Christmas is a time of candy extravagance. Boxes of high-end chocolates line store shelves, and once-a-year goodies make their appearance. But with the state of the economy, can you afford to give your loved ones the gift of candy this holiday season?
SURE you can! Because there’s one place that everyone can afford to buy candy: your friendly neighborhood dollar store! But will a gift of dollar-store candy thrill your nearest and dearest… or only ensure that you yourself receive nothing but dollar-store gifts in forthcoming years? Find out in a special Candy Addict three-part series: It Came From The Dollar Store: The Cheapo Holiday Candy Special.
Around here, the most popular dollar store is the Dollarama chain, which has yielded many Candy Addict review items over the months I’ve been writing for the site. I carefully selected three items from the shelves of Christmas candy at my local Dollarama, the first of which is the Whipped Creme Santa, made by the Georgia Nut Company of Stokie, Illinois.
I found myself immediately intrigued by this item. What was “whipped creme?†The Santa appeared to resemble the chocolate-coated marshmallow treats made by Hershey’s and other brands, so I assumed it was marshmallow. It’s coated in real chocolate too – rather impressive for an unknown dollar-store brand.
When I remove the Santa from the package, I discover that, once again, I’ve been lied to by candy packaging – the item within isn’t shaped like a Santa so much as a vaguely Santa-shaped blob. The back of it is also covered with leaked-out filling of sticky white stuff – softer and stickier than I’d usually associate with marshmallow.
The chocolate has a pretty good snap to it, easily giving way to the soft, fluffy interior. The filling isn’t quite firm enough to be marshmallow, but not soft enough to pass for real whipped cream either (hence, “whipped cremeâ€). It has a strong vanilla flavor, and it’s very sweet. I imagine it’s similar to the filling of the famous Valomilk (a Holy Grail of candy I haven’t yet tasted myself).
Overall, I enjoyed the texture contrast between the crisp chocolate and the soft filling, even if my throat did burn a bit after eating the whole thing. This would be a great stocking stuffer, especially for kids with a sweet tooth.
Looking for something a little more marshmallowey? Then tune in for Part 2 of the Cheapo Holiday Candy Special, when we’ll be reviewing the Dollarama Marshmallow Treats Santa.
Buy Whipped Creme Santa Online:
- at Amazon.com
when i was eight, i once got a marshmallow santa, but instead, inside was a caramel MUMMY! FROM HALLOWEEN! But, i like caramel WAY more than marshmallow, so i was happy enough.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:02 amHello Laurie,
VALOMILKS are the holy grail of candy and you have never experienced one? Maybe now is the time.
Russ Sifers
December 24th, 2008 at 3:55 pmhmm… i wonder how these stack up against russel stovers santas
December 25th, 2008 at 11:34 pmi put one of these in everyone’s stocking this year. i got mine at winco, our local grocery place. i also got chocolate creme snowmen and fudgie bears, also from georgia nut. i couldn’t eat the santa, which is saying a lot, because i’ll eat almost any candy, even candy i don’t really like. however, that santa was waaay too sweet. same thing with the chocolate creme snowman. it was like slurping a melty marshmallow from too sweet hot cocoa. i just sampled a bite of the fudgie bear, and it’s actually pretty good, at least in comparison. it reminds me of chocolate frosting from a can covered in chocolate.
December 27th, 2008 at 2:32 pm