Do you have a little “Candy Addict” of your own at home? Would you like them to start learning their numbers in a way they’ll love? If you answered yes to both of these questions, then I’ve found the perfect book for you. Check out this new board book from Laurie Wolf called “Candy 1 to 20″. Every page contains the numbers from 1 to 20 but they numbers are laid out using various candies to make the shapes. For example, there’s a candy stick for number 1 and candy corn for number 20. Each number is made up of different candies, so your little “Candy Addict” will be so crazy to learn how to count. It’s a very cute board book that seems to be great for any pre-schooler. As a grown up “Candy Addict”, I just wish every page had real candy made into numbers so I could eat them as I counted to twenty! Retail price: $8.99.

• Buy the book “Counting With Candy” at Amazon
• Buy actual candy numbers

Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.

I’m just a HUGE chocolate and mint addict. I’m always on the lookout for something new that deals with chocolate mint and I will always try any candy that has that yummy combination no matter what. This time I found these Dark Chocolate (63% cocoa) Thin Mints from Haviland which is a sub-brand of Necco I found at my local CVS.

The first thing I noticed is that these are really thin mints. The photos on the box show something more along the lines of miniature York Peppermint patties with a thick mint center. That is not the case. The mint center is very thin and so is its dark chocolate coating. Luckily you get a lot of mints in the package which makes this a great deal for the money I paid.

These chocolate mints are actually very good. The flavors work in harmony together so that neither one overpowers the other. I’ve had some chocolate mints where there was way too much mint compared to the chocolate. Thin as these layers are, they work together extremely well. It’s a refreshing mint that’s complemented by the dark chocolate.

Another nice thing about these mints is that they are labeled “all natural” which can be misleading from time to time. Looking at the package the ingredient list is small and contains all the things I would hope to find in a product like this. These Haviland Mints were a pleasant surprise tucked away in the candy aisle at CVS. I love when I just pick something up for the heck of it and it ends up being really good.

• Necco Haviland Brand Website
• Buy Chocolate Mints Online

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

I grew up spending ten cents a pop on Jolly Rancher candies at my small town news stand. Those hard little rectangles (especially the watermelon flavor) were a favorite among me and my elementary school crowd. I still love a good Jolly Rancher today. When I saw these Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews at the Five Below store near me, I thought I’d give them a shot.

The box is a compact size so it’ll fit easily in your purse or pocket should you desire to bring them with you everywhere. There are only four flavors: blue raspberry, watermelon, green apple and cherry. I had an overabundance of blue raspberry in my box but thankfully I did have at least one of each flavor in there to give a good review.

Each piece is a small rectangle, about ¾ of an inch long. These are a real easy candy to chew. The only other candy I could really compare these too are Starburst, but these are much softer and easier to chew. They’re more of that powdery type of chewy candy rather than a taffy type of chewiness. Jolly Rancher Fruit Chews are a quick easy chew, but they’re packed with flavor.

The blue raspberry pieces are bright blue and have that distinct blue raspberry taste. The candy is not sour but rather a true basic blue raspberry, a little tart mixed with sweet. The watermelon is a deep pink colored candy and is that watermelon flavor I loved as a kid. The green apple is a bright, neon green color and the flavor is a good basic apple flavor, not a green apple in particular. The cherry is a good red color and the flavor is a basic candy cherry flavor. These are not a true fruit flavor but more like what you would expect a fruit flavor candy to be like. It’s that almost “too good to be true” taste. I wish fruit really tasted like these Jolly Ranchers.

I’m always a bit skeptical when a candy company tries to come up with a new product based on an old one. I’m an “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it” type of girl. But, these fruit chews are honestly really good. The flavors stay 100% true to the classic Jolly Rancher hard candy I loved as a kid. Each time I ate a piece it took me back to the good old days.

• Buy Jolly Rancher Candy Online
• Jolly Rancher Website

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

Before biting into this candy, I did a little background checking on it. Palmer Candy Company, the mastermind behind the Twin Bing, has been around for over 130 years and the Twin Bing was concocted in 1973. They must be doing something right.

When I tear it open the cute package, the strong, delicious smell of peanut butter wafts out. Pulling out the twins, it’s two mounds that connect to form one “bar.” I’m not gonna lie… it looks a little gross. Growing up, my mom made cookies with oatmeal, peanut butter, and cocoa powder officially called “No Bake Cookies” — lovingly nicknamed “Cow Piles.”

The Twin Bing definitely has the cow pile look. Don’t get me wrong, we loved Mom’s Cow Piles. Gross-looking does not equal gross-tasting and that is exactly the case with the Twin Bings. It’s a rich, scrumptious candy and not at all what I expected. I was expecting something like a cherry cordial, of which I’m not extraordinarily fond. A Twin Bing is not like a cordial at all. It’s a chocolate and peanut-filled shell covering a creamy cherry filling.

I definitely tasted chocolate and peanut butter right away. I didn’t taste the cherry in the first bite, but once I got to it in the middle of the first twin, it was distinctly, bitingly cherry. The packaging claims it is a “nutty chocolaty cherry treat” and without a doubt it is.

It’s curious that the ingredients don’t actually include cherries, cherry extract, imitation cherry, or anything cherry-related. There was “natural and artificial flavors.” I guess that’s the cherry part. Whatever is making the cherry flavor, it works.

Would I buy Twin Bing again? Without a doubt. It was tasty and different, and I enjoyed it. In addition to the taste, I’d like to have some on hand for the novelty. Imagine serving these the mounds of gross-looking deliciousness as dessert to dinner guests.

• Palmer Candy Company

• Buy Twin Bing

Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.

According to the wrappers decorating the new Bosco milk chocolate bars, Bosco is “America’s most beloved chocolate syrup brand” and they’ve been making “memories since 1928”. Well, I was not around in 1928, so in order to review this chocolate properly, I decided to enlist the help of someone who was: my mother. Just kidding, she’s not that old, but she still came in pretty handy for this review. My mom grew up near Chicago and, indeed, remembered Bosco Chocolate Syrup. She said that she preferred to use it when making chocolate milk because, unlike traditional Hershey’s chocolate syrup, it was made with malt, and apparently malt makes the difference. I wondered if my Mom would enjoy the chocolate bar as much as the chocolate syrup she loved as a child, so I took my box-o’-chocolate home with me over spring break, and we got to eating.

Let me start by saying that the wrappers on the Bosco milk chocolate bars are awesome. They’re made of thick, hefty paper and beneath that first layer is another golden foil wrapper. I feel like Charlie freakin’ Bucket every time I tear into one. Something about the sound and feel of ripping paper gets me way more excited for candy than untwisting the flimsy plastic that most other candy is wrapped. But enough about presentation, let’s talk about the chocolate, shall we?    

The whopping 3.5 ounce bar of Bosco milk chocolate is divided into two rows of six pieces. The pieces are easy enough to break off, though, like most bars of chocolate, it’s better to break off two pieces at a time. If you try to snap off one lonely square, you’ll end up breaking the chocolate into several less-than-aesthetically-pleasing pieces. Speaking of single squares, the individual pieces of chocolate are pretty bulky. They’re thicker than the pieces from a Hershey’s chocolate bar, but they’re not nearly as brittle. The chocolate doesn’t melt easily, a fact I ascertained after rubbing a piece of the chocolate forcefully against my skin without any negative results, so that’s always a plus. Once I finally popped a piece in my mouth, I found that the chocolate was soft and chewy, and I don’t mean chewy like a Tootsie Roll. It’s kind of like chewing on a wad of freshly packed snow if you’ve ever done that before (and if you haven’t, I’m truly sorry that your childhood was such a bummer).

So how do Bosco milk chocolate bars taste? They taste a lot like milk chocolate. They’re sweet and creamy, but they’re also a bit heavy. I’m a guy that can down a lot of chocolate, but even I was pretty full after eating only one bar (though it’s a BIG bar). My mother thought they were delicious, but she said they didn’t quite capture the taste of the Bosco chocolate syrup she remembered having as a child. A quick glance at the wrapper revealed that malt, the special ingredient that set Bosco chocolate syrup apart from the other brands, was not an ingredient in the chocolate bars. If Bosco was aiming for nostalgia in the taste department, they missed their mark.

If milk chocolate is your thing, then the hefty Bosco milk chocolate bars will not disappoint you. As I mentioned earlier, my mom and I started out with a box of these things, and I’m currently down to one emergency-review bar. They might not bring back old memories for old Bosco fans, but they’ll certainly help shape new ones.

• Bosco’s Website
• Buy Bosco Chocolate Bar at Candy.com

Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.

Recently, we had another reader who was stumped about a candy she remembered and came to us to help figure it out. Here is what Rosario said:

Can’t find this lollipop. It has three flavors the largest flavor was pineapple,then sour apple and the smallest amount of cherry. and it was cone shaped.

Ok, that’s not a lot to go on so I interrogated her and got this in the next email and then it was clear what she remembered:

• Approximate year you had the candy?1988-91
• Was the candy purchased individually or in a pack/bag of multiples? individually
• What was the wrapping like? Colors? Designs? Paper? Foil? etc…… i think that it may be clear wrapping, plastic.
• What was the size of the candy? Individual pieces? a bar? etc. If i remember right it was about as long as a regular size snicker bar, and the circumference of the end with the paper stick was about the size of a quarter, the other end was smaller then a pencil’s erasers. It was shaped like like a knights jousting weapon.
• The the main flavor was pineapple, then something green and down by the paper stick it was red.

Has anyone else figured it out?

It’s an Astro Pop! The one thing I remember about Astro Pops (besides they were tasty) is that if you bit into them your teeth would stick like super glue. In researching them for this article I found out some interesting things about Astro Pops:

• Astro Pops were reputed to be the longest lasting lollipop on earth
• Astro Pops were discontinued in September of 2004 by Spangler Candy (makers of the super small Dum-Dum lollipops)
• Astro Pops originally were pointy-side up but were changed to have the flat side up, reportedly because the pointy side was dangerous to children. When the inversion redesign occurred, the company removed the paraffin wax that used to be at the bottom

And now, the best news of all – Astro Pops are coming back in early 2011 (SOON!). Yes, you will soon be able to get Astro Pops again (the new GIANT Astro Pop is available now)!

• Astro Pops website
• Astro Pops comeback FAQ
• Astro Pops press release
• Buy GIANT Astro Pops

NOTE: If you have a candy you remember from your childhood and can’t remember the name – email us for help!

Cola-flavored candy ranks pretty high in my top 5 favorite types of candy. Wonka Bottlecaps, Haribo Happy-Cola Gummi Candy, and Soda Pop Shoppe Jelly Belly jelly beans have been perpetual favorites. But… change is a comin’ around here and there’s a new kid in town. He’s shiny, long-lasting, delicious and named Cola Ball. Sweets4MySweetie, a retro and European candy shop in Canada, is chock full of ‘em.

These fellows are fantastic! They’re round, silver balls that, yep, you guessed it, taste like cola. And, as if a long-lasting cola flavor wasn’t enough, as a bonus, they also look like ammunition. While I now enjoy this particular trait of cola balls, I was less than thrilled at first. Imagine my surprise when I opened a box of what I assumed was candy and found a nondescript baggie of large BBs!

I was thinking, uh-oh, did I write an unfavorable review of someone’s candy and this is a warning? Have I angered anyone lately? Does someone in my home have a weapon that they haven’t mentioned? As it happened, it was just that time of the year when A Christmas Story was about to be aired on every channel. Thinking about my Christmas wishlist reminded me of Ralphie and his coveted BB gun. So, I breathed a sigh of relief when I read the business card at the bottom of the box and learned that they were just silver, non-nefarious jawbreakers!

These aren’t your ordinary, run-of-the-mill jawbreakers, though. They are delightful, shiny jawbreakers – everyone knows shiny makes everything exponentially more appealing! If you run across them, I highly recommend grabbing some. Just make sure you have enough to share because you will end up sharing them! And, if cola isn’t your thing, I’m sure they could be repurposed in any number of ways. Perhaps, impromptu marbles, decorations on a birthday cake at the local NRA meetup, as parakeet toys, or of course, ammo for a slingshot, etc. For these reasons and their tastiness, I give them 5 Bonbons!

• Big list of cola candy
• Sweets4MySweetie website

Candy Addict received this product as a sample from the manufacturer. No payment was received for this review and all opinions represent an unbiased view of the product.

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