The Grand Finale: What can I say? This is hands down the best pumpkin fudge that I’ve ever tasted. The spiral of pumpkin spices hits you the moment you open the bag, and even though a bag might not necessarily be the best way to transport fudge (I kind of had to separate the pieces a bit…), the flavor just blows away any minor packaging problems because they really did a fantastic job with this one. The presentation looks great, as you can see, and the flavor is nothing short of a pumpkin pie celebration that so many other candy purveyors fail to achieve.

The Final Tally:

1. Pumpkin Spice Malted Milk Balls
2. Spicy Pumpkin Seeds
3. Pumpkin Pie Fudge
4. Chocolate Covered Pumpkin Seeds

Talk about an outstanding way to round out the 2011 pumpkin season! Needless to say, if I happen to find any pumpkin presents underneath the tree after Santa pays us a visit tonight, I’ll be sure to post about them before the end of the year, but for what it’s worth, if this bevy of treats from Nuts Online ends up being the final features for this festive year, then I certainly can’t complain…

Happy holidays, and may all of your pies be pumpkin!

Surprise, Surprise: If these were just sitting somewhere in a dish, at first glance you might not even realize that they’re pumpkin seeds on the inside. In fact, while I was eating them it still took a while for the pumpkin seed flavor to kick in – the consistency almost resembles that of a chocolate-covered rice krispie, and it’s not until almost an aftertaste when the actual pumpkin seed itself makes its appearance on your tastebuds.

Ranking: If I had to put numbers on them, this would probably be at the bottom of the list of the four things that I ordered from Nuts Online – not because I didn’t enjoy them, but more so because I just ended up liking all of the other items a whole lot more…

Preface Preface: Sometimes it gets a little tough this time of year to continue the pace as Christmas stuff has all but overpowered any remaining pumpkin in the stores, so I try to turn to the Internet to fill out the remainder of the year … that is, as much as I can without shipping & handling killing my budget, anyways!  Luckily, though, every once in a while I’ll find a storefront where I can order several things at a time to help share the load – these next several posts will be spanning a new company that I just discovered called Nuts Online that, not to spoil or anything, seems to really know their pumpkin…

Candy Preface: The malted milk balls were actually what originally drew me to Nuts Online, as I’d seen them in years passed but always thought to order them at the wrong time (I live in Florida, which is fairly hot most of the year and thus makes it difficult to ship chocolate to me!).  Finally!

Worth the Wait?: Yes, indeedy!  I always remember having Whoppers (the candy, not the hamburger) around the house because my Dad really liked them, so not only did these over-sized, orange treats kind of rekindle that memory, but they also had a nice and rich pumpkin flavor and scent to them. That’s one bit of praise that you’ll probably be hearing over and over about this Nuts Online order – unlike far too many others, I really knew that I was in for a good, solid pumpkin experience from the minute I opened the bag before even reaching inside!

…Continued Godiva Gushing: Seriously, I still can’t believe that they had this many different chocolate pumpkin offerings when I stepped into their store in our local mall to discover these last weekend.  And even though I had to rank them all accordingly and as I inferred, this one came in #3 out of 4, Godiva certainly gets an A+ for effort!  So come on, Ghirardelli – time to pick up the pace…

Awww, Nuts!: Really, my biggest complaint for this fine slab of pumpkin chocolate stuff is that it contained copious amounts of pecans and, well, I don’t really like pecans.  For all I know, it’s entirely possible that chocolate bark itself is defined by having pecans in it … I honestly have no idea and I refuse to look it up on principal, although granted if it did I guess I would feel kind of silly right about now.  But still, even pecans picked to the side or nibbled around in my case, this milk chocolate features a smooth flavor of cinnamon and ginger in every bite – probably a 6/10 intensity for flavor, with an extra point or two for 8/10 for the aroma.

Smell Ya Later…: Did I just say that smelling this chocolate was actually more enjoyable than eating this chocolate?  Hmmmm – well, I guess I did!

Cost: $12

Value: Priceless! (but don’t tell Godiva or they’ll just up the price…)

Sweet Spot: Although I’m gonna be honest and admit that I’m not entirely sure if it was the caramel that was pumpkin-spiced or the candy coating on the outside, but either way, these delectable, little sweets are a prime example of what real pumpkin candy should taste like!  The caramel is nice and sweet, but not overly sweet … or at least not enough to prevent a guy not unlike myself from wiping out the entire tube of these things in a matter of two days…

Summary: Yummy – go buy them!  For those keeping score, these are ranked number 2 of 4 amongst Godiva’s current pumpkin offerings this year.  You read about #1 two days ago and #4 was actually up for review last year, so that means one more left to go this week!  It’s kinda like Christmas, isn’t it?!

Origin: The last one in the case, nearly overlooked by the kind of snobby girl who was “helping” us, this lone truffle of both pumpkin and cheesecake origins almost never was…

The Experience: But thank goodness for an ever-perceptive yours truly, at least with regards to spotting the elusive pumpkin diamond in the rough, because WOW – was the other sales guy who was most definitely not snobby and actually rather cheerful right!  He cited that it was his all-time favorite, and in retrospect I heartily concur – its creamy sweetness was honestly what I had been hoping for last year when I first tried Godiva’s regular pumpkin truffles, but now I know that despite the cutesy packaging, these little orange gems from the display case are really where it’s at!

Teaser: I’m happy to report that Godiva has really stepped up their pumpkin game this year and as a result, I spent a lot more money than I was planning on specifically in regards to pumpkin-based sweets here recently!  Nevertheless, my financial loss is your blogging gain, so really, this is just my extremely long-winded way of saying, “Look forward to even more Godiva pumpkin treats coming next week!”

Candy-Coated Memories: My sister was always into taffy a lot more than I was growing up.  She’d come home with all sorts of different colors and flavors, and although I’ve always been amused by just the vast variety of different flavors that things come in, I never really got much into enjoying their chewy goodness myself.

P.S.: Not to mention, I was also one of those kids who had to endure wearing braces for the better part of my childhood, so I suppose taffy wouldn’t have gone over too well in relation with my parents and my orthodontist, either!

The Verdict: Surprisingly not pumpkin, although very cinnamon-y, if you’re into that sort of thing.  I think I was looking for something that wasn’t there because at first I was almost convinced that they smelled like pumpkin, but every single wrapper that I tore through just tasted more and more like cinnamon without but a single trace of pumpkin…

C’est la vie: Disappointed?  Sure, but sometimes that’s the way the taffy gets pulled.

Initial Impression: “That’s a BIG lollipop!”
Overall Impression: Clearly well-made by hand, I love the colors, and seriously, the thing is so big that it took forever to get it down to a size that I could even fit into my mouth … but just one teensy little problem. It doesn’t taste like PUMPKIN!!! In this gigantic sucker’s case, their “pumpkin spice” to me more closely resembled the cinnamon candy canes that I would find on our Christmas tree every year growing up – still definitely tasty, but just not really pumpkin-y.  Sorry, guys…

Shameless Plug: Despite not hitting the mark of what I’m exactly looking for with regards to pumpkin, I really wanted this one to work out because overall this was still an extremely high-quality piece of candy, so nonetheless I want to mention that they’ve got a website at hammondscandies.com where you can order all sorts of sweet treats and have them shipped straight to your door.  Their thing seems to be hard candies and they’ve got quite a selection, so if that’s what you happen to fancy as well, you might want to check them out and see if anything happens to catch your eye.

Presentation: Even before unwrapping one, it became clear that a lot of effort went into preparing these truffles.  Wrapped up in orange foil like little pumpkins, they’ve even got felt leaves and a little stem on each one!  It definitely helped me feel a little better about spending $13 for a package of 5 truffles, anyways…
Flavor: The center has a very dull pumpkin flavor, however it seems to be complimented well by the milk chocolate shell itself.  The consistency is nice – almost like a peanut butter center, but creamier … my only real critique is that it would’ve been nice to see the flavor just a tad bit sweeter.
Final Verdict: I enjoyed them, but I wasn’t exactly blown away. Head to head, I think Ghirardelli beats Godiva in this particular pumpkin prize fight…

Other Commentary: I don’t normally go into their store in the mall because everything looks really expensive, but a closer look at the display case revealed a handful of other flavors that also sounded intriguing.  We did end up getting one of their membership cards that allows for a free piece each month, although I think I would feel guilty using it on a regular basis if I wasn’t actually intending to make a purchase…  (then again, several people approached and did exactly that while I was checking out!)

Sheer Excitement Even From Just Finding These Things: super high!
Fanboy Disclosure: Ok, well I may not be an official, card-carrying member of the Ghirardelli Fanboy Club, but I am particularly fond of their desserts when given the option of enjoying them on a leisurely evening.  My wife and I have been known to frequent their ice cream shop over at Downtown Disney in Orlando for a sundae or milkshake after a few hours spent buying more Disney stuff than two sane people actually ever need.  Heck, sometimes I’ll just walk through to take in the smells – if anything, these people know their chocolate!
Pumpkinalysis: It’s almost hard to tell whether the pumpkin is in the caramel or the chocolate itself with these squares, but either way, they are pretty darned delicious … as we’ve all come to expect from Ghirardelli, of course! The caramel is ridiculously smooth and creamy, and would probably melt in your mouth if you had enough restraint to actually savor it.  I’m thinking that these would’ve also been great to flavor some hot chocolate or even to top an ice cream sundae, like they do at the shop, but … well, let’s just say that I’ll need to pick up another bag if I want to do any experimenting like that…

Side Note: I’ve been waiting a long time to try some actual pumpkin-flavored chocolates, and these were great … any pointers on what else might be lurking out there in candy shoppes around the country?  I think that Godiva has something, so I’ll have to cross my fingers the next time I’m walking past their store in the mall.