Candy Hunting: Holiday Assortments

Dum-Dums Holiday Pops

Flavors: Merry Cherry, Sugar Plum, Hot Chocolate, Sugar Cookie, Gingerbread, Apple Cider, Green Apple Grinch, and Polar Punch
Place found: Target
Price: $2.69

Jelly Belly Holiday Favorites

Flavors: Egg Nog, Candy Cane, Pumpkin Pie, Cranberry Sauce, and Hot Chocolate
Place found: Target
Price: $2.69

Ghirardelli Holiday Limited Edition Squares

Flavors: Egg Nog, Peppermint Bark, and Pumpkin Spice Caramel
Place found: Target
Price: $3.99

Links to more Holiday Candy Hunting: 

Part 1

Peeps (Part 2)

One Pound Candy Bars (Part 3)

Part 5

Ghirardelli Pumpkin Spice Caramel Squares

Place purchased: Walmart

Price: $4.99

Number of reviewers: 6

Appearance - 7.2

The Ghirardelli Pumpkin Spice Caramel Squares are sold in bags of 20 individually-wrapped squares. Each square has a glossy milk chocolate shell filled with a pumpkin spice flavored caramel containing visible flecks of spices. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.6

The caramel squares have a perfect balance of sweet caramel, milk chocolate, and spices. 

D: Yum! Good balance of pumpkin and spice. 

E: Spicy nutmeg/clove flavor dominates. Very rich.

E2: Cinnamon, nutmeg, pumpkin, caramel, sweet. Milk chocolate overpowers the caramel/pumpkin.

G: Nice amount of pumpkin flavor. Not too overpowering. 

N: Not much pumpkin. 

Texture - 7.4

The milk chocolate shell has a firm bite The caramel filling is very soft and runny, which could be a problem if the square is eaten in multiple bites. 

D: Could have more snap, but great. 

E: Crisp chocolate with good melt. Gooey center. 

E2: Smooth, creamy, not too hard or too soft. 

G: Very creamy texture. 

N: Sticky! 

Aftertaste - 6.8

The aftertaste is of milk chocolate and spices. 

D: Mmmmm.

E: Sweet, acidic, dairy, spicy. 

E2: Sweet, dairy/milk. 

G: Aftertaste is more from the chocolate flavor, can't taste any of the pumpkin flavor. 

N: Caramel mostly.  

Overall - 7.6

Overall, the Ghirardelli Pumpkin Spice Caramel Squares are the best pumpkin spice and chocolate combination I have tasted. Unlike most pumpkin spice chocolates, the milk chocolate in this application did not overpower the flavor of the spices. 

D: Love it! 

E: If you like chocolate caramels and fall spices, you'll like this. 

E2: Satisfied, very fall appropriate. 

G: I am not a pumpkin fan, but I love caramel and chocolate. And I love Ghirardelli.

N: More pumpkin! 

Lindt Creation Creme Brulee

Place purchased: Lindt Chocolate Shop 

Price: $5

Number of reviewers: 7

Appearance - 7.9

The Lindt Creation Creme Brulee bar is segmented into large, square pieces. The bar consists of milk chocolate and a cream-colored filling with occasional dark pieces of burnt sugar. The ingredients lists wafer pieces, which seem to be the same color as the cream filling. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.9

The bar tastes mostly sweet and milky until the flavor of the burnt sugar pieces is unleashed by biting into them. Then the taste becomes overwhelmingly bitter. Also, the wafer pieces impart a faint cardboard flavor. 

E: Flavor is weak and a little cardboard-y.
G: Great taste! Can taste the creme brulee filling very easily. 
J: Good, but not much stands out in terms of a different/distinguishing factor. 
S: Creamy - like custard. Has a slight burnt sugar note at the end.

Texture - 7.4

The chocolate and cream filling are both soft and rich. In contrast, the burnt sugar pieces are hard and crunchy, and the wafer pieces are slightly crispy. 

D: Would like more of a snap. 
E: Chocolate is too firm and filling is a bit too dense. 
G: Get a hint of crunch - reminiscent of creme brulee topping. 
J: I like the small/slight crunch that comes with the center fillings. 
S: Has crunchy pieces in it.

Aftertaste - 6.9

The aftertaste is very bitter from the burnt sugar. The cream center gives a less intense dairy flavor. 

D: Good quality milk chocolate for those who are into that kind of thing. 
E: Fatty, a little sour, and bitter caramel.
G: Great aftertaste of creme brulee. 
J: Milky, dairy. 
S: Burnt sugar and chocolate. 

Overall - 7.8

Overall, the burnt sugar pieces were incredibly bitter and diminished my liking of the bar despite its otherwise sweet and creamy flavor. If the Lindt Creation Creme Brulee bar contained caramelized sugar, rather than burnt sugar, like the ingredients list states, the bar would have tasted much better. 

D: Very tasty milk chocolate goes great with cream filling. 
E: Not a huge fan - aftertaste is a bit sour/bitter and the flavor and taste are lacking. 

Lindt Hello My Name Is Dark Chocolate Cookie

Place purchased: Target 

Price: $0.99

Number of reviewers: 3

Appearance - 7.8

The Lindt Dark Chocolate Cookie bar is segmented into six pieces. The bar consists of a dark chocolate shell with a thick dark chocolate filling studded with chocolate cookie pieces. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.7

The chocolate coating and filling both taste like chocolate halfway between milk and dark. The cookie pieces taste like slightly darker chocolate and add some bitterness. Though, the overall flavor of the bar is very one-note. 

C: Nice creamy dark chocolate that is the right amount of bitter and sweet. 
S: Good chocolate, slightly chalky and bitter. 

Texture - 7.8

The filling is incredibly rich, like chocolate ganache. The dense texture is juxtaposed by the abundant crunchy cookie bits in the filling. 

C: Very creamy, but velvety and smooth, and the cookies pieces add nice contrast. 
S: I like the crunchy pieces in it. 

Aftertaste - 7.3

The aftertaste is a combination of lingering sweetness and bitterness from the chocolate. 

C: Creamy chocolate. 
S: Slightly bitter. 

Overall - 7.7

The Lindt Hello My Name Is Dark Chocolate Cookie bar has a good chocolate flavor between milk and dark chocolate and an enjoyable textural contrast between the rich filling and cookie pieces. Essentially, this chocolate bar is a dark chocoalte Lindt Lindor bar with bits of chocolate cookie. Quite delicious. 

C: Super yummy! 

Lindt Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel

Place purchased: Target 

Price: $0.99

Number of reviewers: 3

Appearance - 8.0

The 39 g Lindt Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel bar is segmented into six piece. The milk chocolate pieces are filled with a very liquid caramel. Target also sells a larger 100 g Lindt Salted Caramel bar. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.8

The strong butterscotch-like flavor of the caramel predominates over the flavor of the milk chocolate. Though, the sweetness of the chocolate comes through and offers a nice balance to the saltiness of the caramel filling. 

C: Yummy creamy milk chocolate, nice caramel flavor that has a little bit of sour to it, which is nice contrast to the chocolate. 
S: So rich, creamy and milky caramel, didn't really get salt though. 

Texture - 6.7

The caramel filling is incredibly runny. The textural contrast between the filling and the milk chocolate is pleasant while eating the bar, however it does not work well during storage. Over the course of a day, the caramel in the uneaten half of the bar had completely leaked out of the chocolate. I was left with chocolate shells in puddles of caramel. 

C: Soft and creamy. The caramel is very soft. 
S: Creamy caramel. 

Aftertaste - 7.5

The aftertaste is the lingering flavor of caramel and milk chocolate, along with the saltiness of the caramel. 

C: Caramel and creamy mouthfeel. 

Overall - 7.7

Overall, I enjoyed the intensity of the salted caramel flavor and contrasting textures of the Lindt Hello My Name Is Salted Caramel bar. I think this bar is a great addition to the Lindt Hello My Name Is line. Though, I would recommend either eating the chocolate bar in one sitting or positioning the remainder of the bar in a way that the caramel cannot leak out. 

Lindt Ice Tiramisu

Place purchased: Lindt Chocolate Shop 

Price: $5

Number of reviewers: 5

Appearance - 7.4

The Lindt Tiramisu bar has a dual layer filling comprised of a chocolate coffee layer above a white mascarpone layer. The bar is encased in milk chocolate. 

E: Looks like a pillow of chocolate. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.7

While chewing, the chocolate bar initially has very little flavor, just sweetness. Then a strong mocha and mascarpone/creamy flavor hit. The combination of mocha and mascarpone tastes incredibly similar to tiramisu.  

C: Coffee, creamy but weird off-note. 
E: Flavor builds slowly, but ultimately achieves the rich coffee flavor of tiramisu.  
S: Tastes like a tiramisu cake! Very complex flavor. Delicious! 

Texture - 7.7

The fillings are very thick, almost fudge-like. The chocolate layer contains small pieces which add a nice crunchiness to counter the rich filling. 

C: Creamy, but not too much.
E: Filling is a little too dense, has a nice crunch though. 
S: Creamy, with little crunchy pieces. 

Aftertaste - 6.8

The aftertaste initially tastes like mocha. Then the coffee flavor fades to result in a sweet and creamy milk chocolate flavor. 

C: Creamy but that fruity aftertaste still stays in my mouth. 
E: Aftertaste is a little bitter- probably due to coffee flavor. 
L2: Intense coffee flavor/benzaldehyde. 
S: Cake and cream.

Overall - 7.5

The prominent mocha and mascarpone flavors make the Lindt Ice Tiramisu bar stand out from other tiramisu chocolate bars. Finally, a tiramisu bar that actually tastes like tiramisu. 

Despite the remarkable flavor of the Lindt Tiramisu bar, the bar contained a concerning ingredient: apricot kernels. Apricot and peach kernels contain a high amount of a compound called amygdalin, which is converted in the body to benzaldehyde (an almond/cherry flavor compound found in amaretto) and hydrogen cyanide (a very toxic compound). I am assuming Lindt used benzaldehyde converted from amygdalin extracted out of the apricot kernels, but the fact that the apricot kernels are still listed as being present in the chocolate is disconcerting. 

Candy Hunting - New Summer Products, Part 4

Peeps Pops

Available in Vanilla Creme, Party Cake, and Sour Watermelon flavors. 
Place found: Target 
Price: $2.49

New Lindt 'Hello My Name Is' bars

Dark Chocolate Cookie and Salted Caramel (review)
Place found: Target 
Price: $2.79 for 100 g, $0.99 for 39 g

Lindt Lindor Citrus Truffles 

A Target Exclusive
Price: $3.99