Candy, Candy, Candy, I Can’t Let You Go
It’s crunch time. There will be Halloween parties tonight, and all through the weekend in advance of the big event on Sunday evening. Fortunately I’m missing the whole thing. Hopefully my house doesn’t get egged too badly while I’m away.
But if you don’t have candy on hand, it’s time to get cracking.
Last year around this time I did a post on my favorite candies, including my favorite one to receive on Halloween. Other people seem to love the Reese’s peanut butter cups. I understand where they are coming from, and I do love the contrast of sweet and savory, but the Reese’s peanut butter itself is just so bad. It’s true.
Anyhow, since I’m on the road, and since there have been a flood of new readers, and since my thoughts on the matter remain unchanged, I thought it would be interesting to repost something for the first time. The words below were originally posted on October 31, 2009.
Mrs. Fussy loves anything sweet. If I bring it into the house, even if it’s for me, she will eat it before I have the chance. Although I know she has an especially soft spot in her heart for Snickers.
Her mom also has a sweet tooth. Apparently she drops into the Boyer’s Mallo Cup factory store so often, she is a fixture there. As a side note, if you have never had a Mallo Cup fresh from the factory, I would argue you have never had a Mallo Cup. When they are fresh, the mallow center is remarkably soft and runny, not firm and gummy like you will find on most store shelves.
Young Master Fussy seems to go through stages. Recently he has had a thing for lollipops, especially the Dum-Dum variety pack (although he doesn’t care for the root beer ones).
You may not have guessed this, but my favorite candy generally shifts with my mood.
At the movie theater, I go for long-lasting options. Things with a lot of pieces to them that can last through the picture. If I’m feeling like chocolate, I’ll have the Sno-Caps. If I just had a big meal, and am feeling a little heavy, I’ll get the Junior Mints. Otherwise I love a big pack of red Twizzlers. I have an OCD way of eating the Twizzlers too, but you don’t get to hear about it.
Generally I do not go for the mass-market candies. Even as a child, I remember going to a bulk candy store, and my favorite thing to get would be the chocolate rum cordials. Glossy spheres of chocolate, that surrounded a smaller candy sphere filled with sweet rum-flavored liquid. There were also these other chocolate squares called Ice Cubes that somehow had a cool melting center. Now I realize they were probably just pumped full of vegetable oil.
And then there are some delightfully unusual candies from around the world. Tristur, from Iceland, is a chocolate-coated black licorice and caramel confection that is unusually delicious. They have so many forms of licorice there it will make your head spin. And of course there are all the British Cadbury treats that rarely make it overseas. I even hear the Kit-Kat bars are better in the UK.
But today is not about the movies, or about the unusual, or the imported. Today is all about supermarket candy. So I have to ask myself, “If I were trick-or-treating, and I came to a house with all of those grocery store candies, and I was allowed to choose just one to put in my sack?”
It would be Twix.
No doubt.
Crunchy cookie. Chewy caramel. Rich chocolate. It’s a layered textural and flavor experience like no other.
There are a lot of candies that are similar. Snickers has nuts instead of a cookie. They crunch, but not with the same magnitude. Plus all the nougat gets in the way. Butterfinger has great crunch, but its ratio of chocolate to candy is way under-balanced. Kit-Kat has the crisp cookie and chocolate, but is sadly missing the chewy element.
On the off chance that you are giving out Twix tonight, and have any left after they have been ravaged by hoards of princesses, pirates, ghosts and goblins…I know of someone who could give them a good home (when he gets back from D.C.).
Out of curiosity, what do you plan to have on hand for those who ring your doorbell looking for candy?
FUSSYlittleBLOG 
In response to your kit-kat theory, Kit Kats are decidedly different in the UK and Europe — they are made by Hersey in the US and Nestle everywhere else. And I have to say that it seems to me the reverse is true — that the kitkats in the US are much better than they are in the UK. That might simply be because the Hersey kitkats are the ones that I’m used to.
Cadbury, on the other hand, is much better in the UK, especially if you snag one of the Cadbury Roses boxes.
If you are interested in unusual sweets, you should head over to China — I fell in love with red bean sweets there.
And oh, punschrulle was one of my favorite sweets when I was in Sweeden.
Now you’re making me hungry!
Nothing.
Quelle surprise.
I used to serve mini-musketeers and mini-snickers, but then I moved way out in the country where there were no trick-or-treaters, and now I live in a downtown condo where there are no trick-or-treaters, so that’s why “nothing.”
I don’t know. I made my husband hide the stash so I wouldn’t eat it (sweet tooth like Mrs. Fussy). So, I’ll find out on Sunday.
Most Likely to Appear in Our Candy Cauldron: Snickers, Twix, Tootsie Pops.
On Halloween, my mother is affectionately referred to as “The Snickers Lady.” She hands out the full size bars. Kids remember her and come back hoping she is still handing them out. We give out full size bars too. I usually offer a choice between Twix and Nestle’s Crunch.
You’re an Iggy Pop fan? Off to youtube to listen to it.
I’ve been here for eight years now (expat married to American), but my parents are currently visiting from Melbourne and it’s their first time experiencing Halloween. We’re handing out Australian sweets and lollies (aka candy) such as Freddo Frogs of different flavours, Caramello Koalas, Picnic bars, Fantales and we also have mini clip-on koalas for the kids to keep. Cadbury’s et al in Australia is much the same as UK Cadbury’s – delicious. Should be a great day!