Candyrageous - Page 13 of 35 - A Blog about Candy

December 6, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Big Cup with Pretzels – Where Have the Pretzels Been All My Life?

Candy Bars

Kudos to Hershey for coming up with the idea to fill a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with pretzels, but also, why did it take so long? It’s one of those ideas that’s so obvious, you have to wonder how Reese managed to be around for almost a hundred years before they came up with it.

Pretzels and peanut butter is a boffo combination. Anyone who’s had those pretzel bites that are filled with peanut butter knows that’s true. So seriously: what was the hold-up? Why have I been forced to go my whole life eating peanut butter cups without pretzels in them? Like an animal?

My only complaint is that I wish this were a regular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup rather than a Big Cup, because I feel like the former has a slightly better ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. But that’s really not a big deal.

Otherwise, this is exactly what you’re hoping it’ll be. The pretzels are fairly abundant, and do a great job of adding their distinctive flavour and salty pop to the Reese formula. That’s not to mention the delightful amount of crunchiness they bring, which contrasts quite nicely with the creamy peanut butter and chocolate.

Suffice it to say, if you’re intrigued by the idea of a peanut butter cup with pretzels in it, you’re going to like this. It’s exactly what you want it to be.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 cup, 36 grams): 180 calories, 10 grams of fat (3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 140 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, milk fat, lactose, lecithin (soy), PGPR) peanuts, sugar, dextrose, brown rice flour, potato starch, contains 2% or less of: modified cornstarch, soluble corn fiber, canola oil, salt, sea salt, baking powder, cellulose gum, sunflower lecithin, TBHQ and citric acid to maintain freshness.

December 2, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

English Toffee Peanut M&M’s – An Intense Kick of Toffee Flavour

Candy Bars

I’ve mentioned before that Peanut M&M’s are the king of M&M’s. This is a stone cold fact and if you think otherwise, as far as I’m concerned you may as well be a flat-Earther. That’s how ridiculous your “opinions” are to me.

Peanut M&M’s are delicious. And of course, English toffee is also delicious. So I was wondering if plain old Peanut M&M’s time on the throne might be coming to an end.

Spoiler alert: it is not. Regular Peanut M&M’s are still the king.

Still, these are tasty. As soon as you rip open the pack, the English toffee aroma hits you in the face. It’s strong. And the flavour is pretty strong, too; it’s almost overwhelming at first, but after you eat a couple, you get used to it.

I should note that, as far as I can tell, there’s no actual English toffee here, just a flavour in the chocolate itself. They might have gone overboard with that flavour, but mostly, it works. The combo of chocolate and English toffee is satisfying, and the peanut does a nice job of adding some nuttiness and balancing out the sweetness of the chocolate.

If the English toffee flavouring were a bit more subtle this might have been something special, but even still, it’s quite good.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/3 pack, 31 grams): 160 calories, 8 grams of fat (3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 16 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milkfat, peanuts, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, peanuts, cornstarch, less than 1% – palm oil, corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (includes yellow 5, red 40, yellow 6, blue 1, yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, red 40 lake, blue 1 lake, blue 2 lake, blue 2), carnauba wax, artificial and natural flavors, gum acacia.

November 29, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Rocky Road — It’s Better than the Ice Cream

Candy Bars

Rocky road ice cream is fine. It’s generally not the first (or second, or third) flavour I’ll go for in an ice cream shop, but it’s there, and it’s tasty enough. I like it, but I definitely don’t love it.

But what about the candy bar? Annabelle’s Rocky Road is one of those hard-to-find old-timey candy bars that’s been around for decades despite the fact that there’s a decent chance that you haven’t heard of it. I know hadn’t before buying it for this blog.

There’s not much to it — it’s just marshmallow coated in a layer of cashew-studded milk chocolate. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

Sometimes the marshmallow in a candy like this can be overly chewy and spongy, but the stuff here strikes a delightful balance between chewiness and creaminess. And the generous layer of milk chocolate is clearly above average, with a really satisfying flavour that compliments the marshmallow quite well.

As for the the cashews, they add a nice nuttiness without being too crunchy or assertive; the creamy chocolate and chewy marshmallow are clearly the stars of the show. The nuts are there in the background, but they let the marshmallow and chocolate shine.

Manufactured by: Annabelle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 46 grams): 220 calories, 10 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate, sugar, corn syrup, cashew nuts, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, cocoa powder, whey powder nonfat milk powder, soy lecithin as an emulsifier, vanillin (an artificial flavor), sorbitol, gelatin, glycerine, salt, artificial flavor [Milk chocolate contains: sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, milk powder, soy lecithin (as an emulsifier), natural vanilla and artificial flavors]

November 25, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Caramel Crisp – An Overwhelming Punch of Caramel

Candy Bars

The smell hits you hard when you open the Kit Kat Caramel Crisp wrapper — caramel, but caramel times a million. It’s intense.

The flavour is equally intense. Featuring bits of crispy caramel in a thick milk chocolate coating, the caramel flavour here is unmistakable and overpowering. There’s also something about it that’s vaguely off; the packaging lists “natural flavour” among the ingredients, and there must be some kind of flavouring going on because normal caramel shouldn’t taste like this.

It’s also intensely sweet. The nice thing about Kit Kat, normally, is that the wafers do a great job of balancing out the chocolate’s sweetness. But the outer coating of chocolate here is so thick and so sweet that it completely overwhelms the wafer. The wafer adds crispiness, but that’s about it.

Also adding texture: the toffee-like crispy caramel bits. The creamy/crispy contrast here is quite nice; it’s just too bad that the flavour is a bit wonky.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (4 pieces, 40 grams): 200 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 45 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm, palm kernel and vegetable oils, cocoa powder, sunflower and soy lecithin, natural flavour, salt, baking soda, protease, xylanase, tocopherol, citric acid.

November 22, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Baby Ruth – Chewy, Nutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Like Crunch and Butterfinger, Baby Ruth is one of the candy bars that was recently bought out by Ferrero and reformulated. In this case, the wrapper is very proud to proclaim that they’ve improved the recipe with the addition of dry-roasted peanuts. Alas, it’s been several years since I’ve last tried a Baby Ruth, so I couldn’t particularly tell you whether or not this is an upgrade.

The other thing that initially stands out is the presence of mockolate rather than actual chocolate on the exterior of the bar (red flag: the wrapper doesn’t mention the word “chocolate” once). I thought this might be a Ferrero thing, but a quick search reveals that Baby Ruth has used fake chocolate since at least 2008.

Aside from the mockolate coating and the new-and-improved dry-roasted nuts, the other two elements of a Baby Ruth are caramel and nougat.

If you’ve ever had an Oh Henry, this is basically the same thing. I think the level of chewiness here is slightly less intense, but they’re very similar.

It’s quite tasty. In particular, the much-touted dry-roasted peanuts add a ton of flavour; there’s a really satisfying roasty nuttiness that complements the bar’s other flavours quite well, not to mention the pleasant crunch.

The other thing that I quite like here is the caramel — a lot of candy bar caramel basically tastes like thick, chewy sugar, but the stuff here actually has some flavour outside of generic sweetness.

The bar definitely tastes sweeter than average, but there’s also a nice hit of salt that helps to balance things out. As for the mockolate, it’s fairly inoffensive; it adds zero taste or texture. Real chocolate would have been nice, but the mockolate doesn’t detract from the bar, which is really all you can ask.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53.8 grams): 260 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 28 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, dry roasted peanuts, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel, coconut, and soybean), nonfat milk, cocoa, less than 2% of high fructose corn syrup, dairy product solids, glycerin, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, lactic acid esters, carrageenan.