For the longest time, my palate’s intelligence for toffee has resembled my career in high school geometry: I liked the class and got a B, but I was nowhere near as good in it as I was in English (chocolate) and Science (gummi). Toffee always seemed likable, but I never ate enough of the stuff to be an aficionado.

Toffee itself is a simple candy made by boiling sugar and mixing it with butter. Though most Americans identify toffee by the way it appears in Heath and Skor bars, it can take several forms. English toffee is a derivative that can be chewy, and honeycomb toffee is aerated, as found in Crunchie and Violet Crumble bars.

Toffee tends to be a flavor spread around by the British, resulting in it being more popular in Europe and its colonies rather than in the U.S. When I was living in New Zealand, I was exposed to a variety of toffees of all different textures and tastes, which were never readily available to me back in the States. This inundation of the sweet created my craving for toffee that still exists today.

When I was offered to write a piece on LalaBoodles’ Gourmet Toffee, I couldn’t turn down the offer. I had never sampled gourmet toffee, and the descriptions of what they produced were so enticing that I circled my mailbox for an entire week until they showed.

Read More »

Share This

To heck with Christmas – summer is definitely the most wonderful time of the year. You’ve got warmth and sunshine, barbecues, beers on the patio, and outdoor sports. And in my home town of Edmonton, Alberta, summertime is Capital Ex time. That’s our local midway, recently re-branded from Klondike Days. (Considering that our claim to the old name was basically “During the gold rush, some guys stopped here for a beer on their way to the Yukon,” I figure the change was long overdue.) But whatever the name, the big draws remain the same: rides, midway games, and, of course, delicious, delicious carnival food. So on a recent Saturday, I braved the crowds at the Ex in an attempt to determine the top five carnival candies. (The things I do for you readers! Wink, wink.) The results were as follows:

Read More »

Share This

I first ran into Popsters at this year’s All Candy Expo. As I walked by I grabbed a sample and was blown away. Popsters are mini caramel popcorn balls coated with milk chocolate, dark chocolate, or a peanut butter. The mini popcorn balls range from roughly the size of a whopper to the size of a jellybean. They aren’t skimpy with the coating and the ratio of coating to popcorn is just right. The popcorn adds a nice flavor and crunch to the Popsters.

Read More »

Share This

I was a little confused when a colorful package from the people at POP! arrived on my doorstep. I’d checked out the website before they were sent, and the product information describes them as a “delectable frozen confection.” It’s true, they arrived beautifully boxed and carefully nestled in foil cold packs But when I opened the box, I found an assortment of fudgy-popcorn treats, not ice cream, as I’d been expecting.

Still, I wasn’t about to turn up my nose to these lovely chocolatey little globes, so I decided to just assume the makers of POP! want me to enjoy them cold (even if they wouldn’t melt at room temp), and leave it at that.

Read More »

Share This

When I arrived home from work a few days ago, I had a giant box waiting for me on the table. It turned out to contain a Dale & Thomas Popcorn sampler. I unpacked the carton, (which included an ice pack to protect the popcorn) and pulled out the inner package wondering what exactly they had sent me. The sampler contained six different varieties of their popcorn and is actually their “Combo Number 1″ (not to be confused with Mambo #5). While we are, in fact, Candy Addict and not Popcorn Addict, it should be noted that these were so far removed from regular popcorn that I would indeed classify them in the candy category.

The flavors they sent me could be broken up into 2 categories: berry-flavored and a variety that they called DrizzleCorn. The berry-flavored ones are coated in a thick berry-flavored candy syrup, while the DrizzleCorn are swirled with their respective “drizzles”.

---

Sun-Drenched Strawberry: The flavored variety of their popcorn is not that different from Caramel coated popcorn, except that they are colored a very deep red, which can be startling at first, if you’re expecting run of the mill popcorn. The kernels aren’t “kind of red” or “light red” they’re very red. The flavor on these, and the other “syrup” flavors is quiet strong. Out of the three, I’d say that Strawberry was my favorite, not overpoweringly strong, but fairly sweet.

Read More »

Share This

How could I resist a candy bar with a wrapper that has a picture of a moose licking its lips?

How do you make a Moose Munch Bar? Start with buttery caramel corn. Fold it with smooth chocolate laced with whole almonds, cashews and toffee bits. Drench it in plenty of sweet dark chocolate. Extravagant? You bet. Try some right now!

Harry and David’s description of their Deluxe Dark Chocolate Moose Munch Bar is accurate—the chocolate was smooth, there was one whole almond, one whole piece of caramel corn, one whole cashew, and lots of toffee. The dark chocolate was sweet but melty and messy. The actual bar rested inside a plastic tray within the wrapper, which nicely protected the candy but also made it appear larger inside the wrapper.

I split the 2oz, 290-calorie Moose Munch Bar with a friend, who said “this might be my new favorite candy bar.” The Moose Munch isn’t my new favorite, but it was very good. I’m still stuck on the delicious standard set by the Marich Chocolate Strawberries that I reviewed in May, and even the decadent Moose Munch Bar couldn’t quite make that grade.

The Moose Munch Bar also comes in Deluxe Milk Chocolate, although I didn’t see one at Target when I picked up my bar for about a dollar.

Before it became a bar, Moose Munch was a mix of nuts, caramel popcorn, and chocolate. Harry and David’s regular Moose Munch is available in a multitude of combinations in their gift towers and baskets, or you can buy it in individual packages.

After gobbling down the bar, I’m definitely ready to try some of the regular Moose Munch. I’m still not sure what the snack has to do with a moose, but I like the moose, and I like the candy, and I’m ready for more.

• Moose Munch at Harry and David
• Moose Munch at Amazon.com
• Moose Munch at CandyDirect.com

Share This