Best Halloween Candy

In honor of Halloween and the lovely supply of candy that can come into one's life today, what is the best item of candy you have received while trick or treating?

I didn't grow up in the Chicago area, but I would trick or treat in an affluent area where full-sized, and even pound-sized, candy bars were a regular occurrence. Well, that and cans of pop.

I was a big fan of the pre-packaged popcorn balls.

It's all about chocolate. If it isn't chocolate, it's barely worth putting in the bag.
And while we're at it, more dark chocolate. Sadly there aren't many standard candy bars in dark:

• Mounds
• Milky Way Dark
• M&Ms Dark (don't think I've seen these in fun size)
• Peppermint Patty

Sadly, Costco's "Big Bag O' Halloween Candy" which includes 150 fun-size bars of several different companies, includes none of those. Girardelli squares are too expensive to give out. With both sons too old to trick or treat, I'm stuck with what's left over, unless I can convince some third-graders to trade.

Of what's remaining, probably Butterfinger (god I miss the Clark bar, yes I know they can be found but it's not that easy) and Reese's Cups.

To anyone who gives out little wrapped peanut butter taffy, Bit O Honey and similar items: F*ck you. Nobody likes them.

The OLD Mars bar. Sigh.

1) Reese's Cups
1a) Snickers
1b) Twix
1c) Reese's Pieces
1d) 1000 Grand
1e) Kit Kat

JoelF wrote:It's all about chocolate. If it isn't chocolate, it's barely worth putting in the bag.
And while we're at it, more dark chocolate. Sadly there aren't many standard candy bars in dark:

• Mounds
• Milky Way Dark
• M&Ms Dark (don't think I've seen these in fun size)
• Peppermint Patty

We ended up with some Kit Kat Dark minis in an assortment bag, and they're in the running for my favorite of the year (store was out of Mounds).

leek wrote:The OLD Mars bar. Sigh.

The OLD Mars bar is, in effect, Snickers Almond. I've found that bar to be a suitable substitute.

If I were trick or treating, I would love to get the triple chocolate Twix bars. There weren't many in a recent bag of Twix mixed bars. I need to find more of them. Yum.

Glad to see some love for the Mounds bar, which I tried and failed to find today.

I agree, the first-class treats were always the actual candy bars, so I always make sure and buy those. I try to find the more old fashioned ones-- Butterfinger, Payday, etc.-- but make sure to lay in Snickers and Milky Way, which have the dual advantage that 1) I loved them when I was a kid and 2) I really don't like them now, all waxy chocolate and goo, so no temptation to finish them off.

We just finished our trick or treating. We went around one block and both our kids had buckets filled up to the brim. Mostly we got good stuff, people were generous in what they gave out. We got some of the 'junk' candy interspersed through out that no one in our house eats so it gets tossed or recycled.

I remember the full sized candy bars were always a huge surprise. Biggest childhood child hood candy dissapointment: dental floss.

I try to give out 'good' snack size bars of candy. This year I got 300 pieces, so far the most requested by kids have been Butterfingers.

Gone but not forgotten......Welch's Fudge Bar

stevez wrote:

leek wrote:The OLD Mars bar. Sigh.

The OLD Mars bar is, in effect, Snickers Almond. I've found that bar to be a suitable substitute.

Not the way I remember it -- the original Mars bar looked like a Mounds or Almond Joy from the outside: a couple bumps on a slab, covered in chocolate, with nougat inside instead of coconut. The Snickers Almond as shown here in The Candy Blog, looks significantly different... but might taste the same.

Artie wrote:Gone but not forgotten......Welch's Fudge Bar

R.I.P.

That was my candy of choice growing up. It was hard to find, but Dolmar's Drugs on California (also R.I.P.) carried them throughout my entire childhood.

JoelF wrote:

stevez wrote:

leek wrote:The OLD Mars bar. Sigh.

The OLD Mars bar is, in effect, Snickers Almond. I've found that bar to be a suitable substitute.

Not the way I remember it -- the original Mars bar looked like a Mounds or Almond Joy from the outside: a couple bumps on a slab, covered in chocolate, with nougat inside instead of coconut. The Snickers Almond as shown here in [url=http://www.typetive.com/candyblog/item/snickers_almond]The Candy[Blog], looks significantly different... but might taste the same.

As I said, it's "in effect" the same as the old Mars bar. It looks like a Snickers, but it tastes like a Mars bar.

To anyone who gives out little wrapped peanut butter taffy, Bit O Honey and similar items: F*ck you. Nobody likes them.

Aw. I do! I would never give them out because I know they're so unpopular, but I really liked them.

We're giving out Skittles this year: super-sour and chocolate. Kids like them and I don't (I haven't tried the chocolate skittles yet, but all the kids seemed happy with them) We also give out non-food carnival prizes and juice boxes; we get so few that I let the kids take fistfuls.

Unfortunately for me, our Neighborhood Watch is giving out candy to kids, which was generously donated by M&M Mars...full-checkout-line-size Almond M&Ms, among others. So far, I only ate one...bag...(sigh)

Rick Bayless is my favorite candy for any season. <sigh>



Failing that, I'd like to have gotten whole British / Canadian candy bars. Preferably:

- Coffee Crisp
- Toffee Crisp
- Curly Whirly
- Aero
- Flake

Failing that, I'll go Take 5 or Reese's Pieces. Sadly, none of these make the standard American Halloween list. Especially Rick.

OK, not surprisingly, as the evening wore on and the good candy went to the kids...I discovered that Chocolate Skittles are vile. Unspeakably so. However, it's the kind of fake-frosting chocolate artificial chocolate that kids love, so I think we're safe from pranks, unless they read all of Louisa's ideas...

Santander wrote:Failing that, I'd like to have gotten whole British / Canadian candy bars. Preferably:

- Aero

Incidentally, I'm firmly convinced that Aero is the most ingenious confection invention of the past thirty years. 80% of the chocolate, 100% of the price? Brilliant.

Dmnkly wrote:

Santander wrote:Failing that, I'd like to have gotten whole British / Canadian candy bars. Preferably:

- Aero

Incidentally, I'm firmly convinced that Aero is the most ingenious confection invention of the past thirty years. 80% of the chocolate, 100% of the price? Brilliant.

I gotta agree with that. And it's even very poor quality chocolate, for even further cost savings.

Personally, my favorite candy is:

http://www.doscherstaffy.com/


And my favorite candy store (in Cleveland) which carries every kind of candy:

http://www.sweetiescandy.com/

stevez wrote:

Artie wrote:Gone but not forgotten......Welch's Fudge Bar

R.I.P.

That was my candy of choice growing up. It was hard to find, but Dolmar's Drugs on California (also R.I.P.) carried them throughout my entire childhood.

My sources were Goldenson's and Rosen's Drugstores on Devon.

I love Mounds and Reese's cups. I wish Whatchamacallits came in a small sized bar for Halloween. That's probably my favorite candy bar of them all.

I tire of the standard us chocolate bars quickly. Too sweet for me. My all time favorite thing to find in my bag?

Dots.

Dots would rarely last until Nov 1st. To this day, I am not aware of a time in recent past when a theater sized box of dots lasted more than a few hours. Oh, and if they are fresh? That theater sized box lasts mere minutes.

Almond Joy. The only crappy candy bar that tastes like it might have come from the candy case in a fancy department store. My children make sure I get all of theirs. Heath bars aren't too shabby, either.

I get a kick out of watching my kids' reaction to curiosities like Mary Janes. They look downright dangerous, like the wrappers were printed in a Michigan apartment also housing a meth lab.

AARRGGH!! I am 27 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes!!! I keep staring at my daughters bucket of candy and coveting it! Give me some candy!!! Oh the things we endure for our unborn children!!
I could go for a 3 foot long Twix.

JeanneBean wrote:AARRGGH!! I am 27 weeks pregnant with gestational diabetes!!! I keep staring at my daughters bucket of candy and coveting it! Give me some candy!!! Oh the things we endure for our unborn children!!
I could go for a 3 foot long Twix.

I remember and soo feel your pain...if this helps, I was on the borderline and ignored the advice to cut back on sweets. Don't do that. (Consequences were extremely uncomfortable for me - though not life-threatening)

JeffB wrote:I get a kick out of watching my kids' reaction to curiosities like Mary Janes. They look downright dangerous, like the wrappers were printed in a Michigan apartment also housing a meth lab.

So true.

Mike G wrote:Glad to see some love for the Mounds bar, which I tried and failed to find today.

I love Mounds! It's Almond Joy's superior cousin. Plus, Pie Dude hates coconut so more for me!!

JoelF wrote:To anyone who gives out little wrapped peanut butter taffy, Bit O Honey and similar items: F*ck you. Nobody likes them.

Hear hear! I always felt gypped.

Although I was never really a fan of Tootsie Pops, I miss getting the ones tied inside a piece of Kleenex with dots drawn on to make it look like a ghost. I don't miss the bag of pennies. This year we didn't get one single trick-or-treater, and I'm quite sad about it. Not so sad about having to polish off a bag each of Twix, 3 Musketeers, Butterfinger Crunch and Baby Ruth.

Where are you guys finding Triple Chocolate Twix and Reese's Pieces?

Pie Lady wrote:...
Where are you guys finding Triple Chocolate Twix and Reese's Pieces?

I bought a bag of mixed Twix minis that included regular Twix along with dark chocolate and triple chocolate versions. I'm not sure where I bought the candy -- possibly Target.