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Yes, Christopher’s Big Cherry does have a whole cherry center as advertised, but if you thought this jaunty pink package contained a delicious candy treat, you’d be sadly mistaken. This is the worst candy I’ve had in quite a while.
Open the wrapper and you find an odd lump of a thing - an uneven chocolate surface, littered with small peanut shards. Not very appealing. But it gets worse. Much worse.
One of the most exciting new candies that I came across at the All Candy Expo was the new Reese’s Select Cluster, a bite-sized piece of sweet, peanut buttery goodness consisting of Reese’s peanut butter, caramel, peanuts, and pecans, all held together by a creamy layer of smooth milk chocolate. It was as if all of the candy stars aligned to make the perfect sweet for me - all of my favorite ingredients, held together by my favorite peanut butter in the whole world! Needless to say, I couldn’t wait to try one.
The first thing I noticed about the clusters was that the dominating flavor is the familiar (and delicious) taste of Reese’s peanut butter. A generous dollop makes up the base of the cluster, which is exactly how it should be, for Reese’s instantly recognizable peanut butter, with its gritty and rich consistency, is the reason why people buy Reese’s products in the first place. I have to hand it to Reese’s - though they continue to spin off new and interesting Reese’s treats, they never forget or downplay the importance of Reese’s peanut butter as their star player.
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.
Recently, I’ve gotten the relatively rare opportunity to taste and review a number of American products (thanks Sera!) and I’ve realized a few things. For instance, eating pretzels as candy is a very US-based food phenomenon. Products like the Pretzel Pete Chocolate Peanut Butter Gems, large pretzel sticks dipped in chocolate and rolled in toppings, pretzels added to desserts and so on are really only something you find on American shores.
Needless to say I was super excited to try Hershey’s Take 5 bar and ripped it open immediately (as evidenced by photo above). The Take 5 bar is made with a long list of my favorite things: chocolate, pretzels, caramel, peanuts and peanut butter. Based on this list alone, what’s not to like? The bar itself is actually two bars - two vaguely oval-shaped lumps, each about 2.5 inches long.
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!
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.
It’s not an everyday event that a new limited edition slips by me. I’m always searching for what the companies are coming out with next. Which is why I was so surprised to walk into my local convenience store and see a Snickers staring at me with a bright and different wrapper. It’s too bad no one with me had a camera, because the double take I made was nothing short of cinematic. How could a new Snickers show up without me knowing about it first?
The new candy on the block is Snickers Nut ‘n Butter Crunch. The wrapper is a bright red-orange with the description: “milk chocolate, peanuts and creamy peanut butter taste.” Sounds interesting! The aroma hints that there’s lots of peanut butter in there. It smells like a Reese’s: sweet chocolate and a salty roasted peanut butter aroma.
One of my most exciting moments at the All Candy Expo was catching sight of the Annabelle Candy booth and seeing Skinny Hunk sitting on the counter. Eureka! I knew if I didn’t find it at the Expo, I was basically doomed to never see it since I live on the east coast where it’s rare to catch any of Annabelle’s regional candies. After having a lovely conversation with the ladies at the booth, I walked away with a few samples and grinning from ear to ear.
To start, don’t let Skinny Hunk fool you. Despite the intention of a healthier portion-controlled snack option (a good example of the trends I saw at the Expo), it’s a large bar for only 100 calories. Upon unwrapping Skinny Hunk, the nougat color is white; very delicate and demure looking. There is no scent, unlike Big Hunk where you get the nutty smell from the peanuts.
There’s a new girl in town, Candy Addicts! The geniuses over at Annabelle Candy Company have decided to jump on the 100 calorie snack craze and remake their classic favorite, Big Hunk. The result? The Skinny Hunk!
Similar to her big brother (or her boyfriend?) Skinny Hunk offers the same tasty nougat and low fat content but in a smaller, portion controlled package. Dreams of getting your sensible afternoon pick-me-up from a candy bar have now come true! The only difference between the two, besides the size, is that Skinny Hunk doesn’t have any peanuts. Not too much surprise there; we gals always thought guys were nutty to begin with!
So keep your eyes peeled for the newest member of the Annabelle candy family. If you encounter her, be sure to let us know how she is!
Before this past Saturday, a conversation about Payday candy bars might have gone something like this:
Thinking about it, I can’t say why I haven’t had a Payday in so long. I remember that I do like them, but it’s just not a candy I pick up when I’m buying a candy bar. Maybe it’s the fact that I don’t see them much, or maybe I do and my mind has just started skipping over them when I’m scanning for a candy bar.
So, I was excited to open up the jar of Fresh From The Factory Payday bars that arrived on my doorstep Saturday morning - so I could refresh my memory on the whole Payday issue. For those unfamiliar with the FFTF concept, Hershey’s is now selling candy that is “Fresh From The Factory” - order it online and Hershey’s will ship it to you within 96 hours of it being wrapped on the factory line. They offer Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups, Twizzlers, Good & Plenty, and now Payday.
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