Limited Edition
M&M’s has been very good recently with releasing limited edition flavors for the holidays. There was the Candy corn M&M’s for Halloween, the Mint and Cinnamon M&M’s for the Holiday season, and now that Valentine’s Day is fast approaching we have Cherry M&M’s. This isn’t the first time that M&M’s has tried a cherry flavoring. Way back in 2008 when I was still writing for CandyAddict.com I reviewed the Wildly Cherry M&M’s when they first came on the market. Then they released the Cherry Cordial flavor for the holiday season. Still, this is the first plain “Cherry” flavor for M&M’s, so like anything new I have to try it. I know it’s an impossibility, but I do wish I had samples on hand from the older flavors so I could see how they compared to this new flavor.
In case you had any doubt in your mind, this package lets you know it’s for Valentine’s Day. We have the ladies man “Red” on the front, dressed in a tux and holding out a giant heart shaped box that reads “be Mine”. In his other had he holds two cherries, and the back ground is swirled with hearts. It’s pretty romantic. I am also very pleased that they managed to do a package design without any pink on it.
The M&M’s candies are all red or maroon colored, and vary in size by a little bit. Some are larger and some are smaller.
You can smell the cherry flavor on the M&Ms right away. It’s bright and metallic, with a strong juicy note that has a floral edge to it. It’s a cherry flavor I haven’t enountered much before. The aftertaste is a little medicinal, but by all mean it’s not unpleasant.
It’s funny how the cherry flavor diminishes each time you pop a new flavor in your mouth. I’ve paired these with coffee, and I’ve also shared them with my fiance. At first he seemed hesitant, since he isn’t big on cherry flavors. Soon he was eating them piece by piece exclaiming that they are “Pretty good”! If you’re a cherry lover, I do recommend giving these a try. Like other cherry flavors M&Ms has done in the past, these are tasty if you like red candies!
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links M&M’s Website
I just happened to find myself in the mall the other day, and whenever I’m there I make sure to pop by the See’s Candies store to see if they have anything new and delicious. I was in luck, as I saw this limited edition of “Double Caramel” truffles right on the shelf. New See’s candy, yay!
So what is “Double Caramel” exactly? According to the box it’s a brown sugar caramel layered with a chocolate butter caramel. This is all surrounded by a coating of their milk chocolate to boot, so you can bet I was salivating while I was reading this description in the store.
Once I had these prettied home and photographed, I was finally ready to open the box. They are sizable bonbons, and I mean sizable. There’s six of them to the box, which is 5 ounces. To give you an idea, they’re size of golf balls. Awesome, right?
The smell sweet and chocolatey.
They are very dense to bite into. The chocolate is thick, but soft, and the caramel is extremely smooth and dense. The caramel is extremely soft and you get all the buttery, creamy, sweetness that you expect from a good caramel. Mixed with the luscious milk chocolate exterior, it’s heaven. You can’t really taste the difference between the two different caramels. You get the flavors all mixed so you taste the best flavors of each part.
What can I say? These are simply wonderful. Since they’re so big, you only really need one at a time. They go fantastically with a cup of coffee. I saw these in both stores and online, so you should try some if they’re still available!
Also check out Cybele’s review of the over at Candyblog.net.
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links See’s Website
I was really surprised to find these in Rite Aid the other day. I was on my lunch break and my friend needed to run into the store for some batteries. I killed my time pursuing the candy aisle, feeling pretty confident I’ve found most everything that needed finding this year. I then laid eyes on this bag, which really looks like another other normal, Easter themed 3 Musketeers bag, and saw the words “Limited Edition” written on the top. This caused me to take a second look, and I saw that under the 3 Musketeers logo, the word “Marshmallow” was written. O ho, something new here? Needless to say I brought a bag home with me.
Marshmallow has always been a “big” candy theme for Easter. Marshmallow eggs, rabbits and of course the infamous Peeps began with Easter. So it doesn’t surprised me terribly that 3 Musketeers would jump on the bandwagon.
The candy pieces inside come in little squares like the normal minis. The look the same, the smell is very sweet, buttery and a hint of chocolate. Each are individually wrapped so they’re easy to bring a few to work or nibble some with coffee.
Biting one in half, you see a pristine white interior of fluffy nougat. Notice, the interior isn’t marshmallow, but marshmallow flavored nougat. The texture is light, airy and very rich feeling in the mouth. I get a very strong and sweet vanilla flavor, which gives it that “marshmallow” quality. In fact, the vanilla brings out the chocolate flavors more, so it’s a very flavorful combination. This is still very sweet like all 3 Musketeers, so be sure to have a drink handy.
Overall, this candy is really just a 3 Musketeers with a vanilla nougat interior. Get some normal 3 musketeer minis and the some of those fall released strawberry ones together and you have a Neapolitan 3 Musketeers much like the original candy bar! Cool!
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links 3 Musketeers Website
Theo is a chocolate company whose work I really love. They make really delicious chocolate and they have a strong ethic to organic and fair trade which makes them a really respectable company. So I was very excited to find that they produced some holiday limited edition flavors. Once of which is this Nutcracker Toffee bar.
This Nutcracker toffee bar is made with 70% dark chocolate with toffee and hazelnuts and almonds. The wrapper is adorable with its chocolatey brown background color and decorated with images of a nutcracker, snowflakes, hazelnuts and almonds. For an unconventional color scheme, this bar still looks very festive.
The dark chocolate has a clean snap and it extremely glossy with a nice reddish-brown color. You can see hints of the bits of nuts and toffee in there. Once the chocolate is on your tongue, it melts very smoothly, delivering very nice chocolatey notes. One things that surprised me about this bar is that the chocolate is very fruity. It starts of creamy and blossoms into bright raspberry and cherry notes. It’s very yummy. The nuts and toffee provide a wonderful crunch which contrasts the smooth chocolate beautifully. You get flavors of the nuts and toffee, all very fresh and buttery, but they’re lost in the intense dark chocolate.
A really delicious and festive holiday chocolate bar. Keep you eyes peeled in stores in case they’re still available on shelves.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Vosges Website
Links Theo Chocolate Website
peppermint candy cane, 62% dark chocolate
the chocolate is very dark with a subtle sheen to it. you can easily see the bits of candy cane spattered on the back of this bar, as well as mixed inside. it smells overwhelmingly of peppermint.
The flavor is immediately this marriage of sweet, rich chocolate and the powerful refreshing flavor of pepermint and the crisness of the candy cane bits. This bar is very rich and intense, and I wanted a glass of water once I was done wit hit.
In regard to the many other peppermint chocolates I’ve had this holiday season, this one was by far the most sophisticated. It has all the elements beautifully in texture and flavor balance.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Vosges Chocolate Website
Vosges is a gourmet chocolate company located in New York City. I first discovered them a few years ago when the company had their unique chocolate bars in store fronts in the city. I was into trying strange flavored chocolates back then too so I latched onto the company chocolates right away. Nowadays, I’m happy to say they’ve expanded the availability of their products and you can find them in most Whole Foods stores. That’s where I found this bar to review.
I believe this bar is a Limited Edition flavor for the holidays, but with all the other Christmas candies this year there’s just not enough room to fit them all in. So I hope you don’t mind some of these candies are a bit belated for the season.
One of the most popular flavors for the holiday season is peppermint, no two ways about it. So it’s fitting that Vosges makes a peppermint bar to go with their normal line of chocolate, even by comparison this flavor is way more mundane.
The bar has a nice subtle sheen to it. You can see the bits of smashed candy cane in the back of the chocolate bar, and inside it as well when you break off a piece. The bar smells overwhelmingly of peppermint, which is to be expected since it’s such a potent flavor.
The chocolate is rich, mild and sweet and really provides a beautiful base for the candy cane bits. The chocolate is a 62%, so it’s neither too dark nor too sweet, which is a nice balance to go with the peppermint. The candy cane bits are exactly as you’d expect them: crunchy, sweet, and pepperminty. There’s no surprised in this bar, just a feeling of luxury as this is the most quality peppermint chocolate bar I’ve ever had.
Such quality doesn’t come cheap. These bars run anywhere from $5-$7, so it’s pretty pricey compares to your more affordable peppermint bars out there. You can really taste the quality difference here, so it’s your call how much you love this type of holiday treat each year.
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links Vosges Website
