Halloween Candy Recipe: Puppy Chow

Puppychow Bowl

One of my favorite candies is one you can make yourself. Commonly called Puppy Chow, this concoction – which requires little baking or time – can also be found at Christmas time with names such as Reindeer Food or Kibble. This sweet treat is a Midwest standard at church bazaars, elementary school craft shows and homemade Halloween parties, so you know it’s gotta be good.

Let me tell you from the start that Puppy Chow is some weird-looking stuff. There’s a reason it’s named after pet food. The finished snack is muddy brown with a white chalky-looking coating. But while this treat may not look very appetizing, once you get over its challenging appearance you won’t be able to stop “chowing down.” Kids love it, and can make it themselves with a little help from an adult. Even as kitchen-challenged as I am, I can whip up a batch in a pinch.

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Retro Candy Review: Whatchamacallit – Another Take

Whatchamacallit Wrapper

With undoubtedly the strangest name in the candy business, Hershey’s Whatchamacallit is a funny little candy bar. It has a base of peanut butter flavored “crispies” topped by a thin layer of soft caramel, and a coating of rich chocolate encapsulates the whole bar.

The Whatchamacallit and I have a very close relationship, as it was first created only a year before I was born. We practically grew up together. I can’t even remember my first taste of one. Right about the time I learned to ride a bike, the Whatchamacallit was given its tasty layer of caramel. I have a feeling poor Whatchamacallit felt a bit naked before that.

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Candy Review: Chick-O-Stick

Chick-O-Stick

Butterfingers are gross. There, I said it. They stick to your teeth, they somehow make even peanut butter taste fake, and those orange shards of brittle blah are covered with cheap chocolate that I wouldn’t feed to a trapped miner.

I mention this candy nemesis of mine because today I’m reviewing Chick-O-Stick, a candy that might remind some people of Butterfingers (since both contain peanuts and sugar, both are partly orange, and both have an unusual texture). But I want you to rest assured that I have nothing against peanutty orange candy per se. Just awful peanutty orange candy.

In contrast, Chick-O-Stick is strangely toothsome. They have a chewy peanut-butter-esque thing going on inside, and a quite pleasing toasted coconut-coated exterior.

But what’s with the name?

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Candy Review: Nutrageous

Nutrageous

One of my favorite candy bars in the entire word is the Reese’s Nutrageous bar, a slab of choco-peanut goodness that comes wrapped in the beloved and obnoxious orange packaging of all Reese’s products. The Nutrageous bar came on the scene in 1994, when I was in 7th grade, and it was love at first bite, as far as I can remember.

The Nutrageous has everything I look for in a candy bar: peanuts, caramel, and milk chocolate. As an added bonus, there’s the ingredient that really makes the Nutrageous special: whereas most peanut/caramel bars have nougat as their centers, the Nutrageous is held together by a thick, creamy layer of the famous Reese’s peanut butter. It doesn’t get much better than that.

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Candy Review: Chris and Larry’s Chocolate Fudge Clodhoppers

Clodhoppers

Back in 1996, a new candy appeared on the scene here in Canada. They were created by two guys from Winnipeg, Chris Emery and Larry Finnson, who decided to try marketing their Grandma’s candy recipe. They were an overnight sensation, and today they’re found on store shelves everywhere next to the big boys like Werthers’ and Starburst. The name? Clodhoppers.

According to the Phrase Finder website, clod hopper is a very old term for “a rough, unsophisticated countryman” or, more recently, a pair of ploughman’s boots. Clods, of course, refers to clods of dirt. What kind of candy names itself after a lump of dirt? A darn good one, as it turns out.

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