Chocolates of the World- Chinese M&Ms!!

My awesome amazing friend Josh brought me these all the way from China! They are actually made in Beijing, and you can see all the characters speak Chinese and the website is listed. Whats especially fun is the little triangle bubble packaging with a handful of the candy inside- really cute! So do M&Ms made in China taste any different than those made in America? Well, not really....maybe slightly less sweetness but hardly noticeable. This candy is sold and manufactured worlwide with Im sure strict formulas- but different cultures have variations on taste. And my friend swore the peanut tasted different!

Limited Edition- Junior Mint Peppermint Crunch!

Just for the Holiday season, Jr. Mints produces this ramped up, fancy version of their popular candy- it's very tasty and one of my new favorites. The dark choc coating has peppermint candy bits mixed into it for a really delicious and fun to eat treat! Unfortunately they are not easy to find but check around- I got these at Winn Dixie grocery store (last year at Target).

Christmas M&Ms are here!

As you can see they have many different packages for holiday M&Ms- bags from regular stores like Walgreens, CVS, and groceries have a different look than those bought at Walmart and Target, who each package theirs differently- which makes for some very fun designs!

NEW- M&M and Hershey Holiday decorations!

We have a really fun store here that celebrates the Holidays year round called Christmas Wonderland- they decorate all different colors of trees with ornaments based on special themes. This year, among many others, they have both an M&M tree (yellow) and a Hershey chocolate tree (green) plus new fancy M&M stockings! Very fun, and very cool for collectors.....

NEW- Andes Chocolate Mint cookies and baking bits!!

Mint is one of my favorite flavors in the winter, and Andes Chocolate Mints has blessed us with 2 new items this season- mini cookies (found in a vending machine!) and baking bits, which are just the mints all diced up into smaller pieces. The cookies were a disappointment- not nearly enough mint pieces, and a bit dry. But this can be remedied by using the baking bits to make my own double chocolate mint cookies or brownies! That was the plan anyway, until I opened the bag and smelled that heavenly Creme de Menthe smell- tasted a few, couldn't stop- and it was all over. Luckily Target has a good supply of these! (PS- they come in Peppermint Crunch flavor too, but I dont eat "white chocolate candy" so I skipped them)

'Tis the season to get Cocoa- Cozy!

Ah, winter- as the temperature outside drops, we tend to cozy up inside and want something warm to drink. As any chocolate lover would agree, winter is THE season for yummy cups of hot cocoa served with cookies or pie. Here are some new and older brands and flavors- Hershey & Swiss Miss have added super dark flavors, which I love and is clearly the trend lately. Several brands have taken the Mayan/Mexican chocolate route- Nestle Abuelita is already a well established brand of Mexican chocolate with a cinnamon kick. It commonly comes in round hockey-puck size cakes that you divide up and melt in hot milk over the stove (very traditional). Oh and it's DIVINE, trust me. But for a more on-the-go society they powdered it and have it available in easy serving packets (still much better with hot milk than water).There's also an Abuelita choc syrup. And Hershey & General Foods have their versions of that choc-cinnamony taste too- all good, but Abuelita has the strongest flavor and will always be the best. Happy sipping!

NEW- Snyder's Dark Chocolate Covered pretzels!

These have been available in milk chocolate for awhile, but brand new is the Hershey Special Dark Chocolate covered variety. Really tasty except they need more salt- the appeal of this snack is the combo of sweet, salty, and crunchy- Snyder's is good, but unlike Nestle's version, they do not have enough salty kick in my opinion. But if you mix the milk and dark together and sprinkle a little salt on yourself, it's still a yummy treat.....