Apparently, there is a chocolate bar out there that I am NOT allowed to eat!!! When I found out that there was no way I could get at this phenomenal piece of candy, I was outraged! Until I found out from the Chicago Tribune that this particular 12,000 pound chocolate bar was made to teach our children about portion control.

The company, World’s Finest Chocolate, is usually a company that does fundraising for schools but this time they went beyond that. This enormous piece of confectionary marvel is 21 feet long and 3 feet high. It took 1700 pounds of cocoa butter, just to give you one ingredient, to make this monster. But, it’s all for a good cause.

World’s Finest Chocolate is taking this bar on a tour called the “Think Big, Eat Smart Tour” to teach the nation’s children about limiting the amount of sweets they eat. Well, if they bring this baby to my kids’ school, I don’t know if I’ll be able to limit the amount of chocolate I’m going to eat!

• World’s Finest Chocolate Website

Willy Wonka. The name just induces candy coma fantasies. So, when I was at the mall recently, I noticed this new Wonka machine and juts had to check it out. thought it was very cool. I’ve always been a big fan of Wonka candies since I was a little girl (the movie helped too).

The machine is all touch-screen operated and it takes a few steps to get your candy. The candy is dispensed from the tubes you see in the front left of the machine (yes it’s the actual candy you get not some plastic display). You first decide how many scoops you want and then which candy you want (you can get a different one for each scoop). The final step is feeding the machine your cash or you can use a credit card. The candy is then dispensed into a nice plastic container with a lid. Really cool and a very modern way of vending.

Now here’s the downside. It cost me three dollars for two scoops. I chose Everlasting Gobstoppers and Chewy Berry Spree. The two scoops I received for $3 was about the equivalent of a small handful. You can see by my photo that it really was not much. I could buy a full box of Gobstoppers at the store for less than a dollar. In order to fill up this nice little container it would have cost me $7. I think I actually just paid for the plastic tub and not much else. If you see one at your mall, I suggest you wait and watch someone else spend their money. It’s really neat to watch but not worth the cost for what you get.

• The Wonka Website
• Buy Wonka Candy Online

We’ve all seen Ring Pops: those sweet lollipops made into the shape of huge faceted gemstones that we slip on our fingers in order to eat them. Well, now I’ve seen it all. Check out the “Bling” pops that Bazooka, the maker of Ring Pops, is sending to the Dallas Mavericks. These are Swarovski crystal encrusted Ring Pops in the Mavericks signature colors.

Here’s what Bazooka had to say:

“Bazooka Candy Brands, the iconic confectionary company and manufacturer of Ring Pops, believes that the Dallas Mavericks should be rewarded for all their hard work and their NBA finals win. That’s why they’ll be stepping in and saving the day, creating Swarovski-encrusted Ring Pops in the team colors of Blue and White for the team to wear to celebrate their feat. The Ring Pops will be shipped to the team shortly. “

I don’t know if any of the Mavericks will, but being a Candy Addict, I’d probably one of the only people in the world to actually eat this special Ring Pop, if they sent me one.

• Yahoo Sports story
• Bazooka (Ring Pops) Website
• Buy Ring Pops Online

As I am not the second coming of Betty Crocker, I’m thankful for baking enthusiasts out there who concoct new ways to get baked goodies and heavenly desserts into my belly. Even better? Using candy as a vehicle to further encourage consumption of said goodies (not that you need extra motivation). For example: cake pops. Haven’t heard of them? It’s exactly as it sounds — cake on a stick, like a blow pop, but instead of a gum-based center, you get a moist mouthful of cake.

Made popular by blogger Bakerella, other bakers have hopped on the cake pop train and have even made a business out of selling them, like this 15-year-old from Kansas did. Apparently, even Starbucks sells them — and if Starbucks is hocking them, you know they’re going to be big.

If you’re thinking of making some yourself, all you have to do is bake a cake (any flavor: chocolate, yellow, strawberry, even funfetti), crumble and mix it with your frosting of choice by rolling into balls, chill in the fridge and then dip in candy melt or even chocolate (but you’ll have to chill them again).

You don’t have to stop there either; Bakerella’s got tons of decorating ideas: teddy bears, robots, snowmen. The possibilities are endless — if you’ve got the patience. I’m not sure I could wait much longer than getting the cake ball onto a stick before scarfing it down.

• Bakerella cake pops articles

I grew up in a family where farts always came out on top in the laughter department. My brother was the King of it in our house. Very soon, I can buy him his own bag of edible Farts™. That’s right, Leaf Brands (the candy company that brought us Astro Pops®, Jolly Ranchers ®, Whoppers ®and Milk Duds®) are coming out with a new chewy fruity candy that they have named Farts™.

Have no fear, for they shall not be like normal farts! These new candy Farts™ will be fruity, chewy, colorful and will have a bumpy candy coating. Farts™ will come in over 126 flavors that according to Leaf Brand, LLC, they will “pick the flavors based on customers’ votes on Facebook and other social media platforms.”

It’s a great name, I mean who doesn’t laugh or at least crack a smile at a Fart™? I know I’ll be buying some and of course, sending a few bags to my brother.

• Leaf Brands Website

Item: M&M’S® Brand Star Wars Coin Bank
Description: A coin bank topped with an M&M’S® Character dressed up as a Star Wars personality. Available in three styles: Boba Fett, Luke Skywalker and Darth Vader. Includes a FUN SIZE® (.53 oz) bag of M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies.
SRP: $2.99 Wholesale Price: $1.95
Shipping: Six 9-count displays per case

Item: M&M’S® Brand Star Wars 9”& 12” Dispenser
Description: These working candy dispensers dispense M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies. Each 9” and 12” dispenser is topped with an M&M’S® Character dressed as a favorite character from Star Wars: Darth Vader, Han Solo, Luke Skywalker and Princess Leia. Includes a fun-size (.53 oz) bag of M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies.
SRP: $4.99/9” Wholesale Price: $3.25
$11.99/12” Wholesale Price: $7.75
Shipping: Six 9-count displays per case for 9”
Eight 1-count displays per case for 12”

Item: M&M’S® Brand Star Wars Fan
Description: A child-safe candy fan that’s topped with an M&M’S® Character dressed as a character from Star Wars, including Luke Skywalker, Darth Vader and Princess Leia—complete with her signature hairstyle. Includes a FUN SIZE® (.53 oz) bag of M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies in the handle.
SRP: $3.99 Wholesale price: $2.65
Shipping: Six 12-count displays per case

Item: M&M’S® Brand Star Wars Lightsaber
Description: Let the Force (and fun) be with you! This novelty lightsaber contains a FUN SIZE® (.53 oz.) bag of M&M’S® Brand Chocolate Candies in the handle.
SRP: $3.99 Wholesale Price: $2.65
Shipping: Six 12-count displays per case

Full press release:

World Introduction of Novelty Items from CandyRific Featuring Star Wars™ and M&M’S® Characters

What: CandyRific will announce to the world its new license pairing Lucasfilm’s Star Wars with M&M’S® Characters, featuring novelty items that partner the two icons at Dylan’s Candy Bar, the ultimate candy store. CandyRific holds licenses with some of the best known brands in the world and has planned a day-long event to celebrate its license with M&M’S® Brand and Star Wars on Valentine’s weekend. Join us for a day of fun-filled activities at Dylan’s Candy Bar in New York City. According to CandyRific President Rob Auerbach, they chose Dylan’s Candy Bar as the location “because it’s a world renowned venue and Dylan’s Candy Bar is a great candy innovator and partner.” The date was chosen in conjunction with Toy Fair, taking place Feb. 13-16 in New York, and of course, the biggest candy day of the year, Valentine’s Day.

When: Saturday, February 12, 2011 – 10 a.m. – 8 p.m.

Where:
Dylan’s Candy Bar
1011 Third Avenue
New York, NY 10021

Highlights:

• Meet Star Wars characters (great photo opportunity!) – 10 a.m. – Noon
• Make-Your-Own Star Wars Candy Mosaic – 2 p.m. – 4 p.m.
• Star Wars Trivia with prizes – 6 p.m. – 8 p.m.
• Posters to first 100 customers
• Sample over 7,000 different kinds of candy, including the new M&M’S® Brand Star Wars items filled with delicious M&M’S® Chocolate Candies in 9” and 12” Dispensers, Candy Fans and Coin Banks.
• Talk with officials from CandyRific and Lucasfilm.

More Information: For event information, please call Dylan’s Candy Bar at 646.735.0078 or CandyRific’s public relations office at 770.363.7085.

CandyRific sells candy and novelty product combinations utilizing popular licensed brands. Other licensed brands in CandyRific’s portfolio include Scooby Doo, Dreamworks, SKITTLES® Brand, and STARBURST® Brand. All products have a high perceived value, are merchandised in colorful displays and are especially popular with collectors. The company has distribution with most of the major retailers in the U.S. and distributors in almost every major market in the world. CandyRific has appeared on the INC 500 and INC 5000 lists of fastest growing companies in the U.S. consecutively for the last five year.

Today, February 1, 2011 marks a big day for Candy Addict. We can now reveal to you something we have been working on for a bit – our new candy search engine. We loaded up the contents of 14 different online candy stores (soon to be more) and made their stores all searchable in one place. We currently have 18,512 items in there but that will be growing all the time as we add more stores and candy. The database will be kept up to date so that if you find it in a search, it should be available to buy.

Some other cool features:

• See what candy others are searching for in near real-time on the recent candy searches pages
• See what new candy has been added to the site (not too useful right now since EVERY candy is new since they were all just added)
• browse by candy brands, candy flavors, chocolate candy, and holiday candy
• Save money with candy coupon codes (more coming soon)
• Candy merchant listings

Go check it out and run some searches! It’s fun to see what you can find. Some of my favorites:

• gummi candy
• sour candy
• cola candy
• root beer candy

Oh – you can also filter your searches by price and candy store too!

We plan on doing some integration of the blog with the search engine in the coming months, but in no way will the blog disappear (in fact, we plan on making it bigger and better). So stay tuned! The search engine isn’t quite perfect yet and we have a few tweaks left to do, but we wanted to go ahead and get it out there so you could start using it and playing with it.

• Buy candy online via the candy search engine

Next month, Jelly Belly will be launching a new Peas and Carrot mix designed to look like the ever (NOT) popular vegetable side dish. The candy peas and carrots will not be jellybeans but will be mellocremes in apple and orange sherbet flavors (which is MUCH better than candy that actually tastes like peas or carrots – blech!). Look for these on store shelves in February of 2011.

• more info at DrugStoreNews
• more Jelly Belly candy at Candy Addict
• JellyBelly.com

You know, it’s my job to think about candy and candy news. Thanksgiving weekend is not traditionally a candy holiday, but what a perfect weekend this is for candy. It must be the time of year coupled with the release of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows Part I, that got me thinking about Bertie Bott’s Jelly Beans and our review of them. Trying those awful beans with my brother reminded me of being a kid and daring each other into eating and doing stupid things. We once talked about trying out for Fear Factor but realized pretty quickly we’d both be done in by the gross foods. It’s funny what brings a family together – bonding over candy. I think that’s what makes candy so appealing to so many people.

A great example of this is Candyman: The David Klein Story showing 11/27/2010 on the Documentary channel at 8 PM, EST and PST. If you’re like me, you’ve probably never heard of David Klein, until now. In fact, though he invented the Jelly Belly jellybean, he isn’t even mentioned by name on Jelly Belly’s website under company history; he is referred to only as “a Los Angeles candy distributor”.

I won’t spoil it for everyone, but here’s the quick and dirty of the movie. Believing he had a great idea, despite everyone thinking he was crazy when he came up with the idea of individual, naturally-flavored jellybeans, Dave listened to his heart and eventually sold the Jelly Belly trademark to what is now known as Jelly Belly (formerly Herman Goelitz Candy Co). The documentary is about his rise and fall; how he “lost his beans, but kept his soul”.

And to bring this post full-circle, Candyman also has “Weird Al” Yankovic in it. Another thing that reminds me of my childhood and family as I was introduced to him by my brother, the founder of Candy Addict. It’s a good season for remembering what’s important, celebrating the entrepreneur, and dreaming big. Maybe I’ll watch Candyman tonight with my favorite Jelly Belly jellybean, Buttered-Popcorn, in your honor, Dave! Though you may not get the credit you deserve for the Jelly Belly, I hope you feel a little better knowing your creation has touched so many people’s mouths, if not hearts.

• Candyman: The David Klein Story movie website
• Documentary Channel website and movie trailer
• Jelly Belly website
• David Klein’s candy store

I love Tootsie rolls. Absolutely love them. I also like Tootsie Pops, but have pretty much always considered them a hassle because I have to wait so long to get to the delicious Tootsie Roll. Despite all the trouble, I’ve never passed one up. So, when some angel at work brought in a ginormous box of them, I was freakin’ thrilled. Free Tootsie Pops at work? Can this place get any better? Incidentally, yes, because when that box was gone, miraculously, another appeared.

Back to the point of the story – the folks at Tootsie Roll are having a “How Many Licks” to get to the center of a Tootsie Pop sweepstakes. Enter to win $50,000 or free candy – I did! I’m not gonna tell you what my guess was because I don’t want to influence your guess, but I suggest you do a little experimenting yourself. I was less than successful and stopped at about 142 licks – how many can you do?

• Enter the sweepstakes
• Tootsie Roll website