For the longest time, my palate’s intelligence for toffee has resembled my career in high school geometry: I liked the class and got a B, but I was nowhere near as good in it as I was in English (chocolate) and Science (gummi). Toffee always seemed likable, but I never ate enough of the stuff to be an aficionado.

Toffee itself is a simple candy made by boiling sugar and mixing it with butter. Though most Americans identify toffee by the way it appears in Heath and Skor bars, it can take several forms. English toffee is a derivative that can be chewy, and honeycomb toffee is aerated, as found in Crunchie and Violet Crumble bars.

Toffee tends to be a flavor spread around by the British, resulting in it being more popular in Europe and its colonies rather than in the U.S. When I was living in New Zealand, I was exposed to a variety of toffees of all different textures and tastes, which were never readily available to me back in the States. This inundation of the sweet created my craving for toffee that still exists today.

When I was offered to write a piece on LalaBoodles’ Gourmet Toffee, I couldn’t turn down the offer. I had never sampled gourmet toffee, and the descriptions of what they produced were so enticing that I circled my mailbox for an entire week until they showed.

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I love me some Japanese candy, and usually the Asian markets in my area have a good supply. But lamentably, I have never been able to locate the Puccho brand of chews. A unique texture combining the soft chew of Starburst with tiny balls of gummi and, sometimes, fizzy candy bits? Sign me up! And the flavors sound great - melon, cola, and especially ramune. (Ramune is a Japanese soft drink that’s a lot like 7-up or Sprite. It has an indescribable flavor that’s almost lemon/lime… only not. The flavor is totally addictive, whether in candy or drink form, and there’s nothing quite like it outside of the Japanese candy market.)

So on a recent trip to my local Asian mega-grocery store, the T&T, I was elated to encounter the elusive chew at last. Sort of. Instead of a paper-wrapped “stick” or an awesome plastic tube thing, they came in a small bag. Very small. They were also expensive – $2.99 for the tiny bag. On sale. The regular price was nearly five bucks. (Oh, T&T – I love you so, but come on, what’s with your prices?) Instead of “Puccho,” these were called “Pucchoco” – that’s right, they’re chocolate-covered. And rather than being fruit or soda-flavored, they were almond-flavored – a new one on me.

It wasn’t ramune… but it would do.

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Hello, Dove chocolate. Where have you been all my life? Apparently Dove first hit the streets with the Dovebar ice cream treat in the 1950s. Since then Dove offerings have trickled onto supermarket shelves, and now there are cookies, chocolates, and ice cream (and speaking of Dove ice cream, you should really try it if you haven’t. The pints have a top layer of chocolate, so you break through the chocolate barrier to get to the ice cream. I cannot emphasize enough how incredible this is).

But, I digress. The matter at hand is some new chocolate from Dove, namely three flavors of the Silky Smooth Milk Chocolate line. The flavors are Roasted Hazelnut, Blueberry Almond, and Peanut Toffee Crunch. Each 3.53-ounce box holds three individually wrapped bars, which psychologically might be a good thing, since you can avoid feeling guilty if you eat just one of the wrapped packages.

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Rocky road is one of those candies whose parts I love individually. Marshmallows, chocolate, a jelly of some kind, nuts… these elements on their own are delicious. Put them together and voila! instant candy (or ice cream) hit. Rocky road, to me, is a bit like pizza… even when it’s bad, it’s good!

Holding this candy in such high esteem really only means that one day, I was bound to fall off my candy high horse, wasn’t I? Well, dear readers, that day has come. I initially picked up this box of David Medlow Rocky Road because it not only had all the right elements, it also had a bit of innovation. The whole delicious sounding combination of passion fruit, white chocolate and roasted almonds had me drooling just by thinking about it. There was also a dark chocolate and orange version, but this one’s flavor combinations seemed more purchase-worthy.

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The new M&M’s Premiums line has arrived, and as soon as you see a box you’ll realize that these are no ordinary M&M’s. These M&M’s are something special. From presentation to taste, M&M’s Premiums are quite impressive, hitting the mark in both style and substance.

The presentation is fantastic, starting with the outer packaging. The typical M&M’s bag has been swapped out for a sleek, upscale-looking box that is resealable on the outside as well as on the inside, as both the outer carton and the plastic inner pack of M&M’s come with resealable tabs to keep the candy locked in and fresh.

It’s a small but wonderful innovation, as it allows buyers to carry, share, and store the M&M’s without worrying that they’ll spill. You can also pour out a handful for a friend and then save the rest for later without having to resort to the old school M&M’s pack method of rolling the bag as tight as you can and shoving it in your pocket, which is nice.

The M&M’s themselves are also quite striking: with pearly shells of soft mint green, royal blue, shimmering copper, raspberry red, and a dazzling lavender, the M&M’s provide a lovely visual that I’m sure will be quite popular for parties, gifts, and holidays. Their decorative quality is fancier than your typical holiday-themed M&M, which makes them appropriate candy decor for weddings and other formal events as well. They really are quite lovely. Almost too pretty to eat.

Almost. But come on, now. A pretty candy shell isn’t going to stop me from shoveling M&M’s into my mouth in the least dainty way possible. I can’t help it, man! I’m a Candy Addict!

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Whilst on a run-of-the-mill Target trip today, I came across an exciting assortment of Endangered Species Chocolates: dark chocolate with delicious, antioxidant packed flavors and a generous spirit (10% of their net profits are donated to “support species, habitat and humanity”). What’s not to like, right? Plus, they were all natural, ethically traded, on sale, and had pictures of cute animals all over the packaging. How could I not grab every variety available and be inspired in a third grade, let’s-describe-ourselves-using-words-that-begin-with-each-letter-in-our-name kind of way? (Hey, chocolate does that to me sometimes.)

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In my day, I was an avid trick-or-treater. Straight through high school, pillowcases served as bags; loot was measured in pounds; and Snickers, Milky Ways, and Starbursts were blissfully consumed for months. Until that inevitable dark day, that is, when I would go to my closet after school, reach deep into my dwindling stash, and come up with a handful of Tootsie Rolls, Dum-Dums, and that curse of a confection, the bane of my Halloween-loving existence, Bit-O-Honeys. Bit-O-Honeys were the one candy that I disliked so much I would not eat them even in these desperate times and they were utterly un-tradeable. Who, my young mind wondered, likes these things? And what on earth are they?

Well Jerry Seinfeld, it turns out, is a big fan. They’re his fave. And if that’s not reason for further investigation now that I’m older and wiser and further removed from the anger, then I certainly don’t know what is. And so, finally, I sought some answers.

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It’s a rare event for me to pick up a candy bar these days, because I tend to find myself reaching more for gummi things, or sour things, or fancy chocolates. A recent purchase (okay, complete and utter gorge) at a local candy store brought these to my attention. Being a sale item and European to boot, I had to have one (or possibly two. Not that I would admit to that.)

Nougat, of the European variety, is nothing at all like you find in a Snickers bar. It’s not a foamy, aerated, vaguely malty thing sandwiched between other things. Good nougat is something special; something which has very few ingredients and definitely nothing resembling sucrose or milk powder.

Traditional nougat is usually made with egg whites, honey and/or sugar, cooked together to achieve a white creamy consistency. It often includes roast nuts and dried fruits, and is often sold in bars or blocks lined with rice paper. It’s a popular Italian treat (where it is known as torrone) but you can find it in various guises all through Europe. Nougat in this form can be anything from very chewy to rock solid and can often include more exotic ingredients like dried cranberries, pistachios, and coffee.
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When I met Chuao Chocolatier at the All Candy Expo, I knew I had found something special. I have already reviewed their Bonbons and signature ChocoPods, and now I am going to review their creative line of chocolate bars. Chuao’s bars really represent the theme of the company: unique, creative and delicious. The bars come in Caracas, Spicy Maya, Earl Grey and Chinita Nibs Bar flavors.

I was really excited to try these, especially since I am already so smitten with Chuao’s other delicious creations. These bars, like the rest of Chuao’s products, use Venezuelan El Rey chocolate as a base and then enhance its flavor by using fresh unique ingredients. All that aside though, what I was really curious about was tasting these to see if they were going to be bar sized versions of the solid ChocoPods: rich, creamy, and 100% addictive. When I opened the wrappers, just a whiff of their aromas told me a loud “yes!”

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Japan has a strong dedication to celebrating the change of seasons. They have special festivals, clothes, activities and (of course) foods depending on what time of year it is. In fact, Japan is now infamous for the number unique flavors they’ve been cranking out seasonally on the candy aisle. One of the stars of this whole front? KitKat.

So I’m really digging into my archives here with this flavor. It was originally released in the spring/summer of ‘06 (and no, I didn’t have one waiting around that long for me to taste). Its flavor is based off a Chinese dessert made of cold almond pudding, hinting that warmer weather is coming.

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