Jim’s Junk Drawer

A heartier take on the peppermint patty, these have a thick coating of dark chocolate over a smooth mint center. The chocolate is very good, without an overt malitol taste, and the center is perfect. Made by Russell Stover, a company gaining a huge presence in the sugar free ghetto of our local drug stores.

Wow! These are, to my buds, indistinguishable from the real thing – delicious! Dark chocolate over creamy mint, and often (as in the picture) a bit fragile. These are becoming widely available at grocery stores and Walmart, which is a good thing. Sweetened with the usual sugar alcohol suspects, malitol, isomalt, and sorbitol and made by Hershey (alas probably in Mexico, where they moved most of their production after closing down their plant in Oakdale, CA).

Hard candies sweetened with Sucralose (same as Sweet ‘n Low coffee sweetener), these don’t have the rich flavor of some other coffee candies. The Amaretto flavor in particular has a chemical taste (although maybe that’s just Amaretto). 

Produced by Simply Lite Foods Corp, which appears to be either a division of or an authorized producer of Sweet ‘n Low products.

Intense dark coffee flavor, slightly bitter but with just the right sweetness. Sweetened with Sucralose, contains real coffee & butter. Produced by Adams & Brooks.

Here’s hoping they will produce some additional flavors from their sugared Coffee Rio line, which includes: Original, Irish Mint, Kona Blend, Amaretto, Orange Cappuccino, Raspberry Mocha, Suisse Chocolate, Espresso Roma, French Vanilla, and Decafe (not really sure why you’d want a decaf “flavor”, as caffeine is not a listed ingredient of the regular variety).

Wonderfully rich and chewy, as good as the real thing imho. They also come in an equally good Coffee flavor. Sweetened with malitol, but containing heavy cream, butter, and milk. A Nestlé product.