Pot of Gold chocolates have been a family tradition for over sixty years.So I was really annoyed when they changed them this year. Where are all my old favorites – the rum butter caramel, butter creme and mocha caramel? They’ve gone back to those horrible strawberry and orange ones we used to feed to the dog when we were kids. And don’t tell me it’s supply issues……My mother still enjoys a candy cane as she grew up in the Depression when Christmas morning meant peppermint candy and an orange. I must have bought twenty of these, but most of them were given away – either to friends or the pharmacy, doctor’s office, snow-shoveler, grasscutter – anyone who helped me over the past year. It’s amazing how happy a box of fudge can make people, and I still have a few left to hoard until Valentine’s day. These hot chocolate bombs filled with mini-marshmallows were great, and justified as I’m supposed to be increasing my calcium intake, and the dark chocolate is full of antioxidants. These thin individually wrapped chocolate covered mints are nice served with coffee after a big meal, when you want something sweet but don’t have room for dessert. Saving these for New Years – note the wrapping is still intact! Also for New Years – I like the idea of creme brulee, pecan pie and raspberry cheesecake in a mini chocolate dessert cup. Some years just require more treats. A reward for gingerly walking in snowy weather. If we can’t have Paris, we can have Christmas in Paris tea! Gimmicky I know, but good, probably because of the chocolate.Not candy but a New Year’s resolution – an alternative for people like me who can’t swallow big pills.
Do you have a favorite or traditional Christmas candy?
We don’t have any now but when I was a child my mother always bought the big Russell Stover’s assorted chocolates. Some fillings were good and some not so good. I’d always poked the bottom to make sure I knew what it was before I bit into it. That didn’t make my mother happy as she offered it to guests too! I think Whitman’s came out with a flavor guide in their box so you could tell them apart.
I remember Russell Stover’s – we used to get boxes of them from grateful patients when I worked at the hospital. But as you said, some of the fillings weren’t so good so they were never my favorites. Pot of Gold still has the flavour guide on the inside of the box, and they have three different kinds of boxes, but even the caramel box isn’t the same as last years. It could have been supply issues. As I see lots of them on sale still sitting in the stores, if they don’t sell well, maybe they’ll go back to the old ones next year.
You had a lot of good stuff. I keep hearing about the Hot Chocolate Bombs and was wondering if they were good or too chocolatey. Also, if it took too long for them to dissolve.
They were good – it was just a Presidents Choice brand which is a grocery store chain here. (same as the fudge $4/box, also good) I found the bomb itself dissolved well and the marshmallows came out but there were little tiny bits of chocolate undissolved floating around after, but maybe I didn’t have the milk hot enough? It made it very chocolately towards the bottom of the mug. It was just the right degree of chocolate and sweetness, not overly sweet. I would buy them again, but they were all sold out – probably because they made great stocking stuffers.
A box of See’s “Nuts and Chews” always showed up on the living room table at Christmas, a gift from an extended family member. See’s was the local brand in California so my parents and their families were loyal to their products. This year I gave my dad a box, but I went with the “soft centers” to respect his aging teeth. Also, great comment about feeding the dog the chocolates with fruit in them. Not my preference either!
Thanks Dave – the dog, a Samoyed husky mix, didn’t seem to mind them! They weren’t exactly fruit but orange cream and strawberry cream, but those chocolate covered cherry ones were just as bad! Yuck – I can still remember the taste.
My dad sends us a box of Krause’s chocolates, but not quite as good as our local Rocky Mountain Chocolate and Animas Chocolate. I loved getting Aplets and Cotlets from the northwest from my grandparents.
It’s funny how every family has their favorites. I don’t recognize any of those brands but you have much more of a selection of candy in the US than we have here, at least based on another blogger I read.
They were surprisingly good – rich but not too sweet or too chocolatey. I would buy more, but they sold out. I hate hot chocolate from those powdered mixes and usually make my own from cocoa powder.
What a lot of chocolate treats! We don’t do much in the way of chocolate at this time of the year because it is so hot. Nonetheless, when I was very young, there was the annual treat of a tine – later only available in boxes – of Black magic chocolates. A long-time treat during my adult years has been a bag of Quality Street chocolates – awfully expensive these days – and this year was no different. They are all beautifully wrapped in jewelled colours. This year, however, there seemed to be a lot more orange creams than usual and – of course – I ended up with the toffees no-one else really wanted to eat 🙂
I remember Black Magic chocolates but I haven’t seen them in years, but I still see the Quality Street brand around. Those orange creams are the ones we used to feed the dog!
Rich chocolate brownies! OK, fudge, because brownies are not really a candy unless they’re loaded with extra chocolate pieces, with a chocolate icing on top. Now I’m really getting decadent!
Oh, this post and the Pot of Gold chocolates brought back memories of my late grandmother Joni. My grandmother came from a big family (she was one of 9 siblings) and the rest of them lived in a rural town of Ariss, near Guelph. They’d come to visit my grandmother for the Exhibition or the Royal Winter Fair and depending on the time of year, Minnie got either a fruitcake or a Pot of Gold chocolates from them. These chocolate boxes were always at her house when we went to visit. I’d make her mad when she offered me one as I’d push my finger through to see if they were soft or not (I hated the strawberry and orange ones too). My grandmother and mom loved Turtles and they were a staple as well. In later years I always put a small package of Turtles in my mom’s Christmas stocking … I like them too. I’ve not tried the other items you wrote of and funny as I mentioned the Celestial Season’s holiday teas – you found some gingerbread tea. That was one of the flavors and the plum pudding that you thought you’d like. We always had the Brach’s Christmas tree nougats, a soft taffy-like candy that tasted like candy canes. I haven’t had one since my mom’s been gone.
I wonder if Pot of Gold are just a Canadian brand as no one else has commented on them? I have no idea why they would go back to putting those orange and strawberry cream ones in, as they seem to universally disliked? No snow yet, so I hope you got out for a walk! Happy New Year!
Maybe it is cheaper to do that? Those flavors were sickening sweet. I have never seen Pot of Gold here. The big brand for chocolates is Sanders and Russell Stover. We used to have Whitman’s Samplers and they had the same type of assortment as Pot of Gold or Laura Secord chocolates. Our snow started at 5:00 p.m. and according to the 8:00 p.m. weather, it is snowing gangbusters out there. We now are getting 3-5 inches of snow overnight. I did walk and got five miles walked.
When I worked at the hospital family members always brought in Russell Stover, but I never liked them. Started snowing here around 7pm, but I walked early afternoon – it was very blustery so I didn’t go far. Hope we don’t get too much. Cooked steak and lobster for supper for New Years – hope you had something special.
We used to have some of our vendors at the law office bring in individual boxes of chocolate and Russell Stover was one item. The paper vendor used to give each of us a box of stationery. It was blustery this morning too but 40 degrees when I was out. It doesn’t sound like it will be fun shoveling as it will be a lot of wet snow as it will be sleeting off and on. I have not had steak and lobster for many years – one of the last Christmas parties at the Firm before this one and we went to a seafood restaurant, so decades. Well I was going to make a crockpot meal and decided I wanted to start my book (“The Return” by Nicholas Sparks). I thought I’ll have a snack, read an hour, then start doing the prep work. I never made the meal as I was enjoying my book so much. Maybe tomorrow but shoveling will cut into reading time. I like having a good book to immerse myself in … I needed that.
We have taken on a tradition from Marianne’s family that it isn’t Christmas without a box of Fanny May Mint Meltaways – the soft chocolate mint candies that alternate with chocolate and light green outer coatings.
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We don’t have any now but when I was a child my mother always bought the big Russell Stover’s assorted chocolates. Some fillings were good and some not so good. I’d always poked the bottom to make sure I knew what it was before I bit into it. That didn’t make my mother happy as she offered it to guests too! I think Whitman’s came out with a flavor guide in their box so you could tell them apart.
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I remember Russell Stover’s – we used to get boxes of them from grateful patients when I worked at the hospital. But as you said, some of the fillings weren’t so good so they were never my favorites. Pot of Gold still has the flavour guide on the inside of the box, and they have three different kinds of boxes, but even the caramel box isn’t the same as last years. It could have been supply issues. As I see lots of them on sale still sitting in the stores, if they don’t sell well, maybe they’ll go back to the old ones next year.
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You had a lot of good stuff. I keep hearing about the Hot Chocolate Bombs and was wondering if they were good or too chocolatey. Also, if it took too long for them to dissolve.
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They were good – it was just a Presidents Choice brand which is a grocery store chain here. (same as the fudge $4/box, also good) I found the bomb itself dissolved well and the marshmallows came out but there were little tiny bits of chocolate undissolved floating around after, but maybe I didn’t have the milk hot enough? It made it very chocolately towards the bottom of the mug. It was just the right degree of chocolate and sweetness, not overly sweet. I would buy them again, but they were all sold out – probably because they made great stocking stuffers.
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Those bombs make hot chocolate FUN!
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PS. Normally I wouldn’t buy quite that much stuff, but everything looked good, and I thought we needed more treats this year!
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ABSOLUTELY, we did need more treats. Stay in good spirits.
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A box of See’s “Nuts and Chews” always showed up on the living room table at Christmas, a gift from an extended family member. See’s was the local brand in California so my parents and their families were loyal to their products. This year I gave my dad a box, but I went with the “soft centers” to respect his aging teeth. Also, great comment about feeding the dog the chocolates with fruit in them. Not my preference either!
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Thanks Dave – the dog, a Samoyed husky mix, didn’t seem to mind them! They weren’t exactly fruit but orange cream and strawberry cream, but those chocolate covered cherry ones were just as bad! Yuck – I can still remember the taste.
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My dad sends us a box of Krause’s chocolates, but not quite as good as our local Rocky Mountain Chocolate and Animas Chocolate. I loved getting Aplets and Cotlets from the northwest from my grandparents.
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It’s funny how every family has their favorites. I don’t recognize any of those brands but you have much more of a selection of candy in the US than we have here, at least based on another blogger I read.
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Yummy—now if I didn’t get migraines from chocolate…
I think I’d be most inclined to those hot chocolate marshmallow goodies.
Enjoy!
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They were surprisingly good – rich but not too sweet or too chocolatey. I would buy more, but they sold out. I hate hot chocolate from those powdered mixes and usually make my own from cocoa powder.
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What a lot of chocolate treats! We don’t do much in the way of chocolate at this time of the year because it is so hot. Nonetheless, when I was very young, there was the annual treat of a tine – later only available in boxes – of Black magic chocolates. A long-time treat during my adult years has been a bag of Quality Street chocolates – awfully expensive these days – and this year was no different. They are all beautifully wrapped in jewelled colours. This year, however, there seemed to be a lot more orange creams than usual and – of course – I ended up with the toffees no-one else really wanted to eat 🙂
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I remember Black Magic chocolates but I haven’t seen them in years, but I still see the Quality Street brand around. Those orange creams are the ones we used to feed the dog!
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Rich chocolate brownies! OK, fudge, because brownies are not really a candy unless they’re loaded with extra chocolate pieces, with a chocolate icing on top. Now I’m really getting decadent!
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You can never go wrong with chocolate in any form! I haven’t made brownies in ages, a year at least…thanks for the reminder!
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Oh, this post and the Pot of Gold chocolates brought back memories of my late grandmother Joni. My grandmother came from a big family (she was one of 9 siblings) and the rest of them lived in a rural town of Ariss, near Guelph. They’d come to visit my grandmother for the Exhibition or the Royal Winter Fair and depending on the time of year, Minnie got either a fruitcake or a Pot of Gold chocolates from them. These chocolate boxes were always at her house when we went to visit. I’d make her mad when she offered me one as I’d push my finger through to see if they were soft or not (I hated the strawberry and orange ones too). My grandmother and mom loved Turtles and they were a staple as well. In later years I always put a small package of Turtles in my mom’s Christmas stocking … I like them too. I’ve not tried the other items you wrote of and funny as I mentioned the Celestial Season’s holiday teas – you found some gingerbread tea. That was one of the flavors and the plum pudding that you thought you’d like. We always had the Brach’s Christmas tree nougats, a soft taffy-like candy that tasted like candy canes. I haven’t had one since my mom’s been gone.
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I wonder if Pot of Gold are just a Canadian brand as no one else has commented on them? I have no idea why they would go back to putting those orange and strawberry cream ones in, as they seem to universally disliked? No snow yet, so I hope you got out for a walk! Happy New Year!
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Maybe it is cheaper to do that? Those flavors were sickening sweet. I have never seen Pot of Gold here. The big brand for chocolates is Sanders and Russell Stover. We used to have Whitman’s Samplers and they had the same type of assortment as Pot of Gold or Laura Secord chocolates. Our snow started at 5:00 p.m. and according to the 8:00 p.m. weather, it is snowing gangbusters out there. We now are getting 3-5 inches of snow overnight. I did walk and got five miles walked.
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When I worked at the hospital family members always brought in Russell Stover, but I never liked them. Started snowing here around 7pm, but I walked early afternoon – it was very blustery so I didn’t go far. Hope we don’t get too much. Cooked steak and lobster for supper for New Years – hope you had something special.
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We used to have some of our vendors at the law office bring in individual boxes of chocolate and Russell Stover was one item. The paper vendor used to give each of us a box of stationery. It was blustery this morning too but 40 degrees when I was out. It doesn’t sound like it will be fun shoveling as it will be a lot of wet snow as it will be sleeting off and on. I have not had steak and lobster for many years – one of the last Christmas parties at the Firm before this one and we went to a seafood restaurant, so decades. Well I was going to make a crockpot meal and decided I wanted to start my book (“The Return” by Nicholas Sparks). I thought I’ll have a snack, read an hour, then start doing the prep work. I never made the meal as I was enjoying my book so much. Maybe tomorrow but shoveling will cut into reading time. I like having a good book to immerse myself in … I needed that.
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Good for you!
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That all looks very yummy Joni. The tea looked tasty too. Hope you enjoyed Christmas and Happy New Year to you and your mum xx
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It was a year when we needed more treats! Happy New Year to you and your family!
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We have taken on a tradition from Marianne’s family that it isn’t Christmas without a box of Fanny May Mint Meltaways – the soft chocolate mint candies that alternate with chocolate and light green outer coatings.
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Sounds good! I haven’t seen soft pastel mints in years but remember them as being good……I’ll have to look for them….
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