This egg is the one Russell Stover Egg that I am on the hunt for every Easter. Out of all the flavors they offer, this one is my favorite. I’m a sucker for anything maple and this candy is a great example of how much I love it. I was lucky enough to find a few of them in the CVS by my current job. Usually you have to find these pretty swiftly after the stock being put onto shelves because this flavor sells out quickly. I bought a few of them for myself and my fiance (he is in love with this flavor too), and was excited to do a review of them for the blog.

I really love the packaging on these as they’re simple and colorful, so they feel festive without going overboard on the design elements. That and the package does a pretty good job of keeping things fresh, even though there’s no protecting them if they happen to get squished. So you need to be careful transporting them. 

This egg is covered in dark chocolate and smells heavenly once unwrapped. It’s a rich smell full of note of cocoa, maple, coffee and coconut.

The dark chocolate is a nice “medium” flavor. It’s not too sweet, and it had tastes of chocolate and coffee. The flavors are muted though, and you have a very think mouth feel from the chocolate’s melt. It’s really lovely. The maple cream is fluffy almost like a marshmallow, but it’s much moister and behaves more like a mousse. The flavor is immediately of maple, with sharp sweet notes, a hint of toast and a slight nutty edge to it. It’s so good it’s sublime.

I really don’t know what else to say about this candy, since I’ve gushed about it enough. I have a small stash going since I can only get this treat once a year!

Rating: Hoard

Links Russell Stover Website

The very first Valentine’s Day candy I got this year were these delicious samples from See’s Candies. They are very festive, with a large, heart shaped Milk Bordeaux and a Sweetheart box. They use lots of red and pink, plus the heart shaped which make them perfect for Valentines Day. I was super excited to receive these samples, as See’s candies are favorites of mine, and I adore trying their seasonal fare.

If you’ve never had a See’s Bordeaux, well, let me just say it’s a little slice of heaven. It’s a mix of brown sugar and butter cream, so it’s rich and smooth, which being a little grainy and sweet. So, terribly addictive. This one for Valentines Day comes in a little box, but don’t let it fool you. It’s still a large Bordeaux even if it’s not a whole pound of them from their chocolates counter.

It’s very sweet looking, in the shape of a heart, with two frosted hearts in the center: one red and one white.

The way this candy melts in your mouth is an absolute pleasure. You get waves of sweetness that are buttery and have a richness that is hard to explain. The texture is smooth and thick, as if a square of fudge just melted on your tongue. It doesn’t dissipate too quickly and it leaves you moth feeling clean. No greasy aftertaste or grit. It’s pure bliss.

Everyone I’ve shared pieces of this Bordeaux with, cause for it was was that big, absolutely loved it. My fiance posture relaxed as he looked at me and said “Wow, that is really good”. The Bordeaux is one of my favorite See’s, and it will firmly remain there.

The Sweetheart Box is a lovely collection of some of See’s best truffles. This box, though, is the oly boxed assortment that has their Peanut Butter Pattie and P-Nut Crunch (tm) in it. Both are perfect for any lover of peanut butter, so this assortment is a good bet if your Valentine loves that flavor. There’s a nice assortment of other chocolate, nougats and nut-brittle in here, so your taste buds certainly won’t get bored. To add to its festive feeling, not only is the box beautifully decorated, there’s solid red foil wrapped heart candies in here that complete the feeling.

I am smitten with these chocolates and especially that Milk Bordeaux heart. I’d have a constant stash of those in my kitchen in an ideal world. If your sweetheart is into rich chocolates and sweet fillings, See’s is a great option for your Valentines Day gift giving.

Rating: Hoard

Links See’s Candies Website

Fiat was a candy find that I really just stumbled across in one of the many gourmet stores all over Los Angeles. In this specific one my boyfriend and I popped in because they’re supposed to have outstanding burgers, but I also found some cool candy in their store while I waited. One of them was the Fiat and the Fiat Noir. They both were in little displays at the cash registers. Seeing as they were from Majani chocolate company from Bologna, Italy, I figured they would be a small indulgence and were worth a try. Especially since they said “Gianduja” on them. Yum, yum!

Each Fiat is a little cube about 1/2 inch tall and 3/4 inch wide. The white/red paper wrappers conceal the edges to a foil wrapper that protects the gianduja. It’s simple and attractive to look at. You can faintly smell their rich sweetness through the package.

Once out of the wrappers each cube is beautiful to look at. You can see different layers of chocolate and lighter gianduja in the cubes, so they look very decorative.

The Fiat Noir has two chocolate sides sandwiching a center of gianduja, so it looks like a colorful two tone cube. The flavor is intensely rich of chocolate and gianduja. The hazelnut notes are impeccable with sweet nutty flavors and a nice roasted taste. The chocolate is smooth and creamy but not too sweet. The overall effect is a less sweet, but strong and fancier Nutella.

Fiat milk chocolate has a much lighter color scheme. This one has light creamy beige and milk chocolate stripes. The flavor is more hazelnut and very sweet. You don’t taste much chocolate flavor here, just intense nutty flavors and sweetness. It reminds me of a hazelnut peanut butter in a way. Really tasty.

These were both incredible. They were flavorful, delicious, rich and satisfying. The cube was just the right portion size too. They went fantastically with a cup of coffee. My boyfriend and I shared them for as long as I small stash remained. We will definitely be stopping to get more next time we’re close to that store again.

Rating: Hoard

Links Majani Website (Italian)

Today I am revisiting a favorite candy of mine: See’s Root Beer Lollypops. I reviewed them way back when I first around the time I first started this blog. I had found those on a candy hunt in Los Angeles long before I lived there. I was relatively new to See’s candies as a whole, and was really excited when I found the Root Beer Lollypops. Root beer flavors are hard to come by to begin with, much less good ones. So I was excited to hear from See’s that the Root Beer Lollipops will be back this summer and I was given some complimentary samples. Sweet.

The lollypops are large and feel heavy in your hand. The actual candy part is a large square about inch tall and 1/3 inch-ish wide and deep. So it’s a big lollypop, for sure. Still, it easily fits in your mouth, so it’s not impossibly big like those giant rainbow lollipops. The color is a creamy brown, lighter than real root beer but still gives off that root beer vibe.

The texture of this lollypop is nice since it’s really creamy and really gets your saliva going. The square shape quickly disappears as the lollypop melts so the shape conforms to your mouth. The edges easily become rounded and smooth.

The flavor is amazing. It’s sweet and woodsy, like root beer should be. It has some spicy notes to it, but there’s a big creamy flavor to the whole thing. It reminds me more of A&W root beer than say, Mug or Barq’s. The flavor overall reminds me of a root beer float, when you get close to finishing it and you have that mix of root beer and ice cream at the bottom of your glass. It tastes like that. Sweet, creamy, and delicious root beer.

My opinions haven’t changed since I’ve had these last. They are amazing. They last a long time too, so they’re a great after lunch sweet to keep you focused on work. I’m a big fan of these and I’m glad they’re back for the summer.

Rating: Hoard

Links See’s Candies Website

The last of my free samples from Brach’s is this bag of their new product; Peanut Butter Poppins. I have to admit, I judged a book by it’s cover here. The package is fresh looking, with bright colors and lots of white, but it doesn’t really read as “chocolatey” to me. Which, when offering a chocolate candy, it kinda important in my mind. I want something indulgent, and the packaging should make me feel like I’m making that choice. There is a beautiful illustration of the candy that makes me rethink this, as it does draw you into the treat you’re going to purchase. But, as with most thing, appearances can be deceiving, so the candy has yet to prove itself with my taste buds.

These Peanut Butter Poppins are described as “Creamy Peanut Butter Center Coated in 100% Milk Chocolate”. It sounds very promising, as skimping on the chocolate is always the first thing I am skeptical of when I see a new chocolate candy. But these are legit, which makes me smile as well as let go a sigh of relief. They do, however, skimp on the peanut butter part, as peanuts aren’t the first on the list. What comes first are “Palm Kernel Oil” and “Partially Defatted Peanut Flour”. It’s not the worst situation, but I still felt the need to point that out. 

Opening the package you get the wonderful aroma of peanut butter and chocolate. they’re a little larger than chickpeas. They smell sweet, salty and a little nutty.

These are amazing. Thy have a nice sheen to them. The flavor is a mix of the delicious peanut butter and the milk chocolate. These remind me of the flavor of Reese’s Pieces, but with more sweetness because of the addition of mill chocolate. Which makes them way more awesome in my book. The peanut butter is smooth and has a slight grain to it, but it’s wonderfully flavorful and salty.

My boyfriend and I easily polished off the bag. We need more. I can’t being to rave about how tasty and pop-able these are. If you can’t control yourself around peanut butter and chocolate, then I warn you to stay far away because once you taste these, you can’t stop. They’re that amazing.

Rating: Hoard

Links Brach’s Website