Hershey's Kisses: Caramel Apple

I'm excited about this review for two reasons:

1. It's the first "Halloween" candy review of the season! And anyone who knows me knows how much I love Halloween. Yes, I am one of those pathetic adults who will try to trick or treat...and given my height, with a good costume choice and a mask, I can totally pull it off. (Yes, I could just go buy my own candy, but that is slightly less fun.)

-And-

2. I have been trying to hunt this flavor of kiss down since way back in 2008 when Cybele reviewed it on Candy Blog (read her review here). Kinda sad that it took two years to finally get my hands on them, but better late than never.



When you open the bag, the fragrance wafts out immediately. Smelling the inside of the bag is sort of like taking a big whiff of apple-filled cereal bars that have been tinged with chocolate. Not a bad way to start things off.



I should admit I'm more a fan of the idea of caramel apples than I am of actually eating caramel apples. I don't know why. I like caramel, I like apples, I like dipping slices of apples into caramel sauce -- but you will never catch me gnawing on a whole caramel covered apple. And that said, I also love the thought of a caramel apple flavored kiss.

The kiss itself is the larger, molded and filled style kiss rather than the smaller traditional extruded kiss. Which makes sense, because of course these are filled kisses.



The caramel that fills the center is quite fluid and readily spills out. Don't expect a thicker, more solid, chewy type of caramel -- this is more like what you'd use as a dessert topping. The caramel itself has a nice sweet flavor. I have to agree with Cybele in that I didn't pick up any of the burnt sugar or buttery flavors one expects from caramel either, but it has enough of a caramel-type taste that you get the idea.

It's the apple flavor that I really liked. I won't say it's the most natural apple flavor out there, but it's good. It's not too sweet and at the same time it isn't bitter. It reminded me a lot of the apple flavoring used in oatmeals.

The apple combined with the caramel actually makes it easy to down several of these kisses at a time. The only thing that keeps you from snarfing the entire bag too quickly is the chocolate. Granted, it's not bad chocolate -- it's just the boring, standard issue Hershey's milk chocolate. It's cool on the tongue, a little grainy, and a little too sweet. Still, all in all, this is one of the best of the special edition kisses.

Also back in stores (or at least Target) for fall are the Pumpkin Spice and Candy Corn kisses.



PURCHASED FROM:
Target

PRICE:
$2.69

CALORIES:
190 calorie per 9 pieces.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
hersheys.com

Hershey's Kisses: Orange Crème

This is not a new Hershey's Kiss flavor. They were issued back in 2007 for the 100th anniversary of the Hershey's Kiss -- and I think they were also out around Halloween of 2005 as well. I am not sure if any of the previous incarnations were made with white chocolate, but I do know that this version is simply referred to as "Flavored Candy." And is it ever a good sign when a candy description is that vague? I admit that made me cautious.



The base of this Kiss is a white confection that is striped with layers of orange. If nothing else, they are pretty. I liked the scent; when you open the bag, it's like opening a can of orange soda. Yes, it's an exaggerated orange -- but it still smelled good.



The kiss is called Orange Crème, so of course it's not a shock that the flavor is meant to be like that of a Creamsicle. And the Kiss pulls off its mission pretty well. It does in fact have a flavor that is heavy on the vanilla side. Yeah, it's fake vanilla, and you won't be fooled into thinking it's real, but at least you get the general idea. When it comes to the orange, what's interesting is that you smell it more then you taste it. I think that probably is for the best, because it keeps the sweetness from the vanilla sort of in check. I actually liked the aftertaste more than eating the candy. The aftertaste is like the last sip of a really good Creamsicle soda.

The texture is cool on the tongue and it melts quickly. It's a little grainy, but it completely avoids the waxy feeling some of the special edition Kisses have had. They are extremely sweet...so sweet that by the fourth Kiss my throat was burning.



No, they're not really special. But I have to admit they weren't bad at all. Even though it's not an actual chocolate Kiss, and even though it's not exactly a natural flavor, I just liked the combination.



PURCHASED FROM:
Target

PRICE:
$2.69

CALORIES:
220 calories per 9 pieces

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Kosher. Contains dairy.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
hersheys.com

York Pieces

I have wanted to try these since Cybele reviewed them, even before they were actually released. (She is cool like that!) I love York Peppermint Patties, and I had been a fan of the now discontinued York Bites (which were exactly what the name implied -- a little bite sized version of a York Peppermint Pattie -- and again I am going to refer you to Cybele's review thereof).

Because I had read Cybele's review, I knew that these Pieces were going to be more similar to the seasonal mint M&M's than to an actual York patty. I had been hoping for the classic York mint fondant to be encased in a hard candy shell. But instead, it is dark chocolate that's flavored with mint. *Sigh* Don't get me wrong; it still sounds good, but I am pining for what might have been. (Yes, I know Junior Mints sort of fall into that mold. And I like Junior Mints. I am just a bigger fan of York overall, and besides, Junior Mints don't have a hard shell.)



Each York Piece is about the size and shape of an M&M. I liked the fact that before I even opened the resealable bag, I could smell the mint.

There are only two colors -- blue and white -- both of which have the same flavor. And while the colors themselves are a bit dull, the shells are as sweet and as crunchy as one could hope for.



Yes, I know I said I was initially sad that the centers were merely a mint flavored dark chocolate and not actual mint fondant. But I'm going to take that back because they did such a good job with this. The mint flavor is classic York. It's cool and brisk, but there's still a sweetness there.



The dark chocolate is a little bitter -- but I think that's good, because it balances the sweetness of the mint. While you know this is clearly a chocolate candy, it really is the mint that shines. The only thing I didn't love about it is that the chocolate seems dry. It doesn't have the greatest melt, either...no doubt because of that dryness.

But even with the less than great mouthfeel (it gets chalkier the more you eat...not, of course, that I gobbled enough of them to find out...), the taste is just so good that these are now my official mint chocolate lentil of choice.



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

PRICE:
$2.99

CALORIES:
170 calories per 50 pieces

ADDITIONAL INFO:
May contain almonds and coconut. Kosher.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
hersheys.com

Hershey's Kisses: Buttercrème

It's been a long time since we've had a new limited edition Herhsey's Kiss. And just in time for the spring, we have this lovely bag of Buttercrème filled kisses. By the way -- is it just me, or does the package design not sort of make the candy look like little butter-laced volcanoes? It's like a Paula Deen wet dream. (OK, maybe technically there would also need to be some bacon involved. I don't know, and really don't want to think about it that much.)

These Kisses have about the same proportions as the standard issue Kisses. Personally, I like this. I have always found the larger Kisses (such as the New York Cheesecake Kisses) to be cute, but the larger Kisses' proportions tend to be heavier on the center filling and that throws me off.



These Kisses have something of a frosting smell once outside the wrapper. The outer shell is thick enough that you get a strong sense of the chocolate. The chocolate is the classic overly sweet, grainy, somewhat vanilla flavored Hershey's chocolate we all know and some love. The buttercrème filling brings out a saltiness I don't usually notice with Hershey's chocolate, and it was my favorite part. The buttercrème is smooth and the entire effect is cool on the tongue.



I tried to isolate the buttercrème itself to figure out the taste, and honestly the only things I could come up with were "fake vanilla" and "sweet." Throat-burningly sweet. It's as sweet as I try to convince potential employers that I really am (before lowering my Darth Vader-like boom). I ate a few too many to try and figure out the taste, and I ended up making myself quite hyper. After I was done running around my apartment in circles and screaming at the top of my lungs for no apparent reason, I crashed and took a good nap. That kinda sums this kiss up.



So, is there any good reason to buy these?

In a word, no.



PURCHASED FROM:
WalMart

PRICE:
$2.49

CALORIES:
210 calories per 9 pieces

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Made on equipment that processes peanuts. Kosher. Contains dairy.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE
hersheys.com

Kit Kat Caramel

I still say it's a shame that the KitKats made for our Japanese friends come in so many different flavors, and yet the KitKats made for the U.S. are so boring. We don't get special addition flavors. OK, sometimes the portions are different or they will have seasonal imprints on them, but that's about it. I am sure the root cause boils down to the manufacturer. KitKats made for the U.S. are made by Hershey, whereas the rest of the worlds supply is made by Nestlé. Whatever the reason, Hershey isn't big on special editions (with the exception of the Kisses line, which does have frequent variants). What I am getting at is that while the U.S. versions are good, they are not quite worth reciting French poetry to.



This Kit Kat Caramel bar has actually been out for several years. I have just never gotten around to trying one. The bar is in the same format as the KitKat Extra Crispy bar -- rather then being four fingers with a few layers of wafers, this bar is one solid finger about the length of an average candy bar, and has several more layers. The Extra Crispy bar is my favorite U.S. version. The flavor is the same, but the texture is really dense and gives you the sense that you are actually sinking your teeth into something. If you had to keep eating the same candy bar over and over and over again, there are certainly worse ones to be stuck with.



The KitKat Caramel has a puddle of caramel that lies on a slab of chocolate above the wafers. Because they have made room for the caramel, this bar has a slightly smaller wafer layer than the normal Extra Crispy bar.

The chocolate is standard issue Hershey's milk chocolate. A little grainy, a little too sweet, but cool on the tongue.

The wafers are crispy, very sweet. If you've ever had a KitKat (any version) there is just not all that much to say about it.

The caramel: I wasn't expecting world class caramel, and I didn't get it. The overwhelming flavor of this caramel is salt. Normally I would call that a good thing, but in this case it was just a little too much. There is also a buttery thing going on. I didn't like that either. It wasn't like I was eating real caramel, but something that was flavored to taste like caramel. The texture was pretty liquid -- that part I liked.

As you can guess, this bar did not exactly get me excited enough to make chipmunk noises.



I want to eat this bar again about as much as you want to read this review for a third day in a row. I do thank you guys for hanging in there and letting me be a smart ass and do my little homage to the movie "Groundhog Day." (Much like the movie, the repeat of the review was similar to the first one but not exactly the same.)





PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

KitKat Caramel

I still say it's a shame that the KitKats made for our Japanese friends come in so many different flavors, and yet the KitKats made for the U.S. are so boring. We don't get special edition flavors. OK, sometimes the portions are different or they will have seasonal imprints on them, but that's about it. I am sure the root cause boils down to the manufacturer. KitKits for the U.S. are made by Hershey, whereas the rest of the world's supply is made by Nestlé. Whatever the reason, Hershey isn't big on special editions (with the exception of the Kisses line, which does have frequent variants)

This KitKat Caramel bar has actually been out for several years. I have just never gotten around to trying one. The bar is in the same format as the KitKat Extra Crispy bar -- rather than being four fingers with a few layers of wafers, this bar is one solid finger about the length of an average candy bar and has several more layers. The Extra Crispy bar is my favorite U.S. version. The flavor is the same, but the texture is really dense and gives you the sense that you are actually sinking your teeth into something.



The KitKat Caramel has a puddle of caramel that lies on a slab of chocolate above the wafers. Because they have made room for the caramel, this bar has a slightly smaller wafer layer than the normal Extra Crispy bar.

The chocolate is standard issue Hershey's milk chocolate. A little grainy, a little too sweet, but cool on the tongue.

The wafers are crispy, very sweet. If you have ever had a KitKat (any version) there is just not all that much to say about it.



The caramel: I wasn't expecting world class caramel, and I didn't get it. The overwhelming flavor of this caramel is salt. Normally I would call that a good thing, but in this case it was just a little too much. There is also a buttery thing going on. I didn't like that either. It wasn't like I was eating real caramel, but something that was flavored to taste like caramel. The texture was pretty liquid -- that part I liked.

If I must eat domestic KitKats, I am going to stick to the Extra Crispy Bar.

Be sure to check out Cybele's review here. She liked the bar more than I did.



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

Hershey's Kisses: Irish Crème filled (Limited Edition)

OK, I admit it. As soon as I saw Cybele's review (be sure to read it here) for these kisses, my Candy Envy went into warp speed and I set out on a quest for my own bag. Unluckily for me, these kisses seem to be Target exclusive, and I live close to what might be the most ghetto Target in the county. (If you have seen them elsewhere, please leave a comment.) But in the name of selfless research for the betterment of humanity, I braved the elements and purchased a bag.

It's funny that I tend to like Irish Crème flavor far more than I like an actual glass of Irish Cream liqueur. (I wonder why the variant spellings?) Anyway, if you have never had Irish Cream/Crème, it's a mixture of whiskey, cream, and coffee flavors (sometimes with real whiskey, but not in this case). And while I may not ever choose Irish Cream as an after dinner drink, I do like Irish Crème flavored coffee creamers and candies.



Opening the bag the first thing you smell is the Irish Crème. It's a sweet, warm coffee-like aroma. It's a little overwhelming in the beginning. But the individual kisses have a really wonderful whiskey-like smell.

These kisses have a milk chocolate outer shell, and the inner filling is the Irish Crème flavor. I like that Hershey's kept the proportions closer to the classic kiss than they have with some of the special editions past, such as the New York Cheesecake Kisses.



The milk chocolate is standard issue Hershey's. It's sweet, it's got a slight grain, it's got a strong milky taste. So do I really have to go on?



With this kiss, it's all about the center. The Irish Crème flavored fondant is smooth for the most part, but there is a little sugary grain. The flavor could be described as cheap coffee creamer meets cheap store-brand Irish Cream. They are super sweet, and the main flavor seems to be "fake alcohol" -- not necessarily a specific one, just sort of a Star Trek Synthahol flavor. There's kind of a coffee taste...but I'm not sure if I am really tasting coffee or if it's just that the chocolate is slightly more bitter than the filling, and thus it might be an aftertaste resulting from the two flavors combined. It's pretty rare that candy ever makes my throat burn, but this one did.

It's not that these kisses are dreadful, even if I just made it sound that way. They're not dreadful at all. They're just one of those flavors that sounded like a great idea, but in reality didn't pan out all that well.

No, I probably won't just throw them away. But I'm not sure I'll finish them soon, and I certainly won't be buying another bag.



PURCHASED FROM:

Target

York Peppermint Pattie: Snowflake Shape

York Peppermint Pattie is yet another classic candy that I was somewhat shocked to realize I'd managed not to review yet. You would think it would have snuck in somewhere among the 667-odd reviews, but no. Well, let's all thank Mint Week for finally giving me the perfect excuse to have one.

Out of all the mass-market candies out there, York Peppermint Patties are the ones that are actually the most "Christmasy" to me. In my house while growing up -- and oddly enough, in both of my parents' homes to this day -- you will still find the holiday mini-versions in the candy dishes. As a kid, Christmas was often the only time we would have them in the house. And I always loved them.

A York Peppermint Pattie, as the commercials have always told you, gives the chilling sensation of being on a frozen mountaintop -- although why anyone would ever want to be on a frozen mountaintop is beyond me. It's cold...there's no Internet...highly unlikely for any hot topless babes to be around. No, I'll just stay home on my couch with my DVR in a temperature-controlled environment, thank you very much. Anyway, in addition to being cooling, the Pattie has a thin layer of dark chocolate over a center of peppermint fondant.

Normal Peppermint Patties are round and come in single servings of 1.4 ounces. I got the holiday Snowflake version, even though it was smaller at 1.2 ounces (and cost more as well). I thought that the Snowflake itself might be nicely molded...and wouldn't that make for a pretty picture?



Well, had it been nicely molded it very well might have made for a nice picture. But as it was out of the package, it more resembled a flabby Patrick Starfish from Sponge Bob than the snowflake design I'd hoped for. (Like these -- I have never tried those candies, but that does represent what I thought the York might have tried to look like, given any effort.)

OK, it's not always about looks. Yeah, sometimes it's size that matters too -- oh wait, that's right -- not only did York make this version ugly, but they are smaller than the normal Peppermint Patties. York, you are making this hard for me...

All right, forget looks and size. All that really matters here is taste. And luckily for York, taste is the area where they really shine.



As you have probably guessed, a York Peppermint Pattie all about the peppermint. The inner fondant has the perfect texture. It's soft but kind of crumbly. The melt is smooth and fast. The flavor is like pure peppermint. It's not too sweet, there are no extra flavors getting in the way.

The dark chocolate outer shell is thin, and while you might guess by the pictures that it's too thin, somehow York has found the magic perfect balance. The dark chocolate adds just enough chocolaty goodness to complement the mint without distracting from it.

Just go get some. They are a classic for a reason. (Get the regular circular ones, as they are both larger and cheaper.)



PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket

Reese's Pieces

Sometimes I wake up thinking about candy. Most of the time that is fun. Sometimes it's nagging (as in: I really should review that enormous closet shelf's worth of candy before the products get discontinued), and sometimes it's just nonsensical.

Today it was a nonsensical thought. For whatever reason, I woke up today thinking about Reese's Pieces. It hit me that I have never reviewed Reese's Pieces. Now, there's a reason for that -- and the reason is that I have never really liked Reese's Pieces. I am not really sure why. I like peanut butter, I love Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, and I like most candy lentils.

So why don't I like Reese's Pieces?

I will skip the E.T./Reese's Pieces mythology. (But if you really want to know, don't fret. The reviews I will link to will fill you in.) Around the time that the movie came out, my father did his best to endear the candy to me. And, truth be told, the first time I ate them I remember being quite pissed because they were not in fact weirdly colored M&M's. The Pieces and I just never fell in love.



Here we are, many moons later, and out of the blue I wake up thinking about them. So let's give this another go.



Reese's Pieces are simply a smooth peanut butter center, covered in a crunchy candy shell. The candy shell is thin, and beyond just "sugary," it doesn't really have much flavor of its own. I like the crunch, but it was a little too sweet for me.

The peanut butter is dry, salty, and crumbly; but not in the same way that makes Reese's Peanut Butter cups so good. In this smaller portion, it just comes off a little oily and there is an aftertaste I can't place. It may be from the food coloring in the shells.

If you love peanut butter but not so much chocolate, this may be a good option for you (they are chocolate free). For me...honestly, I still don't like them, but I don't dislike them quite as much as I did back then.

For a differing take, be sure to check out Cybele's Candy Blog review here, or Jim's review here. They are both bigger fans than I am.



PURCHASED FROM:
Walgreens

Twizzlers Twizted Berry Pull-n-Peel

Twizzlers! I love them. I can eat a truly scary amount of Twizzlers on my own in a very short span of time.

Seriously, Twizzlers -- the classic Strawberry flavor -- are one of the few things I don't keep in the house, because I will work through even the biggest bag in less than a night. That is, unfortunately, as guaranteed as death and taxes. (Maybe even more so, given the advances in cryogenics and the possibility of anonymous exile in an obscure corner of Uruguay.)

But those rules have yet to apply to any of the non-classic forms of Twizzlers. Not sure why, I have just yet to find one I like nearly as much.



I have especially not fallen for the Pull-n-Peel types. Pull-n-Peels are thinner ropes, often differently flavored, that are entwined around each other. The Twizted Berry ropes are made up of "Berry Cherry," "Blue Raspberry" and "Berry Grape" flavored strings. And they're very fragrant. Even before opening you can smell them right through the plastic packaging...and it smells like a blue Slurpee. Once you actually open the package, it's more like cherry cough syrup than Slurpee.

I got one of the single-serving packs that have 3 thick logs of Twizzler each. If nothing else, the Pull-n-Peel have a fun, edible Play-Doh sort of thing going for them. They are brightly colored, squishy and gummy. Oddly enough (or perhaps not so oddly), those are some of the qualities that ended up killing this candy. They are made with wheat flour, and as a result the texture is gummy...and not in a good, Gummi Bears sort of way. More like gummy in a overcooked pasta type way.



What about the flavor? Well, if after reading this you are still going to take the time to Pull-n-Peel, I'll give you a breakdown of each color:

BLUE:
Predictably, this is the Blue Raspberry. This was my favorite of the three. It tastes like every other blue raspberry candy you've ever had. Really sweet raspberry, with no bitterness. There does seems to be a pretty gnarly (the kids still say gnarly, right?) aftertaste from the food coloring -- but I doubt kids would ever figure it out.

PINK:
Is the so-called "Berry Cherry". It is indeed a VERY cherry flavor; if by cherry flavor you are thinking of cough syrup. Bad cough syrup, at that.

PURPLE:
Berry Grape. Tastes kinda like store brand grape soda. Store brand grape soda from the kind of store that sells the above-mentioned bad cough syrup.



All together:
In one bite, all three flavors blend together in one generic berry ball of goo. I can see where kids would love this candy. It's pretty colored, it's intensely sweet, and it has that all-purpose synthetic berry flavor that kids seem to flock to.

As an adult, minus the colors (I like bright things), those are pretty much all the reasons I don't like these Twizzlers.

My strawberry Twizzler addiction is in no danger of being replaced any time soon.

Reese's Dark Peanut Butter Cups

Hershey has expanded the Reese's line by adding the Dark Chocolate cups to the lineup.



The Dark Chocolate cups aren't an entirely new product; they were released last year in bat shapes to tie in with "The Dark Knight." While I thought the bat shape was cute, these are in the classic cup shape. And though you can't really see it in the pictures, the chocolate is surprisingly glossy.



The first thing I noticed is that since the dark chocolate is, of course, less sweet than the standard issue milk chocolate (or the abominable mockolate Hershey's is using more and more of), the peanut butter really stands out. The roasted, salty quality of the nuts shines in a way that the Reese's cups don't usually showcase. The texture is the classic crumbly, grainy texture that I love so much.



The chocolate is interesting. It's not exactly a deep dark chocolate. It reminds me more of Toll House Morsels -- a big, bad-assed muscled-up dark chocolate cousin that probably has a mullet and loves the Squidbillies. (Wait, I love the Squidbillies... And I have been eyeing Kate's hairdo...) It's a little woodsy, but mostly it reminded me of old coffee. There is not much in the way of sweetness, but the salty hit of the peanut butter balances it out. On its own it wouldn't be very good, but together it's tasty.

The texture is soft, so if you like to break your cups up, do not expect a clean break. The melt is smooth, but not exactly creamy. Again, without the peanut butter, this would be pretty forgettable.

I would be interested to see how the smaller mini-cups compare. In this size, even as much as I liked how the peanut butter was enhanced by the dark chocolate, I still prefer the Milk Chocolate version.

Be sure to check out Cybele's review HERE.





PURCHASED FROM:
Albertsons Supermarket