Top Ten Halloween Candies

Yes, the infamous All Hallows Eve is quickly approaching and while I remain a stagnant  participant in most Halloween activities that the average 23-year-old male would partake in, I would prefer to participate in the traditional Halloween experience of handing out candy to the little trick or treaters. I hate when uncreative people go way to far to grab attention with some dumb or scandalous outfit.

Halloween was created by the candy companies of the past and I would like to celebrate this occasion by honoring these processed high fructose corn syrup ridden treats from the porch, rather than some bar. I love candy and I love cute little kids and this holiday allows me to see the little tikes say “Trick or Treat’? through a rubber mask while gorging myself with yummy chocolates and here are my favs.

10. Candy Corn: This trademark of Halloween is hit or miss with most people. It has the customary Halloween colors striped throughout and reminds me of the cut-out pieces of a jack-o-lantern. However, they are a little too sweet for my liking. Don’t get me wrong, I like sweets just as much as the next guy but it isn’t balanced out by any other flavor. I do recognize its place in Halloween candy history as it just sneaks into the top ten.

9. Twix: The next two candies  signify the battle of the chocolate covered cookies and Twix gets the short end of the stick for me. Twix are great! I like to scrape the caramel topping off the top of the candy with my teeth first and then finish of the cookie with the caramel in the corner of my mouth. The milk chocolate is a standard milk chocolate that always pleases.

8. Kit Kat: Break me off a piece! This is a fairly versatile treat that is also encouraged to be “treated” as an office snack accompanied by a cup of coffee. This chocolate covered wafer cookie emulates what simplicity in a candy is. Many candy bars have 13 different ingredients but the Kit Kat is the posterboy for the cliché phrase that “less is more.” Attention to detail is focused on producing a quality cookie and milk chocolate. Not to mention that it matches the rest of the Halloween color scheme.

7. York Peppermint Patty: I am not a huge fan of dark chocolate but I am a huge fan of mint and this little circle brings me to the dark side. Dark chocolate in most cheap varietals isn’t my favorite but the strong peppermint filling mellows out the dark chocolate flavor for my taste buds with an almost refreshing finish. Be sure not to eat to many of these in one sitting though because the silky mint filling when piled up resembles the feeling of eating a tube of toothpaste.

6. Blow Pop: Go ahead laugh… Ok, well now that is out-of-the-way it is time to pay homage to the best lollipop of all time. The Blow Pop is everything that a lollipop should be. It’s fair size doesn’t cover your whole face with each lick and isn’t done in 4 minutes with 32 licks and 1 bite like a Dum Dum. There are many good flavors of which my favorite is strawberry and as most good lollipops do, they have bubble gum filling. The best way to eat a blow pop is bite into the gum when there is still a little candy surrounding it as the candy gets folded into the gum, prolonging the flavor.

5. Dots: I am a sucker for gummis and dots are the category killer in the Halloween market. Some people aren’t fans of the cardboarded chews but the best part about the dot is the chewing experience. The flavors are good but not great. The aspect that really sets Dots apart from other candies is their texture. With one chew they are immediately stuck in your molars and it is a game to try to pry it out before you pop in another only to repeat the process.

4. M & Ms: The Mars company probably had no clue as to the success of the brand they built with the creation of the M & M. They have mascots, tourist attractions, hilarious commercials, and a clothing line. You can personalize your own, color them your favorite colors, and pick your center. There are dark chocolate, puffed rice, mint, peanut, and peanut butter but the best is the famous original brown bag M & Ms. The quality isn’t that great but everyone loves them. I don’t know why but we do.

3. Twizzlers: Twizzlers may not be a traditional Halloween Candy but I am a huge fan of licorice. I like Aussie style soft licorice, black licorice, Red Vines, and Red Ropes that we used to whip each other with at recess after we bought one from the snack shack but for some reason Twizzlers have a special place in my heart. Their waxy texture and semi-tough consistency is what keeps me coming back for more and more. Especially, the fun size Halloween editions that are smaller and tend to be more tender.

2. Snickers: Why wait? I don’t. Snickers are good year round and whenever I’m feeling fat and need a quick pick-me-up I am sure to drop into the closest Terrible Herbst for a king size Snickers. They have great personalities endorsing the Snickers brand, catchy made up words that are mainstays in candy culture, but most importantly delicious. I don’t even know what nougat is but I like it. The peanuts are salty and delicious with the silky caramel. And all of that wrapped up in creamy milk chocolate is a flavor pairing that is second to one.

1. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup: Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups and Halloween candy are synonymous with each other. They have spooky colors and a mysterious texture. The pasteurized and processed peanut butter filling is like nothing else on this earth. Its poor quality is what makes the cup so good. If high quality Skippy was used in the cups, the cups just wouldn’t be the same. Then when dipped in milk chocolate, a flavor profile is created that rivals peanut butter and jelly. I like to eat them in one bite as I press the roof of my mouth down onto the cup as the chocolate and peanut butter melt and mold into a soft paste that is deliciously decadent. Game over!