Category Archives: Candy Bars

Necco Wafers Assorted

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Does the “N” in NECCO stand for “Nostalgia?” Not technically—but maybe it should. The New England Confectionery Company (“Necco” for short) has been around since the 1840s and is one of the oldest thriving candy companies in the United States. Headquartered in Massachusetts, the company brings in annual sales up to $100 million. How do they do it? A large part of their product line focuses on holiday candies that everyone loves like Sweethearts conversation heart candies, as well as Halloween and Easter candies.

Necco Wafers are the nostalgia lover’s candy. Available in eight assorted flavors, these pastel-colored wafers are fat free. The flavors are the same today as they were in the days of yesteryear—orange, lemon, lime, clove, chocolate, cinnamon, licorice, and wintergreen. Made from the key ingredients of sugar, corn syrup, and gelatin, Necco Wafers last and last. Unlike other candy bars, one roll of wafers can take just under an hour to eat. Troops enjoyed Necco Wafers during World War II for their tastiness and durability. This is one reason Baby Boomers tend to remember Necco Wafers so favorably. If you don’t care for the taste, these little gems can double as poker chips. Some families have even used the wafers as a practice round for a child’s first communion!

If you want to join with a worldwide community of Necco consumers, you won’t be alone. The company claims to produce four billion wafers each year—enough to wrap around the world twice when placed edge to edge. With all this fanfare, I had to try Necco Wafers again as an adult and see if they were as tasty and “pretty” as I thought they were when I was a kid. Though I’m not wild about some of the flavors, citrus and chocolate varieties were tops on my list. The smooth, flat surface of the wafer (about the size of a half dollar) makes it perfect to enjoy anyplace at any time. A roll of Necco Wafers would make a great nostalgic treat for the Baby Boomer in your life.

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Reese’s NutRageous

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Housed under parent company Hershey’s, the Reese’s brand is synonymous with peanut butter. The original Reese cup has been available since 1928—almost a century. H.B. Reese invented the popular chocolate shell with peanut butter filling. It has changed a great deal over the years with countless variations on the original. But the fame the Reese’s brand attained in the candy marketplace is due to this original success story: the peanut butter cup that changed the world.

How could the company branch out from their signature Reese’s Pieces and Peanut Butter Cup and tempt the public in new ways? Could they pack chocolate and peanut butter into a candy bar in a way that would be inventive enough and tasty enough to grab the public’s attention? Packing in fresh roasted peanuts seemed to be the ticket. But they didn’t stop there. Caramel and peanut butter round out the innards of the candy log. Milk chocolate coats the delicious invention. Wrap it all up in the classic orange-colored label with a bright blue nameplate, and you have NutRageous. Candy consumers have been buying up this bar since it was unleashed on the public in 1994. If you haven’t tried it–where have you been?

I love the NutRageous bar. It’s crunchy and truly satisfying, like a Snickers. In fact, I’d place it in line just behind Reese cups to meet my cravings for peanut buttery goodness. What makes this bar so all-the-rage? Definitely the rich peanut butter. You just can’t go wrong with peanut-creaminess and milk chocolate. In fact, I didn’t realize caramel was also one of the dominant ingredients until I read the packaging. If this candy-combo sounds up your alley, you’ll most likely buy NutRageous again and again. This is a genuine favorite candy bar of many connoisseurs, so you will be in good company if you find yourself adding the word “nutrageous” to your vocabulary—and your shopping list.

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Hershey S’mores

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“Kum-Ba-Yah my Lord . . . Kum-Ba-Yah.” If you find yourself with the strange urge to sing campfire songs when you eat this candy, you won’t be alone. Hershey’s S’mores candy bar was born in 2003. The “snack size” 1.65-ounce treat is the one you’re most likely to find on display in grocery store aisles. The new candy bar was met with such success that a king-size bar rolled off production lines the next year.

Whatever size you choose, you’ll fine a new creation in Hershey’s S’mores. Unlike the traditional s’more eaten over a campfire, the graham cracker here is on the inside. Hershey’s chocolate gets wrapped around a layer of graham cracker bits topped with marshmallow. So bundle up in a sweater, cozy up by the fire, and rip open this candy bar! The ghost stories can wait until you’re done. And you don’t even need to nuke it in the microwave. Just to clarify, please don’t microwave this s’more, or you’ll find yourself with a big mess to clean up!

I think the Hershey’s S’mores bar offers enough variation from a plain chocolate bar to sell on the market. But marshmallow isn’t at the top of most consumers’ top tastes—probably right up there with coconut, which is a kind of love it or hate it flavor for most people. Graham cracker is a brilliant yet overlooked candy bar component—many more candy companies choose some type of wafer, nougat, or crisped rice for their chocolate complement. But it’s the combination of chocolate with these two unlikely ingredients—graham cracker and marshmallow—that makes this bar stand apart in the market. I’m prone to eating other s’mores flavored products, like Quaker Chewy Granola bars, but Hershey’s knows how to put out an even more tasty indulgence. Overcome the temptation to pick up your staple candy bar and give Hershey’s S’mores a shot.

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Caramello Bar

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If Cadbury Eggs were sold year-round, all of our wallets would be in trouble. Strong seasonal sales have only encouraged England’s Cadbury corporation to release tasty temptations all year long. An expert in filled chocolates since the 1800s, Cadbury produces the United Kingdom’s current-best-selling chocolate, Cadbury Dairy Milk. In order to bring Cadbury over to the United States, Hershey’s gained the rights to make and sell Cadbury products nationwide. Americans picked up on the trend—they love Cadbury candies like the Royal Dark bar, Roasted Almond Bar, Fruit & Nut Bar, Crème Eggs, Caramel Eggs, and Caramello Bars.

The 1.6-ounce Caramello is a staple in many grocery and convenience store checkout aisles, and you can buy larger 4-ounce bars in movie theaters. Although each bar is filled with smooth, dripping caramel, each candy bar comes in sections (chocolate “pockets”) that are easy to break off and share without the filling oozing out. Though, once you sink your teeth into this delectable chocolate bar, sharing will probably be the last thing on your mind.

I’ve always loved Caramello bars, because there is really nothing like them outside of the Cadbury brand. The quality of chocolate is top notch. The caramel is so creamy and silky, and the bar has an undeniable melt-in-your-mouth quality. It’s like staring at uncharted lands or watching the ocean waves roll forward and backward. Eating this candy bar isn’t like going to the mall or going to a movie. It’s more rare and unique—like going on vacation. And you wouldn’t truly appreciate a vacation if you went all the time—right? It’s the same with a candy that you eat it all the time. Saving it for a special occasion makes it all the more special. Make Caramello bars your “vacation” candy—the one you eat to really get away from the “daily grind” and escape to a land of milk and cocoa.

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Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites

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It’s long been in my mind that eating raw cookie dough is bad for you. Whether or not that is merely an old wives’ tale, I can’t say. But when I saw cookie dough in a candy box for sale in the movie theater, I knew I wanted to try it. Because I’m a budget shopper, I waited until I could find the movie theater boxes on sale at my local dollar store. I stocked up on Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites, and bought extras for stocking stuffers. I later found out that these cookie dough candies come in three other varieties: peanut butter cookie dough, chocolate chip cookie dough, and a dark-chocolate-covered version of the chocolate chip cookie dough. Tongue twister or not, I was ready to start eating.

I opened up the box to find tiny bites of chocolicious dough, raw as can be, covered in an outer layer of milk chocolate. The outside was shiny and polished, like chocolate covered raisins or peanuts. But I much preferred what was inside this candy shell. Delicious cookie dough, just like mom always made. I bit into another, and another. These movie-theater boxes give you plenty of candy to share with friends, or you may want to save some for later. I nursed that box for as long as I could, stashed it in my sock drawer for those chocolate cravings, and brought it out again and again. The best part: you don’t have to sneak some from the bowl when nobody is looking. Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites are perfectly safe to eat. How so? There are no eggs in the secret recipe, which is mainly flour, chocolate chips, and vanilla. Now that’s a brilliant idea.

I’ve tried a few other candies that are made to taste like cookies, and I haven’t always been pleased with the result. But if you buy Cookie Dough Bites, a product of the Taste of Nature candy company, you’ll be satisfied with any flavor. Just don’t try to bake them, or you’ll have a melted pile of cookie dough candy.

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Mamba

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With all the flair of a Latin dance, a Mamba bar is an often-overlooked candy. You may have seen it in the grocery store aisle, and passed it up every time for a pack of Starburst fruit chews. Mamba is a product of Storck candy company, that makers of Riesen and Werther’s Original. Storck introduced the Mamba bar in Germany in 1953 to complement their product line and offer an affordable, fruity candy that is individually wrapped and meant to be shared.

I opened the fruit-covered wrapper to discover three separate wrapped packets: one each of orange, strawberry, and raspberry. Each of these packets has six fruit chews of the same flavor inside. To do the math, that’s 18 individually wrapped fruit chews in all—and loads of excess wrapping paper. Ladies, clean out your purses because you’ll need room for all these wrappers. I anxiously unwrapped the raspberry chew first, and popped it in to discover a slightly waxy taste that is missing that special fruity “oomph.?? It’s about the same size as a Starburst fruit chew, but rectangular rather than square. Honestly, I would never pick a Mamba over a Starburst based on this taste test. But I was pleasantly surprised to try the orange fruit chew. The consistency is a bit tougher than a Starburst, but wow—the flavor tastes like fresh orange juice, and there isn’t a hint of the waxy flavor I tasted in the raspberry. Strawberry wasn’t as refreshing. It tastes a bit fake, like the powder you would use to mix up a strawberry protein shake. But wait. Isn’t there also a lemon on the outer wrapper. Indeed there is, but I didn’t score a pack. With a Mamba bar, you get a selection of three flavors from raspberry, orange, strawberry, and lemon. If you want to be sure to get all four flavors, you’re better off buying an assorted bag.

Although Storck seems to market Mamba to kids, adults will also enjoy these fruit chews. They may not all be as tasty as the competitors fruit candies, but they are not a bad substitute.

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Sixlets

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Brought to us by SweetWorks, Sixlets are the type of candy you loved as a kid and still get the urge to try every now and then. They were a product of Hershey’s until 2003, when the chocolate giant sold the product to SweetWorks, headquartered in St. Augustine, Florida. These tiny candy-coated chocolate balls are smaller than M&Ms with a bit less chocolate taste. The cocoa-carob recipe lends to a malted milk ball flavor. You’ll find these plastic-wrapped candy tubes in grocery store aisles, convenience stores, and dollar stores, but they are fairly difficult to find in some states. They come in autumn colors: red, yellow, green, orange, and brown. Different flavors are slightly distinguishable from the candy shells, but the orange one has the strongest flavor. The others taste mostly like sugar, with thicker candy shells than M&Ms. And though some candies claim to melt in your mouth (not in your hand), Sixlets definitely will melt in your hand.

SweetWorks produces various chocolates, hard candies, jawbreakers, and gums, including Chocolate Oranges, Niagara Chocolates, and kids’ candy like Nitwitz Banana Heads. Though the Sixlets package claims the candy is manufactured by Oak Leaf Confections (one of Sweetworks’ brands), it is not featured on Oak Leaf’s website. Perhaps the candy brand is in transition still as Sweetworks figures out which products it will market where.

Even if it is somewhat of a mystery where Sixlets come from, the package is endearing and features a friendly caterpillar with a body made of Sixlets candies and a smile that says “dig in.?? And with that kind of an invitation, how could I resist? These tiny chocolate beads do give off more of a malted taste than I prefer, but I love how tiny they are. You can really pop in several at a time and make the nearly 2-ounce package last and last. Whether you are trying Sixlets for the first time or are picking up a pack for nostalgia’s sake, these little candies are unique, offering something different from M&Ms. But one question remains: If they are “Sixlets,?? why only five colors?

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Wonka Bar

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Have a hankering for a golden ticket? You may not find one under the wrapper, but you will discover a gold outer wrapper sealing in the chocolate and graham cracker goodness that is the Wonka Bar. Produced by Nestle, the Wonka Bar and other Wonka candies are pure fun for fans of the novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, or the 2005 Johnny Depp movie of the same name. (The 1971 Gene Wilder film was named differently: Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.) In all of the above stories, young Charlie Bucket finds hope and a golden ticket inside the wrapper of a Wonka Bar, which leads him on a once-in-a-lifetime adventure in Wonka’s candy factory. For any child or adult who knows the story, there’s a certain magic that comes with opening up a Wonka candy bar, or sucking on an Everlasting Gobstopper. They may imagine themselves on a boat ride through a chocolate river, or even utter those nonsensical words: “Oompah, loompah, doopity doo.??

The Wonka Bar comes in two sizes, 1.3 or 2.6 ounces. The bar is pure milk chocolate with crunchy graham cracker pieces inside. Sectioned off like a Hershey bar, you can break it off and eat just a square at a time, which is great. I love this chocolate bar, and not just for the nostalgia factor. It’s smooth and chocolately without being boring. The crunchy graham cracker adds significant flavor without taking away from the chocolate.

You may not have realized, but many Nestle products have the Wonka name attached to them. Pixy Stix, Lik-M-Aid, Laffy Taffy, Nerds, Runts, Bottle Caps, Shockers, Tart ‘N Tinys, and Gobstoppers are all Wonka brand products, which only increases the fun factor of these already fun candies. And the Wonka Company, which opened in 1983, still runs golden ticket sweepstakes from time to time, giving away prizes like a trip to see the American Idol finale and results show. But whether or not you can afford just one Wonka Bar or a thousand, the chances of finding a golden ticket are slim. Lucky for you, the chocolate bar is incentive enough.

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Easter M&Ms

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Just in time for Easter, the Mars Candy Company released their fun novelty version of their M&Ms. Contained in a fun pastel green plastic Easter egg, these M&Ms have the same great taste that the classic candy has had for decades, but the colors on the inside are festive pastels that make you get excited about the approaching spring season. On one side of each individual candy, there is the trademark “M?? that we’ve all come to know and love. On the other side of each candy, however, is a little tiny drawing that is in some way related to spring, such as a small little flower or grass. The pastel colors of purple, green, yellow, blue, and pink are a nice change from the normal colors that the company makes available throughout rest of the year. They should just have the pastel colors be the normal colors because they have an added since of fun.

The serving size for this item is two ounces. In each egg, there is approximately 50 M&Ms, which equals about two handfuls. If you have a spouse, you’re going to want to share these, but otherwise just pop as many in your mouth as you can and let them “melt in your mouth – not in your hand.?? These fun little pieces of milk chocolate with a candy coating is one of my favorites. What I like to do is get a handful and then hold them until the candy coating is softened before popping the entire handful in my mouth. Sometimes the candy coating is a little hard which ruins my enjoyment of the candy, which is why I like to soften them up a bit.

The Mars Candy Company also offers Easter varieties of other products, including Easter peanut M&Ms. These are basically the same concept, but with the classic peanut on the inside of each candy. These are fun at Easter time because they are egg-shaped candies, too. The Mars Candy Company has produced a great product in their M&Ms and they continue to satisfy many sweet tooths across the world.

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Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg

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The Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg has the traditional taste that you have come to expect from the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, but without the shape. When I opened it, it didn’t really resemble an egg, but rather a large glob of peanut butter and chocolate combined. To me, it doesn’t really matter what shape it is…as long as it’s good. I do enjoy the traditional cup shape of the Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups because they are more fun to unwrap because of the ridges. But the egg tasted just as good. I also like the fact that the cups come with two per package. Once you eat one, you know you have another right behind it. With the egg, there is only one.

Does it really get much better than peanut butter and chocolate? I mean, besides peanut butter and jelly, there are very few combinations that have become legendary in our food crazed society. But Reese’s has perfected the combination to be a perfect balance for the taste buds. Besides, since the chocolate is made with Hershey’s chocolate, you can be sure that you’re not disappointed.

The Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg is only offered during the Easter season. The yellow and orange packaging is more attractive than the traditional orange and brown packaging. But it’s like I always tell my wife, “It doesn’t matter what you’re wrapped in, it’s not going to be on but a few seconds.??? This is just as true with my candy. I couldn’t care less about what the packaging or even the candy looks like…I just care about what’s inside.

The Reese’s peanut butter cups actually started out as simply peanut butter cups without the chocolate covering. This changed once the cups became popular and the Reese’s company merged with the Hershey’s company. It’s one of the greatest partnerships in the history of America – Bogey & Bacall, Abbott and Costello, Reese and Hershey. Now, the company offers several varieties of their popular candy, including white chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut butter mixed with caramel, inside out varieties, and big cups to please any candy lover’s desire.

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