Candy Blog

While Trader Joe’s has been pouring on the pumpkin around their stores, they haven’t forgotten about one of their other core flavors: Speculoos. Their newest item is their Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Speculoos Cookie Butter Cups.

There are a few spice mix flavors that are popular right now: Chai Spice, Gingerbread and Pumpkin Spice. Another one would be Speculoos. The odd thing about the Speculoos flavor is that it’s not just the mild cinnamon and nutmeg mix which is similar to Pumpkin Spice and Gingerbread, it includes the actual cookie. The Speculoos cookie is a crispy butter cookie with some brown sugar notes along with the mild spice. I grew up eating Speculoos, though I didn’t know it by that name, they were just called Windmill Spice Cookies.

The tub holds 11 ounces of foil wrapped cups. This quantity doesn’t fill the tub completely, but it’s true to its weight. The cups are wrapped in gold foil, and inside each little piece does not actually have a fluted paper cup like the dark chocolate Peanut Butter Cups which come in a similar format. Each cup is about 11 grams, basically the same size as a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Miniature.

Trader Joe’s also offered up a bar version of the Cookie Butter in dark chocolate a couple of years ago. That bar was made with Belgian chocolate in Belgium. This version is made in Canada (the Peanut Butter Cups that Trader Joe’s sells are made in the USA, which might also explain some of the small cosmetic differences.)

INGREDIENTS: Dark Chocolate (Unsweetened Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin [Emulsifier], Natural Vanilla Extract), Speculoos Spread (57% Speculoos [Wheat Flour, Sugar, Margarine {Palm and Rapeseed Oil}, Water, Emulsifier {Mono-and Diglycerides of Fatty Acids}, Citric Acid, Sugar Syrup, Sodium Bi-Carbonate], Salt, Cinnamon), Palm and Rapeseed Oil, Sugar, Emulsifier (Soy Lecithin), Spices, Citric Acid, Hazelnuts, Skimmed Milk Powder, Cocoa Butter. CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK, SOY, HAZELNUTS. MAY CONTAIN PEANUTS, EGG & OTHER TREE NUTS.

They smell lightly spicy, like cloves and cinnamon. The cups are shiny and nicely formed. The bite is easy, the center is soft and mostly creamy. It’s not as crumbly as a peanut butter cup can be, with a much creamier texture. The chocolate isn’t overpowered by the center, the chocolate flavors are well balanced with a berry/fruit note and a little dry finish to the quite slick melt. The cookie butter center is not overly sweet, not overly grainy. There are a few little bits of cookie, but for the most part it’s more like a batter than a paste. 

They’re not completely peanut free, so it’s not like these are a great option for those with allergies. But if you’re a lover of candy cups but don’t actually like Peanut Butter, this might be what you’ve been searching for. I think it’s a unique new product and look forward to more cupification of Trader Joe’s products, such as the new Cookies and Creme Cookie Butter.

Related Candies

1. Flipz Gingerbread Flavor Covered Pretzels
2. Russell Stover Santas: Gingerbread, Peppermint and Maple
3. M&Ms Milk Chocolate Gingerbread
4. Twix Gingerbread
5. Trader Joe’s Chocolate Covered Sea Salt Butterscotch Caramels
6. Peeps Gingerbread Men
7. Trader Joe’s Les Chocolats Belgique (Belgian Bars): Caramel, Chocolate Buttercream & Speculoos
8. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Name: M&Ms Crispy
Brand: Mars
Description: New M&M’S® Crispy Chocolate Candies feature a unique, crispy center covered in creamy milk chocolate, enclosed in a colorful candy shell. This crispy, crunchy and delicious treat is the texture and flavor variety consumers seek in their snack repertoire. Mars Chocolate first introduced this flavor variant as a limited-edition item in 1998, and consumers have been asking for its return via Facebook, online petitions and phone calls.
Introduction Date: January 2015
Notes: This is one of those instances where people have said they want a product to return, and now a lot of other brands are going to check back to see if the sales will support its permanent return. With lower-calorie snacking in vogue, this crispy version is filled with air and less fat, so it may get more snackers who weren’t even buying chocolate snacks.

Name: 3 Musketeers Mint Bites
Brand: Mars
Description: Each bite-sized piece features dark chocolate enrobing mint-flavored nougat, with the classic fluffiness consumers love about 3 MUSKETEERS® Bar.
Introduction Date: November 2014
Notes: I’ve been waiting for this. Nope, correction, I’ve been waiting for them to discontinue the mint bar, I’m glad to see they’re doubling down with the Bites version.

Name: TWIX Creamy Peanut Butter Cookie Bars
Brand: Mars
Description: The #1 consumer request among TWIX® Brand fans was to “bring back the classic cookie” - so the new recipe includes a traditional crunchy, flavorful TWIX® Cookie Bar instead of a chocolate cookie.
Introduction Date: January 2015
Notes: Back in 2007 Mars changed the Peanut Butter Twix a bit, by taking out the standard cookie and putting in a chocolate cookie. Both were good, but apparently, like the Crispy M&Ms, the die hard fans of the original wanted it back. (I’m wondering where the Cookies ‘n Creme Twix is, then.)

Name: Snickers Mixed Nuts Bar
Brand: Mars
Description: Mix it up with SNICKERS® Brand Mixed Nuts Bar—a satisfying mix of peanuts, almonds and hazelnuts combined with SNICKERS® Brand caramel and nougat, all coated with creamy milk chocolate.
Introduction Date: November 2015
Notes: Why is this taking so long! 2015? ... I want it now! (It will also be a limited edition item.)

Name: Toblerone Crushed Corn
Brand: Mondelez (Kraft)
Description: Aimed at strengthening Toblerone’s position in the confectionery category, Toblerone Crushed Corn is said to deliver a new taste and texture experience. The 400g bar combines Swiss milk chocolate with almond and honey nougat and pieces of crunchy roasted corn. It will be introduced to travel retail locations in October following an exclusive pre-launch in Gebr Heinemann’s stores, including Frankfurt, Copenhagen, Berlin, Hamburg, Cologne, Vienna and Oslo airports. 
Introduction Date: October 2014
Notes: The name is certainly unique, but perhaps not enticing. Still, I enjoy the combination of corn flakes and even corn nuts with chocolate.

Name: Temple Run Gummies
Brand: Mount Franklin Foods LLC dba Sunrise Confections
Description: This new gummy treat ties into the popular mobile game. It features six delicious Temple Run gummy icons in a variety of colors and fruity flavors including: apple, cherry, lemon, orange, pineapple, and blue raspberry.
Introduction Date: September 2014
Notes: It’s not a new trend, by any stretch, for candy companies to make versions of popular products in shapes to tie into a video game. In this case the little shapes fit well with gummi production technology. But aside from the box and the little shapes, I don’t see why I’d pay extra for a licensing fee when I could just buy really good gummis.

Name: Haribo Sour Gold-Bears
Brand: Haribo of America, Inc
Description: The number one selling Gummi Bear in America now SOUR!
Introduction Date: October 2014
Notes: It’s so odd that Haribo hasn’t introduced sour sanded bears since just about every other gummi brand does make them. I’m looking forward to seeing them in stores, since the texture of Haribo is so different from the American “juicy” style.

Name: Taffy Flipstick Bars
Brand: The Warrell Corp
Description:
The original Flipstick Taffy now comes in a bar! It’s available in four delicious flavors, including: Wild Cherry, Sour Apple, Sour Blue Raspberry, and Watermelon. .5 ounce each, 25 cents per bar.
Introduction Date: September 2014
Notes: Taffy seems to be back in vogue, and a lot of companies are going for the bar format instead of the hunks that are twisted at the ends.

There probably isn’t a store as pumpkinfused as Trader Joe’s around this time of year. They have a mix of actual pumpkin items and some that are just utilizing the pumpkin spice array. Happily here’s a new candy from Trader Joe’s that has a little of both: Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Seed Brittle Dusted with Sugar and Pumpkin Pie Spice. See, it’s not pumpkin flesh that’s in there, it’s the pumpkin seeds.

The quaint box holds a simple plastic bag filled with a stack of roughly broken brittle pieces. The picture on the box does represent the contents well.

What I found most alluring was that this list of ingredients actually said which pumpkin pie spices they were using: cinnamon, ginger, lemon peel, nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. (I find it interesting that cloves is plural.)

The smell of the brittle is dominated by cinnamon, but there’s a sugary, buttery component as well. The pieces vary in size, some as big as three inches long, others are just little shards. They’re coated in mostly-sugar dusting of spices. There are pumpkin seeds embedded in there, but not as many as I would have liked, it’s mostly candy.

The bite is easy, as the pieces are pretty thin. The sugar gets everywhere, though it does a good job of sticking to the brittle as well. The effect of the whole thing, probably because of the easy crunch and sanding is more like a cookie. It’s crunchy and sweet, with a nice balance of textures between the smooth toffee-like brittle (which contains dairy ingredients) and the chewy seeds and grainy sugar. The pumpkin spices are balanced, though it smells like cinnamon, the more nutty and woodsy flavors of the nutmeg and cardamom come through along with a light warmth from the ginger and cinnamon. The lemon keeps it all bright.

It’s simple to enjoy a piece, and it goes well with some nice strong coffee or a cup of tea, just like a cookie would. I would still like more pepitas in there.

The candy contains dairy, corn and wheat ingredients and may also contain traces of peanuts, pecans, almonds, cashews and coconut.

Related Candies

1. Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Pumpkin Spice Salted Caramels
2. Ovation Mint Filled & Pumpkin Spice Oranges
3. M&Ms Pumpkin Spice
4. Trader Joe’s Almondictive Bits
5. Las Trojes Pepitoria Brittles
6. See’s Pumpkin Spice & Root Beer Lollypops

Ah, the classic box of chocolates. Each little piece is like a gift unto itself, the chocolate wrapping holds a sweet treasure inside.

These are Thornton’s Classics, a mostly milk chocolate assortment from the United Kingdom. They’re tasty, but sadly the high heat of Southern California has not been kind to them, so I’ll need to get a hold of more someday for a proper review.

Brach’s, which calls itself “America’s Candy Maker” has been busy churning out new varieties of their classic candies as well as their original line of goodies. When I saw all the fun new things they were coming out with, I search and searched my local stores. When I couldn’t find them, CandyWarehouse.com was good enough to help me out by providing some samples for me.

The new Brach’s Triple Fruit Gummies are an interesting take on the divisive seasonal icon. They’re traditional gummis in the classic candy corn shape (as the package notes with a picture to remind me how it looks) and come in three layers of flavor: lemon, orange and cherry.

Brach’s did have what they said were gummi candy corn about 5 years ago, they were really little jelly candies in different fruit flavors. That particular bag of Brach’s Gummi Candy Corn I found was available in trick or treat packaging, but I’m not certain if these Triple Fruit Gummies are available that way.

The size is the same as a standard candy corn kernel. They stand easily, as they don’t have a slight convex base, instead it’s slightly concave and creates a pretty good flat rim. The pieces are layered, just like fondant style candy corn, though these are much more vividly colored. The base is a hot pink (cherry) the middle is orange and the top is yellow (lemon). The layers are pretty diffuse, so it’s a slow mixing of the colors instead of distinct bands. The gummis smell like fruit punch and a little like cherry.

They’re soft, which is a nice texture for a gummi, but odd for these colors because they’re rather fleshy looking because of the opaque quality. The flavor is overall tart with a light fruity note. The cherry permeates the whole thing, though there is a less cherry note on the top layers, I wasn’t getting the citrus that I thought the description promised.

They’re decent, certainly fun looking, but not the flavor of gummis I actually wanted. It’s a good effort on the edge of the candy corn sphere of confections. Brach’s undeniably makes a nice candy corn, but this isn’t candy corn, except in shape. It’s missing all the other qualities in texture, subtlety and divisiveness.

Related Candies

1. Albanese Rainforest Gummi Frog
2. Candy Crush: Mixed Fruit and Sour Gummies
3. Sugarfina: The Gummis
4. Life Savers Gummies Spooky Shapes
5. Trolli Gummi Bear-Rings
6. Brach’s Gummi Candy Corn
7. Disney Pixie Perfect Gummies
8. Brach’s Chocolate Candy Corn & Halloween Mix
9. Big Bite Gummy Bear