Peanut Butter
These chocolate bars were a surprise gift from my boyfriend. He knows all too well my love of sweets, and presented these to me one day after work. Apparently one of his co-workers was selling them as a fundraiser, and since he knew these would be blog fodder for me, he bought me some. What a sweetheart, right?
Wolfgang is a candy company over in York, PA which, unlike many other small candy companies, have been bought out by the larger corporations. It started out as a family business and has stayed that way for almost a century now. Pretty impressive.
Well, all I can say is: on with the tasting!
Milk Chocolate Roasted Almonds: The bar is about a 1/3 inch thick, which is a good thickness in my mind. It smells very sweet, salty and nutty, almost like peanuts because of all the saltiness I detect. I can see hints of the almonds pieces in the back of the bar. The flavor is very sweet and nutty at first. The chocolate is sweet, and a little milky. The almonds deliver a wonderful fresh crunch and a great nutty flavor. It’s yummy, but after one piece I felt like that was enough, as it was very sweet.
Milk Chocolate Caramel: The caramel pieces are thinner and taller than the others. I snapped one off and I saw the caramel start to ooze out of the cavity. Try to think of it as a more watery Caramello. The caramel is extremely buttery and sweet, and combined with the milk chocolate it’s almost too much. something about it tastes metallic, and almost rummy. It’s strange.
Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter: The peanut butter tastes center stage as the flavor here, and as I take my first bite I can’t help but notice that I can hardly taste the chocolate at all. The peanut butter has a nice strong nutty flavor to it, which is balanced with a nice sweet/salty aspect to it. The texture is creamy and a little dry, but it melts beautifully on my tongue and it feels lovely. Peanut butter lovers would adore this one I think.
White Chocolate Peanut Butter: This is real white chocolate, and oddly, I can taste more of this white chocolate with the peanut butter than I could the milk chocolate. Very strange. The peanut butter here is much milder in flavor that the milk chocolate version, but it’s still the same in all other regards. The white chocolate delivers a nice creamy sweet flavors that balances out the nutty flavors and it makes for a very nice balanced taste. I really liked this one.
Dark Chocolate Peppermint: I could immediately smell the peppermint as I opened the wrapper. It’s the same shape and size as the caramel bar, yet I got no oozing when I took a piece off. The peppermint is fresh, and intense, and the sweet dark chocolate really cuts the strength of the peppermint. It’s like an Andes mint, except bigger and in a bar form.
These were pretty tasty! Not all of them appealed to me, but I ate more of them than not. Worth a try if you find someone selling them.
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links Wolfgang Website
Surprise! I’m doing a review today with a giveaway instead of my normal Eye Candy Post. I figured my first bog Giveaway should show up on a special day. Read on how to enter….
Around this time of year candy companies try to do something special for Mother’s Day. “Candy season” pretty much ends with Easter, yet I see more and more companies produce specific sweets for us to give to our Mom’s on her special day. Peanut Butter & Co ( PB&Co for short) sent me some free samples of their “Mom’s Lil’ Box O’ Bonbons” that they too created in honor of this holiday. I’ve had some of PB&Co’s other seasonal treats before and have really enjoyed them, so I was all too happy to take them up on their offer.
The box describes the bonbons as: “Milk Chocolate with a crispy white chocolate peanut butter center”. Sounds promising already! The logo is printed on paper that slips around a sturdy folded white box. I admit, at first I was surprised at the small size of the box, as it weighs in at 2.3 oz and it about the size of half of a VHS tape (does anyone know what those are anymore? Now I feel old…). I reminded myself that it’s “quality not quantity” and realized that this size is a good amount. What Mom wants to be handed a pound of chocolate anyways, seriously? Especially in this day and age when everyone is trying to be healthier to boot. I know for one my Mom would prefer a smaller size, as I’d imagine it’s a less intimidating sort of food gift. I know I’d feel that way.
Each box has eight bonbons in it and I was utterly delighted when I opened the box. The bonbons were neatly nestled inside and were well protected.
The bonbons are beautiful to look at. They’re square, and about the diameter of a quarter. There’s a design of pink spring blossoms printed on the top of each. They feel very fresh and delicate.
The flavor is extremely peanut buttery right away. First you taste the smooth sweetness of the chocolate, then the flavor of the center comes through. It’s very fresh, creamy, nutty, sweet and a little salty. Just like your favorite peanut butter! The texture is awesome too, as it’s very smooth and creamy, yet it’s not dense or oily. There’s also something very crispy in the center too, and I can’t say what exactly is doing that, even though I’ve inspected the bonbon and nibbled at it in hopes of figuring it out. The chocolate coating is not very thick or heavy, so at best you get the chocolate’s sweetness and a little of the flavor. No matter, as the bonbons really are all about the peanut butter.
I really liked these, as a packaged set and in flavor. I think it’s a nice gift as it’s really not too much candy, as each piece clocks in a 50 calories. The flavor of the bonbons is really intense so you don’t feel compelled to eat them all at once. So yes, really yummy! I’d share them with my Mom if she was a big peanut butter lover herself, so I’ll just have to share them with my boyfriend instead.
GIVEAWAY! Peanut Butter & Co was kind enough to give me an extra box to give away to you, my dear readers! Want to win one? Here’s what you need to do:
1. Comment on this post with your favorite peanut butter candy.
2. Please make sure to include your email address, so I have a way of contacting you as the winner. I won’t be sharing it with anyone, pinky swears.
3. You must be a resident of the Unites States. My apologies to all of you elsewhere.
4. Post by 12 noon EST on Sunday, May 2nd.
I will randomly draw a winner that night and email you for your address so I can send your box of bonbons out to you. Thanks and best of luck. 
Rating: Will Buy Again
Links Bonbons on Peanut Butter & Co’s Website
Each time the Reese’s Dark Peanut Butter Cups come out as a limited edition, I’ve always missed them. One of the original rounds, and you can see the wrapper on Mike’s Candy Wrapper Page here, and as a part of the Dark Knight movie release last summer (I was only able to find the milk chocolate ones). I’m sure there were other released that I’m missing, but most of them came out at a time when I wasn’t paying much attention to candy. Crazy, I know.
I only knew they were on shelves again by first finding them on display at my local Wawa and then seeing Cybele’s review of them not even thirty minutes later.
The package design is interesting because looks like a RPBC, as it keeps the same colors and yet it’s different enough to know it’s not the normal kind. Aside from the word “DARK” printed on the front in white, I don’t know what stood out to tell me this was a different candy beast. Telepathic candy vibes perhaps?
Out of the wrapper, the cups smell awesome and similar to the regular RPBC. I do get notes of something darker, more roasted and less sweet. The cups have one of those hard paper trays to sit on to protect them, and it has a game piece on it telling me I didn’t win (the wrapper has a contest on the front as a part of some promo). Which is sad cause I could use $2,500,000. The cups themselves are much darker in appearance and the chocolate is a nice deep dark reddish brown. I glance at the ingredients list to see there’s milk solids in here, which always confuses me as to why companies put them in dark chocolate. Is it cost effective? More shelf stable? Note to self: I need to look that up.
Handling the cups, they’re very solid. No softness or sticking to my fingers like the normal kind. The bite is still soft and I was almost expecting a snap to the chocolate. The chocolate is still sweet, but much milder and more rich with a hint of coconut and strawberries. The peanut butter is the same as we all know and love: salty, roasted and very nutty with that signature texture. The milder chocolate and the peanut butter go so well together, as does the more rich texture of the chocolate. Luscious, just luscious.
It’s hard to say they’ve improved on the original RPBC, as it’s such a classic candy and has so much perfection about it. Still, I am just smitten with these and I find myself buying them again and again. I have a new candy crush.
Rating: Hoard
Links Reese’s Website
Whatchamacallit has a new friend! It was…oh, I forgot the name already. What was it called? That Thingamajig type candy bar?
Thingamajig is a new Limited Edition bar that Hershey’s is producing, I am unsure for how long exactly, as a nice compliment to the Watchamacallit bar. It cleverly sports another placeholder name and is essentially the same sort of candy bar. A few things have been tweaked and switched, but the two are really candy bar siblings as so to speak.
Thingamajig comes in a sassy red wrapper, which is much more eye-catching than Watchamacallit’s beige/yellow color scheme. The wrapper describes it as “Made with chocolate, cocoa crisps and peanut butter”. I admit, I’m suspicious of this, as I know Watchamacallit is made with mockolate. So I can’t help but scrutinize the semantics here. Does “made with” mean the same as “chocolatey”? From a glance at the ingredients, it does. *sigh*
I’ll refrain from comparing the two bars for the sake of brevity, as that territory has been covered by many of the other candy blogs out there. The main difference is that the crispies in Thingamajig are cocoa flavored, and it has a stripe of peanut butter instead of caramel like Whatchamacallit. We all clear here now?
Out of the wrapper, the Thingamajig smells a little like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup (RPBC): sweet, peanut buttery with a hint of chocolate.
The flavor is sweet and chocolatey at first, with notes of caramel and cream and that signature mockolate greay texture. Then the peanut butter taste comes in, similar to a Reese’s PBC, but not as intense and fresh. I don’t get any extra chocolate kick from the cocoa crispies, which doesn’t surprise me, as flavored crisped rice is a mild beast to begin with. As I taste this, I am annoyed by the fact that the mockolate coating melts on my fingers as I hold the bar (yes, I don’t like to use the wrapper for that, I like my bars to be free and break off pieces). The cripiss are very fresh and crispy, as I hear them crunch so loudly in my head when I chew them, it’s like there’s a war going on the there.
It was good, better than I expected, but still nothing stellar to knock me off my feet. Use real chocolate next time and it’s very possible I’ll change my mind.
Also check out these reviews at Candyblog.net, Candy Yum Yum!, Cocoa Heaven, A.V. Club, and Limited Edition Foods.
Rating: Might Eat Again
Links Hershey’s Website
I only just discovered the existence of these new Limited Edition M&Ms released for the new Transformer’s movie on Tuesday. Mars had only announced them on Monday, so I guess I’m faster on the pickup than I thought. I wistfully pondered when I’d ever find them, as my area doesn’t get many first releases of candy and they show up a month or two later than everyone else. So imagine my utter delight when I find these in an display while grocery shopping that very evening. Luck was surely smiling upon me.
The bag is a little busy. It has a gray iron base with two versions of Mecha (or should I say Transformer?) Orange, who looks very nervous despite the fact that’s he’s now a killer robot. The M&M’s name is still the most prominent feature on the bag and the flavor is brightly listed above it. I kept re-reading the flavor title though: Strawberried Peanut Butter? It sounded very odd to me, I would have never guessed that sort of flavor combination in an M&M, it seems a little out of the box to me. Kudos to Mars for trying something so unique.
The size of these M&Ms are large, like the crispy and the peanut butter varieties. They come in three colors that fit the Transformer’s palate: red, brown and yellow with red flecks. They look similar to the Wildly Cherry M&Ms and the Limited Editions Indiana Jones IV version from last year. They smell lightly fruity, which is a little strange, yet inviting. It’s a little like how Skittles smell, but it’s much milder here.
Curious to see what’s makes up these M&Ms, I bit one in half to see the innards. As I suspected it’s made up of a candy shell, chocolate, then a peanut butter center. They break very easily in my mouth and are somewhat soft, not as crunchy as the other varieties of M&Ms.
The first thing you taste is a hit of strawberry flavor. It’s light, fruity, and pleasantly not artificial (like many found the Wildly Cherry M&Ms to be). Next you get the sweetness from the chocolate, followed by the nicely roasted and salty flavor of the peanut butter center. I’m guessing that the flavor of the strawberry is in the candy shell, since once I chew it and dissolve it, all I get are chocolate peanut butter flavors. The strawberry flavor doesn’t mix too much with the peanut butter center either. It tends to disappear before you get to it, at least that’s how it tastes when I eat them. I find that the flavor grows on me as I keep tasting more and more of them.
These are a little strange at first, until your taste buds and head recognize the flavor combo. That’s right, it tastes of a peanut butter and jelly sandwich in M&M form. It’s good, but not anything classic in my mind. Now I just gotta keep my eyes peeled for the Snickers Nougabot Bar!
Rating: Will Eat Again
Links M&Ms Website
