Holiday
Galaxy is a bar (or brand) that’s made by Mars over in the UK. I’ve only been seeing them in import markets in the past few years, and only because I’ve started paying attention to such things then. I’ve had the regular bar, which I believe is similar to a Caramello; a milk chocolate bar with a stripe of thick caramel down the center. I got my hands on this limited edition variety as my boyfriend was sweet enough to bring me some treats back from his trip to England.
Packet comes with three “kisses”, which, according to the Brits, look like peaked dominoes. The sides are smooth and one has the decals of mistletoe on them. The smell strongly of caramel, cream and burnt sugar.
Biting into a pieces you immediately hit the caramel, so it’s very well dispersed inside the chocolate. The chocolate is typical Mars variety: sweet, very creamy and a nice chocolatey flavor. The caramel is a good middle texture: not too thick, not too watery, and nice enough to have staying power. It also creates those tantalizing threads when you bite into it.
Together, the caramel and the chocolate create this wonderful symphony of sweetness in your mouth. It’s really a nice, representation in chocolate of what a kiss to your special someone under holiday mistletoe would taste like. Maybe if Galaxy and Milkyway got together…?
Rating: Hoard
I grew up in a household devoid of marshmallow peeps. It wasn’t until college that I finally became familiar with this popular marshmallow confection. My roommate bought them by the dozen around Easter (they were still an Easter exclusive item back then) and set them out to get stale. She then nuked them in the microwave, froze them, and finally consume them. I had never witnessed such an elaborate candy eating ritual, and I was both confused and intrigued by it.
Since then I have tasted my way though the different types of Peeps. Their light, marshmallow texture is delightful but the flavor leaves a lot to be desired in my book. They come across as flat and cardboard-tasting, and they remind me a little of Communion wafers. They’re terribly cute though, and I can’t help but eating a row of Chicks in the spring and some Pumpkin ones in the fall. Perhaps my love form them would grow if I experimented with my eating techniques a little. As of now I enjoy them fresh.
Enter the newest Marshmallow Peeps, Chocolate Mousse Bears for St. Valentines Day.
These look the same: puffy marshmallow with a colored sugar coating in an standard animal shape. They smell noticeable different, though. It’s a very sweet, cocoa aroma, like a good hot chocolate mix.
The flavor is much sweeter than a normal Peep to me. I’m also surprised to find they’re actually really flavorful, and I’ve tried all the varieties to date. They taste like I just took a spoonful of Nestle’s Quick, except in that wonderful puffy Marshmallow Peep form (you know, soft inside, slightly crunchy sugary outside). Immediately I finished off a row, promising to save the rest out in the open to get stale. They didn’t last a week.
Finally there’s a Peep I can say that I’m hooked on. I can’t help but recommend them whether you’re a Peep lover or not. You may just become a convert like myself.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links
Marshmallow Peeps Website
Sometimes the strangest holiday candies are released. Most make sense like the mint flavors I’m seeing everywhere; Mint Truffle Kisses, Hershey’s Bliss Creme de Menthe, Hershey’s Mint Miniatures, and the Mint M&Ms, just to name a few. Then I spot these two oddities: Holiday Edition Sugar Babies and Inside Out Junior Mints. I was perplexed right away, but since I hadn’t tried them, and are a fan of the originals, I picked them up.
From the outside of the box, the Holiday Sugar Babies don’t seem to be very different. The selling point is that they’re covered in a “candy shell” in holiday colors: white, red and green.
They look terrible. They’re matte and flat looking. Nothing about them feels inviting or attractive. Which leads me to ask, why color them to begin with? If you were going to put the in a bowl for guests or anything, so you can “see” them in there festive colors, why not make them look…nice.
The candy shell is indeed a shell as opposed to a soft, colored coating as I suspected. It actually cracks when I bite down and it softens from there, turning into a regular Sugar Baby. The taste is the same: intensely creamy, burnt caramel flavors with a sticky, grainy chewy texture. I don’t see a point to getting these over the regular ones…unless you have a thing for food coloring.
The Inside Out Junior Mints I was excited about. They’ve been a limited edition candy for years, yet I haven’t seen them until now. I did see the new edition of Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch that were released last year and I reviewed for CandyAddict.
These have white outside and a chocolate interior, just the opposite from the originals. Reading the description on the back where it calls the outside a “white topping”, I knew something was amiss. Uh oh. Mockolate.
The exterior is slightly hard and it “cracks” a little when you bite into it. The intense minty flavor we associate with Junior Mints is there, but it’s hard to say exactly where it’s coming from. I just sucked on one for a bit and I got no mint from the exterior. So my guess is the center is doing double duty here. Other than the appearance, I don’t really see the draw of these. Nothing says to me that these are any improvement or especially unique, so I don’t get the point.
Both these candies don’t do anything to improve or tweak the original enough for me to justify buying them. I just had to satisfy my curiosity. Learn from me and stick with the originals.
Rating: Not Worth It
Links
Junior Mints Webpage
Sugar Babies Webpage
I first tasted the Hot Cocoa Kisses back at the 2006 All Candy Expo. I wasn’t impressed with from what I remember, but at the same time I was experiencing flavor fatigued from all the samples I had tasting prior to visiting the Hershey’s booth. They first appeared in stores as a holiday limited edition last year and I made sure to ignore them. This year I decided to go back and give them as shot.
These are similar to the Truffle Kisses, as there’s not an easily detectable filling. It’s more a smooth texture you feel in your mouth as opposed to anything you see. The center is cool on the tongue, a little greasy and very slippery.
I was expecting the flavor to be like the Truffle Kiss; basically an intensely smooth, sweet chocolate flavor. The Cocoa Kisses are not like that. Yes, they do have an intense chocolate taste, but there’s something sweeter and more buttery about this these. Thankfully, it’s not an intense fake buttery flavor like the Candy Corn Kisses. I’m instantly reminded of cupcake frosting: sweet, buttery, creamy, a little tangy with a dash of salt.
I don’t get “hot cocoa” from this at all, it’s really more like frosting. They’re tasty and I like them better than the fudge center ones.
Be forewarned as these are very, very sweet. By the time I was on my fourth Kiss I started to get a throat burn. That didn’t stop me from polishing off more than a serving or two in one sitting. Oops.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links
Hershey’s Kisses Website
See’s Candies is a confectionery giant out in the West coast. They’ve an impressive history and have been making candies since 1921 following traditional recipes and using quality ingredients. With such quality products, it’s really hard to go wrong. It’s a shame that I’m in the East Cost, which has a sad lack of See’s products. I hope to work my way though their products as time goes on. But I can say that from what I have already tasted, they make pretty stellar stuff.
This past summer I was lucky enough to visit a See’s store while on vacation in Los Angeles. Like a kid in a candy stores, I couldn’t decide on exactly what I needed to buy, as so many of their confections could be considered a “must try”. I did decide on some of their Root Beer lollypops, as I have a big weak spot for all things root beer. They were only a small part of the purchases I made there.
After bringing my See’s swag home, I discovered that the Root Beer lollipop was a summer limited edition. I was lucky enough to catch it in stores. It’s the same format as their other lollypops, a thick rectangular mass that smells sweet with notes of wintergreen and spice.
The Root Beer lollipop was a summer limited edition and I was lucky enough to catch it in stores. It’s the same format as their other lollypops, a thick rectangular mass that smells sweet with notes of wintergreen and spice.
The flavor is awesome, it’s like a single brew, old fashioned draft root beer. The different flavor components are very separate and easily distinguishable. First there’s the creamy sweetness, followed by a wintergreen peppery hit, rounded out with sharp, spicy woodsy notes. It’s so lovely. My favorite “hard” candy root beer flavor to date, as other varieties I find are usually too heavy on the herbal flavors in Root Beer. This one is just right.
Like the Root Beer, the Cinnamon lollipop is a limited edition flavor for this holiday season. They come in attractive bright red wrappers and they call to you immediately from the shelf.
The lollipop is opaque and doesn’t resemble a hard candy at all. It smells creamy and milk, but there’s also a strong cinnamon scent that’s very “hot”.
The flavor is really interesting. It’s cinnamon, and it burns a little, yet it’s very smooth and creamy. It’s a nice mix of both worlds. I get a little mouth burn with it, but it’s very mild and it reminds me of a red hot. The creamy flavors cool off the burn and I’d imagine it being like drinking a steamed milk with cinnamon syrup.
It’s a shame that both of these are available for only a limited time. They’re so tasty! I can’t help but wonder if their short shelf lifespan is part of their appeal though.
Rating: Root Beer: Hoard
Cinnamon: Will Buy Again
Links
See’s Website
