Butterfinger® is a candy bar made by Nestlé which has a crumbling and orange-colored center that can be compared to crisp caramel and peanut butter and it is covered in chocolatey coating. It has been around for decades and is a darling to many.

This cake recipe is such a guilty pleasure most especially to those who love Butterfinger candy bar per se.

Enjoy!

The now famous Ritter Square was born in 1932.  It was launched after the idea came to Clara to produce a square chocolate bar so that it “…fits into the pocket of every sports jacket, doesn’t break, and still weighs the same as a normal long bar of chocolate.”

In the U.S., you can buy the Ritter Sport in 100g bars or mini chocolates, which in my opinion, is the perfect size for tasting the different varieties.

I recently tasted an assortment of mini bars.  My choices were difficult. Which one would I eat first; Cornflakes, Milk Chocolate, Butter Biscuit, Hazelnut, Yogurt, or Praline?

While pondering the dilemma, my son got sneaky and tried to eat one before me.  Luckily there were two of certain varieties so we could each win. 

I haven’t had all of them, but so far my favorite is Butter Biscuit.  It reminds me of chocolate covered short bread.  The butter biscuit is very flavorful and crunchy.  The milk chocolate is smooth and creamy with soft caramel notes and subtle vanilla.

To learn more about Ritter Sport, check out their website at either   www.ritter-sport.de or www.ritter-sport.us.

Now I know that there really is a “stat” for everything!   Did you know that Snickers candy bar was the most tweeted about candy referencing Halloween?

No?  Now you do!

Snickers was the most mentioned candy bar with 5,303 tweets over the week prior to Halloween.  This was according to E.Life, a company that monitors social media.
 
In second place, candy corn, with 4592 tweets. 3591 mentions put Hershey’s in third place (Hershey’s Kisses were mentioned more than twice as many times as Hershey Bars).  Reese’s and Twix rounded out the top 5.

Last place (according to this study) goes to 100 Grand – only 46!

Tweeters discussed the candy commercials, too.  People thought some of the Snickers ads were creepy and the Twix ads were thought to promote cheating and lying.

How about contributing to the discussion?  Tell me which Halloween candy you sneak out of your kid’s stash…

You can post a comment here on the blog, post on the Facebook Chocolate Lover’s Group, and/or Tweet to @chocolateclass.

And some of the food on a stick is deep-fried, frozen, and then covered in chocolate. 

Yum?

My own state fair, the Wisconsin State Fair, is no different than any other in offering the unusual, the unique and the… weird (some would say gross)!

I went to the Wisconsin State Fair website and was a little surprised to see an entire page dedicated to listing the fair’s food on stick menu.

I think the chocolate covered bacon on a stick even made the news last year and it is again listed for this year, 2010.  I haven’t tried the state fair’s version of chocolate covered bacon, but I have eaten some from other sources including my local chocolates shop and have to admit I enjoyed it!  You can find a chocolate covered bacon review in a previous blog post. 

If chocolate covered bacon on a stick is not for you, maybe one of these treats from other State Fairs is more your style:

1. Chocolate-covered tiramisu on-a-stick
2. Twinkie log on-a-stick (frozen Twinkie dipped in white chocolate and rolled in cashews)
3. Chocolate-dipped cake on-a-stick
4. Frozen s’more on-a-stick
5. Chocolate covered banana on-a-stick
6. Deep fried Snickers bar on-a-stick
7. Deep fried 3 Musketeers bar on-a-stick
8. Deep fried Milky Way bar on-a-stick
9. Frozen fudge brownie on-a-stick

I just can’t work up the courage to try the deep fried candy bars on a stick.  A wee voice in my head keeps chanting “big-butt-on-a-stick” and it won’t go away.

The collection contains milk chocolate, dark chocolate, almonds, butterscotch candy bits, crystallized ginger, dried sour cherries.  Everything’s organic.  The tasting samples are the perfect size.  Also suitable for vegetarians.  Did I miss anything?

This collection of Green and Black’s miniature bars come in six varieties;
Organic Dark 70% Chocolate, Organic Dark Ginger Chocolate, Organic Dark Cherry Chocolate, Organic Milk Chocolate, Organic Milk Butterscotch Chocolate, and Organic Milk Almond Chocolate.

The collection offers a range of intensely flavored chocolate bars.  G&B does a superb job of keeping the strongest flavors like ginger and butterscotch from overpowering the chocolate.  The chocolate coexists perfectly with each ingredient and was the last flavor to leave the mouth.  I did enjoy them all, but two stand out as my favorites; the Almond Milk and the Dark Cherry. 

Looking at the now empty package (12 lonely spaces) I realize that maybe I should have shared these with my friends and family…  Nah.

My first experience with Seeds of Change came from an organic dark chocolate orange and fig chocolate bar.  The fig flavor comes from fragrant, dried, and chewy pieces of fig; while the orange flavor comes from oil of orange.  The combination is remarkably delicious.  The texture is very unique because the fig not only offers the chewiness but also the crunch of tiny seeds. 

At first, this put me off because it felt a little like having sand in my mouth, but this odd sensation did not last long.  The orange essence is soft and delicate and blends well with the complexity of the chocolate.

I always like it when a label reads like a novel.  Both sides of this chocolate bar wrapper have plenty to say about the mission, vision, and history of Seeds of Change.  My favorite part is the little side story about the fig ingredient.  Bet you didn’t know they use only figs from the female fig tree because they are superior to that of the male fig tree figs.  And yes, they unashamedly admit they are fruitist!

Next on my list to try is their milk chocolate with apricot  and cashew.
Here’s the feel good part.  According to the website www.seedsofchange.co.us, their guiding principle is this: “Everyone has the right to eat well. To eat a balanced and diverse diet of pure, wholesome, natural and nutritious food. Food you feel confident about feeding to your family.” Plus 1% of sales go to research and promotion of biodiversity and sustainable organic practices.

I can’t see a down-side to buying and eating a Seeds of Change chocolate bar.  On the one hand, you have a satisfyingly delicious chocolate bar and on the other hand, you help support the preservation of a sustained chocolate supply and lasting rainforest biodiversity.  That’s a win-win!

One of the leaders successfully bringing new and innovative flavor combinations to chocolate is Montezuma’s.

You may already know that I am a huge fan of dark chocolate and orange.  Chocolate and orange is so yesterday!  My new favorite is Dark chocolate with Orange and Geranium.

I think Montezuma’s co-founder Helen Pattinson sums it up when she says, “If you try only one bar from our range, I would recommend this best selling little number.”

The Dark Chocolate with Orange and Geranium has a rich, intense 73% minimum chocolate, adding citrus and floral notes in perfect harmony.  I was skeptical at first about having such a strong floral flavor, but since I enjoy other floral flavors with chocolate as lavender and chamomile, I thought I’d give it an open mind.

Thank goodness I did!

Speaking of having an open mind, there are other glorious chocolate discoveries at their website www.montezumas.co.uk. 

For the milk chocolate lover, you must try the Milk Chocolate Chilli & Lime.  It is as incredible as it is unlikely.   Just right amount of heat from the chili lingers at the back of throat after the chocolate and lime have melted away. 

No, ordinary is not part of Montezuma’s world.  Go and enjoy something extra-ordinary!

This product claims all kinds of health benefits without the added sugar and fat of eating chocolate. 

The pill contains 90% cocoa.  It is called “one a day” – Uno Al Dia.

Personally, I’d rather eat chocolate once a day and enjoy both the flavor benefits as well as any health benefits!

Of course my curiosity drove me to visit their website, www.pancracio.com, where I discovered one of Pancracio’s specialties is the Turron. 

Turrones are mostly unfamiliar to most people living in the U.S.  They are typically nougat confections made of honey, sugar, egg whites, toasted almonds or other nuts, and shaped into a rectangular tablet.  Pancracio has a varied selection of Turrones, enrobed in milk, dark and white chocolates.

Another interesting product is their Cocoa Pasta.  It is a Fusilli pasta containing cocoa.  The pasta is not sweet and I bet it is delicious served with a spicy chicken mole.

According to their website, www.williescacao.com, the equipment used to make their chocolate bars are antiques from the early 1900’s.

Each package of their Delectable bars claims that antique machinery brings out the subtle and unique flavors of cocoa beans better than modern equipment which is designed to be fast and efficient.

To find out if the age of a roaster really makes a discernable difference, I bought two of Willie’s chocolate bars.

First I tasted the 69% Java Dark Chocolate.  I enjoyed the soft caramel notes and delicate chocolate impact.  Unfortunately, the chocolate was course which diminished my enjoyment a bit.

Next, the Peruvian San Martin 70% Dark Chocolate. It was very good, with fruity notes and a bold chocolate aftertaste.

At the end of day, I still don’t know if the antiques contributed all that much to the flavor development of the chocolates.  Without making the same recipe twice, once with the antiques and once with modern equipment, there’s really no way to know for sure.

But it doesn’t really matter.  Good chocolate rarely has to be questioned.

She said I did a great job pointing out the reasons to fall in love with gourmet chocolate, but that sometimes she just wants a big handful of M&Ms.  She wondered if something was wrong with her.

Perhaps there are many things wrong with her, but I don’t think craving M&M’s is one of them!    A large part of enjoying chocolate involves memories of our early chocolate experiences.  Children as young as age 9-11 start to prefer chocolate over other candy.

(Some of my early chocolate memories don’t involve Hershey bars or M&M’s so maybe that is why I don’t reach for them when I have a chocolate craving.  My Dad introduced me to Marshall Field’s Frango™ Mints and Dark Chocolate Covered Orange Peel at an early age.  Thank you, Dad!)

If you crave mass-produced candy bars you are not alone.  The top ten most popular chocolate bars in the U.S. (based on sales in US Dollars) are:

1. Snickers
2. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup
3. Kit Kat
4. Butterfinger
5. Milky Way
6. 3 Musketeers
7. Baby Ruth
8. M&Ms Plain Chocolate Candies
9. Oh Henry
10. Hershey Milk Chocolate Bar

Snickers tops the list with over 2 BILLION dollars in global annual sales!

Sometimes our past favorites are not made anymore.  Do you remember any of these candy bars?

1. Bar None
2. Caravelle Bar
3. Chocolate Babies
4. Chocolate Cow
5. Chocolite
6. Forever Yours
7. Rally Bar
8. Marathon
9. Mars Bar
10. Milkshake Candy Bar
11. Nestle Alpine White Bar
12. PBMax Candy Bar
13. Peanut Butter No Jelly Bar
14. Seven-Up Bar
15. Willie Wonka Oompas

I will always recommend you choose fine premium chocolate over the vending machine candy bar.  But, if you need a trip down memory lane, I say go for it.  And after you have satisfied that urge, promise me you’ll take a moment and enjoy a fresh chocolate truffle or a rich butter cream.