Some say that Heath Ledger's chilling performance as The Joker is the best thing about The Dark Knight. But I dare say that the best thing about The Dark Knight is its promotional Special Edition Reese's Peanut Butter Bat.

Before I get to that, I must expound my philosophy: Reese's Special Edition Cups (which also include Halloween Reese's Peanut Butter Pumpkin and Easter Reese's Peanut Butter Egg) consistently trump traditional cups because they have a higher peanut butter to chocolate ratio. See, classic Cups are weighed down by the shell's chocolate crimping, which leaves us peanut butter lovers pining. But Special Edition Cups forgo the frills and pack as much PB as possible into a thin chocolate casing. In fact, if we're really getting down to brass tacks, Egg beats Pumpkin solely because Pumpkin has the little all-chocolate stem at the top.

The Jones Soda Company has been tempting soda lovers for ten years with flavors from Root Beer and Strawberry to Fufu Berry and Blue Bubblegum. Their unusual - and unusually realistic - flavors have taken them from a small niche company, to a national brand, with lines of organic drinks, energy drinks, popsicles and candy in addition to their famous sodas.

To celebrate a decade of drinks, Jones has put together a new limited edition soda pack. Unlike the somewhat disturbing holiday pack, this one is a winner with all its flavors. It includes Blue Bubblegum and Green Apple sodas, as well as two of the original hits, Raspberry and Pineapple Upside Down sodas. The drinks come with a numbered, special-edition Hot Wheels "replica of the original black and silver-flamed Jones vans," which the company used for distribution in its early days.

There will probably be collectors out there who will not open the box to preserve it for posterity, but if you do get one, you really should taste the Pineapple Upside Down soda. It's light, tangy and delicious, so it's no wonder that fans have been asking for it to be reinstated for so long.

This pack won't be sold in stores, but is available for purchase online.

The limited edition Kit Kats released in the UK resulted in consumer overstimulation and, in the US, too, consumers are seeing more and more limited editions on the shelves. Some of them seem to be only limited in their packaging, not the actual product.

Candybloggers Cybele, from CandyBlog, and Brian, from Candy Addict, were interviewed in a piece in the New York Times magazine that asked "what is the point of these releases?" The companies don't seem like they're asking consumers if they want to see them as part of the "regular" line-up, but there are so many limited edition candies on store shelves that they don't seem all that special anymore.

Personally, I don't mind seeing a new product every time I go into the store, but it can be annoying if a new favorite is never seen again after only a short run. There is no way for us, the consumers, to tell if this trend will continue or not - but do we want it to?

In the UK, Coca-Cola is bottling its soda in unique bottles in honor of the World Cup. Instead of the usual decorated bottle caps or customized labels, the bottles are round, like miniature soccer balls. They hold 250ml, or about 8-ounces of liquid, and are available in both regular and diet. Of course, now that England is out of the Cup, there's no telling how long they'll remain on store shelves.

Since the packaging plant has been outfitted with new equipment to handle the special bottles, it is possible that more special-edition bottles will be released in the future, for Coke and its other brands, like Fanta.

 

Dreyers/Edys is putting out its seasonal, special-edition Girl Scout Cookie flavored ice creams this month. The flavors include Thin Mints, a chocolate mint concoction with cookie chunks based on the best-selling flavor, and Samoas Cookies, a creamy caramel ice cream with fudge swirls and chunks of Samoas cookies. Both of these flavors are available in regular and light varieties. The final limited-edition flavor is based on Tagalongs and is vanilla ice cream with peanut butter and fudge swirls as well as pieces of the famous peanut butter patty cookies mixed in. The flavors will be available in supermarkets through April.

On their website, the company is hosting a Junior Chef recipe contest. Kids 8-12 can enter their favorite dessert or snack recipes that use the Girl Scout ice creams for a chance to win a prize pack including a year’s supply of Dreyer’s ice cream. The grand-prize winner will also receive a $500 savings bond and have their recipe featured on cartons of ice cream. To get inspired, check out last year’s winning recipes.

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]