I did something recently that I swore I’d never do: I moved to a place with no Trader Joe’s. To the TJ uninitiated, this may seem like no big deal. But for those of you who have enjoyed TJ’s amazing food, drink, and CANDY (at even more amazing low prices), you understand my loss and dismay. So please join me in bidding a fond farewell to three of my all time favorite TJ candies.

Image by Anthemic Tangle
Milk Chocolate Clouds: Behold the chocolate, caramel, pecan glory that is the Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Cloud. Honestly, these are better than any other turtles I’ve ever had. The caramel is buttery and chewy, but doesn’t stick to your teeth. You can fully taste the sweet pecans and somehow they still retain some of their crunch. And, to top it all off: the milk chocolate is sooooo good. Unlike some milk chocolate, it’s not too sweet and is plenty chocolaty. And they don’t skimp on anything: each cloud is jam-packed with chocolate, caramel, nutty gooey goodness. Ah bliss!

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After my brief period of believing that there was no unique candy in Montreal , I was proven wrong – with a vengeance. All it took was a trip to the shopping district of Rue St. Denis, a shopper’s paradise of quirky little shops, restaurants and cafes – and some great chocolatiers.

One of those is Marius et Fanny Patisserie Provencale, which, despite the name, is a chocolatier as well. On the pastry side of things, they do a variety of cakes and cookies including some marvelously crisp-on-the-outside, tender-on-the-inside macaroons filled with a flavored ganache (and as they weren’t technically candy, I had no qualms about devouring mine on the spot instead of bringing them home to write about later).

Of their chocolates, I was most intrigued by their tiny tasting bars or “tablettes,” each about the size of a couple of fun-sized Kit Kats. The little bars came in a variety of intriguing flavors, including paprika and sun-dried tomato and basil (YES! I knew somebody had to be doing a sun-dried tomato chocolate bar after tasting this combo for the Great Chocolate Experiment). Eventually, I decided on lavender, a flavor I’d never tasted before.

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I love caramel. Anything dipped in it will do - apples, pretzels, onions… you get the picture. I still crave the old Marathon bar, the one with chocolate, braided caramel and a ruler on the back of the package. I rejoiced when Cadbury came out with a king-sized Caramello bar. At Halloween time, I eat the caramel discs that come with taffy apple kits and toss the apples. (Well, I don’t actually buy the apples, but, again, you get the picture.)

So I’ve been wanting to try Werther’s Original caramel chocolates ever since I saw the commercial on TV. Werther’s candies are marketed as treats handed down through the generations. They’re always showing some older gentleman (I hope it’s that kid’s grandpa) handing out candies to young tykes in short pants. There might be a little vaguely European candy shop where robust workers joyfully toil away on their sweet confections. (“I may be making minimum wage, but this caramel is off the hook!”) After eating their candy, folks generally hug, smile and live happily ever after. I don’t know if you can get this same feeling from a Twix bar.

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I love Christmas. I am a fool for all things holiday. I celebrate September, October, and November 25th as 3 months, 2 months, and 1 month until Christmas, respectively. The tree goes up and the carols come out as soon as the turkey is finished, and December 26th is the darkest day of my year.

To reiterate, I love Christmas. And, have no doubt, that all-encompassing amour most certainly extends to holiday candy, be it candy canes and red and green M&M’s or gourmet assortments with appropriately hued ribbons. So I was Deck-the-Halls, All-I-Want-For-Christmas-Is-You happy to get into the spirit of things a little early this year, in order to preview and review Divine Chocolate’s holiday line of treats for 2008. As I did for my review of their standard products, I again enlisted my chocolate-covered-Christmas loving pals for opinions, and here’s our take on their seasonal goods:

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To me Godiva is like the Starbucks of chocolate. It’s a bit pretentious, often overpriced and it’s available everywhere, lurking in book stores, airports, hotels, even clothing stores.

But, just like Starbucks, Godiva knows how to deliver. The company’s chocolates are pricey but consistently good. The Godiva people also know how to saturate a market, just like their Starbucks friends: The chocolate behemoth has perfected the art of offering up the same product in hundreds of variations. From bars to liquors to cookies, there’s plenty of ways to get a Godiva fix. I’m waiting for the Godiva intravenous drip to dispense chocolate into my bloodstream 24 hours a day.

Now Godiva has created chocolate ‘pearls’ that come in a can. The company Web site plugs these with the tagline “Decadence goes mobile.” Please. Do we really need another temptation from these people?

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What do you do when you desperately want to love something, or maybe just tolerate it, but can’t? That’s the question I faced when I first bit into Chocolove’s Raspberries in Dark Chocolate candy bar.

The bar promised so much. I mean, look at the packaging. The bar is designed like a love letter addressed to you, the consumer. There’s a quaint raspberry stamp in the upper right-hand corner, a mock-gold embossed heart and lots of hugs and kisses. The romantics behind this treat have even printed a love poem on the inside gold wrapper. Fun, bright and hip. With packaging this classy, the candy’s gotta be great, right?

Well, the Chocolove raspberry bar is a lot like a first date that looks great sitting across the table from you. But when you dig a bit deeper, you realize that this “catch” doesn’t have a job and still lives with mom and dad. The Chocolove bar, alas, doesn’t hold up to scrutiny.

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When I bite into a York Peppermint Pattie, I get the sensation of driving a team of sled dogs through the Alaskan wilderness in the Iditarod. Do you remember those commercials?

I bought a Hershey York Peppermint Pattie a few weeks ago and was immediately accosted by my family: “Can I have a piece?” “When can we eat that?” What!? This bit of chocolate bliss has a diameter of about 2.5″ and you want us to split it four ways? Alas, when you’re part of a Candy Addict family, you have to share.

The Peppermint Pattie, as you may know, is a disc of peppermint-flavored sugar covered in a thin layer of chocolate. When I finally got to eat my fourth of the Peppermint Pattie in peace, the strong peppermint flavor filled my mouth. It’s a very refreshing flavor, a “zing” if you will. I personally don’t like those hard peppermints that you find in old ladies’ candy bowls, but York has basically perfected soft peppermint.

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I once listened to a radio broadcast about a baker who manufactured artisan bread in Maine. When he was asked what possessed him to become such a baker, he replied with a response of almost disbelief:

“To me, artisan bread just means making the best possible bread by hand. I think everything should be made that way.”

The sheer simplicity and truth of that statement has stayed with me over the years, and it is one that rushed to mind as I began reviewing a line of chocolate bars from Blanxart.

Blanxart is a Spanish confectionery company created back in 1954 by three brothers. Now, Europe is frequently associated with gourmet chocolate, but rarely if ever did I equate Spain with such a thought. Truthfully, as the Spanish were the first to make contact in the New World - where chocolate originated - it would make sense that they retain a claim to being the original European purveyors of gourmet chocolate.

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Hey everybody, Look! It’s the second candy bar in my four-bar round-up of some oddly named candy that includes Oh Henry!, 5th Avenue, and U-No.

Look! candy bars are made by the Annabelle Candy Company, a San Francisco bay-area concern founded in 1917 by Russian immigrant Sam Altshuler, and named after his daughter (the company, not the bar. His daughter’s name was not “Look!”). (And yes, you’re right, there was a spot of bother that year in Russia.)

Annabelle candy bars are best-sellers in western states, and include the Rocky Road, Big Hunk, Abba-Zabba and U-No bars. Today’s item, Look!, was invented in the 1950’s by the Golden Nugget Candy Co., which Annabelle acquired in 1972. I doubt you’ve ever had a candy bar quite like this. And there may be a good reason.

Here’s how Annabelle describes these bars: “Thick chewy nougat sweetened with molasses,” with “roasted peanuts covered with mouth watering rich dark chocolate.”

We’ll see.

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I love to read the comments you guys post. It’s always great to see whether you agreed with my review or had a differing opinion I might not have have considered. I particularly enjoy the suggestions you leave.

On my article reviewing the expired 100 Grand Dark Bar, a fellow Candy Addict staff member, Monica, used her keen insight in my search for a great crisp rice bar, and she recommended I try Nestle’s Crunch with Caramel. I did just that and didn’t mind it as much as I thought I would. Having had my interest piqued in various Crunch Bar varieties from her suggestion, I then decided to try the Crunch Dark Bar.

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