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April 2, 2021 Michael

Mini Eggs vs. Eggies vs. M&M’s Eggs

Easter Candy

Here it is, the ultimate Easter chocolate showdown. It’s the battle of the small, egg-shaped chocolates; whoever wins, we lose. Or something, I don’t know. They’re all chocolate, so I guess whoever wins, we also win.

It’s Cadbury (Mini Eggs) versus Hershey (Eggies) versus Mars (M&M’s Eggs). Apparently there’s also an egg-shaped version of Smarties, so I guess I could have thrown Nestle into the mix, but you have to draw the line somewhere.

The results of this smackdown probably won’t surprise you. Mini Eggs are the original and the best, though Eggies come surprisingly close. If I tasted them both blind, I don’t know that I’d be able to tell the difference. Aside from the size (Mini Eggs are slightly smaller), they’re mostly interchangeable.

It’s honestly kind of weird how similar they taste. They both have a delicate candy shell encasing creamy, vanilla-infused milk chocolate. It’s a tasty combo. It’s also pretty obvious that Eggies are trying very hard to ape the flavour of Mini Eggs, because the chocolate tastes much less like standard Hershey, and more like what you’d expect from Cadbury.

Meanwhile, M&M’s are off in the corner doing their own thing. They taste absolutely nothing like the other two. They’re just M&M’s in a different shape, with a glossy exterior, a thick candy coating, and that very distinctive M&M’s chocolate flavour. I like M&M’s, but these are easily my least favourite of the bunch; something about the different shape and different candy-to-chocolate ratio completely throws off what makes plain M&M’s so tasty. They’re too sweet, the shell is too aggressively crunchy, and they’re just kind of a bummer to eat. They’re clearly inferior to regular M&M’s, and clearly inferior to the other two in this showdown.

As for Eggies versus Mini Eggs? It’s basically a coin toss, but if I have to pick, I’ll go with Mini Eggs; I think the quality of the chocolate is ever-so-slightly better. But they’re both delicious, so either way you can’t go wrong.

Mini Eggs

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 package, 33 grams): 170 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, modified palm and modified vegetable oil, unsweetened chocolate, cocoa butter, gum arabic, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavour, colour (with tartrazine).

Eggies

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (12 pieces, 40 grams): 180 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 35 mg sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate [sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, lecithin (soy), polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour], sugar, corn starch, gum acacia, titanium dioxide, artificial flavour, tartrazine, indigotine, allura red.

M&M’s Eggs

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/4 cup, 42 grams): 200 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 30 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 26 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, lactose, soy lecithin, salt, artificial flavour, flavour), sugar, cornstarch, corn syrup, tapioca dextrin, colour (with tartrazine), carnauba wax, modified coconut oil and / or modified palm oil (medium chain triglycerides), gum acacia.

March 31, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Chunky: Popcorn – Surprisingly Strong Popcorn Flavour

Candy Bars

I wasn’t sure what to expect with the popcorn version of Kit Kat Chunky. Considering that Kit Kat Chunky’s cookie dough variety basically doesn’t taste like cookie dough at all, I sort of figured that this would be more of the same.

I was extremely wrong. Popcorn Kit Kat Chunky pretty much hits you in the face with popcorn flavour.

My assumption was that the white stuff on top of the wafer would be some kind of popcorn-flavoured paste, but there are actual bits of popcorn in there, and their flavour is surprisingly strong. It’s mildly buttery, slightly salty, and actually compliments the toasty wafers and the sweet chocolate surprisingly well. The chunks are also large enough to add a bit of their own texture on top of the crispiness of the wafers.

It’s more of a fun novelty than anything else, but if you’re intrigued by the combination of Kit Kat + popcorn, you’ll probably be pleasantly surprised.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 48 grams): 250 calories, 14 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm kernel, palm and vegetable oils, popcorn, cocoa powder, sunflower lecithin, salt, natural flavour, baking soda, protease, xylanase.

March 24, 2021March 28, 2021 Michael

Mr. Big – Boring, but Tasty

Candy Bars

Mr. Big is one of those old, reliable candy bars that isn’t particularly exciting, but gets the job done. I was under the impression that it was a Canadian-only thing, but apparently it was released in the States in 1995.

Featuring a wafer surrounded by caramel, puffed rice, peanuts, and chocolate, this was a favourite of mine as a kid — mostly because, as the name implies, it’s bigger than average, and I was a fat kid.

It’s still good. The chewy caramel contrasts nicely with the crispy wafer and puffed rice. I guess there are peanuts as well, but they’re stingily applied and don’t make much of an impact.

The chocolate is probably the weakest link — I’m not even sure if it’s real chocolate (the ingredients lists three types of oil, though unsweetened chocolate is there as well), but whatever it is, it’s not the best. There’s enough going on here that doesn’t make a huge difference, but it’s a bummer regardless.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 bar, 60 grams): 290 calories, 14 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 100 mg of sodium, 41 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 33 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup, modified palm oil, modified milk ingredients, rice, modified vegetable oil, wheat flour (with barley), peanuts, cocoa, unsweetened chocolate, corn starch, salt, hydrogenated palm oil, malt extract, soy lecithin, baking soda, citric acid, natural and artificial flavour.

March 21, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Duos: Mocha + Chocolate – An Intense Kick of Coffee Flavour

Candy Bars

I’m not a big coffee drinker. And by “not a big coffee drinker,” I mean that I don’t drink coffee at all, so I’m probably not in the target audience for this particular Kit Kat variety. I do, however, enjoy the chocolate/coffee combo.

The wrapper describes this as “Crisp Wafers in mocha creme with coffee bits + chocolate.”

It’s a tasty bar, though I’ll admit that the coffee flavour was a bit too strong for me. I normally enjoy chocolate with a coffee flavour — and it’s not that I didn’t enjoy this (it’s still Kit Kat, which is inherently delicious) — but the balance of flavours is definitely weighted more towards the coffee than the chocolate. It has an admirably restrained sweetness and a mild but distinctive bitterness. I liked it, but if you’re a coffee drinker, I think you might love it.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 210 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 20 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), wheat flour, chocolate, skim milk, corn syrup solids, cocoa butter, lactose (milk), cocoa processed with alkali, contains 2% or less of: milk fat, coffee, lecithin (soy), natural & artificial flavor, PGPR, salt, yeast, baking soda, artificial color (yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, red 40 lake, blue 2 lake).

March 14, 2021 Michael

Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs – A Delicious Easter Treat

Easter Candy

Do you like Ferrero Rocher? If you do, I can pretty much guarantee you’ll like Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs. If you don’t, you’re a straight-up maniac and I’m going to have to insist that you drive yourself to your local police station so that you can be put away for life. You are not to be trusted out in the world.

For everyone else, Ferrero Hazelnut Eggs are delicious, though they’re basically like a less hazelnutty version of Ferrero Rocher, so they can’t help but feel like a bit of a downgrade.

Like Ferrero Rocher, these eggs feature a milk chocolate and wafer exterior encasing a creamy chocolate/hazelnut centre. This is an objectively delicious combo, with a great contrast between crispy and creamy, so it pretty much goes without saying that these things are extremely tasty. But I missed the chopped hazelnuts that you get on the outside of a Ferrero Rocher, not to mention the whole hazelnut within.

The outer layer of milk chocolate is a bit more generous here, which is nice, but the whole thing is probably a tad sweeter than it needs to be.

If I had the choice I doubt I’d ever pick one of these over a Ferrero Rocher, which makes them feel a bit redundant, but it’s hard to deny that they’re delicious.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (3 eggs, 30 grams): 170 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 25 mg of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 14 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk powder, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, soy and/or sunflower lecithin, vanillin), modified palm oil, sugar, hazelnuts, whey powder, cocoa, tapioca starch, wheat flour, milk powder, soy and/or sunflower lecithin, skim milk powder, salt, tara gum, vanillin, sodium bicarbonate.