Hammond's Candy Corn Chocolate Bar

I've got a weakness for candy corn. For me, it's just one of the classic Halloween treats - and I've got a super weakness for Halloween. Whenever I see candy corn flavored anything, I've got to give it a try. In a world that has happily taken pumpkin spice on board as the fall flavor, candy corn often gets left behind. I mean, I get it, it's kind of just honeyed sugar bits. Not that there's anything wrong with that, but it's a bit boring. In the past years I've reviewed Candy Corn Oreos, and tried but did not review Candy Corn M&Ms & the Hershey's Candy Corn chocolate bar. Consensus? Very sweet for the Hershey's bars with a bit of a chew factor, lots of honey flavor in the M&Ms and generally pleasant for mixing in with other candies or popcorn. In all honesty, I think I like candy corn thematically more than I actually like it in practice.

Now I'm trying probably the classiest candy corn crossover, the Hammond's Candy Corn Chocolate Bar. Hammond's is a sweets maker that straddles the line between drugstore mainstays like Hershey's and fine chocolates like Vosges. They do some interesting things with chocolate (see bacon & potato chip bar) and some interesting things with hard candy (birthday cake lollipop!) - but this was the first time I'd actually seen them do something seasonal with their chocolate line. I picked this bar up at Target back in America.

So, to start, this is a milk chocolate bar filled with candy corn flavored fondant. A nice amount of embossing, and segmentation is solid.

 Long story short, it's a milk chocolate bar filled with fondant. To be fair, the fondant is a bit runnier than usual and sort of a caramel/fondant hybrid...but the taste? Purely fondant. Like most of the good candy corn products, it tastes like honey in it's sweetness instead of just pure cane sugar.

I mean, what is candy corn but fondant that's been hardened into a corn shape? The real appeal of this bar comes from the seasonality, which I do feel down in my heart. The bright orange filling, the sweetness, and the creamy & high quality milk chocolate all remind me of great times at Halloween. It's not the sort of bar I'd buy more than once, but I would certainly include one in a gift basket, and I may buy one each year if it comes out. The milk chocolate is high quality, and it did encourage me to seek out Hammond's bars again if I see one that catches my eye. The price point is really good for bars with this variety of flavors & quality.

It's just not a very unique or particularly tasty bar, unless you're really into Fry's Chocolate Creams from the UK. British expats who are missing Fry's, seek this one out. People who enjoy sweet chocolate & appreciate Halloween - you seek it out too, but maybe just the once.