Seldom do I get as excited about candy as I did when the shipment of Zingerman’s Zzang! Bars arrived after a long workday. The hip, slick packaging, the simple mixed with fancy ingredients, and the interesting flavor combinations promised a unique treat. And, with three varieties, I felt sure my palate would be artfully stimulated.

I tore into the Original first, because I wanted to use it as a base to compare to the other flavors. Zingerman’s marketing team made me salivate with anticipation:

“Starting with a honey nougat made with natural peanut butter, we dip it in a sensual caramel made from muscovado brown sugar. The biggest and best butter roasted peanuts we can find come next, and the whole endeavor is finished off with a dip into a rich bath of dark chocolate.”

It looked great and smelled good, but the taste was disappointing. It was very peanutty and rich, but left an odd, almost smoky, aftertaste in my mouth. I expected the bar to be sweeter, and was left wishing I’d eaten a Snickers instead. Dang. Next…

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Here is a guest review by Julie…

When I was about 8, our family moved to a remote part of Connecticut that was easily five miles from any main commercial shopping areas. The only place we could get candy was the neighborhood gas station, complete with a grungy, grumpy old mechanic guy who, though a bit scary, stocked some awesome candy in his little 2-bay garage; I have since wondered if he was a Candy Addict himself. Of all the candies that he had on display (and though I bought others, too), it was the Seven Up bar that got a sizable chunk of my allowance money every time.

Discontinued sometime in the 70’s, the Seven Up bar began its seven-sectioned life in the 1930s, before the 7-Up Bottling Company began making its soft drink. Eventually the 7-Up company bought the bar and retired it, so they had the exclusive use of the name whichever way it was spelled: Seven Up or 7-Up. None of that mattered a whit to me, as I was only interested in one thing: those seven sections of chocolate-covered different candy centers, meaning I was getting seven big pieces of candy in one regular-sized bar. Quite a bargain to me back then for my hard-saved pennies and nickels (shoot, I’d pay just about anything for one today)!

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After reading the Awesomely Addictive raves about Reese’s Peanut Butter Egg, I was ecstatic to find Reese’s Peanut Butter White Egg and Reese’s Peanut Butter Fudge Egg at Walgreen’s for fifty cents each. I generally love all Reese’s candy, and couldn’t wait to get home and try the eggs. I wasn’t sure what to expect - would the peanut butter be mixed with different flavors, or would the coatings just be different from the usual milk chocolate?

I randomly chose to open the White Egg first, and took note of the flat-back egg shape similar to the Almond Joy and Mounds Eggs. The White Egg was solidly encased in an off-white substance that looked and felt a little oily. My excitement dwindled, and I cautiously bit into the candy.

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Touted as “the world’s first pre-melted chocolate bar,” the Lava Bar is “gourmet molten chocolate” in a 2.5 oz golden foil-like pouch. It is not chocolate syrup, though it can be used like chocolate syrup on ice cream, fruit, shakes or coffee. To soften the chocolate and really make it fluid, you need to submerge the Lava Bar in hot water first. It can’t be heated in the microwave, probably because of the packaging.

Despite its claim to be a pre-melted chocolate bar, it really wasn’t. It’s more like hot fudge in a foil pouch, not like a melted Hershey chocolate bar, which is what I was expecting. The texture is a bit grainy and it tasted more like fudge batter, and less like a chocolate bar that has been melted.

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Neapolitan Kisses

I heard about these Kisses recently thanks to a reader and I immediately began a quest for them. The quest didn’t last long since they were being advertised by my local CVS Pharmacy. Seems like these days there’s another new “Limited Edition” candy practically every day - and Hershey’s Kisses seem to be leading the pack. Perhaps their small size, and short ingredient list allow the folks at Hershey to experiment, test, and sell flavors at a faster rate than a more complicated candy would allow.

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How do you know when a candy has reached the height of popularity? Sales, marketing, limited edition versions and the “test of time” are all good ways to tell, but you know you have a real winner when devoted fans start incorporating the candy flavors at home. That’s exactly what Joe over at “Culinary in the Country” did when he made some delicious looking Snickers Fudge.

The recipe looks difficult, but it isn’t as involved as it first seems. The only catch is that it’s takes a long time to make since you create four different layers that need to individually set. Joe is a Snickers connoisseur and says the recipe accurately captures the flavors of the beloved candy bar. Be sure to visit Joe’s blog for the recipe. This is homemade candy making at it’s best!

• Snickers Fudge Recipe at “Culinary in the Country”

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, chocolate, recipe, recipes, Snickers, peanuts

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I tried out Sanders Milk Chocolate Caramels and loved them, so I had really high hopes for their dessert toppings. Sanders sent over two jars for sampling: Cinnamon Pear Caramel and Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge. I finally picked up some vanilla ice cream, and to keep the tasting simple, I didn’t add any other toppings. No nuts, no cherries, no sprinkles.

I tried out the Cinnamon Pear Caramel first, dipping a small spoon into the jar and drizzling the topping over my ice cream. Not being a professional, my attempt at drizzling wasn’t very neat, but it did show off how pourable the topping is. I was expecting a harder battle to get the stuff out of the jar. My first spoonful of ice cream and caramel tasted almost like pumpkin pie. I could definitely make out the cinnamon, but the pear flavor isn’t strong at all, just something subtly fruity and sweet underlying everything else. I really loved this on ice cream, and I’m glad I tried it out “plain” first.

Then I sampled the Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge topping on ice cream for dessert the next night. This time I made a hot fudge sundae, with crushed mixed nuts and cherries. Wow! I thought the Cinnamon Pear Caramel was good, but the hot fudge was fantastic. It’s easily the best hot fudge I’ve ever tasted, very chocolatey and smooth. Plus, the hot fudge is very versatile. I drizzled it over my blueberry muffin one morning for a new kind of treat. Sanders is apparently really famous in Michigan for their sundaes (as well as their candies), and now I know why. These dessert toppings are amazing, and at $3.59 per jar, they’re affordable too.

It might be a bit too cold for ice cream now, but spring is just around the corner, and if you’re looking for the perfect topping for your sundae, look no further than Sanders.

Editor’s note: I just tried the Sander’s Milk Chocolate Hot Fudge and it truly is delicious. It tastes like a melted candy bar - so rich and smooth. Highly recommended!

• Sanders website

Buy Sanders Dessert Toppings online:

• at Amazon.com

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, chocolate, sanders, hot fudge, fudge, caramel, sundaes, ice cream, sundae

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After reviewing the Awesomely Addictive Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites last month, I was really looking forward to trying these Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites too. Licking the bowl when Mom made brownies was always one of life’s little pleasures so I was hoping these would capture some of that magic.

Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites are the same size and shape as the Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough Bites - roughly the size of an M (or is it M&M? What’s the singular of M&Ms?). They are small pellets of “brownie dough” covered in chocolate. While this sounds good, they weren’t very good at all. They are very sweet but have a heavy bitter taste to them too that overpowers any good taste they might have. They remind me in no way, shape, or form of brownie batter and just don’t taste very good.

They just don’t compete on the same level as their Chocolate Chip cousins. If you want brownie batter, stick to licking the bowl (but not like this). If you want cookie dough candy, go with the Chocolate Chip variety. I simply can’t recommend Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites to anyone.

• Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites webpage

Buy Fudge Brownie Cookie Dough Bites online:

• at Candy Direct
• at Amazon

More candy articles about: candy, sweets, chocolate, brownie, brownies, dough, batter

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I stumbled onto the Alaskan Fudge Company today and found a bunch of out-of-the-ordinary chocolate shapes. They have cool-looking chocolate bald eagles, chocolate salmon, chocolate sea otters, and oddly enough, chocolate dentures!

Chocolate Dentures ~ Fun full set of chocolate teeth, in an acrylic box. Great gag gift!

After seeing the chocolate heart and now the chocolate dentures, I’m now convinced that everything in the world, past or present, has been memorialized in chocolate.

They have a pretty good Tshirt too that says “Give Me All Your Chocolate, and Nobody Gets Hurt!“. I like the slogan, but I’m not crazy about the design, what little I can see of it. Hey AFC gang, I want to be able to zoom in on the Tshirt to see it before I buy!

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