Mr. Owl's Eggs? - Tootsie Roll Eggs

Tootsie Roll Eggs - Dollar Tree

Tootsie Rolls are one of those products I never think to buy on their own, but I am always happy to see it in a candy dish or in a seasonal candy bag. They're simple, chewy, chocolatey, and unlike other candies, they still taste exactly how I remember them. (Can't say the same about Crunch bars or Buncha Crunch, have you guys eaten those lately? What the heck happened to it?!)

Other than a few new flavors of Tootsie Pops over the years, like banana, pomegranate and others, there hasn't been much innovation to their product line. Which is why these Tootsie Eggs, essentially Tootsie Rolls with a crispy sugary shell, were so intriguing. Would it drastically change my opinion on the candy? After all, I'm a sucker for a crispy shell. I love chicklet-style gum, I love the candy shell on Cadbury eggs, m&m's, and the Reese's cup with Reese's Pieces mixed in is phenomenal. Probably my favorite new thing Reese's has done in the last 5 years. So, why not see what a crispy shell can do for a classic like Tootsie. 

Sneaking Easter Candy into the Year-Round Scene

Big Chewy Nerds - Dollar Tree

I spotted these at Dollar Tree and thought they looked awfully familiar... I'm pretty sure they're just Nerds Jellybeans, rebranded, for year-round snacking. They have the same premise: chewy center, crisp candy shell, and they come in the same flavors/colors. 

Even if they are a re-packaging, I've never reviewed Nerds jelly beans, and for a dollar? Why not check them out?

Today on: Things That Promise to Taste Like Other Things

Krispy Kreme Doughnut Jelly Belly Beans - Five Below

As a kid, my grandparents always had jelly beans in their house, but they were either Brach's fruit or spiced flavors, and I was perfectly fine with that, until we discovered Jelly Belly. Flavors like strawberry jam and chocolate pudding blew Brach's out of the water. There was no going back. I remember my mom would buy the large variety boxes of jelly beans with "recipes" printed on the lid and we'd have fun mixing and matching flavors to create new experiences, which was a completely new concept. It was like something out of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. 

Now-a-days, I appreciate Jelly Belly's contributions to the candy world, but their products just don't "wow" me like they used to. Maybe all their competition catching up to them with the wacky flavor and mixing trend is drowning out their achievements, maybe their products just aren't as good as they used to be, or maybe my adult taste-buds are just harder to impress. All legitimate factors, but I just don't feel excitement for this brand anymore.

Starburst Ice Cream Jelly Beans - AKA Candy-Coated-LIES

Starburst Ice Cream Jelly Beans - Target $1.99 (on sale) 

I've been against this mix since the day CandyHunting spotted it on the showroom floor. Sure, "Ice Cream Starburst Jelly Beans," may sound great, but this is all flash with no substance.

Look at these flavors! We've got: lemon sorbet, strawberry, orange sherbet, and red raspberry. I like sorbet and sherbet as much as anyone, but they are NOT ice cream. Not only is this mix poorly named, but it's (almost) completely unoriginal! With the exception of red raspberry, these flavors are re-named repeats from the original Starburst jelly bean line-up. I declare shenanigans!

I planned on going with my gut, and leaving this product on the shelves, but...I'm a sucker for a bargain. These were on sale at Target for $1.99, so though it'd be interesting to see if my gut feeling about this product was on-the-money.

Mike and Ike Throwback Flavors from Dollar Tree

Mike and Ike Throwback Flavors - Dollar Tree

I hope you all had a wonderful holiday weekend! Mine was great, but INTENSE. We're talking 4-days of non-stop family gatherings, cooking meals, and gift giving. It's fun, but I need a minimum of 2-days of no make-up and sweatpants to recover before the New Year festivities begin.

Since the flaming garbage heap that is 2016 is nearly over, I thought I should try and do a bit of stash busting to make room for new year goodies. First to the foodie chopping block? Some retro throwback flavors from Mike and Ike.

Jelly Belly Bubbly, Champagne Jelly Beans - Target

Jelly Belly Bubbly, Champagne Jelly Beans - Target

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams... but in jelly bean form, and without the caviar. So really, just champagne jelly beans. That's still kind of fancy, right? Who would want caviar flavored jellybeans anyway? (The answer is Jelly Belly.) 

When I was in New York for the Summer Fancy Food Show I got to try (literally) one of these jelly beans, and from what I remembered, this flavor was really tasty and far better than the Jelly Belly Draft beans which I reviewed HERE. 

Since I liked them, I wanted to find more to review, but these shimmery little beans were nowhere to be found! I could only find the equally shimmery Draft Beer beans, and we all know I wasn't a fan of those. Completely at random, this tiny champagne bottle shaped container popped up in Target's Christmas candy aisle, so even though I have a massive hoarded pile of food on my hands, I bought this anyway. (Which is how hoarding works people! It's a slippery slope!) 

Gourmet Jelly Beans (18 flavors) - Trader Joe's

Gourmet Jelly Beans (18 flavors) - Trader Joe's

Here's another treat I picked up in preparation of our most recent Candyology 101 podcast. (Which was Trader Joe's themed.) For my podcast "homework" I walked up and down the aisles of Trader Joe's and tossed every candy that caught my eye into my cart. (Best homework EVER!) I picked a few that I thought I might dislike, just to have something to talk about, but for the most part I didn't have a strong opinion one way or another. I saw these jelly beans and figured, "why not?" So into the cart they went and now I'm here reviewing it! (Such an exciting backstory, right?)

Jelly Belly Draft Beans (Beer Flavored Jelly Beans) Video Review

Here's a short video review! Watch my sister and I eat beer flavored jelly beans and act like complete babies about it.

Candyology101 Episode 11: JELLY BEANS! (Easter Part 2)

Our Easter show was too big for one podcast, so we split it into two! In episode 10 Cybele and I discussed all the chocolatey goodies you'll be wanting in your Easter baskets, the classic Chocolate Easter bunny, and I tried Mystery Peeps on air. Today's show focuses more on our favorite Easter candies and another iconic Easter treat, Jelly beans!

Tune in (do people even say that anymore?) and find out what jelly beans you should scoop up after the holidays.

(Click the Candyology link to see all the different items we talk about in this podcast and find out where you can buy it!)

Meet the cast:

Cybele from Candy Blog

Maria (Me) from Sometimes Foodie

Listen to the player above, check us out on Stitcher, or you can download the MP3 file. If you want to subscribe to the show, it’s available on iTunes and via RSS.

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

Like Sometimes Foodie's Facebook page to keep up with all my foodie adventures!

Starburst Crazy Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Starburst Crazy Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

I bought way too many jelly beans this year. In the grand food blogger sense I only bought 6 different kinds to review, which doesn't sound like an awful lot, but I eat everything I buy. So, in that sense, 6 packages of jelly beans is a LOT for a small household that contains more pets than it does people.

Individually packaged candies are a lot easier for me to toss into a bag and share with others while I'm out and about, but jelly beans are more of a candy-dish kind of sweet, and having candy-dishes when you live with three cats...is not the best idea in the world.

Sweetarts Jelly Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Sweetarts Jelly Beans- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Sweetarts are one of my mother's favorite candies, so growing up we always had a theather-style box sitting in a pantry ready for movie-night munching. Between the three of us (my mother, my sister and I), we each had our favorites and we'd easily finish off the box. Since Sweetarts have a special place in my heart, I had to try these jelly beans to see if they were bean-worthy, or not.

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Starburst Sweet & Sour Jelly Bean Mix- Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

After the Sour Patch beans ended up being a flop I moved on to another supposedly sour take on this seasonal sweet, and this time it's Target exclusive.

Sour Patch Kid Jelly Beans - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

Sour Patch Kid Jelly Beans - Target: Cherry Hill, NJ

As Cybele said in our latest Candyology101 podcast, Easter is the biggest candy holiday of the year. Since there are so many sweets on the shelves, I picked up a few to let you know if they were worth checking out. (Click here to see all of my previous Easter posts. A lot of those items, including the Carrot Cake m&m's, are back this year.)

If any of you have walked down the seasonal candy aisle you've seen that every candy company and their grandma released a version of jelly beans. Seriously, there are so many varieties! It's no longer just fruit, spice, and Jelly Belly. We now have Jolly Rancher, Laffy Taffy, Nerd, several different versions of Starburst, and even Swedish Fish. I grabbed a few of these name brand novelty versions, because a lot of companies just slap their branding onto a product and that's that. I want to see if these candies are really worthy of having their own bean. To start, one of the brands I was most excited for, Sour Patch.

Jelly Belly Holiday Favorites (Pumpkin Pie) - Target: Marlton, NJ

Jelly Belly Holiday Favorites - Target: Marlton, NJ

Back to pumpkin posts! (Kinda.) There's a pumpkin pie bean in here, but I figured I would just review the entire bag and get it posted before the holidays are over. Let's see if any of these beans can live up to the real thing!

Hello Kitty Halloween Mix (Jelly Belly) - gift

Hello Kitty Halloween Mix (Jelly Belly) - gift

If Hello Kitty is actually a little girl, does that mean she's being a cat for Halloween?

Here's another Halloween themed treat, although I'm pretty sure all four of the flavors featured in this mix are available year round, the packaging and color/flavor combination is Halloween exclusive, so I figured it was worth a post.

Sparkling Frozen "Icicle" Jelly Belly Mix- Old Navy (Gift)

Sparkling Frozen "Icicle" Jelly Belly Mix - Old Navy (Gift)

My boss saw this little bag of Frozen themed jelly beans while she was shopping and she was kind enough to buy a bag to share with me. While the flavors in this mix are all from the normal Jelly Belly line, so there are no new flavors in this mix, I still wanted to write up a little review because, well, they're gorgeous!

Jelly Belly - Belly Flops - Dollar General : Cinnaminson, NJ

Jelly Belly - Belly Flops - Dollar General : Cinnaminson, NJ 

This is a product I never knew existed! "Belly Flops" are irregularly shaped/colored/flavored Jelly Belly jelly beans that are packaged and sold.

I really like that the company had some fun with this packaging. On the front of the package there is a pool of misshapen jelly beans that the mascot is belly flopping into, and on the back there is a disclaimer about the irregular candy inside.

As expected, the jelly beans vary in size and shape/ Even though they look a bit off, a lot of my favorite flavors were in this bag. (Orange Creamsicle, Dr. Pepper, toasted marshmallow, and juicy pear.)  The only flavors that seemed a bit off were the cinnamon and red-fruit jelly beans. It tastes like a few of them were mixed up during the panning process. (Some red jelly beans tasted like cinnamon on the outside with a fruity center and vice versa.)

Overall, these beans tasted great, they just looked a little wonky. If you’re looking for a quirky candy treat this Easter, try some Belly Flops. 

© Maria Smith http://poison-and-antidote.net

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