Kinder Surprise review

Well, Easter may be over but we've got one more bonus Easter review for you today. We're actually going to have a look at the one and only Kinder Surprise.



and part 2 showing the toy!


Walking the Candy Aisle rates Kinder Surprise - 4 / 5

Now I should make it clear, I am really no huge Kinder expert, but I like the egg, and this review was really based for the most part on the chocolate, and the presentation / packaging etc; but NOT on the specific toy included. The fact that they are pretty much uniformly cool toys is a bonus though.

Kinder as I said, is a Ferrero product, but you can find more about them at their online presence - . And for more reviews please head on over to our Reviews Page, or feel freel to just browse the Easter Candy Playlist on YouTube. Expect an Easter wrap up post later this week. until then, don;t forget to check the aisle for some remainders :)

Kinder Mini Eggs review

Almost there... today we're having a look at what actually turns out to be the first Kinder product I've tackled here on Walking the Candy Aisle, its the Kinder Mini Eggs.



Walking the Candy Aisle rates Kinder Mini Eggs - 4 / 5

As I said, Kinder is an arm of the Ferrero company, and you can find out more about them at their site right here. For more Easter reviews please check out our YouTube page or keep it locked here. One more special Easter review coming on Easter morning, so stick with us!

Valentine's Bites

Well tomorrow is the big day, and since I'm going to be giving you a review tomorrow I'll just say it now. Happy Valentines Day to all of you who love that sort of thing.

For me, I find Valentines a bit meh. I mean I have lots of great people I love in my life, but the artificial stuff involved in the holiday is so tough. Its not like Christmas where you can have general goodwill and love towards everyone. This is such a specific holiday with such specific and strange cultural rules. Its hard to pick something out, I mean the right thing out. Its tough if you're alone, its tough if you're in a new relationship, its tough if you're in a long term relationship. In fact the only people I think Valentines is great for are the people in that honeymoon phase of a relationship where being cheesily romantic is totally acceptable. For everyone else Valentines can be a tough time.

I do like the candy though, even if oher than box chocolate the shelves are a bit bare. I'm giving you only one Valentine themed review this year. Maybe I'll have time for more next year, but for now you'll get something from me tomorrow, and then we'll move onto Easter.

Today though I've got a few last minute Valentine bites I wanted to share from the candy aisle.

 

I don't know why but I'm always surprised to see Mrs Fields outside of the mall food court. And doubly so when its not in a cookie context. These are straight up Mrs Fields chocolates. Now I know they sell these chocolates in the actual stores... but really who is going to a Mrs Fields for the chocolates?!

Honestly it sounds like a pretty great selection of flavors. I'd probably pick the Strawberry Truffle as my go to chocolate here.

This has to be my pick for the school kid who is being forced to give something to all his classmates. Smarties are awesome and I appreciate packaging that lets me conveniently address it to and from.

Finally, these Kinder eggs are actually pretty awesome. They break apart into solo eggs, so this pack is good for 4 friends, and a Kinder is one of those things that everyone really enjoys but hardly anyone actually buys for themselves. I totally dig it as a gift and despite the fact that these Valentines are packaged with 2012 toys I'd still get it for the people I love.

Anyhow, I hope you all have a great Valentines Day tomorrow. I definitely encourage you all to tell someone you love them. And check in tomorrow for a fun Valentines review.

XOXOXO

Easter's Revenge

Well here we are once again. It was just over a year ago that I started Walking the Candy Aisle and I again find myself faced with an aisle full of Easter Eggs. Valentines hasn't even happened yet and already Easter is taking over!

There are definitely some things to be happy about with Easters return. Cream eggs for one! I love me some good ol' cream eggs, and I'm interested to see what's different now that I'm living in Canada rather than the States for the holiday.

Already I'm seeing a few differences even in the standard Cadbury fare.

Look at this selection and you'll see some interesting things.

Mini Creme Eggs! yes, those are not Mini Eggs, but actual creme eggs only shrunk down!!! I can't wait to get my hands on those!

Cadbury Caramilk Egg... does this mean I won't get my beloved Caramel Creme Egg?! How similar is this to that??? Very interesting.

These come in mini size as well.

 

And check this out, a variety pack of mini eggs, featuring straight up Cadbury Dairy Milk Eggs. Very interesting... Do you suppose its solid milk chocolate?

Nestle Canada also has an interesting selection with yet another redesigned Aero bar. This time its an egg. Not to be outdone they also have a Rolo egg. Yes thats right a ROLO egg!

What actually has me most intrigued though is this adorable little mint mutton chop.

Why aren't there more lambs at Easter? seems like a good fit for the holiday.

While Kinder has always come in eggs, here are some actual honest to goodness chocolate filled ones from the company. I have to say I haven't explored much of Kinder's line outside the toy filled egg, but I'm interested to take a dip soon.

I believe Kinder has had these malted (?) mini eggs for a few years now, but I just noticed the cute little bunny mascot for the first time.

And finally Lindt. Aside from the full sized Lindor eggs that I mentioned a few weeks ago, they've also got these cute little Lindor mini eggs... Doesn't it seem like everyone is on the egg bandwagon these days?

I'll have some Easter reviews coming up for you in the weeks ahead, and yes I will have at least one Valentine's review for those lovesick readers out there. Stay tuned all. The Holidays just keep on coming and so does the candy and chocolate! And for those of you who can't wait, check out all of last years Easter themed video reviews right here!

More Christmas in the Aisle

I just can't help posting some more fun pics from the Christmas displays of candy and chocolates, it all looks so good!

 

Lots of goodies to check out here!

First ghost shapes at Halloween, and now skates for Christmas. How very Canadian of them. However, with everything thats going on with the NHL right now, it might upset some people...

 Look at that great Toblerone Christmas wrapping. I love over-sized chocolates and Toblerone is the king!

 Kinder has a nice display, although I'm not sure about the dolls. But just look at that Santa Claus. Seriously that is some Christmas magic right there :)

Berries grow in winter right? I guess in Sweden they do...

Cute Kisses packaging :)

 Hershey also has re-molded and re-packaged their milk chocolate, and cookies 'n cream bars with fun holiday designs. Very cool. I especially like Frosty, he looks like the old Frosty cartoon version.

Toblerone, and Lindtgift boxes to wrap it out. There certainly is a lot of Christmas cheer in the Candy Aisle this year!

It's Begining to Look A Lot...

Like Christmas Candy time!!!

I was of course wandering down the aisle this week, and my goodness the Christmas stuff is out already!

There's some good stuff out already, but I expect more to be hitting the shelves around town soon. I picked up a few select goodies for review here, and you can expect some great stuff coming down the pipe for the holidays here at Walking the Candy Aisle. Starting most significantly with double reviews from now until Christmas. One regular and one Holiday themed (at least through November). Then I may switch over full time to Xmas candy.

A few specific Holiday treats jumped out at me that I thought I'd share.

Nice Kinder packaging here.  I'm thinking about kicking off the new year doing some stuff on Kinder here on the blog. Maybe now's the time to dig in.

I've been seeing these 3-Dees all over the place lately, but they just seem so dumb that I've been trying to avoid them. I mean fruit gummies come and go every day... are these so different? Anyhow, these certainly got the licenses.

Now here's a gift box I'd like to receive!

You knew it had to happen right. I mean the Angry Birds are EVERYWHERE!

I get that Mini Eggs are everywhere now, but why exactly are they Christmas themed??? What animal lays its eggs in the middle of winter?! That seems totally reckless for both chickens and rabbits.

Hooray for alcohol chocolates! Both Lindt and Baileys themselves have gotten into the game. Awesome. I can't wait to try (and review) these for the blog!

Something that could surely only be made and sold in Canada, the Reese Half Pound Peanut Butter Cup!!! Holy Moly that's a big peanut butter cup!

Zami launching into competition with Kinder comes out swinging with these holiday themed Winne the Pooh ornaments inside milk chocolate eggs! Is this a good idea or a terrible one?

And holiday themed Kit Kats. These are essentially just Kit Kat minis (the same size as the 2 stick ones) but they've got a picture of jolly old Saint Nick on them. I picked one of these up immediately.

 Very cute. I like the smile, and the mittens.

Weird thing to break a kit kat across the middle... but that's how this was designed. Still tastes just as good though :)

I'm looking forward to a great Christmas here on the Candy Aisle blog. I hope you'll stick with me and enjoy the festive season!

Walking the Canadian Candy Aisle

A few weeks ago I took a little vacation back up to the Great White North and visited some family. A great time was had by all, but I didn't get away without checking into the local Shoppers Drug Mart and seeing what candy there was to see. Seeing as today is the Victoria Day holiday in Canada I thought now would be a good time to share what I saw.

I've been a Canadian transplant living in the States for about 8 years now and my memory isn't always as reliable as it should be so I was interested to look with a more discerning eye specifically to see what candy and chocolates are to be found walking the Canadian candy aisle. Sure there are a few items that cross over from the States up to Canada but I was surprised to see really how few there were, particularly when a lot of them are from the same companies.

Let's start though by having a look at the big British player in Canada that you don't often find Stateside: Cadbury.

These of course are the standard Cadbury classics, Milk chocolate, and Milk Chocolate with Fruit & Nut. Most Americans will be familiar with these only probably not in this small bar size.

 Caramilk has always been a favorite of mine. The name says it all, milk chocolate and caramel. The combination is great, the caramel is really gooey, but the design is smart and lets you eat it in squares and stay clean. As for the Caramilk Secrets and Thick. These are new iterations of the bar to me, and I'd be interested to try them.

Crunchie is one that a lot of people will have tried. Its such a unique candy bar that its definitely made the rounds. If you're not familiar, its a golden honey flavored sponge toffee covered in milk chocolate. Really one of a kind.

For the life of me I can't remember what a Mr Big actually tastes like, but I know there was a very brief period where I counted it as one of my favorites. I think it's a combination of wafer and peanuts AND rice crispies that makes it original. Its also apparently the biggest candy bar produced by Cadbury. Great bang for the buck.

I've already talked about my love for Wunderbar on the blog before. If you have a chance this is definitely not one to miss.

In my mind Crispy Crunch is up there alongside Coffee Crisp and Crunchie as one of the best and most popular Canadian chocolate bars. It's got a snap and flaky-ness similar to Butterfinger, but is more about the textured experience rather than butterfingers melty goo.

These small sized Clusters are new to me as well, but the entire trend of making bite sized chocolate pieces has only gotten big in the past few years so I suppose my missing out on them isn't too surprising. I'm not exactly sure what the simply titled Clusters is exactly, since as far as I know there isn't a full sized chocolate bar associated with it. I'll have to check it out when I get a chance.

The other big player in the (mass produced) Canadian chocolate market is Nestlé. Oddly though, other than a few crossovers like KitKat and Crunch, they have a wildly different group of products available in Canada than they do in the States. Lets have a look.

Does this exist in the States??? Looks delicious!

The "real" Smarties Kind of like original M&Ms. Their tag line back in the day was "when you eat your smarties, do you eat the red ones last?" Good stuff :)

 Kit Kat is everywhere. Feel free to check out my review.

Never one of my favorites I can see why some people like Aero bars. The chocolate is light and its definitely the most airy chocolate bar I've ever had. I've had the original and mint, but never seen the dark chocolate version before.

Coffee Crisp is a true classic.If you like coffee and chocolate, you'll love this bar.

More bites. This time for Coffee Crisp and KitKat, yum!

Another nougat, peanut and caramel bar. A commenter recently posted on the WTCA Youtube channel that this bar is akin to Baby Ruth, and I'd kind of agree. Apparently this one is available in limited quantities in the States.

There are of course a few outliers and some that I didn't get to like the ever popular Mars Bar, and for coconut fans Bounty. I've never had a Mars Caramel before...

 

 Hershey does have a presence in Canada, its just overshadowed by Cadbury and Nestle. I thought this Cookies 'n' Mint bar sounded good, and I don't believe its anything I've seen here in California.

 Yes Kinder is big in Canada too. But they're much more prevalent than they seem to be down south.

While I'm not particularly familiar with Kerr's. Scoth Mints in general are really popular in Canada. They're kind of the same size and shape as a Mentos, but full on mint, with a bit more of a chalky flavor. They're really good and I'd recommend you try some.

 The only other group of candy that I had to mention here is one you'll see not just walking down Canadian candy aisles, but also in movie theaters, and corner stores. Maynards is the brand behind the popular Wine Gums. But they've also got a lot of other 'theater' style candies.

I'm mostly used to getting thee in the rolls instead of this kind of big bag, but even though I've had these a lot of times and always want to like them, I never seem to...

 

 Love the Swedish Berries, the only thing that tops them is Swedish fish ;) I'm not a huge watermelon fan, but these sour ones are very good.

 Never had the Cherry Blasters and I don't really intend to. BUT I love Fuzzy Peaches.

 Yuck.

I'm about to say something controversial but I stand by it. Gummy bears are simply not as good as gummy worms. 

I'm sure there's more if you look in other stores, but that  was all I saw that stood out while walking the Canadian candy aisle. Let me know what you like in other countries. And I have a feeling we'll be seeing more Canadian candy and chocolates here on WTCA in the coming months.