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.”

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Have you ever wondered what a Snickers-Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup mash-up would taste like? I imagine that’s what Mars Inc. was going for when the company released Snickers Peanut Butter Squared, a concoction “filled with peanut butter, peanuts, caramel and nougat and covered in milk chocolate,” as the label explains.

As a fan of both Reese’s and Snickers (though Reese’s cups get the slight edge — I promise Hershey’s didn’t pay me to say that), I anticipated this addition of peanut butter to Snickers bars would be divine. So perhaps my expectations were a little too high; when I bit into the Snickers peanut butter square, I wasn’t blown away. That’s not to say it isn’t tasty — it definitely is. It just tasted like a regular Snickers bar to me but with a little more peanut flavoring. Basically, if you like Snickers, I can’t imagine you wouldn’t like this.

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I just can’t stop myself. I am supposed to save a few of the Pretzel M&Ms for my roommates, but I can’t stop eating them. I can already see the disappointment in their faces as I say “But, you don’t understand. There are little bite-sized, salted pretzels in the middle.” I wince as I explain “Chocolate-coated little pieces of heaven, I tell you.” I actually just poured out the bag so I could eat the crumbs and then return the four little delicious M&Ms to the bag to share with them. I hope I can resist them. Maybe I can put them somewhere and then forget them. Maybe I’ll leave little enigmatic notes that we will have to decipher later to find the lone Pretzel M&Ms.

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One of the things I always find interesting when traveling in the United States is the prevalence of Hispanic culture compared to in Canada – I guess Mexican immigrants who make it over the border into the United States are usually content to stop there rather than venturing further north.

In my limited experience, it seems to me that the “ethnic” section of American grocery stores always has a wide selection of Mexican foods, while where I live, you’re more likely to find Vietnamese rice noodles or Thai and Indian curry pastes there, with Mexican foods relegated to a small (and totally inauthentic) selection of taco seasoning mixes, burrito shells and salsas. Needless to say, in this city, Mexican candy is pretty much nonexistent.

I have to admit, I haven’t been terribly broken up about this fact – Mexican candy’s widespread use of chili, tamarind and salt (all fine ingredients – just not necessarily in a candy setting), its distressing tendency to get contaminated with lead, and a generally negative impression from the Internet food scene, have ensured that I haven’t had much desire to add Mexican treats to my candy repertoire.

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I’ve had some good peanut brittle in my time with Candy Addict, but I’ve never seen these nifty flavor twists: Coco Nutty and Yippee Cayenne. I wonder how they’ll work with the brittle.

Jer’s Handmade Chocolates is a relatively new company in San Diego. I was not happy with their Toffee Break Gourmet Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Bars, but I’m still ready to like these Brittle Bites – especially given the quality ingredients.

Let’s try the Coco Nutty bites first. These come in a small 1.6 oz box, with four individual, small bite-sized pieces. I pop one in my mouth. The coconut flavor hits first, and strongly. Then the crispy brittle, which is hard to discern because of the strong coconut flakes. Lastly I notice the dark chocolate, quite far in the flavor background. I can see how some people would like these, but to me the coconut flavor’s too strong, masking the brittle and chocolate elements. Oh, and these are peanut brittle, but I couldn’t even taste the peanuts. Let’s try the Yippee Cayenne.

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