Have you ever thought about why a certain fluffy candy bar is called a 3 Musketeers? Imagine that you’ve never heard of this product. Or that, like my friend’s niece, you’re four years old.

“What is that?” she asked me, looking at the famous candy bar.

“I don’t know,” I pretended. “What do you think it is?”

She took it down from the table, turned it around in her little hands, and stared at it from every angle “Well, what does this say?” she asked.

“Three Musketeers,” I answered.

“What’s a MUS-KUH-TEER?” she said, in three segments.

“Well, a musketeer is a flashy guy who wears a cape and fights with swords.”

She processed this for a while. “Why are there guys with capes and swords in here?!” she suddenly blurted out, happily.

“That is a great question,” I said, “I’ll find out for you.” She made a skeptical face, so I returned her attention to the guessing game. “So, what do you think this silver thing IS, though?” I asked.

“Candy?!” she said, almost screaming. (Good thing she’s cute.)

“How did you know that?” I asked.

“Cuz everything on this table is candy!” She had me there.

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It seems to be a bit of a trend these days, with classic candy bars either pumping up one of their base ingredients, or simpler candy bars adding in an additional component. Variations on classic bars are nothing new - bars going white, peanut butter suddenly appearing, bits of rice cereal being stirred through, and so on. For the purposes of this review I had a look at two bars which had either added or increased their caramel value - the Crunch Bar with caramel and the Milky Way now with more caramel.

Crunch bars are an integral part of my childhood, since my Mom always had a Crunch bar in her purse (and probably still does). One of the things I like about it is that it is so thin - the snap of the Crunch bar really appeals to me, since I think it goes well with the crisped rice. It is still one of those bars I will reach for when I want a sugar hit but not full on diabetic shock.

In the past, other giant bars like the Kit Kat Chunky have been disappointing, so I wasn’t sure how this one would go. I took a bite of it and there was no mistaking the caramel taste - it isn’t just a token inclusion. The usual Crunch elements are there, too … but the whole thing got a bit of a “ehhh, not so great” reaction from me. I really missed the thin-ness of the original Crunch bar, and I didn’t think the caramel did a lot for this one. Nice, but not all that exciting or fabulous.

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“Yummy, yummy, yummy, I’ve got gummi in my tummy” is going to be my new mantra! I recently had the privilege of tasting the new liquid-filled gummies, Starburst GummiBursts. I’m a big fan of Starburst products, and it’s always nice to see new candies from them, since they are pretty consistently tasty.

The GummiBursts have a very satisfying texture - nice and chewy and gummi. The liquid center is just a teeny viscous dollop and not overpowering or even very noticeable, which could be considered a negative by some. The packaging claims that these GummiBursts contain real fruit juice, but the ingredients reveal the only real fruit juice is apple juice from concentrate. The GummiBursts come in four flavors: strawberry, cherry, orange, and lemon. Let’s examine those in more detail!

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They’re finally here! The long awaited Mint Crisp M&Ms that we heard were coming out in time for the new Indiana Jones movie are finally on shelves. And not a moment too soon! Between my eagerness to see Indy in his new geriatric adventure glory and tasting the new M&Ms adventure that Mars has planned for us, I could hardly contain my excitement when I found these in the store. It was like finding Indy’s candy holy grail in a way.

The M&Ms are not the only new candy with the Indiana Jones tie-in. There’s also the Snickers Adventure Bar that I reviewed back in January. The plain Milk Chocolate, Peanut and the new Mint Crisp M&Ms are outfitted in new themed packages and they are quite attractive I admit (more so than the Shrek and the Pirates of the Caribbean ones M&Ms). Of course the Mint Crisp ones are a special limited edition flavor tied to the movie like the White Chocolate Pirate Pearls were.

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Although Snickers has satisfied the world for over 75 years now, it has been some years since I’ve actually bought and eaten one. I had pretty much overdosed on them during my pregnancy, when I craved Snickers every day for several months (or just used the cravings excuse as a way to justify daily chocolate eating)!

These days there are so many interesting candy bars available, the tried-and-true don’t often get chosen when I’m in the mood for a sugar fix. After eating one for the purposes of this review, I remembered why those cravings were so nice to have. Snickers is really the granddaddy of all candy bars and it’s not difficult to taste why.

Upon eating it, I was reminded why Snickers is such a popular choice – there is just something very appealing about the different textures it offers. The smooth, slightly squishy nougat, the stretchy caramel, and the crunchy peanuts, all wrapped up in a soft chocolate coating makes this bar almost irresistible.

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In these turbulent times, not everyone has the time or inclination to contemplate the meaningful questions in life. There are just some questions that may be so complex, the average person just doesn’t want to take the time and form his own fundamental beliefs. We here at Candy Addict understand this, though, and so we’re going to lay it all out for you, and make these tough personal choices possible. Which is better: Cadbury Mini Eggs or M&M’s? Some may shy away from delving into this potentially explosive topic, but Candy Addict is not afraid. After all, to paraphrase the famous candy philosopher, Socrates, “The unexamined candy is not worth eating.”

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I thought I’d try something different with this review… consider it a kind of “stream of consciousness” review. I’m going to write what comes to mind as I try the Snickers Rockin’ Nut Road.

The new Rockin’ Nut Road Snickers wrapper promises “almonds, caramel and marshmallow-flavored nougat wrapped in dark chocolate” - sounds pretty good, doesn’t it? Opening it, there really is no real aroma at all. Biting into it, I see that the nougat is snow white so not only does it taste like marshmallow, it looks like marshmallow too. The one thing that hits me, besides the marshmallow taste, is that it’s not overly sweet like a regular Snickers can be.

The Rockin’ Nut Road Snickers is very s’mores-ish tasting and the almond gives it a similar consistency that graham crackers would. The almond flavor isn’t very strong though - the most prevalent flavor is the marshmallow nougat. I don’t really taste the caramel at all, which is a shame because I really love caramel. The choice to go with dark chocolate was a wise move - Snickers milk chocolate would have made it too sweet.

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Heads up everyone, ’cause there’s a new candy bar in town: Snickers Charged. This new version of the Snickers bar means business with its flashy, bright silver wrapper, red accents, and an image of a snorting, angry-looking rhino on the front. How is this Snickers different, you ask? Well, this Snicker’s limited edition contains caffeine, taurine and B vitamins to provide a big energy surge to help you get though your busy day.

The first thing I did was flip this candy over to see what it was really made of, even though the flavor description remains the same: milk chocolate, peanuts, caramel, and nougat. Upon inspecting the ingredients, there’s 60mg of caffeine, 250mg of taurine, and 10% of your daily value of Vitamin B6, Vitamin B12, biotin and Pantothenic Acid in this Snickers. There’s also 4% calcium and 2% iron in there too. Considering all these additions, the size of this Snickers bar is slightly smaller than the average one, weighing in at 1.83 oz where the original as at 2.06 oz. I guess that extra .23oz with caffeine would have been too much to handle!

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The new Snickers Adventure Bar is a limited edition tie-in with the new Indian Jones movie: Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull. Obviously, they aren’t available yet, but here at Candy Addict you’re getting a sneak peek! The packaging design is nice, with an image of Indy from the original trilogy posters on it.

The tag line on the side says “New Flavor Kick!” but doesn’t exactly say what. The back of the bar hints at the flavor combination with a description of a “cliffhanger kick of exotic spice and a hint of sweet coconut.” Sounds interesting! Also on the back the wrapper has “Arti-FACTs” on them which are Indiana Jones’ and Snickers’ information. The one I got was fact 8/8 and listed a scene location for Temple of Doom in Shanghai and claiming Snickers as the #1 selling bar in China.

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Generation Max is a new line of products by Mars just released this year to provide a healthier candy alternative to kids. “How healthy can candy be?” you wonder. It all comes down to portion control, fat/sugar percentages and added vitamins/minerals. For example, each Generation Max item has less than 150 calories and no trans fat. They also sport less than 35% of total calories from fat, 10% from saturated fat and 35% from sugar. These treats, which feature Mars candy names and items like M&Ms, Snickers and 3 Musketeers, are meant to be sold in vending machines in schools.

I’ve seen many candy bars in my day and the Generation Max 3 Musketeers S’mores Brownie Bar (try saying that three times fast) has the busiest packaging design I’ve seen yet. It’s a bright healthy yellow color with colored silhouettes of people running, jumping… being active and having fun. The 3 Musketeers logo takes second billing to the new “Generation MAX” logo that is the largest image on the whole bar. The catchphrase “Keeps you going!” is clearly written underneath, giving us the impression that this isn’t just good tasting candy, but fuel for our body and fun activities.

I’m first interested by the image of the bar on the front, showing a cross section of the bar, which looks like a 3 Musketeers in the top part, but with a layer of brownie and marshmallow underneath. Or perhaps they replaced the fluffy nougat with marshmallow? The illustration isn’t clear on which it is, but that’s what tasting is for, isn’t it?

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