More Than You Might Think

 I feel like this commercial is selling these simple little hard candies a little too hard. Lots of sex and it seems to sell the candy as being much more than it likely is. That, or Monami is the candy that will change your life.

Best Danisa Cookie

I think we’re all familiar with this container. To some it’s a place where you can always find a needle and thread to repair those ripped jeans. To others it also represents a place where you can find some of the most buttery cookies in the world. I don’t know much about the history of these cookies, where they came from (I assume Denmark), if there’s a season you’re supposed to eat them, or even if their actually Danish. I only have my memories of these buttery cookies, and it’s memories I’ve had for my entire life.

I feel like we used to get these cookies most often around Christmas time. I also feel like they were something my grandparents would often give us. I’m pretty sure my parents did buy them, but I think my grandparents would always have them. I also remember my grandparents and parents both using the round metal containers to store things, in particularly sewing equipment. I have a true affinity for these cookies, but my love is not equal among all of the cookies available.

I’ve never really given much thought to this before right now, but in each tin of Danish cookies there is a selection of 5 different cookies. While I do like them all, I really believe that some are better than others. If you give me a tin of Danish butter cookies, some will disappear before others. So here’s my list of the best Danish cookies that come out of the tin. Keep in mind that I’m only talking about the classic tin, and not the special edition flavours they’ve come out with recently. Let’s start with my least favourite:

The one with currents (I think) – I should start this off by letting you know that I don’t know the official names of all of the different types of cookies available, so you’re just going to get a rough description as their name. Fortunately they’re all very different, so it should be obvious. I should also mention that I like dried fruit most of the time, so the fact that this is my least favourite cookie in this container is not because it has dried currents. The problem I have with this particular cookie is the fact that the dried currents are often super hard and really chewy. With the light butter cookie, the ultra hard and chewy dried fruit doesn’t really go very well and kind of feels like there are chewy little stones in each cookie.

The boring round wafer – Of all the cookies in this tin, this is really the most boring. It doesn’t look very exciting and while it tastes good, there’s nothing particularly unique about it. I feel like someone at one time had an idea to make a biscuit with icing in between, but as they were making them they realized that the icing wasn’t going to work. Then, instead of substituting the entire cookie, they just left the cookie part. I’ve always felt like these circles could use something else to pep them up a bit.

The round swirl – This one suffers from a few of the same problems as the previous cookie, however the look is a little bit more interesting. I was tempted to score this one lower because they seem to break very often.  If one cookie in your tin is going to be broken, it’s going to be the round swirl, and it’s no uncommon for every single round swirl to be broken as well.

The sugar square – If you can’t tell already, this list is being written by someone with a sweet tooth, and that’s why the top two cookies are the ones covered in extra sugar. I had a hard time deciding which of these two cookies would be my favourite and which would be my second favourite. If I did pick this one as my favourite, it would be because of the amazing concentration of crunchy sugar. The reason it’s not the number one is that the shape is a little boring.

The sugar pretzel – As I mentioned above, this cookie and the sugar square are really running neck and neck, however I think this one edges it out because of the unique shape. When I was a kid, this was one of the only treats with a pretzel shape that wasn’t a pretzel. The fact that it has a crunchy sugar that feels like the crunchy salt on a real pretzel only sells the shape even more. The one fault of this cookie is that much like the round swirl, it’s not uncommon to find a few broken pretzels in your tin.

Rating the best and worst Danisa cookie is a bit of a silly proposition, only because they’re all really good. A few months ago I was gifted a miniature tin of these cookies that was full of only the cookies with the currents, and I loved it. So it’s safe to say that even the worst of these cookies is better than many other cookies out there.

So What Is Extreme?

 Is the word "extreme" (and other words like it) just a marketing tool, or is there a flavour called extreme?

That Blue Orchid Is Something Else

Have you seen my awesome comic series called Blue Orchid? It's all about a cool girl from South East Asia that fights all kinds of monsters.

Pick up the latest Blue Orchid comics or merchandise right now at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/.

The Benefit of Trendy Treats

Today's featured review is a trendy treat. It's a chocolate bar from Dubai that's made all of the rounds on various social medias. I got my hands on one of these bars, and honestly thought I might just give it a pass. I've been burned a few times on candy and snacking trends. However, I just couldn't resist, and honestly I'm glad I couldn't. Every so often a trendy treat comes along that actually pays off.

Check out my review of this very popular chocolate bar.

Another Weird Skittles Commercial

 I'd like to say that I'm surprised to find an odd Skittles commercial, but frankly they're fairly common. The odd thing about this one is that it's almost entirely in a language that I don't understand, yet it still works perfectly.

I Bit Into a Little Spicy Wiener

 I'm not sure what I expected from this little spicy wiener, but I can tell you that sometimes the title of these videos (Chris, Why Would You Eat That?!!) is very accurate.

Those Beasts Will Eat Treats

 

If you're looking for a fun way to celebrate your favourite treats, beasts or even the alphabet, may I suggest my fun book called Treats and Beasts.

Pick up your very own copy right now at bewarethecheese.com/treatsnbeasts/ or on Amazon.

Are We Running Out of Candy Ideas

This week's featured review was a little confusing. It's called a Kinder Card, but I'm not really sure what kind of card it's supposed to be. My first guess is a credit card, but it could also be a business card. Honestly, it really doesn't matter what kind of card it's supposed to be because I'm thinking that any kind of card is a silly shape for a candy. Candy and treats are supposed to be fun, but I'm not sure how much fun credit cards or business cards are. You can pretty much make treats into any shape, but someone thought that a card was the shape that kids would love.

Check out my review for this very oddly shaped treat.

A Little Insulting?

 The fact that they hired a slightly chubby kid for a commercial for a candy bar called Chubby might be a little offensive in some places.

The Most British Dessert

 

National dishes are a really hard thing to nail down in many countries. As a Canadian it seems that one of our national pastimes/arguments is to try and figure out what our national dish might be. Then you can get into the details of food when it comes to nationalities and try to figure out what a countries national dinner, breakfast, lunch or even dessert might be. I assure you that there are countries that look into it with that much detail, and people who are strong and proud of their national lunch.

Since this is a site dedicated to sweets and treats, I always try and figure out what a particular countries national candy or national dessert might be. Maybe I should be a little more politically correct and say that it’s their most (insert the name of a country) dessert or candy. On a recent trip to the UK, I think I might have figured out what is the most British dessert. I’ll be honest, I didn’t look into the history of this dessert, I simply thought about all of the times I’ve visited this part of the world and what I’ve found that is unique, always around, and who’s flavours really seem to represent the types of desserts they have at most places. This dessert has the added bonus of having a name that seems to suit the British English. I’m talking about sticky toffee pudding.

In all my travels I don’t think I’ve travelled anywhere else in the world that really celebrates sticky toffee pudding like the Brits. It’s not a special dessert by any stretch of the imagination, it’s an everywhere dessert. One could picture British royalty enjoying this dessert, but you can also find it in all of the pubs all over the country. From fine dinning restaurants to people’s kitchens, this is truly a dish that’s all over the UK.

The flavours of the dessert are also very in tune with the flavours of the UK as well. First of all it’s very sweet, and I’ll go on record to say that I find the British palette to be sweeter, rather than savoury. There’s also often raisins or dried fruit found in sticky toffee pudding. While dried fruit is not exclusively a British thing, it is very common in many of the cakes and desserts. The fact that there’s a cream added to this dessert is also a very British thing. It can be a warm cream or an ice cream, often vanilla, and a great accompaniment to this dessert.

Finally the name “sticky toffee pudding”, just sounds so English. More specifically it sounds like the English one speaks if you’re from the UK. While we might all use any or all of these words in other English speaking countries, the combination sounds very British.

Probably the most important reason that this could be the UK’s national dish is that no one on earth does it better. I’ve probably had dozens of sticky toffee puddings in my life, from finest to the restaurants to the local pubs and even from the grocery stores, and all of them taste great. There are some that are better than others, but I’ve had a hard time finding one I didn’t like in the UK.

I Learned Some Snack Facts

The most fun way to learn some facts about some of your favourite snacks, is to pick up my collection of mini comics filled with fun information about all the treats you love.

Pick up Snack facts at candycritic.org/snackfacts/buy.htm or on Amazon.

What's In A Name

When I first started candycritic.org I used to try and live by the idea of not reviewing the package, only the candy inside. Then as I got more and more deep into the candy world, I realized that it's not fair to the candy companies or the candy eater if I totally ignore the package as well. Today when I review a treat I do think a bit about the package when I write my review, but maybe not how you might think. First and foremost I never look at the fanciness of a package most of the time. More importantly I don't rank a candy down for having a cheaper package. The only exception is if this package affects the quality of the treat inside. I will take note of a candy company that gives a great deal of thought to their packaging, particularly when the package directly affects the candy. This can backfire as I've tasted several treats that have had amazing packages, only to fail with the candy. This latest review highlights another thing I look for when I look at candy packages, descriptions and claims. It's not uncommon for a candy company the give hints or even totally explain what this treat might be. Honestly if the description is very close or spot on, I probably won't mention it, but if it's off, I almost feel like the company is misleading me and that's not good.

Check out my latest review with a candy that seems like it's offering something that it's not.

Nips Are Magical... But It's Not What You Think

 I've tasted Nips (check out my review), and while the name is kind of inappropriate in English, the commercial's kind of cool.

Quick List - The Best Candies For Each Letter of the Alphabet - G-K

 A quick list of the best candies from each letter of the alphabet. This time we're going to be checking out A through F.

Check out all my review for every letter of the alphabet right now at www.candycritic.org/alphareview.htm

That Blue Orchid is Amazing

  Have you picked up the latest and greatest Blue Orchid comics (and merch)?

Make sure to check out all the cool stuff at bewarethecheese.com/blueorchid/ or on Amazon.

Simple Can Be Fantastic

The number of times I've been told that it's "just milk chocolate" and nothing spectacular is enormous. I feel like people truly believe that to have a "good" candy bar, you have to have a lot of ingredients. After years of taste testing candy, I can tell you that a simple treat done well can rival any fancy treat out there. If you've ever tasted a high quality vanilla ice cream, a hand made marshmallow, or a milk chocolate bar like the one I just reviewed, you too would understand how simple can be really great.

Check out my latest review featuring a bar that's simply milk chocolate.

Cool Or Be Cool

 I don't know what I'd prefer, a candy that can cool you down on a hot day, or a candy that can make a brightly coloured entourage that follows you around.