Sugar Savvy

EDITOR’S NOTE: My Favorite Candy is a getting to know you feature here on Sugar Savvy to help you learn a little more about the people who write about all things sweet here. Enjoy! 

Asking me to choose a favorite candy is like asking a parent which child is his or her favorite. It just can’t be done, especially by someone as indecisive as I am. The best I can offer is a top five, in no particular order.

1. Hershey’s Take Five - I used to eat these all the time when I worked as a cashier for Best Buy. Our employee discounts didn’t apply to most of the register candy bars, but it did work on the Take Five and made them pretty cheap. If you’ve never had these before, the five ingredients of a Take Five are pretzels, peanut butter, caramel, peanuts, and chocolate. It’s a seriously addictive mix of sweet and salty flavors and smooth and crunchy textures.

2. See’s Scotchmallows - I was introduced to these fairly recently by my Californian college friends. Thick layers of exquisite caramel and marshmallow enrobed in milk or dark chocolate. Go for the dark. I wasn’t sure that I liked it the first time I tried one because they’re thick, squishy, and a little hard to chew, but I was quickly won over. Cybele at Candy Blog raves about them.

3. Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans - I used to only see these at Starbucks, but now you can pick them up all over the place. I’ve never tried to taste test and make distinctions between different brands, but I’ve noticed that size consistency is important; otherwise every bean will have annoyingly different ratios of chocolate to bean.

4. 100 Grand - Before I became more adventurous about candy, I considered the 100 Grand to be the pinnacle of candy bar perfection. It had everything that I loved about candy bars - caramel and crisped rice - and none of what I hated - coconut and nuts (there are now peanut and coconut versions, and I’ve learned to tolerate coconut and nuts with chocolate). Today, the milk chocolate version is too sweet for my taste, and I’ve yet to be successful in my search for a dark chocolate 100 Grand. I still adore these, but not as fervently as I did in my younger days.

5. SweeTarts - I used to pick these out of the bagged mixes that my family handed out on Halloween, so Trick-or-Treaters couldn’t get SweeTarts from my house until I left the state for college. Really, it’s hard to go wrong with flavored sugar. I usually end up eating one or two too many and feeling sick, but it’s totally worth it.