Happy New Year

I want to thank all of my readers and wish you a Happy New Year!
I will see you again in 2013 with more Candy 'n Stuff!

Oreo Gingerbread [Limited Edition]

Today is christmas eve!
And I am sitting here waiting for santa.
I am getting a bit sleepy, my eyelids becoming heavy.
Suddenly I am awaken by a strange sound.
Someone is scurrying up the chimney.
Sleepily I look around... What is that?
Something under the tree?
Santa has brought me Oreos with gingerbread flavouring!

There is just something about holiday themed Oreos.
Especially the Limited Editions.
Though I must say, I do not like the box.
It is so yellow.
Sure, there is a gingerbread man on the box.
But still, yellow.
At least the gingerbread man looks as happy as he can be to be apart of the Oreo family.



Despite the warning, I choose to open the package from the side.
You see, I wanted to get at picture of the Oreos coming out from the side of the package.
The cookies are unfortunately not very christmasy.
They are the standard "light" Oreos.
Last year I wrote about Oreo Candy Cane.
And they had a great christmas theme.



Anyway, they smell a lot like gingerbread.
The scent is not enough too fill the room, but still enough.
There seem to be more filling than in the standard Oreos (a christmas miracle for sure).
The taste is nice, not as extreme as you would think.
It has a nice round taste of gingerbread.
The "light" Oreos kind of ruin the taste a bit... But just a bit.



Now I am of to eat more of these Oreos and watch From All of Us to All of You, with Donald, Mickey and friends.
Maybey santa will bring me more gifts?

I want to wish all of my readers a...

Boas Festas!
Buon Natale!
Cestitamo Bozic!
Chuc Mung Giang Sinh!
Een Plesierige Kerfees!
Felices Fiestas!
Felices Pascuas!
Feliz Ano Novo!
Feliz Natal!
Feliz Navidad!
Frohe Weihnachten!
Fröhliche Weihnachten!
Gajan Kristnaskon!
Gesëende Kresfees!
Gezur Krislinjden!
Gladelig Jul!
Gledileg Jol!
God Jul!
Glædelig Jul!
Gun Tso Sun Tan'Gung Haw Sun!
Hristos se rodi!
Hyvää Joulua!
I'd Miilad Said Oua Sana Saida!
Joyeux Noël!
Kala Christouyenna!
Kellemes Karacsonyi unnepeket!
Kung His Hsin Nien bing Chu Shen Tan!
Linksmu Kaledu!
Mele Kalikimaka!
Merri kurisumasu!
Merry Christmas!
Mo'adim Lesimkha!
Nadolig Llawen!
Natale hilare!
Noeliniz Ve Yeni Yiliniz Kutlu Olsun!
Priecigus Ziemassvetkus!
Sarbatori Vesele!
Pozdravljaju s prazdnikom Rozjdestva!
Selamat Hari Natal!
Shub Naya Baras!
Sreken Bozhik!
Sretan Bozic!
Srozhdestvom Kristovym!
Vesele vianoce!
Sung Tan Chuk Ha!
Tchestito Rojdestvo Hristovo!
Vrolijk kerstfeest!
Wesolych Swiat Bozego Narodzenia!

Christmas Soaps

Gunry makes soaps with lots of different scents.
This christmas, they have outdone themselves and given us three different christmas soaps!
They come in Candy Cane, Orange/Carnation and Gingerbread.

Candy Cane



This soap is white.
It would have been a lot nicer if it would have been striped white/red, but i do not know if that is even possible.
The art on the packaging is very nice.
Bells, some christmas tree branches, a candy cane and some candy cane caramels.
It has a nice minty candy cane scent.

Orange/Carnation



I do not know if the practice of putting carnation in oranges is very big outside of Sweden, but here it is.
When you are done, you hang the orange/carnation/abomination in a window and it gives of a pleasant scent.
The packaging on this soap is also nice.
With a orange/carnation/combination and some snowflakes.
The scent was unfortunately a letdown.
It smells like regular orange soap.

Gingerbread



Last but not least we have the gingerbread scented soap.
The box has some mistletoe and snowflakes.
And of course a gingerb... Wait, is that the Gingerbread man from Shrek?
It sure looks like it.
That is kind o weird, but he is a gingerbread man so lets roll with it.
The soap itself is a nice shade of brown.
It has a smell of baked goods.
Not so much of gingerbread, maybey a little.

I can not decide which soap is the winner.
The Candy Cane has the best scent but the gingerbread has the best colour and packaging.
I guess it is a tie.

Pop-Tarts Frosted Marshmallow Hot Chocolate [Limited Edition]

After a day outside, playing in the snow, what could be better than a nice cup of hot chocolate with marshmallows?
Well... Nothing really, except?
Pop-Tarts Frosted Marshmallow Hot Chocolate!



These are a limited edition for this winter season (but I will bet ya, they will be back next season).
I love the idea of taking something as great as hot chocolate and making it into Pop-Tarts.
The box is very nice.
A snowy winter world, the Pop-Tarts themselves and a small cup of cocoa representing the flavour.



There are twelve tarts in the box, so there is enough for everyone.
Baking them in my toaster fills the room with a great scent of hot chocolate.
This takes me back to winter mornings with a cup of hot cocoa.



The taste reminds me of chocolate.
Maybey not hot chocolate but it is pretty close.
Eating your way to the middle of the pastrie, reveals the marshmallow filling.
The filling combined with the chocolate makes the experience much more tasty.

Maybey these are not as christmasy as you would want them to be, but they sure are wintery.

Hershey's Kisses Candy Cane

Hershey's Kisses are individually wrapped chocolate candy with different flavours and fillings.
This christmas, the good folks at Nestlé has brought us candy cane flavoured kisses.
I think everything should be candy cane flavoured...



First of all, the packaging.
It is great. It is christmasy.
It is read and white... The official candy cane colours as well as christmas colours.
There is a light snowfall soon to cover the giant kisses on the packaging.



And that takes me to the kisses.
The foil wrapping is lovely.
Silver, with red candy canes.
And the little text message that is included with every kiss says candy cane.



On to the candy, that is also nice, with its red and white stripes.
I do not know if it is just me, but i think the inside of the bag smells a lot more of candy cane than the candy.
The candy has a nice minty candy cane taste which is just right.
It also has small clusters of candy cane inside making it a somwehat crunchy experience to eat them.
All in all this raised my christmas spirit a lot.

Wonka SweetTarts Merry Mix

At first I was not gonna write about this package.
It is supposed to be a christmas version of the popular candy from Wonka (Nestlé).
But it is kind of bland.
Sure, they have added the name "Merry Mix" and some snowflakes.



The box also states that Wonka himself sends us his greetings.
But Wonka is a man of taste, of style.
He would not stand for such an easy "fix".



No, the merry part comes when you open the box and get a look at the candy.
The candy comes in two colors, christmasy red and green.
And also in different variations.
There are snow men, christmas trees and bells.
And they are pretty merry.



There is no change in the flavor of the candy.
It is still pretty sour and it does not smell like anything in particular.

Starbucks Christmas Lattes

I like coffee, but I do not like just black coffee.
For me it has to be a latte or a cappuccino or something similar.
And that is why I really like Starbucks.
Bacause they have different types of lattes and such.
And they have new flavours depending on the season.
Our local Starbucks has gone christmas crazy.
This year, they are offering three different christmas lattes (ok, one is a mocha).
They also get a bonus for playing christmas songs.

The sign greating you and telling you what flavours to expect is great.
The only thing I do not like, is that your coffee is not served in those lovely cups in the picture.
But nevermind that. Christmas lattes!



Gingerbread Latte
The first one is a gingerbread flavoured latte.
It has a distinct gingerbread scent and it takes you right into christmas mode.
The taste is lovely and it feels like drinking liquid gingerbread.
While still tasting like coffee mind you.



Cranberry White Mocha
Looks nothing like in the picture above, which is bad.
It smells like whipped cream and white chocolate.
Has a pretty sourish taste, like cranberry or lingonberries.
It is very sweet.



Toffee Nut Latte
This one also smells like whipped cream.
It has a kind of bitter taste to it that I do not like.
The crushed nuts are sweet and crunchy.
This was my least favourite of the three.

In the end the Gingerbread Latte is the clear winner!

JuleSkum Vinteräpple 2012

Last christmas, I gave you my heart...
Ohh, sorry. Wrong track.
Last christmas, I wrote about the 2011 version of JuleSkum.
Back then it had a polka (candy cane) flavoring.
This year, the santas at Cloetta has brought us JuleSkum with a flavor of winter apples.

Being flavored that way, they have to been colored green.
Green is a christmas color (and white).
But this green is not that christmasy.
It should be more green, more christmas!



Anyway, the packaging.
The packaging is very much full of christmas.
With lots of snowy christmas trees and snowflakes.
And a generic santa that sleepily/angrily looks at a generic christmas present.
As you can tell I wanted a less generic santa.
Maybe one that juggled some apples or something.
But there is a santa and that is enought to lift my christmas spirit.

One thing that is new and pretty awesome, is that there is room for an adress and stamps.
Yes, you can send the entire package as a christmas card.
This is a very nice feature and something that more candy manufacturers should copy.



The candy itself smells like regular JuleSkum with a hint of apples.
They taste like a combination of regular JuleSkum, apples and pears.
Not really that close to real apples I am afraid.
Yesteryears polka (candy cane) version was much better.

Kiviks Musteri - Tranbärsglögg Med Smak Av Ingefära

Last but not least, santa has brought us some Cranberry glögg with ginger flavouring.
Cranberrys and glögg? Could this be?
Cranberrys are not that big here Sweden, we prefer lingonberry that grows naturally here.
But ginger is a christmas flavour and that might be what makes it work.



It smells a lot like classic glögg with a hint of ginger.
It also has a taste similar to classic glögg.
The only differens is that it feels a bit more dry and has a hint of berrys.
My girlfriend summed it up pretty well.
"It tastes and smells like christmas".



A thing i noticed after a few swigs is that the ginger takes over, making it more spicy.
This diminishes the christmas feeling a bit, but not much.
Out of the three, this is my favorit.

Kiviks Musteri - Äppleglögg Med Smak Av Kanel Och Vanilj

Yesterday I wrote about glögg based on raspberries.
Today, we have a bottle of glögg based on apples flavoured with cinnamon and vanilla.
Glögg based on apples, is more common than glögg based on raspberries.



This should be good, after all... Kiviks Musteri knows its apples.
It has a very distinct smell of ripe apples.
Among all that apple scent, there is also a sweet scent of vanilla.
The cinnamon is nowhere to be smelled.

This glögg is very sweet, kind of like warm apple juice.
To much like apple juice in fact.
The taste of apples completely removes all hints of vanilla and cinnamon.
Or maybe it is just me being a bit sad that it was more lika apple juice than apple glögg.



If yesterdays raspberrie glögg was a bit like classic glögg (only sweeter). Then todays apple glögg is as far away from classic glögg as you can get. Will tomorrows glögg take home the price?

Kiviks Musteri - Hallonglögg Med Smak Av Kardemumma

Today I wanna talk to you about mulled and spiced wine.
In Sweden, we love mulled and spiced wine and we call it Glögg, especially at christmas time.
I bought a gift pack from Kiviks Musteri containing three different versions of glögg.
Glögg is mostly served warm with raisins and almonds.



Kiviks Musteri is a big apple producer and makes everything from apple juice to apple jam.
They also make different products made from a range of different fruits and berries.
But today (and tomorrow and the day after tomorrow), we are gonna talk about glögg.



The first one is a glögg based on raspberries and spiced with cardamom.
It smells like classic glögg, but also a lot like raspberries.
The cardamom is nowhere to be smelled.
It kind of tastes like classic glögg to but with a sweet taste of raspberries.
A bit to sweet I am afraid. It is just to much like juice.
There is also a hint of cardamom, but it is weak.

More glögg tomorrow!

Santa's Coal Giga Bites

If you are naughty, Santa is sure to bring you coal for christmas instead of presents.
Well, I guess coal could be considered a present depending on where in the world you live.
This year, I have apparently been very naughty, because I got a whole train load of coal.
Fourtunately for me, this coal has a flavour of blue raspberry (artificially of course).



The train itself is made of cardboard and is really nice.
A happy santa operates the train and it is very jolly.
I will probably use this train as a decoration.
The "coal", is tiny pieces of chewy candy.



I do not think the coal smells like anything.
But I would rather like them to smell like nothing than of real coal.
That would be off-putting it they did.
I must admit that I have never tasted blue raspberries.
As far as I know, they are not indigenous to my country.
But the candy has a taste similar to raspberries.
I prefer to eat this coal than to eat real coal.

Ballerina Pepparkaka

We start the christmas season here at Candynstuff with the Oreo of Sweden... Ballerina.
Ballerina is made by Göteborgskex and is available in a couple of different flavours.
This is the christmas version and it it of course based on the classic Ballerina but with gingerbread filling.

The packaging has gotten a bit more christmasy.
There is snow everywhere and even some nice snowflakes.
And the Ballerina men/women are engaged in what looks like a snowball fight.
All in all, it is a nice package.
The cookies have also got a christmas overhaul.
The center is normally just round, but here it is star shaped, lovely.



They have a nice gingerbread scent making the whole room (or maybey just the area around me) smell like christmas.
The scent is definitely better than the flavouring.
The filling tastes nice, but does not really mix togheter with the cookie part.
They should have made the cookie part more christmasy.
It is still a good cookie and a must to try at christmas time.

Doritos Gourmet - Teriyaki Mayonnaise [Limited Edition]

We have here chips from Japan.
Flavoured with a classic Japanese Teriyaki flavour combined with mayonnaise.
Since I do not know Japanese, the art/text on the bag says nothing to me.
It could just as well have been chips flavoured with ranch dressing.
But I knew this when i bought them, so nevermind.

I am not all the familiar with Japanese teriyaki flavouring.
And this is fast going into weird territory.
I am not really sure I want to continue this testing session.
But I will do it for you my friends.

Teriyaki is a form of sweet soy sauce marinade.
And maybey it is supposed to smell like this but I really do not know.
It smells weird. A bit sweet. A bit like chips.



The flavour is also weird. First they do not taste like anything.
Then a sweet flavour slowly starts to appear.
Then that sweet flavour mixes with another flavour (mayonnaise perhaps?).
And that is when they start to taste disgusting.
And then it mixes again and they taste a bit sweet again and it tastes ok again.
So to recap:
"These does not taste like anything, scratch that, they are sweet, but what happens now? Eeeew! This is horrible, ohh, they are sweet again? Sure i will have another."

I would not call these good nor bad.
Interesting is the word i want to use.

Marabou Crunchy Corn

This flavour is new in Sweden for the 2012 autum.
Crunchy Corn could be a thanksgiving flavour?
maybe it is more of a halloween flavour, but halloween is over.
So we will have to make do with this flavour for thanksgiving.

This is a milk chocolate based bar filled with roasted crunchy corn.
Marabou used to have a chocolate bar called Amigo.
It was a milk chocolate bar filled with crunched corn chips.
I really liked that one. Will this live up to its predecessor?

Now, I do not really like roasted corn.
I think it builds up in your mouth and the aftertaste is weird.
But combined with chocolate?



It has a regular smell of Marabou chocolate.
By which I mean, it smells like chocolate, but sweeter.
There is also a secondary smell of corn.
The smell is, well, not that pleasing.

Maybey the flavour will take home the price?
Or maybe not...
I was completely sold when it comes to the Amigo version.
But here? The flavours does not mix, but then again they do.
It is like eating something good and bad at the same time.
The chocolate is good.
And the corn is good (well kinda, sometimes).
And the chocolate and the corn together is bad (but sometimes good).
You can tell I am not really clear what I think about it.

Have a great thanksgiving!

The Simpsons Melonläsk

The Bartman has his own soda? When do I get my own soda?
I don't know if this is genuine or a knock-off?
It has the Fox logo and the Simpsons logo, but one can never know.
Anyway, it is melon flavoured. Does Bart love melon that much?
He looks very thirsty on the can.
I should watch more Simpsons.



The colour is very nice.
It is very melon greenish.
It has a faint smell of melon, very sweet melon. It is faint but it is there.
The taste is kind of the same, pretty faint.
It tastes like melon, but not overwhelming.
I would have liked more taste.
Theres not much carbonation and this I like.
There are too many sodas out there with to much carbonation.
This one has a little fizz, and that is enough.

This was an ok soda but I will probably not try it again.
It does not matter how much Bart begs me to, I must stand firm in this decision.

Ragusa Jubilé

Whenever I eat Ragusa, I become nostalgic.
When I was young, long before there was a bridge between Sweden and Denmark, me and my family used to take the ferry to Dragör.
Ragusa had not yet made it to Sweden, but on the ferry you could buy it.
This made it very special and a must buy each time we took the ferry.



Ragusa is a treat.
A chocolate bar containing a hazelnut truffle filling with whole hazelnuts covered in dark chocolate.
There's a great smell of halzenuts and also a musky dark smell. It mixes well.
The most special thing about Ragusa, is its texture.
It literally starts melting as soon as you unwrap it (get ready for sticky fingers).
It continues to melt in your mouth mixing all the sweet and dark flavours.
The whole hazelnuts tops it of giving the smooth texture something cripsy.

After all these years I still love it.