Pretty pretty please....

With a cherry on top? Yep... I gave in. I told you I would!

Nestle Cherry Raisinets

Where purchased: Target
Price: $2.89
Overall rating: 4/5


I'll be honest - I don't have much to add since the last time I posted on the Cranberry Raisinets. But, on my last trip to Target I did finally decide to give these cherry dark chocolate bites a try. As you would expect, they are delicious. More importantly, they ARE a little different from the traditional raisinets. Yes, they still have the same general flavor, but each chocolate-covered cherry is much larger, and the dark chocolate provides a slightly richer flavor. It is a very subtle difference, but it's there!

Really, when choosing any of the Raisinet flavors, you can't go wrong. I personally have a small preference for the dark chocolate varieties. And, on their own, I think I like the big cherry raisinets, but mixed into a trail mix or something I think I would prefer the smaller dark chocolate raisinets.

So, just in case you thought you were missing something exciting and unique... you really aren't. Something tasty? Of course! But I won't insist that your life is incomplete without trying them.

Old dog, new tricks

Just when you thought M&Ms had exhausted its ability to stay new and fresh...

Pretzel M&Ms

Price: 1.05 oz single size: $0.79; 9.9 oz medium bag: $3.49; 15.4 oz large bag: $4.99
Where purchased: No purchase. Sampled from Heather's office (Thanks Heather!)
Overall rating: 4.5/5

So I try to keep the foods that I review fairly nutritious, but let's face it - sometimes we just need some candy. When my friend Heather told me about these new pretzel M&Ms, I just couldn't resist a sample (or two or three...). I have always loved the salty/sweet combination that chocolate-covered pretzels provide, and here you get that same idea in the little M&Ms we all love. Somewhere between a peanut M&M and crispy M&M (whatever happened to those anyway?), these pretzel M&Ms hit the spot as a perfect movie treat, candy dish filler, or post-lunch sweet.

I am always intrigued by the ways traditional candies try to stay fresh for consumers (3 Musketeers Mint, Crispy Reeses, Dark Chocolate Milky Way, etc.) but this may be my favorite one in a long time!

I certainly don't want to get in the habit of trying every new candy out there, so instead I ask my readers: What new twists on old favorites have you tried? 3 Musketeers Truffle Crisp, Limited Edition Snickers Fudge, Limited Edition Coconut M&Ms, Starburst Summer Fun Fruits, others??

Leave it to Yoplait

Remember this post? What did I tell you about the word "delight?" It's a food marketer's dream come true.

Yoplait Delights - Chocolate Raspberry

Price: $2.55/4 pack
Where purchased: St. Joseph IGA
Overall rating: 4/5

Does it feel like I've been overdoing it with the yogurt reviews lately? I'll admit I have done a few, but I can't help that there are about a million different kinds of yogurt out there. I can hardly stop trying them when so many exciting new varieties keep popping up.

I try not to get caught up in the "100 calorie" hype, as typically it seems like a way to get you to overpay for special packaging, or sell nearly the same product to a new market segment. But, I'd have to say that this 100-calorie snack is a great addition to the current offerings out there. To me, this product fulfills exactly what I had been hoping for from the less-than-stellar Breyers yogurt I reviewed earlier this month. It provides a sweet, creamy, and satisfying snack, with 5 grams of protein and only 1.5 grams of fat and 100 calories. I particularly enjoyed the raspberry and chocolate flavor because it makes you think you are eating something dessert-like. In fact, I don't think I'd even want to eat this as a breakfast food, but as a mid-morning or afternoon snack it is perfect. The chocolate flavor is pretty mild, but I didn't think it tasted artificial, which is usually the problem I have with lower-calorie yogurts.

This product receives a 4 out of 5 rating because it is a tasty treat, but a little pricey for only a 4 oz cup. Watch out for coupons though - Yoplait is handing out a lot of them right now (did you see the one on the product page?) I actually have 2 of them and forgot to use either when I was at the store, of course. That's ok, I still have other flavors to try. That Creme Carmel is calling my name.

Call me craisi

If the leading brand of dried cranberries calls them Craisins, shouldn't the leading brand of the chocolate covered variety call them Craisinets? It only makes sense.

Nestle Cranberry Raisinets

Price: $2.69 (5.5 oz bag)
Where purchased: Target (thank you, Jackie!)
Rating: 3/5

I love raisinets. I find them to be a great snacking candy. It's really no wonder they have been a movie-goers staple for so many years. And really, as far as candy goes, nutritionally you can't do much better. I mean, you are actually getting some nutrition underneath the sugar and fat of the delicious milk chocolate.

So, one could only expect Nestle would do an excellent job covering cranberries with chocolate as well, right? Right. They did. They did an excellent job of making their chocolate covered cranberries exactly like raisinets. Like... exactly. I really can't tell the difference. I was hoping the dried cranberry would add a little different tang and taste than the raisin, but the flavor is pretty much indistinguishable beneath the milk chocolate coating. This is the same way I think of fried appetizers at restaurants. Fry a mushroom, broccoli, onion... it really doesn't matter. It all tastes like deep fried breading.

So, I rated this product a 3.5 out of 5 not because I was at all displeased with the taste or value, but because Nestle did a poor job making a new product. If a company is going to bother making a different version of a classic, actually do something different. Maybe they should have covered it with white chocolate instead. Or put a little less chocolate to bring out the cranberry - something besides bragging about the antioxidents of the cranberries. Come on, it's been done.

That said, Nestle also has a new cherry raisinet covered in a dark chocolate coating that I will probably have to try. While I do know they make dark chocolate raisinets, I actually haven't tried them yet. In fact, by the time all is said and done I'll probably end up purchasing 4 different packages of raisinets and Nestle will have accomplished exactly what they set out to do. But what can I say - I am only a consumer.