Candy In The Media

Ernie!!!!

CC

A Emoji Cake Filled Candy Thing

I don't know how I feel about making poop emoji cupcakes, but if you want to make some, here's the perfect cookbook.

CC

The Week In Candy... The Last Of 2016

I call this time of year, the mid-holidays.  It's that time between Christmas and New Years when you're not out of holiday mode, but still have to go to work.  The official end of the holidays for me is the second day of the new year.  The mid-holidays are also the time of year that you have to eat all of your leftovers, for better or for worse.  Fortunately for me there's plenty of great desserts and sweets left over at my house, so I should be good for sugar filled fun well into January.  The one I'll savor the most, a box of untouched Toffifee, my favorite Christmas tradition.

Here at candycritic.org we're starting to get ready for the new year, because it seems that every year we seem to hit a bit of a reset switch here.  One thing we're restarting is Snack Facts, our Instagram feed.  We're not posting as many Snack Facts, but we're adding a new element, the Doughnut Project.  The goal of the Doughnut Project is to sample as many Tim Horton's doughnuts that I can.  So every so often (when I get a doughnut at Tim Horton's) I'll post a picture of the doughnut. I'll also post the doughnuts on our Candy Critic Map, so you can see where I got it.

This week we'll be posting our regular Wednesday Candy Thing, and our Friday Candy In The Media posts.  We'll also likely be posting a lot about some of the treats we sampled during the holidays on our Facebook and Twitter feeds.  This week we'll also be editing our next episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! featuring (for the first time) a special guest.  That episode will be online in January.

This week's new review is pretty epic, in fact it might be one of the best chocolate bars I've tasted all year.  Speaking of which, we're working on our list of the most notable reviews we've posted this year.  Is there something you've tried this year that you can't forget?  For now you can read all about this amazing review that we're going to close the year out.  Click here to check it out.

CC

Merry Christmas Everybody! It's a spefcial episode of Junk Fud On The Road!

In this episode Allison and Chris talk about their Christmas trip to the Christmas capital of Europe, Vienna.

CC

Christmas Candy In The Media

I think I post this commercial every year, it's just so simple and very entertaining.

CC

This Week In Candy.. Sort Of

Things are a little topsy-turvy this week and that means that this isn't really an official episode of This Week In Candy, but a quick filler.  I'm off visiting some family and friends before the holidays, and that means I'm not able to update Candy Critic right now. Tomorrow on the other hand things should be absolutely fine.  So we're mixing things up a bit today.  Instead of a new review, we're posting a special edition of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!  It's our Christmas special featuring myself, and a piece of fruitcake.

Tomorrow we'll be posting the first of two special Christmas reviews.  For some reason both of our Christmas review feature marshmallows.  Later this week we'll also be posting an episode of Junk Fud On The Road where Allison and I will be talking about the time we spent Christmas in Austria.

So enjoy this special episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! and we'll have more tomorrow.

CC

Christmas Candy In The Media

This is proof that you don't need to be extra fancy to make an amazing Christmas candy commercial.

CC

The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Use the force to make some fluffy popcorn, because that's what it's for.

CC

The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

This is the perfect marriage of beer and pretzels.

CC

Holy Cow, It's A Special Episode Of Junk Fud And You

On this episode of Junk Fud And You we're not messing around.  We have a real expert to talk with us, she's even got a PHD and real credentials.  Dr. Sarah Wilner talks about her latest paper that looks at the size of candy bars, and how they're marketed.

If you want to keep up with our latest podcasts you can follow us on SoundCloud or YouTube.  You can also check out all of the old episodes here.

CC

It's The November Episode Of Junk Fud News!

We seem to be getting worse and worse about posting these on time.  Seriously, we'll try and do better next month.

If you want to keep up with our podcasts, you can follow us on YouTube or SoundCloud.  You can also find old episodes here.

CC

A Cuddly Christmas Candy Thing

My favorite childhood toy was a stuffed dog named Snuggles, I think I got him around Christmas time, and he's never left my side since (still have him today). I wonder if there's any children out there with a candy cane as their childhood stuffed toy?

CC

This Week In Candy

Winter has officially hit us here in Canada.  Actually winter has been hitting us pretty hard (for someone who hasn't seen snow in 6 years) for the last six weeks, but today we got a serious cover of the white stuff.  I both hate and love the snow, it's soft and fun to play in, but cold and hard to get off my walkway.  I both want the snow to stay, to make it a white Christmas. But I also want it to go away, so I don't have to deal with my pants getting wet anymore.

This week we're putting together a lot of content for Candy Critic.  We're finally going to post Junk Fud News for the month of November.  We're also going to be editing, and maybe posting, a special episode of Junk Fud And You featuring an actual academic that knows a lot about candy.  Finally, we're going to be recording a special Christmas episode of Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!! where I eat fruitcake.  It took me a while to figure out what to eat for a Christmas episode of CWWYET, but fruitcake seemed to be the best idea.  I haven't eaten fruitcake in probably 10 years or more, and fruitcake has the distinction of being one of the most hated of all Christmas desserts.  So we'll see how this goes later this week.

I'm also officially announcing the return of our Instagram feed, but with a twist.  We're going to continue Snack Facts on our Instagram feed, but we're only going to post randomly (before we posted every day).  In addition, on our feed we're also going to be starting the doughnut project.  My goal is simple, to taste every doughnut Tim Horton's has to offer.  This isn't an all at once project, it's going to happen over time.  Every time I taste a new doughnut, I'll post it on Instagram.  Then, every so often, I'll add the donuts to our Candy Critic Google Map, so you can see where I ate that particular doughnut. Our return to Snack Facts is going up today, and the doughnut project will be going online in the next few weeks.

This week's new review was a gift from a very nice Icelandic man.  I was talking to him and I mentioned that I wasn't familiar with any Icelandic candy.  As fortune would have it, he had a giant bag of Icelandic candy with him.  Click here to read my first Icelandic candy review.

CC

Christmas Candy In The Media

I'm not sure if this commercial is for Christmas or Halloween.

CC

The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Who wouldn't want a candy cane that will last a lifetime?

CC

The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Give them smoked sugar, and maybe they'll make something for you.

CC

The Pefect Gift For The Sweet Tooth On Your List

Take a bite out of the dark side.

CC

An Ugly Christmas Candy Things

I don't really understand the whole "Ugly Christmas" clothing trend. I also don't know if I'd define these socks as "ugly" either.  Maybe a little too busy instead.

CC

This Week In Candy

It's officially started, Christmas. Here at Candy Critic we're all ready for the holiday season. It all starts with putting up a few lights, and spirals out of control from there. This year we picked up some candy canes to decorate the living room but it was actually a second thought. I think that's because no one seems to eat them. Every year as I'm taking down the Christmas decorations I always find that almost every candy cane is still hung up where I left it. 

I'm not really sure why this happens either. Is it that people just don't like a cool candy cane? Maybe my guests are too polite and feel that taking a candy cane ruins my Christmas decorating? It could be that I feed my friends too many other sweet treats so they can't bear anything else. All I know is that when I take down the decorations, I have to come up with ways to use up candy canes.

This week on Candy Critic we're continuing our countdown to Christmas. We're also going to post a new episode of Junk Fud News looking back on all of the junk food news for the month of November. We may also start to post some random Christmas gift ideas on the blog here, for the sweet tooth on your Christmas list. Make sure to follow us on Twitter or Facebook to keep up with all the Christmas stuff we're posting during the holidays.

This week's new review came from the wonderful folks at Ice Chips Candy. They sent us a bunch of boxes of Ice Chips to try, and I instantly gravitated to the Root Beer Float. I was particularly interested in seeing how they used the latest trendy sweetener, Xylithol. Click here to see what works and what doesn't.

CC

Candy In the Media

Robots are making our hamburgers, it's either the end of the world, or a bright new tomorrow.

CC

New York City Round Up

It's been over 10 years since I've been to New York, but before that time I'd been to New York several times.  I wasn't sure what to expect when I went back this time.  New York is a trendy city, and there's constantly change, this goes for food as well as fashion and general trends.  The thing is, New York is also known for certain mainstays, things that make New York the city that it is, this also goes for food.  The problem is, as a non-native New Yorker, I'm not always sure what is a mainstay and what is a trend.  When I was visiting regularly I thought I had a few ideas, but I'm never really 100% sure.  This trip was going to be a revision for me, of what New York is right now.

The one thing that shocked me most of all was the change in restaurants, mainly the delis. While the old fashioned delis are still around, there seems to be a growing trend toward larger "food markets" that look more like a cross between a deli, health food store, and supermarket.  They're all in one, like delis are, but much larger and a little fancier.  These food markets are a lot more expensive than the delis I remember as well.

With the expansion of these food markets, you're also getting more and more "healthy' snacks available as well.  Things like power bars, and high protein bars are all over the place at these markets. They seem to be pushing the baked treats out a little, as well as the chocolate bars.  I can't say I'm happy about that, but since they have yet to eliminate the baked goods I can't complain entirely.  I also don't mind that more and more fresh fruit is available, since I really like fresh fruit.

The good news is that sweet treats are not going away from New York, the candy stores and bakeries of this city are here to stay.  They're a solid part of the foundation of food in this city because they both innovate and offer the classics as well.  From black and white cookies, to cronuts, this city has some of the best baked goods you'll find anywhere. From cakes that will set you back hundreds of dollars, to a cinnamon treat that won't cost you more than a few dollars, it's really a great place to discover your loved for baked goods.

Candy wise, New York is really fascinating.  It is a trend setting place, with brands like the Mast Brothers working out of this city, but what New York really offers the candy aficionado is selection.  New York is a place where you can find tradition candies from all over the world, including one of the only high end Japanese snack shops I've ever seen outside of Japan. You also can't miss the giant Hershey and M&Ms store in Times Square.  These two stores are huge, but the selection they offer is pretty minimal, in fact the M&Ms store doesn't even carry that much candy at all, mostly just merchandise. There are also many retro and classic candy stores in the city, with Dylan's Candy Bar being the big show in this category.

I've been to Dylan's Candy Bar before, but this place just keeps getting better and better after each visit. I imagine that the competition in New York must be pretty serious, but this place keeps going, and they're even growing.  I think one thing that keeps this place interesting (at least for me) is the fact that they don't really sell anything outside of the candy world.  Many candy stores get into novelty and retro items that are outside of candy, and eventually seem to peel away from candy, and focus on the novelties.  Dylan's really seems to keep the focus on the candy and even expands the candy world. They offer all kinds of their own candy treats, and even have their own candy fashion (that's more than just their logo pasted on a t-shirt). If you're a candy fan (and I imagine you are if you're reading this), and you're in New York, you have to stop at Dylan's.

I think the only problem I have with New York's candy, and maybe even their food, is that it's really hard to find something that is exclusively New York.  The city is a place where you can find food from all over the world, or at the very least variations on that food.  You can also find a lot of American food, it's a pretty patriotic place when it comes to cuisine. But you can't really find anything that's exclusively New York, particularly a style of food.  This isn't a big problem since you're inundated with all of the other foods available from all over the US and parts of the world, but I've always wondered what food represents New York, maybe an apple?

On my last day of my visit I was walking through Times Square and I came across something that represented New York to me perfectly.  Taking place at the Square was the finals of the world championship of eating.  It was US VS Japan, and the contestants were eating fried rice.  There was a crowd gathered around, most chanting "USA", but there were also a few people chanting "J A Pan". It was good natured, over indulgent, and a little strange.

CC