Pancake KitKats

I know these are pretty late, but if you can still find them out in the wild - spoiler alert - definitely get them. So yes, technically these were an Easter promotional KitKat in Japan (hence the bunnies) but I don't really get what pancakes have to do with Easter, or really, any season at all. The only holiday that I can vaguely connect to pancakes is Mother's Day, just because of all the mothers in advertising who love brunch.

It's the same format as Japanese KitKats usually are, small two finger bars in a sharing bag. These are special as the two fingers are fused together to create the ears of a bunny face. Pretty cute, but forget about splitting them in two. Frankly these are so teensy I don't think anyone would be sharing a single bar, anyway!

The flavor is intensely maple and therefore incredibly sweet. The crispiness of the wafers really does bring to mind the edges of a stack of diner pancakes with tons of syrup & melty butter.

I think these would make a really good permanent edition to some KitKat line, somewhere. They're very sweet so I don't think it's something you'd necessarily binge on, but a mug of coffee or tea coupled with one or two of these would make a very tasty treat, no matter what time of the year.

Wild Ophelia Caramelized Banana Peanut Butter Cups

There are so many new brands in the US right now - being here not really on vacation opens me up to finding different stuff, as there is no harried kinda "gotta get these before I go back to the UK!" feelings. That way I can be like, "eh, I'll get the limited edition Oreos soon. In the mean time, these banana peanut butter cups sound good."

So it was - at Target all of these Wild Ophelia Peanut Butter Cups were on sale, but only by like 10%. They sounded awesome, but this caramelized banana variety was definitely the most unique. It's about $2.00 for 6 miniature Reese's size cups, which isn't a great deal - but isn't too expensive compared to other more gourmet chocolates.

The top is covered with bits of tough caramelized banana chips. To be honest, I don't care for the firm crunch of banana chips (never have) but since they're minced up in a small way they're easier to handle. The peanut butter seems to be a bit sweeter than usual, probably has a bit of banana flavor or puree blended in it.

The chocolate is milk based at 41%, so again it was pretty sweet and creamy. Everything was really smooth in texture, minus the crunchy bits of banana chip. They were nice with coffee, but in all honesty I feel like the quality wasn't that much better than Reese's, and actually these old Reese's Elvis Peanut Butter & Banana Cups were significantly nicer in my opinion. Bring them back, please!

Food I'd Like to Eat: Chocolate Edition

Living here in the UK, I do feel that we get a fair share of chocolate treats. Like very rarely do I think, "Man, I wish we had that over here." It does happen though, and here are a few things that have me wishing I could trade in some crummy new-style Creme Eggs for something from further afield.

This is kind of a cheat because I've had this one before, from France - although I guess this brand is Swiss. It was so amazing, stiff & nutty praline cream surrounded by blonde chocolate. Blonde chocolate, if you're not sure, is like Valrhona Dulcey or an upmarket Caramac. Kind of white chocolate flavored with caramel. These were really just amazing - very satisfying, quite sweet, with a lot of nutty flavor from the center.

I loved Cherry M&Ms when I was younger when they first came out, and I hadn't seen them in ages! So when I saw they were back, I was like - oh yeah, how romantic. Unfortunately, duh, they're only in America. They've also released a Strawberry version, but to me that one seems like it would be a bit too sweet and not have the tangy edge of a cherry chocolate.

Another cherry chocolate! This combo doesn't get a ton of play here in the UK, except in cake form. This one would obviously be way better than the M&Ms, it's dark chocolate and a much higher quality brand.

I found two different varieties of peanut butter & jelly chocolate bars on this US small-batch producer website, Mouth. Uhhh I'd try both. I love peanut butter, I love jelly, I love chocolate - I just know this combination would work really well. Salty, sweet, and tangy!

This one is passion fruit jelly, and it seems super tall. Looks...good. Like, what's not to like? Unless you're allergic to peanuts. This one is by Fixx Chocolates.

This one is 'peanut praline' and raspberry pate de fruit. Also, apparently, described as 'crispy'. Reckon it's like crunchy peanut butter, then? This one is by Tumbador Chocolates.

Finally, these strange 'chocolates' called Il Morso are made of coffee beans & cocoa butter, so it's not really coffee flavored chocolate, it's a coffee based confection. Like, an entirely new thing. Cool though, I'd love to try it! There are a few flavors; Americano (plain), Coffee & Cream (well...creamier, I'm sure), Mocha (added chocolate) and Matcha Green Tea (no coffee, matcha instead!). I'm down to try them all. Unfortunately they're only in the USA for now, but this more than the rest seems like the sort of thing that would take off in the UK!

Well, that's about it for now - any chocolates you've seen overseas that you wish would make the journey to the UK?

Paul A Young, Golden Sugar Coated Caramel Bombs

Happy 2016!
Long time no see, readers! Let's just say one of my 2016 resolutions should be to update my blog more frequently. Unfortunately, January 2016 comes in with your classic dieting proviso, so I can't promise tons of reviews. I'll definitely try & make more time for the blog, regardless. Maybe more round-ups of interesting foods of the world?

Hope everyone had an awesome holiday with lots of good food & drinks going around. One of the snacking highlights of Christmas for me this year was these Paul A Young x Billington's Sugar Truffles.

This is the second time in my memory that Paul A Young has paired with Billington's for a sugar-based truffle - the first time around that I tried it was a triple sugar truffle that was just extra sweet. Shouldn't have shocked me, right? Anyway, I also recall they were presented alongside the regular Paul A Young truffle selection - I don't remember a box this adorable, that's for sure.

See, looks like a box of sugar. Except instead of a bunch of boring old sugar, it's 9 truffles made out of sugar! Oh, and chocolate, and probably a little salt or...I'll cut to the chase.

These are extremely delicious. If you have any kind of sweet tooth whatsoever, you will like these. Where I remember the sugar collaboration truffles in the past being just a bit too sweet, these are just the right level. That awesome Paul A Young dark chocolate, just a bit fruity & tart, topped with a wee bit of crispy sugar, and on the inside...A caramel with a ganache texture & a true brown sugar edge. You know the taste difference between baked goods made with brown sugar & those made with white sugar - think that, but through the medium of caramel and probably using one of the nicest & most flavoursome brown sugars in the world.

 I think there must be a bit of salt included as well, because these really stay on the right side of sweet for something that hinges on it's use of a specific kind of sugar.

These may not have been the most esoteric of Paul A Young truffles available at any given time, but I'll be damned if they weren't tasty in spite of their relative tameness. That's a true master chocolatier, indeed! Are they still available? I'm not sure, if someone wants to enlighten me I may just go pick up another box, haha.

Jaz & Juls Chocolate House, Islington

I've recently started a new job in Angel - it's been exciting to explore the area, as it's one of my favorite places in London. It's doubly exciting as there are so many new openings in the neighborhood, too.

Juz & Juls Chocolate House is one of them, having opened up earlier in November. I'd never tried one of their hot chocolates before, but apparently they're quite well known in markets and such! They also stock their online shop with the hot chocolate mixes.

It's a nice little shop at the bottom-end of Chapel Market, keep in mind if you're going there that it's pretty easy to miss, and you may look around and be like, "hey, this doesn't look like a chocolate cafe would be around here, I'll turn around, maybe I did miss it!", as I did, but yeah - it's real far down the road.

Once I did find it, it was a cozy little place (additional seating downstairs, apparently) that seemed relaxed. They sold chocolate bars as well, including Marou and The Grenada Chocolate Company. Also, they sold their own hot chocolate mixes in store to make at home.

There were a large variety of flavors, including 3 'origin' styles and about 5 or more flavors including mint, chili, white chocolate, and the one I ordered - Orangeytang - which is spiced orange. Very Christmassy! You can get a few different toppings: including whipped cream, coconut cream, and marshmallows. I was tempted by coconut cream, but since I was already getting a flavored hot chocolate I didn't want to mess with the flavors too much - so I went classic cream instead.

 This cooled it down enough for me to drink very quickly, it could almost be qualified as a gulp. A festive gulp. The chocolate flavor was milky & not too sweet, but the tangy orange flavor sweetens it up a bit. The spice level is nice, certainly no heat, so just a bit of 'holiday spice' or mulling spices. I also was given tons of cream, which was great for me, a real cream freak. It was a classic English and milky hot chocolate, not too thick.

There were plenty of baked goods in addition to the hot chocolates, and at pretty reasonable prices for nice looking niche bakery items - about £2 each. The pecan pie particularly looked delicious & gooey. I'd like to try one of them sometime, but for me the issue is that I don't really want to combine a sweet hot chocolate with a sweet cake. I mean, I could, it just doesn't seem right. They also do coffee though, and you can have any of the hot chocolate flavors made into a mocha. That's pretty nice!

The wifi was a little spotty when I was there, so while they have a card reader that works through the iPad, I'd recommend bringing cash! I'll be back in sometime this winter for more delicious bits.

Chocolate Cherry Sandwich at Tesco

The festive season is upon us! I've often been overheard mumbling about how the UK should get a proper holiday for in-between Halloween & Christmas. I mean, yes I know about Bonfire Night but it's kind of a mid-level holiday, isn't it? It's no stitch on the celebratory American Thanksgiving, am I right? It's a nice enough evening, but there are just a handful of products that get released specifically for Bonfire Night, and most of them get released alongside the smattering of Halloween goods. So - you need a separate, distinct all-day affair of a holiday. Maybe with some time off, even. Any suggestions? Smart alecks, I await your "Thanks(for getting rid of those puritans)giving" responses.

Anyway, this year like all others brings with it some awesome festive-themed food. Your classics like Christmas Lunch Pret sandwiches, mini yule logs, and one of my personal faves - the Festive Hot Pot at Eat. A real stand out this year was this: the Chocolate Cherry Sandwich from Tesco. It got covered as being 'bizarre' at the Evening Standard, but I don't find it too strange. 

Not too strange to eat, at the very least. As someone rightly pointed out in the article, Nutella is often eaten betwixt bread - so what's the big deal? I also know that cream cheese & strawberry sandwiches are popular addition to an afternoon tea, so yeah, chocolate & cherry doesn't seem such a stretch anymore.

I snatched it up as soon as I found one, and I'm happy to report that it is indeed delicious, if you understand going in that you're about to eat a sweet sandwich. The bread is advertised as being cinnamon, and it does have a subtle hint of sweet spice to it, like a very subtle cinnamon bun without frosting.

I'd liken the chocolate filling to something similar to American style chocolate pudding, sort of flabby - certainly not dense like a traditional 'chocolate spread' as sold here. More on the custard side of the spectrum texture-wise, with a fairly generic chocolate flavor - certainly not dark, but identifiably chocolate. The cherry does come through pretty nicely, and I think they went with actual bits of cherry fruit interspersed into the chocolate filling. It's not artificial tasting or all that strong.

The mascarpone cheese really kind of feels like an after thought, or a bit of a bulking agent, but then again it may cut through the richness that would otherwise be present and mellow it out.

This was a tasty little sandwich, don't believe the negativity opinions! I will admit I don't understand when exactly you should eat this - I had half as an evening snack, so I suppose something like that? It's certainly not a good choice for a lunch time meal deal. 

Sorry for the low quality iPhone pics, I just had to hurry as I was quite hungry!

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.

Reese's Spread Snacksters

Remember how disappointed you were, American former children, when you tried Reese's peanut butter in the tub for the first time - and it wasn't like Reese's cups? How about you, European teenagers & adults, when you found that imported jar on a Tesco end cap and let out an excited shout? If only I could've been there to warn you...it's just Skippy.

Well, there's a whole new generation of Reese's spreads. They're called, aptly, Reese's Spreads. I mean, technically they're Hershey's Spreads with a subheading under the banner of Reese's. There is only one flavor in this line, the chocolate & peanut butter version. That's the one I've tried, I've course!

I found it in 'Snackster' format, which is a little pot of the spread plus a little something to dip in there. This particular Snackster came with graham cracker sticks. Not necessarily my first choice with this spread (where's the pretzel sticks, Reese's? get with it) but hey, it beats having to invest in an entire jar of the stuff and trying to come up with your own dip-ins.

To be honest, the graham cracker sticks were a bit cinnamon-y which didn't go so well with the peanut butter and chocolate. The spread by itself was actually a fair bit tastier - these could've done with a more 'breadstick' or Pocky type stick rather than something with it's own unique flavor profile. Then again, I've never been a huge fan of cinnamon with peanut butter after an unfortunate attempt at doctoring up homemade peanut butter cookies with just heapin' helpin's of cinnamon. It's just a bit too rich.

Now, onto the spread itself - it is indeed like liquefied, smoothed out Reese's cups.

I think what makes it so Reese's compared to other chocolate peanut spreads is the hit of salt and the predominance of the chocolate. Others I've had in this style (SunPat Choconut, for instance) are too sweet and the balance leans heavy on the peanut.

While that grain that really set's Reese's Cup peanut butter apart from the off-the-spoon stuff isn't really replicated, but you don't miss it half as much when there is also a big milk chocolate component and a real hit of that salty sweet Reese's flavor. I'll put it to you this way -if I had a jar of this in the house, no white carb would go unslathered. It's very nice stuff indeed, and while it sounds like it may be really rich, it managed to stay lighter in feel than say, Nutella.

Cadbury Marvelous Creations, Rocky Mallow Road

I've tried a few of these Marvelous Creations, but the only one I've reviewed was from Australia, the Jelly Popping Candy & Beanies bar.

So, here's a second review - my first for the UK set. I'm a little bit disappointed that the Cola & Pretzel chocolate has been phased out, but perhaps Rocky Mallow Road can fill the void? I mean, I do quite like rocky road.

Alas, this is way less rocky road and way more artificial strawberry chocolates. The jellies are extremely strongly flavored, so every bite is just crunchy & strawberry-tasting, or chewy & strawberry-tasting, depending on the other mix-in with that particular bite.

It tasted to me a lot like the Dairy Milk Strawberries & Cream, which I didn't like due to it's incredible sweetness & one-note sugarfruit taste. It's almost the exact same flavor profile, just with added chewy chunks of further sugar (mallows) and bits of shortcake. This would've been much nicer had the strawberry jellies been perhaps a different flavor entirely. Raisins, dried currants, sour berry, almost anything besides super sweet strawberry flavor.

Bit of a shame, as I would've thought this was an easy win for the Marvelous Creations range, but for my druthers it's just overly sweet & not really much more than a strawberry chocolate flavored bar. Talk about meh!

Tony's Chocolonely Rhubarb Crumble

Things have been highly strange in the CreamySteaks household lately...the main source of strangeness being the uncertainty of the household! See, we've been moving around between a few different apartments in the last month or so - explaining my lack of solid updates. Nothing big, so don't worry my dear readers - but I apologize for not being around so much.

What hasn't been strange is my desire to eat more and more chocolate. In times of uncertainty, I tend to find comfort in fat, sugar, and salt. In times of joy, I find a happy companion in sugar, fat, and salt. Basically they're always there for me - the three amigos, whatever the weather!
And me? I'm Dogtanian.

Tony Chocolonely is a company out of the Netherlands, specializing in big blocks of chocolate that are 100 percent fair-trade and super freaking tasty. Yeah, I'll cut to the chase: this milk chocolate was the top banana. They've got a great message as well, and I recommend a browse on their site to learn more about that, but I'm going to tell you how delicious it is, first of all.

The bar I tried came courtesy of my in-laws who had just returned from a trip to Amsterdam - I had requested just any ol' chocolate from there but little did I know that they'd return with such a massive bar of something that is quite unique!

The packaging is super colorful & very eye-catching, with bold type face & bright color choices. In Dutch, it seems to say Rhubarb Crumble, and milk chocolate.

The bar is unevenly split, and also really quirky and cute. As you can see it's super thick squares, so very satisfying. It's not too difficult to snap, even though it's so strangely formatted.

The milk chocolate is creamy, milky, and not too sweet. Imagine Milka with about a 45% cut in sugar, or Lindt with a more traditional texture & melt.

The rhubarb crumble seemed to mean a spread of both big & fine chunks of shortbread, interspersed with tangy and perhaps freeze-dried little bits of rhubarb. Really tangy & sweet, in that way that rhubarb candy or pie is.

It's here that I should warn you, Tony's Chocolonely seems quite difficult to come by in the UK. They have a webshop and you can send them an email and say exactly what you want to order, and they will manually process it. but they don't have any official UK stockists yet. I've got my fingers crossed that they will someday just be in shops - like Selfridges would be a good choice. Here's how to order Tony's Chocolonely in the UK or worldwide.

Bakeable Cheesecake KitKat

There is a new(ish) bakeable KitKat in town! I've previously reviewed the Pumpkin Pudding flavor, and the original Baked Pudding flavor.

A few months ago they released this new version, which is a baked cheesecake flavor. I much prefer baked ('New York style') cheesecakes to the mousse-y style ones, but in Japan it's way more common to find a light, whipped cheesecake.

They're also usually 'raw', which just means they haven't been baked. So if you're in Japan and you see something called a 'raw cheese pie', don't worry - it's just a light cheesecake - and they're pretty good! In Japan, cheesecakes also tend to have a bit 'cheesier' of a taste, which I do enjoy. So, I was expecting an interesting little KitKat here.

When I opened the bag, it smelled just like lemons. To be fair, cheesecakes across the world do tend to be scented with lemon, which goes very well with the creamy, tangy cheese that makes up the base of a cheesecake. It was a lemon cream smell rather than a tangy lemon candy, and it was definitely not a super gross lemon floor cleaner smell.

When eaten 'raw' style, they're sweet, creamy lemon with a subtle tang. They're actually lovely KitKats without the cooking gimmick, and I can see a flavor like this playing well as a Chunky. The lemon balances out the sweetness, and instead of being an incredibly sugary white chocolate, it's a bit more a milky confection. Don't get me wrong, it is sweet - but when a flavor like this could be sickly, there is enough tang & fattiness to offset that.

Now, I had a lot more trouble cooking these than I did before. Let me give you all a piece of advice - don't grill them. I don't know what possessed me to try it, but somehow I got it in my head that was I had done it. If you look at my review for the Baked Pudding version, you'll see my original instructions & the way I did them the first time. They turned out much better then.

As you can see, when grilled they crust up on the top & just melt away at the bottom. I think you really need to do these at a pretty high but consistent heat - so for me, my fan assisted oven on around 200 (being watched closely for burns) is what will probably work best.

The crispy top layer had very little lemon taste, just a hint, making it actually a very accurate rendition of an average cheesecake's level of lemon. It really very tasty, tangy & sweet with some sort of creamy edge...basically, it's a very good approximation of cheesecake flavor. The only thing that stops it from being totally cheesecake though is, funny enough, it's very gimmick. Cheesecake doesn't have a crispy top, baked or not. It's usually very smooth! However, some of that comes down to me over-grilling my KitKats.

When it comes to bakeable KitKats, I think the ones that translated best were the simple custard pudding version, but these are a close second.

You can get these in the UK at TofuCute - and that's about it! Since many Japanese snack sites take down their chocolates for the summer months, we're just outta luck. Even though I feel like any chocolates shipped to us here in Fog City, Raintown, UK would be fine, I guess they have to account for people living in Sunnyvale, California (an actual place). Anyway, be thankful UK & European readers - we're about the only ones who can get our hands on these right now!

Candy Adriatico, March Box

I was the happy recipient of the March Candy Adriatico box - I'm sure you recall my delight with February's offering. As you can see, there was a real red theme throughout that box (I was told by the lovely owner of Candy Adriatico that this was indeed on purpose for the Valentine's season) and this month it's much more green! There was also some green paper inside acting as a buffer, too.

 Not only did it make me think of fresh spring weather (still waiting on that one in London!) but also St Patrick's Day. Being an American of Irish descent, I really tried to make it a special day on the 17th, but it's just not as big here. That made it even nicer when I opened this box up on March 17th - it was like an American style St Patrick's Day celebration in London by way of Slovenia. What a wild ride, huh?

Without further fluff, onto the sweets.

Gorenjka Jaffa Cake Bar - This was quite a bit sweeter than the classic McVitie's Jaffa Cake we get here in the UK, but still had a bit of zing from the jaffa. I think the chocolate isn't as bittersweet, but still dark, and the jaffa jam itself is quite lightly zesty. The cake was significantly softer than a McVitie's, and it was a far bit bigger. It would make a nice treat with tea, and the main difference is the softer cake. I kind of like the stale cake texture of Jaffa Cakes, but this bar feels a bit more high quality. There can be no arguing that this was a biscuit rather than cake!

Šumi Silk Hazelnut Hard Candies - These were a very unique experience for me! I've never had a hard candy that tasted exactly like this - most hard candies are fruity & tangy. This one is hazelnut flavored, quite subtly at that, with a delicate hazelnut cream in the middle.I didn't get a photo of these, but they sort of looked like root beer barrels with a cream-colored swirl. I really enjoyed them, it felt very indulgent while still just being a hard candy. It reminded me of a classier chocolate flavored Tootsie Pop, with a creamy center & a nutty, natural taste. I'd like to hear what other people think of these, as they're so unique!

Kinder Bueno Bites - What can I say about Kinder Buenos? They're one of my go-to chocolate bars when I'm just craving something sweet. The crispy thin wafer, the milky nutty center, the delicious chocolate covering - Kinder Buenos are a 10/10, and when you put them in little bite form they're still a 10/10. These are just like the individual segments of a traditional bar, and I think I ate all four of mine in quick succession. What can I say, they're one of my favorites. People with more self control than I can probably use these individually portioned bites to have "just a little bit" of chocolate.

Kraš Bonko - These are little taffy 'fruit caramels' that are individually wrapped. The flavors are all really refreshing, but my favorite is definitely the pineapple. These are a bit softer than Starburst, but otherwise fairly similar in terms of sweetness vs tang. When I looked them up online I saw they had lots of different flavor assortments, including a cola one which I bet is very nice. Another plus is it's a big bag - I think I can't manage to get through an entire bag of candy these days, but years ago these wouldn't have lasted long at all around me.

Animal Kingdom Chocolate - This is a popular bar with children, and I can see why. I think it came with a cute squirrel sticker, and on the wrapper is a sweet cartoon lion. The chocolate itself is very thin so not too much for a little appetite, and it tasted a lot like Hershey's chocolate, which surprised me given how much European chocolate usually doesn't taste like Hershey's! I loved it, but if you don't like American chocolate you may find this one not so appetizing. Mine melted a bit in transit, but it was the only casuality - and it was still tasty!

Ciocori Rice Chocolate - This one wasn't as nice as the Dorina rice chocolate that was included in the box last month. The rice wasn't very crispy, there wasn't that much of it, and it was just a bit sweet & plain. Not memorable for me, it was the only one in the box that left me a little cold. Then again, other people may really enjoy this one.

Bauli Croissant - I've had one of these before, and it's quite impressive how soft & fresh they stay even though they're shelf stable! This one is no different - soft & buttery, but not really flaky like a traditional croissant. Hey, you can't have it all! The vanilla custard innards are delicious, they even manage to get an eggy flavor in there. This one was really good - maybe my favorite in the pack, outside of the delicious Bueno Bites, of course.

Over all it was a really great surprise box! A nice variety of things - something for everyone. Candy Adriatico is a sweet company in many ways - I recommend a sign up.

2015 Paul A Young Valentine's Chocolates

I know it's late, but I hope everyone had a great Valentine's Day! I know it's not one of the most well-loved holidays in the world, ironically enough, but I've always enjoyed it as just a day to celebrate love in general, not necessarily romantic love. Love between family, friends, and the love human beings have for sugar & fat. That's why chocolate is so popular on the day, right?

During the course of my celebration on the 14th we stopped by Paul A Young for some last minute truffles 'n' treats. I've covered Paul A Young a few times on the blog previously:
Golden Champagne Easter Egg, 2014
Valentine's Day Selection Box, 2014
Valentine's Day Shortbread, 2013
Christmas Gingerbread Shortbread, 2012/2013

As you can see my Paul A Young visits do often correspond with the major holidays. Every year he does something special for them, so I'm often tempted right on in. This year the Valentine's theme was romantic cities around the world...as visited through chocolate. We tried a few of the cities & had a couple of new filled chocolates just for good measure. Odds are good these will still be available in the shops awhile longer!

Dublin (first row, far left - bottom row, far right)  - Confessions: I've never tried Guinness, but that is what's in this truffle + some soda bread crunching about. It tasted like a slightly malty dark chocolate, and I did really enjoy it! I asked my husband if that is about what Guinness tastes like, and he said "yeah." So, must be accurate then!

London (first row, far right - bottom row, far left) - Gin & lime with tonic water, super accurate! There is a bit of mouth-watering fizz to the lime & tonic water, and the gin hits you with a very smooth, fresh alcohol taste. Not like a lot of other alcoholic truffles, the next one included, that have a bit of strength & vapor to them. This was a lot more refined, and could be very appealing to people who aren't even that into drink-infused chocolate.

Paris (top row center - bottom row center) - Absinthe, lump sugar. Nice alcoholic kick to it, I'm not an expert on absinthe (if I was, what a strange blog this would be...) but it certainly seemed to have some boozy vapors tucked away inside the smooth, dark ganache. Big fan of this one, anybody into alcoholic truffles would love it.

Seville (middle row far right) - This one was good, your classic orange & chocolate combination with a bit of flaked almonds for crunch & nutty depth. Not a whole lot to say about it to be honest, but the marmalade was well balanced for tang & sweetness.

Peppermint & Coffee (second row, far left) - This one was lovely. Strong, sweet peppermint with a hint of a coffee bean style flavor. Not so strong like brewed coffee, more like - well, a chocolate covered coffee bean. It was a lot like having a nice mint fondant chocolate with a sip of a strong espresso to follow. It was interesting to try this as the filling was much stiffer/more fondant than I usually see in Paul A Young.

New York (dead center) - Cream cheese, biscuit, dark chocolate. This one was awesome. Definitely the most traditional of all the flavors, as it is a cheese cake in domed chocolate form...I mean, what could go wrong? What I liked best was the density & sourness, it really captured NYC style cheesecake in a way that many British places kinda don't see. Often topped with sour cream, NYC cheesecake is a dense & not too sweet, more fatty affair. This got it right - and the little bits of graham-y biscuit drove the point home. I'd happily scarf these down just like the salted caramels - it's the same sort of perfect balance. A new line of cheesecake chocolates would be a great idea, too...in case Mr. A. Young happens to read. ;) Blueberry compote on top? Just sayin'.

Bonus mini-review! I also shared the Pink Praline brownie, and it was as dense & fudgey as ever, with a subtle almond sugar crunch on top. As nice as ever, and nearly just a perfect plain brownie.

Taffy Mail for February (American Candy Subscription Box in the UK!)

I've just recently started looking into subscription boxes, and I was a bit disappointed to see that my countrymen in the USA had yet to open up the shores of our sugary sea to the United Kingdom. In a word, there were no North American candy subscription boxes that shipped to the UK. Disappointing for a wayward American who likes to keep up to date with the limited edition Oreos back home...(Red Velvet, come to me!)

Leave it to some ingenious Brits to solve this problem for themselves. The fine folks at Taffy Mail were kind enough to send me a box to review. Thanks so much - it made me nostalgic, and it really felt like a care package from home for me. For non-Americans, I'm sure it's an exciting box full of things that they may remember from childhood holidays - or even things that they've never tried, which the patriot in me knows they'll love.

They're based here in the UK & ship out delicious American sweets every month at just £14.99, shipped. If you want to get it for just £12.99 shipped - use my code 'CREAMYSTEAKS' for £2 off!

Best of all, they also include a soda - which if you've ever tried to buy soda from overseas you know the shipping is ridiculous. My box was full of awesome candy & chocolate, read on for blow-by-blow (or is that Blow Pop by Blow Pop?) reviews of what I got. Would you believe it, but there were some things in there that I had never tried myself!

Airheads Grape - Never had an Airhead in my life...I was never big on chewing, now or as a kid, I'm more of a chomper. Turns out all these years I've been really missing out. Airheads are a very soft taffy that doesn't linger about on your teeth, it's sticky but only just. Unlike, for instance, Laffy Taffy which I have solid recollections of having to dig out of my teeth by the end of a chunk - or any caramel ever. The grape flavor was strong, sweet, & tart. Reminded me of Crush Grape soda! Miss that stuff.

Abba Zabba - I've had this bar before, and it's definitely an odd one. Absolutely fun to try, it's extremely sticky & chewy sweet taffy with a peanut butter center. I'm not the biggest fan personally, but it was nice to see something a bit more rare in the box. Once you've reached the peanut butter center, it's actually quite nice. It's working your way through that thick rope of taffy that may prove difficult. If you've got strong teeth you may find it a pleasant chew, but I've got li'l baby milk teeth so I can't handle it.

Nerds Rope - I loved Nerds Rope. As soon as it came out when I was a kid in 1997 I was all about it. It's a very smooth, relatively thin gummy rope that is coated in a variety of Nerds. They did different flavors, and this one is Valentine's themed. It was just as nice as I remember, the Nerds were tangy & of course incredibly sweet (did you know they're basically just sugar coated in sugar?) and the gummy is soft & 'red' tasting. You know how red licorice tastes, or unspecified red 'jam'? That's the Nerds Rope!

Whatchamacallit - Now this is one I doubt many British people have tried, considering a lot of Americans probably never give this one a go in their lifetimes! It's one of the older Hershey's bars that lacks advertising & colorful limited editions, along the lines of the 5th Avenue & the ever mysterious Mr Goodbar. This one has caramel & 'peanut flavor crisps'. I've got to imagine there are some holdout Whatchamacallit superfans from the 70s that still bulk buy these, and I'm glad they exist because it's a fine bar of chocolate. The caramel is runny & not too sticky or stiff, the peanut crisps are like softer, less sticky Butterfinger pieces. If you're a fan of Butterfingers, especially if you like the flavor but find the texture too sticky, I think you'd go nuts for the Whatchamacallit. It is quite nice!

Kool-Aid Strawberry Lemonade - Ah, Kool-Aid! I don't think I've tried this flavor before, I was always a red or purple fan. It's quite tart, which makes it a bit more appealing to the adult palate. It's a lot like a Countrytime Lemonade actually - but some of that might have to do with the fact that I didn't add too much sugar. The strawberry flavor, hm - maybe if I added more sugar it would be more pronounced, but as of right now it just softens the lemon up a bit. In case you're wondering, you can make Kool-Aid directly into a glass, you just use a smaller portion of the packet & less sugar. It's a bit tougher to get the balance right, but the good news is you don't need to go out and buy a pitcher!

Dove Cookies 'n' Cream Bar - I've reviewed this one before! What are the odds. As I said in my previous review, I'm actually not crazy for American white chocolate bars - they are very sweet. I ate Hershey's Cookies & Cream bars a lot as a kid, and as soon as I start thinking about them now my throat starts to get a bit sore. I had a segment, and while it was smooth & the cookie chunks a bit more noticeable than before, I still gave the rest to my husband. He loved it - your results will vary depending on how white chocolate you ate as a kid, I guess!

Tootsie Pop Drops - Love Tootsie Pops, but hate sticks? This is just your style then! I'm ambivalent towards sticks, but what I do like about these is the size & ease with which you can eat. Also, it takes a lot less licks to get to the center of one of these, which is good because everyone knows the melty Tootsie center is the best. I bet that owl's head is spinning. These come in all the best flavors of Tootsie Pop, so orange, "blue", grape, cherry & even the dreaded chocolate flavor hard candy. Woe be to the teacher who passed that flavor out to me, hated it. All the fruity ones are just perfect though! If you've never had a Tootsie Pop, I feel bad for you, but they're fruity tart lollipops with a Tootsie Roll center. As you suck, the center because melty & gooey, and once you get to the center it's a lot like a flavored Tootsie...which are also awesome. Orange is my favorite these days, the combination of a tangy citrus hard candy & a malty, soft choco-ish center is quite nice & something I can imagine the land of Terry's Chocolate Oranges & Cadbury Eclairs loving. Even though these are quite small drops, I was able to get a good 10 minutes worth of candy pleasure out of one. That is... without biting. I'm no owl.

Pixy Stix - Oh man, I ate a lot of Pixy Stix growing up. They might explain why I did so little actual growing up after awhile. This is "blue" flavor, an American flavor that is in some ways blueberry, in some ways raspberry, and in a lot of ways neon citric acid. It was my favorite flavor as a kid because well, it was almost always the strongest flavor in the bunch, was kinda sour, and usually had razzbadattude. Just like how I remember it, except now as an adult I'm very conscious of the fact that it's a straw full of sugar, and instead of giving me the energy I need to play dogs for hours & hours it just makes me feel ashamed. Like I said, a Pixy Stix is basically a stick of sugar & is as you might expect, quite sweet. It's not purely sweet though, it does have a hint of tartness & tang. SweetTarts are actually Pixy Stix that have been compressed into discs, so if you know & love that flavor, you'll get it pure & uncut in Pixy form. It was really nice to try this again, and it was actually a lot nicer as an adult than I thought it would be! I guess we never stop loving slightly sour sugar.

Jolly Rancher Stix, Green Apple - We all know green apple is the best flavor of Jolly Rancher, but how does it fair in stick form? I'll be honest - I'm not sure I understand how we're supposed to eat this product. It's no fault of Taffy Mail's of course, but I suppose you're meant to just have half of a hard candy sticking out of your mouth while you gum endlessly at the other end until you get it to biting consistency? Jolly Ranchers in their normal form are bite-sized hard candy logs that you just put in your mouth, in their entirety, and suck on. This thing is way too big for that, and the only other things I can think of just look so weird & feel uncomfortable. The taste was just as nice, a tart green apple that is sweet & fresh tasting, but I just can't get over how exactly I'm meant to eat it. I'd recommend sticking to the classic Jolly Ranchers shape, but it's an interesting experiment - I bet kid's would find a way to eat it in a more clever way than I did.

Butterfinger Bites - I was into the Butterfinger BBs back in the old days, and while these are quite a bit bigger it's the same principle. I think the fine folks down at Butterfinger Co. realize that their candy is almost impossible to just eat as a big hunk of chewy peanut-flavored confection, so they come up with simpler ways of getting that salty, peanutty crunch without having to actually eat an entire bar of it. See Butterfinger Cups, BBs, Snackerz, and Bites. The bites are about thumb sized and mostly Butterfinger inside, with just a medium sized coating of chocolate, The flaky & crispy innards are as they always are, and the flavor (in case you've never had a Butterfinger period) is more peanutty than peanut buttery. It tastes a bit like sweetened - but not roasted or salted - peanuts. It's a unique flavor, and that's why Butterfinger Cups can sit happily beside Reese's. The smaller bite size version is definitely preferable to the large bars, but be warned that you'll still get some stuck in your teeth.

M&Ms Minis - Have you had M&Ms? Yes? Have you ever had them teeny tiny & adorable? Maybe not? Well here's your chance. I like these better than traditional M&Ms because the shell is a bit thinner, so it's more like you're just eating little dots of chocolate. I'm not crazy for the hard sugar shell on Smarties or Mini Eggs, and the M&Ms Minis swing in the opposite direction by making it thinner & less crunchy. I also think they're just adorable. I remember when these came out I got them a lot at the movies, and they blend quite nicely with popcorn. I've compared them above to a regular M&M I happened to have around.

Day's Root Beer - Tasty root beer! You've got to try it, and this is a nice & mild one. It's not too spicy & not too minty, it's like a non-fruity Dr Pepper. It's so hard to describe the flavor of root beer...this is a really lovely one though!

Whew! What a haul, huh? I absolutely loved getting this box - for me it was nostalgic & tasty. There was also so much inside, I shared half of everything (well...more or less) with my husband and we both had candy for days.

 If you want to sign up at Taffy Mail, please be sure to use my code CREAMYSTEAKS to get £2 off your order!