Candy

How many fish is too many fish? Turns out: 7!

I’m having a bit of a… burger issue. I know, I know. Old news. It’s been going on for about six months or so and I won’t shut up about it and well I JUST WANT BURGERS ALL THE TIME. Really, I mean all the time. I want a burger multiple times every week. It’s all very odd to me since it’s somewhat new. I’m not even discriminating on my burger choice now. Well, wait – I really AM discriminating since the lowest I’ll go is a Five Guys burger but I have definitely drove past multiple fast food restaurants thinking burrrrgerrrrr. It’s nothing short of a miracle that my head hasn’t popped up in a drive thru window. A few weeks ago I split a taco burger from a local food truck. This was after we split a burger with aioli, a bacon grilled cheese and a hot dog, so don’t go getting disappointed about the whole “splitting” thing. The thing was… I wasn’t quite feeling it at first. I mean if I want a taco? I’ll eat a taco. I wasn’t quite sure about my burger tasting like a taco. It just seemed wrong. It actually seemed pointless. Especially when it came to ground beef. BUT. These burgers were covered in crushed tortilla chips. That alone sealed the deal for me – you know what a texture freak I am. At the time I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed the taco burger. It was completely different than what I was expecting and if you’re a burger/sandwich fiend like us, a random but nice change of pace. I can totally see this happening with some chicken and turkey burgers too, but first up? I am SO doing this with my double bean burgers. Yeah. Like downright obsessed with the idea. Can you even imagine a taco-rubbed black bean burger with tortilla chips and avocado? My brain just exploded. I’m also still seriously making the peanut butter bacon burger before the brain explosion. Thoughts? We may have two brain explosions on our hands then. The moral of this story is that if you eat a lot of burgers, you may adore this idea. If you’re a burger-once-every-three-months kind of fella, then you might miss the whole cheese and bacon and stuff. By the way, can I just say that I’ve always loathed things like lettuce and tomatoes (vegetables, of course) on my burgers but it wasn’t until recently that I figured out why? It’s because a burger is so warm and cheesy. Why add cold crunch to that little sandwiched slice of heaven? Annnnnd the only thing that I can think of that will make this taco burger better is adding a cheese quesadilla triangle on top. Perfect? Yeah. That’s definitely happening. Taco Rubbed Burgers Yield: makes 4 burgers Total Time: 45 minutes Ingredients: 1 pound ground beef (mine was 90% lean) 1 teaspoon salt 1 teaspoon pepper 1 1/2 tablespoons ground cumin 1 tablespoon smoked paprika 1 tablespoon chili powder 1/2 tablespoons onion powder 1 teaspoon garlic powder 4 ounces white cheddar cheese, sliced 1 avocado, sliced 1/2 cup salsa verde 1/2 cup of your favorite salsa blue tortilla chips for topping 4 whole grain buns, toasted Directions: In a bowl, combine ground beef with salt and pepper, mixing to combine. Form beef into four equal patties. In a smaller bowl, combine, cumin, paprika, chili, garlic and onion powders together and stir well to mix. Pick up each burger and using your hands, rub both sides and the edges of the burger with the spice rub, gently patting the spice in. To cook, prepare the burger as you'd like - whether grilling it until your desired doneness or cooking it in a hot skillet for about 5 minutes per side. Add cheese on top 1-2 minutes before finished so it has time to melt. To serve, add salsa verde to the top of each bun bottom. Top with the burger then add avocado, salsa and crushed tortilla chips on top. Eat! I hope I never get a handle on this. ©2012 How Sweet It Is

I've decided to take down several old articles from the candycritic.org and re-post them here on the Candy Critic blog. This week I'm posting an article I wrote with some candy lessons I had just learned. Since then I've learned a few more.What's the appeal of eating something on a stick? What makes something on a stick better than just eating it? Who thought stick = fun? You could look at the history of food to find out that sticks and food have been around forever. As long as man has been cooking, food sticks have been an important part of life. The problem I have with the idea of putting food on sticks comes from the candy world.Why in the world do so many candies come on sticks? I think the only candy that has to be on a stick is a Popsicle. Why might you ask does the frozen treat deserve to be on a stick? Go into your freezer, put an ice cube in your mouth and don't take it out. Can't do it can you. You have to pull cold things out of your mouth or it hurts. Lollipops are okay with me, but not because I think the stick are necessary. If you think about it the idea of taking a candy out of your mouth half way through eating it is kind of gross. Try spitting out your chewing gum after a few minutes, hold it, and then put it back in your mouth, yuck. The lollipop was originally huge and impossible to stick in your mouth in one shot. So you can understand why a stick might help you keep your fingers clean. You can still find huge lollipops today, but for the most part lollipops fit comfortably in your mouth whole, so the basic principle doesn’t really make sense.The problem I have comes from the idea of putting things like chocolate, marshmallows, and gummies on sticks. Chocolate and marshmallows on a stick has been around for a while, but the gummy thing has become a new and very strange trend. Whenever I eat a gummy on a stick, all it does is get all gooey and stringy, and if they decorate it little bits of icing fall and sprinkles fall all over the place. The chocolate on a stick is very often cheap chocolate, I'm not saying it's all cheap but for the most part it is. The other problem is that chocolate cracks and when you’re trying to eat it on a stick, it falls all over the place.Let's face it; just putting something on a stick is not really that creative an idea. If you need the stick by all means use one, but if you’re doing it because you think it's clever to put something new on a stick, you’re wrong. Try something else, we as candy consumers are finished with the stick thing, I want something new and fun not something pointy and long.CC

I would have to say that the popularization of gummies in the 1980's might be the reason I'm writing this blog (and these reviews) right now. When I was a little kid, gummies hit the market with a huge bang, every kid wanted a bag of gummy bears. Gummies were the catalyst towards a time in candy when strange and gross treats started to really bloom. This meant that the world was being creative with the textures and flavours of candy available. At that very time, I started to really gain a respect for candy, I loved all of the candy variety that was around me. And now look at me, I'm writing a blog, traveling the world, and tasting flavours I could only imagine. Thanks gummies, you made my life pretty cool. And thanks sugarfina.com for reminding me how cool gummies actually still are.Click here to read the latest gummy review.CC

I have a serious question. Can you, a normal person, actually consider one muffin a full breakfast? Especially these… these, like, baby muffins. Well, they are of traditional muffin size and not fattened up, triple-pumped Americanized muffins covered in crumble and streusel, but really? One of these would be like the equivalent of drinking a glass of water for me. (Also if someone could make the caloric effect be equivalent to that of a glass of water… that would be great.) And now my day is going to revolve around how I’m irked at the lack of crumble and streusel on top. For an actual muffin to make it into my breakfast rotation, I need a few other things of substance on a plate next to it. Maybe some fruit. Peanut butter. Some eggs. BACON. Those kinds of things. That’s why I sort of prefer my muffins to be snack worthy foods. I’d never kick a muffin outta bed for breakfast but… I like them at other times of the day too. Like right now. At 10:30PM when I’m writing this post and eating my emotions because Psy makes me feel so uncomfortable as I watch him on Dancing with the Stars. If you haven’t noticed, I’ve been on a massive mascarpone kick the last few months. Putting it in EVERYTHING. Sweet, savory, using it as a spread… literally, all the things. I’ve always enjoyed it but maybe… just… never knew it’s true potential? All you italians just collectively rolled your eyes in my direction. I bet. So two weeks ago I attempted to make a lemon mascarpone loaf and it came out like… dense, unbaked cheesecake. I mean, it was SO dense. Crazy dense. Perhaps I should have measured stuffed out instead of just being a cocky brat and thinking ‘oh of course this will turn out!’ and throwing stuffed into a bowl???? Maybe, you know, figured out where things went wrong? And since I have no patience and just couldn’t handle waiting another 75 minutes while loaf cake #2 baked… muffins it was. Muffins are like the poor man’s cake. Errr… the lazy man’s cake? The impatience man’s cake? I think you get it. The good news is that I still covered that lemon loaf in one hell of a sugar bombed glaze and it made it’s way into multiple mouths. It’s just not perfect yet. So until then… muffins. Make-it-up-to-you muffins. Settle for now. Brown Sugar Lemon Mascarpone Muffins Yield: 12-16 muffins Total Time: 35 minutes Ingredients: 2 cups whole wheat pastry flour 1/2 cup loosely packed brown sugar 1 teaspoon baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda 1/4 teaspoon salt 4 lemons, zested 8 ounces cold mascarpone cheese 3/4 cups milk 1 large egg 1/3 cup greek yogurt 1 teaspoon vanilla extract 4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled Directions: Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a muffin tin with liners. In a large bowl, combine flour, brown sugar, baking powder, soda and salt. Stir to combine. Mix in lemon zest. Add mascarpone cheese and mix in with a fork, stirring until crumbly, evenly dispersed and covered in flour. In a small bowl, whisk together milk, yogurt, egg, vanilla extract and butter. Add the wet ingredients to the dry, stirring until just combined and wet. Use a 1/4 cup measure or ice cream scoop to fill the muffin liners 2/3 of the wall full. Bake for 15-17 minutes, until tops are set and golden. Remove and let cool slightly before serving. So fluffy! ©2012 How Sweet It Is

Day 1 of the Sweets and Snacks Expo is over, and I’m exhausted! I stayed up past my bedtime trying to get some science done, and then it was up again at 5AM to catch an early flight to Chicago, then straight from Midway to the Expo. Our first stop was the Ritter Sport importer booth, as they can always be counted on for exciting new products. They’ve got a new Cocoa Mousse with 9 squares instead of 16 (GASP!), a coconut, and a limited edition raspberry-cranberry yogurt (not pictured here, though I have a sample. Jim reviewed on Chocolate Mission). I love seeing all the different varieties of Ritter Sport in one place. I hate how it reminds me of what we don’t have access to here in the U.S. Caffeinated chocolate was a trend at this year’s expo. The Energy version of Good Day chocolate above was one of several brands who told me that X of their candy equaled X cups of coffee or X ounces of Red Bull. I’m going to be one jittery candy blogger once I get around to reviewing all those chocolates. The things I do for you, dear readers! Still, can’t be worse than that time I ate all that sugar free chocolate… Promotional licensing was rampant as usual (I saw Angry Birds, Fruit Ninja, and Star Wars gummies; Jelly Belly’s got a new deal with Disney). Wild Ophelia, Vosges‘s little sister brand, has a line of Hunger Games bars that go beyond just slapping a logo and some characters on the packaging. Instead, the flavors of the bars are supposed to line up with the different districts. The lumber district is a smoked chipotle chili bar, mining has mined salt, and transportation has runner peanuts. As a Hunger Games fan, I loved that they brought thought and wit to the tie-in. T&H Organic Hard Candy was a new company in Innovation Alley that’s already been racking up awards. This year, like last, buzzwords like organic, non-GMO, gluten-free, nut-free, etc. are popular on the show floor. I tried a T&H blood orange hard candy, which was delicious. They have a grapefruit flavor that I can’t wait to try later. Hooray grapefruit candies! Another trend this year is miniaturized versions of well-known treats. There were mini Starbursts, mini Snickers, mini Kit Kats, mini Turtles… The list goes on and on. I think it’s an easy way for brands to capitalize on name recognition when introducing a new-ish product. This is not about candy, but I just have to share: Perky Jerky is definitely the most delicious jerky. Like last year, I’m so thankful for the salty snacks of the Expo to break up my palate fatigue and provide some protein to keep me going! I can’t imagine what it was like when it was just the All Candy Expo. I also asked Nelly a question during the Mike & Ike press conference (alas, it was neither “wanna go a take a ride wit me?” nor “how hot is it in herre?”), held a gold medal and had a fun chat with the very friendly U.S. women’s water polo team at Bare Fruit, and won a Tide pen from Airheads. Can’t wait to see what tomorrow will bring! If you missed it, Emma’s been holding down the live updates on Twitter and Instagram. Check out her great camera work!

The great thing about visiting any German city is you know you're going to eat well. If I ask you what Germany was famous for in food, you might have a hard time picking just one thing. I'm sure many of you reading this site would probably say chocolate is the most important thing to try here in Germany, and you might be right. But there is so much good food in Germany worth sampling, and a lot of classic treats you may not have thought about.Since I've visited Germany before, and I've tasted a lot of German chocolate in my life, I was actually keen to start my tasting adventure with something a little more classically German. Soft pretzels are the kind of thing you may not think about first when you're planning a trip to Germany, but once you get there you're regularly reminded that these folks really know how to twist up their bread. I got my first soft pretzel from a guy on a bike in the middle of a park. It seemed right that I start this adventure off with a little street food.Meal wise, I didn't want to leave Berlin without trying one of their "world famous" Curry Wursts. The name might sound horrible, but the food itself isn't bad at all. You're basically treated to a fried sausage/hot dog, covered in a curry ketchup. In some cases a little extra curry powder is sprinkled on top as well. Curry and sausage are not really two flavours you think of as going together, but it works really well. I've heard horror stories from people telling me that they bought some really bad Curry Wurst in the past, but look around for a decent restaurant and give it a try.Most people think that JFK called himself a donut when he made his famous speech at the Berlin Wall. From what I understand the people of Germany understood that he wasn't calling himself a donut, but I do know why this rumour has come up. In Berlin they have a donut they call a Berliner, but it's just named after the region, and that's all. It's like me saying "I love New York", and thinking that I must be talking about New York style cheesecake. The Berliner itself is pretty much a standard powder coated jelly donut, but it was worth it for the experience.While sampling the many fine foods of Berlin, I came across two amazing surprises about this city. First of all, Germans love cakes. I'm sure that wherever you live, you're probably saying that you love cake too. But in Germany, and in particular Berlin, every restaurant, every street festival, and every bakery has an amazing selection of cakes to choose from. Frankly any country would love cakes too if they had such a great selection.The other surprise that I came across in Berlin was something called Spargel. As it turns out I was visiting Berlin during Spargel season. Spargel is basically giant stalks of white asparagus. When this stuff is in season, people go nuts over it, and I didn't want to be left out. On this trip I took every opportunity to sample this tasty vegetable in as many ways as I could. All I can tell you is my pee was pretty stinky for days after we left.I guess I couldn't visit Germany without trying a little bit of chocolate, in fact I don't think I could visit Germany without trying a whole lot of chocolate. There are plenty of great places all over Berlin to sample chocolate, shops, stores, and even a museum (I'll have more about that late), full of sweet chocolate heaven. While I'd argue that German chocolate is the best in the world, it's certainly in my top 5 places to get the stuff.These are just a few highlights of my fun trip to Berlin, a place I would highly recommend to any foodie with a sweet tooth. I have a few more photos from this trip posted on our Facebook page as well.CC

One of the keys to the gummy rise to candy greatness is the range of shapes it can take on. For a while I tried to collect photos of every single shape of gummy that I ever came across, but it was too big a task. Every time I step into a candy shop I discover a new shape, some are strange, some are pretty boring. This week's review looks at how shape is really becoming a crutch of gummy producers, and it seems like they may be missing the boat with flavour range.Again, today's review was provided to us from our great friends at sugarfina.com.Click here to read the review.CC

It’s been quite a while since I reviewed (or even ate) any Lindt chocolate, so I thought I would give this one a go. On reflection, it probably wasn’t the best idea. The name ‘Lindt Excellence Blueberry Intense’ should have been a clue. Blueberries are a lot of things, but one thing I wouldn’t describe them as is “intense”. A quick glance at the ingredients on the back of the packet confirms my worst fears. Not only is is a paltry 47% cocoa solids, but it’s also packed with other ingredients. Mmmmm, Vegetable Anthocyane E163! Feeling a little concerned about what I was about to let myself in for, I opened the pack. Rather than the pristine looking Lindt chocolate I had expected, this is what greeted me. It appears to be covered in ‘dents’, but I can only assume that those marks are some kind of moulding imperfection, as there are no marks on the packaging. It’s quite odd. Under the surface and on the underside of the bar, lots of bits of ‘fruit’ are visible, along with some fine slithers of almond. It’s not that it looks unappetising, it just looks like it’s been put together in a bit of a hurry. The chocolate itself is very soft. There’s no ‘snap’ to it, but it bends a little before it breaks. That’s partly because of the fruit, but the poor quality chocolate doesn’t help. The taste is overwhelmingly one of sugar and artificial fruit. There’s really nothing chocolatey here at all, unfortunately. Bizarrely, the fruit tastes more like apple than it does blueberry too. That long ingredients list have apple (and pineapple) on it, so I guess I shouldn’t be surprised. The texture of the fruit pieces isn’t particularly pleasant either. They have a jelly like texture on the outside with a slightly crunchy, grainy texture in the middle. I’m not a fan. I always like to think of Lindt as a ‘stepping stone’ from confectionery chocolate to ‘real chocolate’, but this is so sweet and packed with unnecessary ingredients, I would have to put it firmly in the ‘candy’ category. Unless you really like the taste of sugar and artificial fruit, you should probably avoid it. Information Buy it online from: Lindt-Shop.co.uk Contains dark chocolate (47% cocoa solids). Filed under almond, blueberry, lindt. Tweet This The post Lindt Excellence Blueberry Intense appeared first on Chocablog.

Emma here. A quick update on how you can keep up with us at Sweets & Snacks 2013! I will be live-tweeting all the deliciousness on Twitter @zomgcandy. We’ve created an Instagram account @zomgcandy, too. We think we can take real cameras into the exhibit hall, so hopefully we’ll be able to upload hi-res, wider-angle shots at the end of each day. Let us know if you have any requests via Twitter, Instagram, comments on this blog, or e-mail!