Author Archives: MichelleG

Candy Recipe: Chocolate Covered Honeycomb

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Honeycomb

(image from danzimmermann.com)

Honeycomb (also known as Cinder Toffee) is one of those quintessential British candies which has made its mark everywhere but the U.S. Here in Australia, people tend to either love them or hate them, and those in the “love it” camp have their favourite brand. Violet Crumble is perhaps the most well-known of the commercial honeycombs available.

Every time I’ve offered to bring someone a sweet treat from from Down Under, it’s either the Violet Crumble or the Crunchie they beg for. Honeycomb is essentially basic toffee which has baking soda added to it. The baking soda and molten sugar react, creating a volcanic eruption of sugary golden edible styrofoam. You can eat it as is, but dipping the irregular chunks into chocolate is delicious. You can also smash it up and mix it into cookies, top cupcakes with it, stir it through ice cream and sprinkle it on top of a chocolate cake for a whole new eating experience.

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Candy + Braces = Orthodontic Nightmare

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Braces

(Image courtesy of whatsinasmile)

Braces are the natural enemy of candy eaters, primarily because when you’ve got a mouthful of metal, you’re not supposed to have a mouthful of candy, too. Many is a parent who has endured an expensive trip to the orthodontist to repair or replace various bits of mouth hardware which fell awry of a Skittles.

The Raising a Healthy Family website has developed a list of thirty foods which your orthodontist hates. Of course the article should be about thirty things he loves, because all those repairs have got to be helping to plump up the old bank balance. Not surprisingly, twenty one of the items listed are candy. All the old favorites are on the “no go” list, including Starburst, Twizzlers, gummy bears and of course Tootsie Rolls. So what is a teenage Candy Addict supposed to eat, given this enormous list of things which are not allowed?

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Classic Candy Review: Snickers

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Snickers Bar
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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Classic Candy Review: Jolly Rancher Flavor Round-Up

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Classic Jolly Ranchers
Since I adore them so much, the flavors of Jolly Rancher candies often act as a benchmark for when I taste other fruit flavored candy. As a group they make no excuses for not tasting at all like the actual fruits they represent. Jolly Ranchers are fabulous in that they are so fantastically, gorgeously artificial and yummy. The advertising tag line is “bursting with BOLD fruit flavor” and when it comes to hard candies, no truer words were spoken. Here’s a quick review of the five classic flavors:

Apple: This is far and away my favorite Jolly Rancher flavor. Sweet and tart, green apple is a classic for which there is no substitute. It sits on the knife edge of being too sweet, but balances nicely with the amount of tartness in it. Added bonuses are the bright green it turns your tongue and the fact that you can use it to make Jolly Rancher beer.

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Candy Review: Reese’s Whoppers

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Reese's Whoppers

Our good friends at Hershey’s are at it again – taking two favorite and much loved products and rolling them into one. In this case it’s the lovely malted balls of Whoppers and the peanut butter filling of Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups. Original Whoppers are a small, crunchy malted milk ball covered with a thin layer of chocolate. These Reese’s versions are exactly the same thing, but the chocolate layer is replaced with peanut butter.

This product is another case of something with a lot of potential which just misses the mark. I busted this cute milk-carton inspired packaging open, threw a few of these in my mouth, chomped down and thought, “Oh.” That’s it. No declarations of my undying love for these, no desire to just pour the rest of them right down my throat (as convenient as the packaging would make that!).

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