Mockolate products have an awful reputation, but it isn’t as if it’s not deserved. Despite what the candy companies are spouting in an attempt to appease/brainwash their constituents, there is a noticeable difference between a real piece of chocolate and mockolate.

But to immediately write off all mockolate products would be a disservice to a handful of candies out there. You see, mockolate can work well under certain circumstances. The most successful mockolate products I have encountered were always candies that weren’t considered chocolate, but wanted a chocolate flavor.

To me, no product accomplishes this as well as Tootsie’s namesake product, the Tootsie Roll. Having been doled out since the late nineteenth century, these babies hold a niche in the candy universe.

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It’s rare that a candy company can impress me with some new and interesting products, but the people at Kimmie Candy have done just that. Stranger still was that I opened the box of treats from them and thought, “What the….?” (but in a good way!) I had the pleasure of sampling two of their products – the ChocoRocks and the Sunbursts – both of which impressed me with both taste and originality.

ChocoRocks are exactly what they sound like they should be – “boulders” of chocolate covered in a candy shell so that they look pretty much like they’ve just come out of your garden bed. Sunbursts are dry roasted sunflower kernels which are covered in cocoa and then a colored candy shell – you can purchase them as color themes (Christmas, Easter, etc) or in single-color bags.

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At a Christmas party last month, I won the door prize and was the happy recipient of a bag of Lindt Lindor Truffles Stracciatella. Believe it or not, I had never heard of Lindt chocolates before. I’d seen the bags displayed in grocery stores but had never even paid enough attention to notice their name. What kind of Candy Addict am I?

The light blue bag that I received described the candy within this way:

Mmm. “That’s right up my alley!” I said. Indeed it sounded like these could quickly become my new favorite candy. I love white chocolate. I love creamy chocolate. I love little crispy bits in chocolate (which is what I thought the “with cocoa pieces” meant). Combine the three, and perhaps Lindt had created perfection.

I eagerly unwrapped the first delicately wrapped chocolate and took a bite. Hmm… nothing exceptional. I took another bite and another. I managed to stretch the ping pong ball-sized Stracciatella into five bites.

But I wasn’t impressed or even pleased. I was disappointed.

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The after-Christmas candy sale is currently at its zenith for bargains. Everything is 50, 75, even 90 percent off the original price.

Often, there are candies that catch my eye, but for which I don’t feel like shelling out a few bucks. Brach’s Cherry Cordial Nougats are one such confection. But after Walgreens had them on sale for thirty-three cents, it seemed ridiculous not to buy them.

I was taken slightly aback by what these were made of. A cordial, by definition, is a chocolate shell with a fruit filling. The only thing these had even remotely in common with a cordial was that they used cocoa. Well, Brach’s, I hate to break it to you, but you can make a cookie with cocoa powder; that doesn’t mean it’s a cordial cookie!

Aside from my cocoa issues, I wasn’t exactly sure how nougat would fare in the presence of both cherry and cocoa. Reading the ingredients list, I also discovered there are no nuts in this, which is actually a component of a real nougat (if you’re going to get technical).

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