Cordial Kisses. The familiar milk chocolate kiss is now filled with a liquid cherry center. Each Cherry Cordial Kiss is wrapped in special foil to distinguish it from the pack—magenta with a zebra-like black swirl.

From what I can tell, the reviews on these are mixed. Some candy addicts would like to see Cherry Cordial Kisses available year-round! Others think the cherry filling tastes a bit like medicine. I’m leaning more toward the medicine analysis, but I can still see and appreciate why others might fall in love. First off, cherry cordial candies are reminiscent of Christmastime. I used to get a box of the creamy-filled candies each year in my stocking, with a chew maraschino cherry inside waxy-tasting chocolate. Hershey Kisses, while they inspire the same sentiment, don’t have a cherry inside—just light pink liquid filling. Not nearly as thick and creamy as traditional cherry cordial filling, Hershey’s cherry filling gushes out as soon as you sink your teeth in.

Milk chocolate Kisses are such a good thing; I can’t imagine making them any better by filling them with cherry goo. In fact, I don’t think any of the variations from the original (Hershey’s Hugs, Kisses with Caramel or Peanut Butter) are as satisfying as solid milk chocolate. But if you’re game for possible disappoint, potential delight, pick up a bag and give them a shot. One serving (9 kisses . . . I didn’t make it that far) has 180 calories and 7 grams of fat. Unlike the original Hershey Kisses, released over a century ago, these aren’t here to stay. But if people buy them up fast enough, who knows when they might be re-released.

Tags: Hershey’s, kisses, milk chocolate, chewy candy, sweets

Who knew that we had beets to thank for one of the best candies on the planet? The second ingredient listed on Albanese 12 Flavor Gummies is, in fact, beet sugar! All produce aside, I was instantly drawn to this product, being a fan of gummy candy and wondering what the 12 advertised flavors could be.

These soft and luscious chewy gummy bears come in 12 amazing color-flavor combinations: Ornery Orange (of course, in orange), Poppin’ Pineapple (yellow), Granny Smith Apple (dark green), Rrripe Watermelon (in the not-so-obvious pale aqua/blue), Lickin’ Lemon (bright yellow), Wild Cherry (red), Bodacious Banana (pale yellow), Luscious Lime (pale green), Freshhh Strawberry (dark pink), Rockin’ Raspberry (dark blue), Groovy Grapefruit (pale pink), and Concord Grape (purple). You’ll need the color code on the back of the package to keep them all straight, though the flavors themselves are bright and fruity—totally what you’d expect from Albanese, a quality confections company since 1983.

I loved these gummies, and was so glad to have more than one bag handy. The 5-ounce package isn’t quite enough to share, because you’ll want to try all of your favorite flavors several times over. My favorites had to be Banana, Grapefruit and Grape, because you just don’t see those flavors honored in the gummy candy world—not very often, at least.
Touted the “world’s best” gummies, these candies are (as the package states) bursting with flavor! If you try these gummies and like them, check out Albanese Gummi Army Guys, Gummi Jet Fighters, Assorted Krunch Bears (coated with candy sprinkles) and Gummi Cola Bottles! In addition to gummies, Albanese is famous for their gold label chocolates and premium fresh-roasted nuts.

Tags: Albanese, gummi bears, fat free candy, chewy candy, sweets

Billed the “ridiculously long-lasting gum,” Stride Gum has only been on the market since 2006. In that time, the brand has established itself on product shelves as a name in the gum business, which says a lot in the somewhat crowded market. In flavors like Spearmint, Winterblue and Sweet Peppermint, Stride knew it was time to branch out. Its Sweet Cinnamon and Forever Fruit flavors were added to the roster to round out the collection. And, not being a diehard fan of a lot of cinnamon gums for their burn-the-mouth qualities, I decided to give this new Sweet Cinnamon a try.

Overall, I’m impressed with this gum. First, the packaging is awesome. In what feels like a cardboard billfold, the box opens up to reveal 14 rectangles of gum, individually wrapped and lined up like little soldiers ready for battle. Old-style stick packaging (like Wrigley’s and Extra) is definitely a way of the past. From this package, it’s easy to grab a piece, but the gum won’t easily fall out in your purse or pocket because of the sleek, walletlike design. Also, the box flap tucks under a tab to keep it in place—but again, it’s not hard at all to get the gum out of the box. You actually look quite James Bond as you whip out the box, shake it open and slyly slip out a piece for your friend or colleague. And your friends will definitely ask you for a piece. The Sweet Cinnamon smell emanates from the box, just as it does around your mouth when you chew it. Though the flavor is long lasting, it doesn’t punch you in the gut with its spiciness. It’s a more subtle, sugary-tasting chew. But the best part of all is that it’s sugarfree. At less than 5 calories per piece, chewing Stride gum is a great way to keep your mouth busy instead of snacking at the vending machine. I’d not only buy this gum in the future, but I’d also consider it “the” gum of the future.

Tags: Stride gum, chewing gum,  sugarfree candy, chewy candy, sweets

ландшафт

If you remember this candy from the days of high school French club fundraisers, you’re not alone. Eiffel Bon Bons, distributed in the U.S. by the Foreign Candy Company (based in Iowa), come in both strawberry and apple flavors. These are the varieties available through retailers to the general public, but rumor has it that fundraising groups have access to three additional flavors (blue raspberry, watermelon and cherry). Having never lived in France, I can’t confirm that this is true. But rumor also has it that Eiffel Bon Bons are a popular European candy, having been around for the last 20 or so years.

When I opened the strawberry package, I was expecting something that tasted soft and creamy, but I got a tart bite of sugary sweetness. These tiny candy chews are about the size of gumdrops, and the consistency of tough taffy or a day-old marshmallow. But who can argue with that adorable little French candy man on the packaging? He stretches out his white-gloved hand as if to say, “Welcome to France. Eat this candy, and you will be transported to someplace magical and delicious!” That said, the candy itself may be a bit too chewy for some. Hard on the jaws, the candy pieces are tasty, leaving their fruity undertones on the palate long after they are gone. The apple chew was not as good as the strawberry, but that’s just preference.

These aren’t the kinds of candies I could scarf down all at once—I’d rather enjoy them over time. If I could reinvent the packaging, I’d put them in a box rather than a bag, so I could close it up and enjoy some of the candies later in the day. Available 1.25- or 4-ounce bags, these French-inspired chews are good enough to chew on a rainy day, but nothing to write home about. Still, the company’s idea to market through school language clubs is brilliant. If you make the product available only at certain times and in certain seasons (take, for example, Girl Scout Cookies, or Cadbury Cream Eggs), the candy addicts will come running, waving their dollar bills all the way. It’s a proven fact.

The Flix Batman Push Puppet is candy with a bonus. The entire topper is a Batman toy (his arms wave up and down when you push on the base) that you can save after the candy is long gone. Kids are crazy about this candy product because it just screams “play with your food.” But the packaging is so complicated that you’re lucky to even get the candy out of the tube—I couldn’t open this for the longest time. Once you do get it open, you’ll be able to remove the toy topper and fill your mouth with candy in the shape of bats. With their great, sugary crunch, the tiny bat candies are about the size of Tic Tacs and come in shades of grays and purples. I couldn’t really distinguish a flavor—just tasted like sugar in my opinion. But that’s okay, because these candies are more for looks than anything else. The novelty of eating your favorite superhero is enough for most to pick it up off the shelves and buy it.

Specializing in novelty candy and licensed candy brands like Disney, Flix Candy Company is based in Illinois. Their candies make a wonderful gift for a special occasion (whether that’s a birthday, Christmas or Easter), and you won’t go broke trying to buy a candy that has a toy in the same package. The company also sells High School Musical and Hannah Montana candies for the next generation of kids destined for superstardom. It’s hard to resist these products for their familiarity. (C’mon, Batman would never make a second-rate candy! His powers must extend to candy….) But they’re not like some of the old favorites, like Peanut M&Ms or Jolly Ranchers, where you’re just destined to come back for more. All in all, Flix Batman Push Puppet is worth a shot, so long as you don’t have to fly halfway across Gotham to buy it.