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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In the new year, I am resolving to eat less candy. Or, maybe I’ll just eat better candy. More adult-sounding candy, whose packaging uses words “dark” and “nib.” Candy that sounds like a luxurious decadent indulgence, but is only one calorie per piece. Move over Tic Tacs. There’s a new girl in town and her name is Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Nibs. She’s small, dark, low-calorie, and alllll chocolate. First, let me introduce you to cocoa nibs. If you’re not familiar, a nib is the kernel of unprocessed cacao bean, after the husk has been removed. In a way it’s like a chocolate nut – sorta.

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Cola-flavored candy ranks pretty high in my top 5 favorite types of candy. Wonka Bottlecaps, Haribo Happy-Cola Gummi Candy, and Soda Pop Shoppe Jelly Belly jelly beans have been perpetual favorites. But… change is a comin’ around here and there’s a new kid in town. He’s shiny, long-lasting, delicious and named Cola Ball. Sweets4MySweetie, a retro and European candy shop in Canada, is chock full of ‘em.

These fellows are fantastic! They’re round, silver balls that, yep, you guessed it, taste like cola. And, as if a long-lasting cola flavor wasn’t enough, as a bonus, they also look like ammunition. While I now enjoy this particular trait of cola balls, I was less than thrilled at first. Imagine my surprise when I opened a box of what I assumed was candy and found a nondescript baggie of large BBs!

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What’s better than chocolate? My face on chocolate! Or your Grandma, favorite pet, or company logo on chocolate. U Ougghta be on Chocolates is just the company to make that happen. The nice folks who run the company took a few of my cherished photos and presto magic- they’re now 100% edible! They look great -even better than in my photos here- and made a great impression with my extended family who was delighted by it. We talked about how my Grandma never would have imagined she’d ever see herself on a chocolate one day. I think I was the favorite grand-kid that day!

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It’s been many years since I last tried sugar-free chocolate, for good reason… it was disgusting. I would rather have had no chocolate than gross chocolate. I guess one of the many things that have improved with time and technology is sugar-free chocolate. Simply Lite’s Milk and Dark Chocolate bars are all the evidence I need to know science is awesome.

Now, sugar-free does conjure up some negative feelings to some folks, myself included. I’m not going to get into a philosophical debate about sugar vs. sugar-free, but I have been privy to concerns being raised about sugar substitutes. So many concerns that my little mind – tuned in by all the marketers trying to sell us the next best thing – was a little curious about the ingredients. I read the nutritional packing with some scrutiny and red lights started a-flashin’ when I read the warning “excess consumption may cause a laxative effect”. But, like all things, excess can cause long-lasting effects, no? Moderation, they say wisely. So I threw a little caution – along with a wrapper or two – to the wind because I did, of course, need to eat some of three different bars to tell my little tale of Simply Lite chocolates.

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