Pringles Extreme Blazin' Buffalo Wing

Pringles Extreme Blazin' Buffalo Wing Super Stack (15 chips 150 calories, 0g sugar) $1.89 @ Safeway

Anytime something is listed as extreme it usually indicates "Extreme"ly disappointing. This falls into that category. Hard.

I like chips. I like buffalo wings. I like hot sauce. Why don't I like these chips? They taste like all these things and yet they're none of them all at the same time. Maybe some things aren't meant to be together. I like lasagna. It doesn't mean I want a lasagna flavored potato chip. I'm just saying.

With the Pringles Extreme line I noticed the chips have a sparkle on the package illustration. Why would your chip sparkle like a diamond??? It's just strange all around.

Okay, I know what it is. "Blazin'" indicates fire. Fire is hot. These chips are not hot. They're barely spicy, if at all. They have peppers and an orange & yellow fiery looking design on the tennis ball canister they use as packaging. Also, the issue of the taste. It has the vinegary taste of a hot sauce but not the... Depth of flavor? It's a note when it should be a chord. Yes, that's what it is. Thumbs down.

Pringles Extreme Screamin' Dill Pickle Potato Crisps

Pringles Extreme Screamin' Dill Pickle Potato Crisps (15 chips 150 calories, 1g sugar) $1.00 @ The Dollar Tree

Consumed Thursday May 28, 2009 @ 10:20PM

Anytime something is listed as extreme it usually indicates "Extreme"ly disappointing. As a fan of sea salt & vinegar chips these are a bit confusing. It's either pure genius or just plain odd and I'm not quite sure which these are. I have a feeling in a year or so I'll probably have a huge craving for these. My complaint is more along the lines of product un-eveness. Some chips tasted like plain potato chips, others faintly of pickle. I bought 2 packs at The Dollar Tree (just in case they were awesome) and the second pack was much stronger than the first. The first chip in the second pack had an extremely strong citric acid burn to it, not unpleasant per se, just very, very strong in comparison to the first batch. 

In all honesty it tastes like a potato chip at a picnic. The potato chip you eat after you have a bit of pickle. Is that good or bad? It's... Okay... I guess. If you love pickles these are for you (I suppose). I would rate these thumbs barely up. 

Annabelle's Rocky Road

Annabelle's Rocky Road Milk Chocolate Coated Marshmallow With Cashews (240 calories, 25 g sugar) $0.89 @ Safeway 

Thursday May 28, 2009 Consumed at 9:30PM EXACTLY

Hot damn these are delicious! Seriously in my top 10 favorite candies of all time, easily in my top 5 favorite candy bars. I'm not a huge fan of milk chocolate as a general rule, but the thin layer of milk chocolate isn't the sickeningly sweet Hershey variety either. They make a dark chocolate variety called... Rocky Road Dark (anticlimactic, I know). I like the dark chocolate bar better, but they're both fantastic.  Annabelle Candy Company (Annabelle's) makes some of the best candy bars period. I'm a huge fan. The company only make 8 candy bars currently, which is a shame.

Products of Annabelle's (Past & present) include:

Rocky Road, Rocky Road Dark, Rocky Road Mint, Big Hunk, U-No, Skinny Hunk, Abba-Zaba, Abba-Zaba Sour Apple, Look! & Abba-Zaba Chocolate.

Back to the candy at hand. It seems almost misleading to advertise it as having cashews, I doubt the amount in each bar would equal 1/2 of an actual cashew. The tiny cashew bits are embedded in the chocolate on top of the bar, you can barely even see them. 

The chocolate melts onto your fingers before you can finish the bar which leads to a ravenous finger licking similar to "Cheeto Fingers Syndrome" (CFS). You can't exactly wolf down this bar, you'd probably choke on the marshmallow. The marshmallow itself isn't super sweet either, which is nice. American candy is usually mouth numbingly sweet above all else. Flavor and mouth feel are usually an after thought. 

I highly, highly recommend this candy, although it's unlikely you'll find it at a major retailer. Candy makers pay for shelf space at stores which is why you usually find candies made by the big 3 (Nestle, Mars & Hershey's) so predominantly featured. It's also why the more mom & pop stores always seem to have a much better/more interesting candy selection. The Dollar Tree also has a good candy section, though you can't find consistent products.  It's one of those things. At bigger chain stores (if they have them at all) they'll probably be on the very bottom shelf, so poke around. Big thumbs up!

Hostess Donettes Crunch

Thursday May 28, 2009 Consumed at approx.12:55 AM

Hostess Donettes 6 Mini Donuts Crunch (360 calories, 33g sugar) $1.39 @ Safeway

I'll start by saying the ingredient list makes me wonder how much cancer is in each bite.... 

My first impression was that the donuts were a bit dry, but not as dry as the powdered variety. After the first 2 or so my saliva seemed to make up for the lack of moisture in said product. 

It's funny how much more you taste when you know you'll be describing it later. I'd never previously noted the light sprinkling of sugar crystals over the toasted coconut, how it added a nice little crunch with each bite. There was also a slight brown sugar element that I don't recall ever noticing before tonight. Overall, quite enjoyable. Not bad for a pre packed baked good. Thumbs up.

*Fun Fact*  Surprise ingredients include: Turmeric , paprika & beef fat (Mmm... beef fat....).

Hostess Donettes Powdered

Hostess Donettes 6 mini donuts Powdered (340  calories, 23g sugar) $1.39 @ Safeway

Monday May 25, 2009 Consumed at approx. 11:35PM

The only way to describe these donuts (other than dry) is that they're missing something. Whether or not that "something" be more egg/applesauce to make it moister, or filling to liven it up a bit... It needs some spice or something. Anything. If only Voodoo Doughnuts made a 6 mini pack of doughnuts! Then and only then would I need to be removed from my apartment via crane! These aren't good enough to become morbidly obese on. Thumbs down.

*Random Fact* Hostess produces somewhere near 2 billion donettes per year. Oy.

Welcome to my candy blog.

Oh Hello,

Finally, a blog about food. 

Well, this blog will cover candy, confections, sweets, the occasional pastry, soft drinks, odd food items, as well as my mother's secret family recipes. Maybe the occasional bit of food history or trivia thrown in to spice up the relationship.

I am currently eating a Butterfinger (Nestle, 2.1oz, 270 calories, 28g of sugar). 

The thing about Butterfingers is that they stick to your teeth. It's a quick snack that really stays with you in all the wrong ways. 

It's 9:16AM. This is not breakfast. The leftover mushroom pizza from Pizza Hut was breakfast. This was a... Snack? A treat? What exactly is candy? How does it fit in?

I love candy. I eat some every day. I enjoy candy from my childhood, candy from before I was born, candy that other people turn their noses up to. I like weird food in general. I'll try to document it here in this space.

I'd like to also mention that I prefer dark chocolate over milk, that American chocolates are almost always too sweet (or at least the chocolates made by the big 3: Hershey's, Mars & Nestle). I'm not particularly fond of fruit candies (Runts, Mike And Ikes), but do like Starbursts and the occasional bag of Skittles. 

Gum is very rarely found inside my oral cavity, although my mom did tell me as a child "If someone offers you gum it's because you have bad breath, so take it." The problem is, so many friends constantly chew gum and when they reload they offer whoever is around a piece of gum. I always accept even though I don't care for it. It's either too sweet or you can't make a decent bubble from it. Curses.

Let's get this party started.