Mars - Crunchy Espresso M&Ms - May 19, 2018

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mars

Crunchy Espresso MandMs

Good

Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 8 oz. (226.8 g.) in total package

Calories: 140 calories in 1 serving

Cost: $4.99 for 1 package

Purchased from: Safeway, Palo Alto, CA

Welcome to Day #4 of Chocolate and Coffee Theme Week.

Just when we thought we'd sampled every flavor in the pantheon of MandM's chocolate candies, along came today's Crunchy Espresso MandMs from Mars (Hackettstown, NJ).

As the name implied the fillings, inside the candy-coated exterior shells, were lighter, crispier and crunchier than those of classic MandM chocolate candies with a solid milk chocolate core.

The coffee flavor was very mild. These candies included artificial flavors and colorings and may contain gluten (barley malt extract).

Mars - Birthday Cake MandM's - July 13, 2014

Chocolate of the Day: 

Mars Chocolate
Birthday Cake MandM's*
Good
Weight: 1.5 oz. (42 g.) / 8 oz. (226.8 g.) in total package
Calories: 210 calories in 1 serving
Cost: $3.00 for 1 package (sale)
Purchased from: CVS Pharmacy, Palo Alto, CA

Each year I've featured some type of Chocolate Surprise theme week. This year's chocolate surprise items are surprise finds, gifts or other discoveries of sorts. It's almost always nice to be presented with, or surprised by, a new chocolate.

I thought I'd tried every flavor of MandM's chocolate candies years ago. But, surprise, I was wrong. These Birthday Cake MandM's, in bright primary colors (red, blue and yellow), would be a good, festive fit for a birthday party. The generous sized bag was designed to be resealable, to keep any left-overs fresh and/or secure. And, while they may have contained artificial color and flavor, these candy-coated pieces stamped with the iconic "m" were made with real milk chocolate.

Today was Day #2 of Chocolate Surprise Theme Week.

*My apologies to Mars. I can't spell the MandM's brand correctly here, due to blogger's dislike of the ampersand sign. 

ChocolateBet: August 7, 2009

Chocolate(s) of the Day:

2 macarons
Bouchon Bakery
1 Caramel macaron - Yum (fresh)
1 Chocolate macaron (small) - VG+ (pre-packaged as part of an assortment)
Weight: 1 oz. (28.3 grams) (estimate)
Calories: 160 calories (guesstimate)
Cost: $4.75 (estimate) for both macarons
Purchased from: Bouchon Bakery, in New York City, New York

The Caramel macaron was excellent, and tasted light and fresh. The Chocolate macaron was also very nice; however, it was part of a pre-packaged assortment of different flavors (and perhaps a few hours older than the fresh Caramel batch). I shouldn't quibble; these really were great, especially after a long day and walk around New York City. I ate these macarons as an appetizer before dinner. Sorry I don't have a picture of them; all I have is the bag they came in (above).

After dinner, we walked down Broadway to Times Square. Adult-oriented businesses from a few decades ago have been replaced by lots of big, splashy video screens and some large candy stores. We visited M and M's World (Mars), which is across the street from the Hershey's store (appropriate given the rivalry between the two companies). And they seemed to inspire each other to new Las-Vegas-strip-style heights, with large product-related decorative pieces inside and out, and lively interiors. M and M's World was stocked with unique flavors and colors of M and M's in long vertical, clear plastic tubes that stretched up into the M and M ether in this three-story World. I bought and tried a few coconut peanut M and M's, making this my second chocolate for the day. See below for information.

5 pieces

M and M's (Mars)

Coconut M and M's

Good + - Very Good

Weight: .25 oz. (7.1 grams) (estimate)

Calories: 37.5 calories (estimate)

Cost: $5.88 total for .40 lb. (includes NYC sales tax)

Purchased from: M and M's World, Times Square, New York City, New York

Last, but not least, thank you to RK Chin, the creator of the New York City Chocolate Guide (Manhattan). This map was very helpful in planning chocolate-related stops for this weekend trip to New York. One or two chocolate stores may have closed since the last version of this guide/map was updated, but it provided a helpful look-at-a-glance for different places that make or sell chocolates.

Note: Because of certain limitations, I was unable to use the ampersand symbol on this site. So, I spelled out the Mar's candy name: M and M's.

ChocolateBet: October 26, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:

1 oz.
M and M's / Mars
Light and dark pink-colored chocolate M and M's (special "edition")
Very Good
Weight: 1 oz. (28 g.) / 14 oz. (396.9 g.) package
Calories: 140 calories for 1 oz. serving
$2.50 (sale price)
Purchased from: Walgreens, Palo Alto, CA

This was a nice, fresh-tasting bag of milk chocolate, special edition M and M's chocolate candies. Mars M and M's Brand is planning to contribute $550,000 to "Susan G. Komen for the Cure" this year. The pink-colored blend of M and M's were designed to show continued support in the fight against breast cancer.

Note on avoiding duplicate chocolates: 

I'm choosing to count different versions (shapes and colors) of a few chocolate candies (such as M and M's and Reese's peanut butter cups) as different types of chocolate for the purposes of this chocolate bet. You may disagree, but I figure if it has a different retail sku, and different packaging, and either a different recipe - i.e. different colorings, shapes - then it counts as a "different" chocolate. On the other hand, if the chocolate candy appears in different wrapper colors, but it's really the same item inside the wrapper, and/or has the same bar code, then I'd have to say no, this wouldn't do... My apologies if you're bored with this whole thing by now.

ChocolateBet: September 28, 2007

Chocolate of the Day:

Tiny little M and Ms 

Very Good
Estimated calories: ?
Price: $ ?
Purchased from: Nuts for Candy in Burlingame, CA

Today's chocolate: a small handful of tiny little M and M's (bought in bulk). These miniature-sized M and M candies were very good -- better than expected. They had a nice, rich chocolatey smell and taste.