"rave" news and stories

Whoppers are candies with a chocolate coating over a malted milk center. They are almost identical to Maltesers, though fans of one will argue that it is better than the other. Maltesers are made by Mars, while Whoppers are made by Hershey. Around Easter, Whoppers adds a brightly colored candy coating to the balls and calls them Robin Eggs. Personally, I am a huge fan of the candy coating and look forward to picking up a bag of these around Easter. The extra crunch that comes before reaching the chocolate layer and melt-in-your-mouth malted center is great.

"European style" is a descriptor applied to butter more and more often these days. One of the most popular brands, Plugra, is appearing in more and more grocery stores alongside the regular butter, rather than being confined to the specialty stores it originally appeared in. The difference between the European-style butters and standard butters is the butterfat content. Regular butter has 80% butterfat and 20% water, while butters like Plugra have about 2.5-3% more butterfat. This gives them a slightly creamier, richer taste. In a direct comparison, the flavor difference is noticeable on toast, which is the most convenient way to taste-test butter without taking a bite out of the stick.

But is the difference noticeable when cooking or baking? For cooking, unless you are making a particularly buttery dish, I have to say that I could not tell the difference. Baking is another matter. A taste test between two batches of chocolate chip cookies (made with the same recipe) using both normal and European-style butters revealed that the European-style, higher butterfat cookies had a more buttery taste. The cookies were slightly more delicious than the ones made with standard butter because of the enhanced butter flavor. Especially considering that the prices for the two types of butter are much close than they were 5 years ago, it is definitely worth using Plugra or another European-style butter over the standard butters.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

These are so good.

I mentioned these last month and, though it took a while, I finally got to try them. Adora makes all natural chocolate calcium supplements, each piece containing 500mg of calcium – half the recommended daily minimum! They are available in milk and dark chocolates, unlike the the Trader Joe's version, which only come in milk chocolate. The milk chocolate is smooth and creamy, melting in your mouth as soon as you pop it in. It seems to be excellent milk chocolate, which is really astounding in something that doubles as a nutritional supplement.

The dark chocolate is not quite as smooth as the milk chocolate, lingering for several moments on the tongue before it begins to melt. Nevertheless, the flavor is dark and smooth. It is also really refreshing to have a dark chocolate option offered, since the majority of chocolate supplements and chocolate-flavored supplements favor milk chocolate flavors.

Overall, these are fantastic both in terms of flavor and nutritional benefit. Check the website to see if they’re available in your neighborhood.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]

I would like to thank Hershey's for finally deciding that filled Kisses were a good idea. Over the past year or so, they have released many varieties of the tiny treats, including Caramel and Dulce de Leche, in addition to special edition Kisses, which have included Cherry Cordial and the excellent Toffee and Almond. But I must say that the new Peanut Butter filled Kisses might just be the best of the bunch, particularly for peanut butter fans. The peanut butter is incredibly creamy, without being gooey or granular and overly sweet, as it is in Reese's Peanut Butter Cups. The ratio of chocolate to filling is just right and the size of the Kiss makes it perfect for grabbing by the handful for an afternoon treat. Overall, these are an exceptional variation of the original Kiss and I, for one, hope that Hershey’s keeps them around for a while.

[Photo by Nicole Weston]