Chocolate + Cinnamon = Spicy Nice Bella Sweet Heats

February 3rd, 2010
Bella Sweet Heats – Bella Mia’s latest chocolate confection creation is a unique combination of chocolate with a long lasting flavor of cinnamon.  Remember the classic candy Atomic Fire Balls created way back in 1954?  This was one of the first “spicy” candy treats that caught the candy world by storm….Or should we say blast?  An estimated 15 million of those round, spicy, hard candy “Atomic Fire Balls” are now consumed per WEEK by people all over the world.  Wow!  Now that was a success story!
The Bella Mia Candy Store is now in hot pursuit.  No – nothing as simple as Atomic Fire Balls or Hot Tamales.  Something much more subtle – and definitely with some chocolate in (or on…) it.  Discovered almost by accident while testing new chocolate recipes very late at night along with his trusty dog Mojo.  The Boss (that would be our Tom…Not Bruce…) was suddenly distracted by Mojo – No, don’t ask what really happened…and accidentally combined Merckens milk chocolate and cinnamon flavor.  This tasty chocolate treat gives you the smooth sweetness of chocolate plus a lingering taste of cinnamon.
Looking for something definitely different?  Perhaps need a new candy to pass around your Man Cave during Super Bowl Half Time?  Want to enjoy something just a little bit hotter than those NFL cheerleaders – but don’t want to explain to your wife or Significant Other about those pesky lipstick stains on your shirt collar?  Then try Bella Sweet Heats and put a little bit of spice back in your life!
Select either plain chocolate (choose either milk or dark chocolate) or step up your game a bit and add sesame seeds or cashews to your Bella Sweet Heats.  Chocolate makes a great foundation to build on!  Enjoy the flavors of chocolate, sesame, cashews plus that lingering flavor of “spicy” hot cinnamon.
Available in either milk or dark chocolate.  Available in “bark style” (break ups) or large cluster style.  Sold by the pound.

Bella Sweet Heats – Bella Mia’s latest chocolate confection creation is a unique combination of chocolate with a long lasting flavor of cinnamon.  Remember the classic candy Atomic Fire Balls created way back in 1954?  This was one of the first “spicy” candy treats that caught the candy world by storm….Or should we say blast?  An estimated 15 million of those round, spicy, hard candy “Atomic Fire Balls” are now consumed per WEEK by people all over the world.  Wow!  Now that was a success story!

The Bella Mia Candy Store is now in hot pursuit.  No – nothing as simple as Atomic Fire Balls or Hot Tamales.  Something much more subtle – and definitely with some chocolate in (or on…) it.  Discovered almost by accident while testing new chocolate recipes very late at night along with his trusty dog Mojo.  The Boss (that would be our Tom…Not Bruce…) was suddenly distracted by Mojo – No, don’t ask what really happened…and accidentally combined Merckens milk chocolate and cinnamon flavor.  Bella Sweet Heats are a new tasty chocolate treat gives you the smooth sweetness of chocolate plus a lingering taste of cinnamon.   Bella Sweet Heats (Bark Style)

Looking for something definitely different?  Perhaps need a new candy to pass around your Man Cave during Super Bowl Half Time?  Want to enjoy something just a little bit hotter than those NFL cheerleaders – but don’t want to explain to your wife or Significant Other about those pesky lipstick stains on your shirt collar?  Then try Bella Sweet Heats and put a little bit of spice back in your life!

Select either plain chocolate (choose either milk or dark chocolate) or step up your game a bit and add sesame seeds or cashews to your Bella Sweet Heats.  Chocolate makes a great foundation to build on!  Enjoy the flavors of chocolate, sesame, cashews plus that lingering flavor of “spicy” hot cinnamon.

Available in either milk or dark chocolate.  Available in “bark style” (break ups) or large cluster style.  Sold by the pound.

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BeanBoozled Jelly Beans = Tastebuds Roulette

January 15th, 2010
Ronald Regan never had to worry about this stuff.  Sure, the Berlin Wall came down during his time in office – plus he was associated with taking short naps during Staff Meetings and eating a lot of Jelly Beans – but the stakes are now much higher now.  Those folks on the east side of The Wall may be easily confused with Russians further to the east.  But now those pesky Russians have upped the ante.  Jelly Belly Beans have morphed into something akin to a game of Russian Roulette.  I did warn you, didn’t I….

Ronald Regan never had to worry about this stuff.  Sure, the Berlin Wall came down during his time in office – plus he was associated with taking short naps during Staff Meetings and eating a lot of Jelly Beans – but the stakes are now much higher now.  Those folks on the east side of The Wall may be easily confused with Russians further to the east.  But now those pesky Russians have upped the ante.  Jelly Belly Beans have morphed into something akin to a game of Russian Roulette.  I did warn you, didn’t I….

Caring for and sharing your stash of Jelly Beans is nothing new.  But BeanBoozled Jelly Beans take it to a whole new level.  The new BeanBoozled Beans are packaged in a new, nifty box with colorful graphics on the outside. However, when was the last time you enjoyed a candy that requires a “legend” or “key”.  Some people would call this additional information a “fair warning”.  Beware kids!  Stranger danger!
Now you can “pay your money and take your chances…”  Ten different colors of jelly beans BUT 20 different flavors.  Sound like a good deal?  Then you better keep on reading…
Flavor Danger - Beware!
Flavor Danger – Beware!
The boys in the Taste Department at Jelly Belly have mixed up a few treats AND a few surprises.  Sure – you could just flip a coin and plunge ahead.  But a little strategy or Game Theory may be in order.  Basic math tells me that you have a 50 percent chance of getting a treat and a 50 percent chance of getting a “stinker”.   But who wants to look for that old textbook to read about probability and statistics.   Nope.   Not me!   Too easy!
And some of these flavors are downright weird!  When was the last time you looked forward to chewing on an “ear wax” flavored jelly bean.  O.K. – possibly back in Third Grade – but since you probably made it through Graduate School – you should know better.  My strategy?  Let the OTHER person reach in and take a chance.  If you are lucky – THEY pick up the Skunk Spray flavor, gag or possibly Up-Chuck – then you both get a laugh as you walk out of the room to have lunch…A great way to end that boring 3:00 pm Staff Meeting.
Get my drift?  Don’t be a hero.  Share the wealth!  Kinda’ like opening a door for a Senior Citizen – only to have them get hit by a bus!  Whoa…I’m kidding!  Jelly beans, Retro candy and chocolate candy is available from the Bella Mia Candy Store.
Why not put a few of these Jelly Belly beans in a dessert bowl during Super Bowl Sunday?   BeanBoozled Jelly Beans might just have those Big Guys running for the exits. Revenge is best served in a bowl!  Enjoy!

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Mackintosh Toffee Fans Need To Know…Now!

December 21st, 2009
"New School" Bag Style

"New School" Bag Style

It seems that many visitors to the Bella Mia Candy Store are in “search of toffee knowledge” or perhaps just a Higher Existence!  Nestle Mackintosh Toffee fans are their name and toffee recipes are their game!  What the heck is going on in YOUR kitchen? 

"Old School" Mack Toffee

"Old School" Mack Toffee

From grams to ounces, from bars to pieces, to what is the weight, from bags to bars (and back again…) – a lot of questions have been pouring in regarding Nestle Mackintosh Toffee – also known to Canadian toffee fans as “Mack Toffee”.   Just take a gander at this search queries & questions that showed up this week: 

macintosh toffee
macintosh toffee bags to bars
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macintosh toffee bar size in ounces
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how many grams in a macintosh toffee bar
where to buy macintosh toffee

Bella Mia Candy Store has all (if not most…) of the answers to all of your toffee questions:

Yes
No
56grams
170gram bags
1 gram = 0.0352739619 ounces
Maybe
Perhaps
6 or 7 pieces
Right Here!

Unfortunately, it’s up to you to match the correct answer to the applicable question…Still have a question or two?  Need to know more?  Looking for a reliable source of Mackintosh Toffee?  Need to get it delivered promptly, cheaply, or need your toffee delivered on a Saturday morning?  Having problems coping with Cookie Exchanges during the Holidays?  Always wanted to bake a batch of toffee flavored cookies using Granny’s time-tested recipe but you don’t know how to convert from grams to ounces?  Don’t have a copy of Granny’s recipes?

Then try one of these toffee recipes…You would have found them eventually: 

Mackintosh Mack Toffee Brownies
Mackintosh Mack Toffee Squares
Mackintosh Mack Toffee  Marshmallow Puffs

We suggest you order a bag (or two, or three, or four…) of Nestle Mackintosh Toffee pieces.  New shape.  New packaging.  Same flavor, texture and consistency.  Not too hard – Not too soft – Just Right!  Open a piece and chew up a storm of Canadian toffee flavor!

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Candy Math Problem

December 15th, 2009
Toffee Grams to Ounces

Toffee Grams to Ounces

You can spend a lot of time visiting every grocery store in your area – and don’t forget about all of those smaller convenience stores in your neighborhood – but you are NOT likely to find your Mackintosh Toffeeanywhere!  The traditional “slab” or “flat bar” format is long gone – some say that a fire destroyed the factory while other toffee freaks whisper among themselves that there was some mysterious industrial sabotage behind Nestle’s production problem – but whatever urban legend you want to believe – the problem is still the same.  Just where can you buy your Mack Toffee?  Mackintosh Toffee in the original format is just not around anymore.  All of the fun of freezing your toffee bars, then slamming them hard against a counter top is over!  Let it go!

However, if you still have your favorite toffee recipe that requires Mackintosh Toffee ingredients, Bella Mia Candy Store suggests you consider a bag of individually wrapped pieces of Mackintosh Toffee.  These colorful 170 gram bags are filled with about 20 individually wrapped pieces and, with a little bit of Metric Math you can convert grams to “ounces” for your favorite recipe.

Everything you need to solve your culinary equation is on the back of the Mack Toffee bag …Asking yourself just how many Mack Toffee pieces are in an ounce?  O.K. – let’s peek at the backside (no, not yours…) – I am now referring to the back of the Mackintosh Toffee bag that is…)   Here is what the Bella Mia Candy Store suggests:

The traditional “slab” style of Mackintosh Toffee Bar weighted 56 grams [ 1 gram = 0.0352739619 ounces ]  Therefore, a 56 gram bar of Mackintosh Toffee converts to 1.975 ounces.  The new 170 gram bag (individually wrapped toffee pieces) equals 5.9966 ounces – so just round that to 6 ounces…Information on the back of the bag indicates that 5 pieces = 40 grams = 1.41 ounces.   Divide that by 5 = weight of each piece = 0.282 = so round that to .30 ounces

Voila!  Each individually wrapped piece = 0.3 ounces –  Therefore, 6.5 to 7 wrapped pieces = 1.97 ounces = 56 grams = 1 bar (old style)

Once you solve your personal culinary equation – you might want to try this recipe!

Toffee Cornflake Squares

6 bars Macintosh Toffee (hopefully you were paying attention – if not review your metric math solution just one more time…)
1/2 can Eagle Brand sweetened condensed milk
1/2 cup butter
8 cups cornflakes

Melt butter, toffee and add Eagle Brand condensed milk until well mixed and melted, stirring mixture constantly so it doesn’t burn.  Pour over Cornflakes and stir the mixture until everything is well coated.  Pat into greased 9 x 13 pan.  Let it cool, then cut into squares or drop into mounds on cookie sheet.  Yum!

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Every Day Is Sundae!

November 9th, 2009

Just how many people (errr..I mean humans…) have an ice cream sundae named after them?  Ha!  Thought so!  Well, I DO!  Just wander into my owner’s Candy & Ice Cream Store located at 1096 Hertel Avenue and take a gander at the “specials board” on the back wall just above (and behind) the ice cream counter.  See it in the lower right hand side?  MoJo Sundae – yes, that Bad Boy is named after me!  Yes – I do have a hard time holding an ice cream scoop so I can’t make one for myself – but when I show up, one of the girls behind the counter makes one just for me.  I have to give full credit to Tom, my owner (…aka The Boss…) for creating this thing.  He and I worked the recipe so many years ago I can’t remember the exact date…

What’s in it you ask? Well, you start with three scoops of Perry’s  

MoJo At Rest

MoJo At Rest

ice cream – you can pick from either Vanilla or Chocolate or just mix them together.  The MoJo Sundae is topped with Peanut Butter Sauce and Hot Fudge Sauce, then you sprinkle some crumbled Oreo cookies on the top, add a squirt (or two) of whipped cream then finish off the whole she-bang with a bright red cherry on top!  Whooeee!  What could be better for you?  Not much!  Certainly beats a dish of dry dog food for dinner…

Actually, I’m not allowed to eat ANY chocolate (especially any one those Canadian Candy Bars or those delicious looking British Candy Bars that just came in…) or have ANY Hot Fudge Sauce – but I have been known to dip my hairy chin into a large bowl of Vanilla ice cream that is sometimes enhanced with a dollop of peanut butter sauce.  After all, ice cream is just frozen milk and we all know how good calcium is for your body.  A small but growing dog needs all the calcium it can get.  And yes, too much Peanut Butter Sauce is definitely not good for my slim physique – but what the heck, you’re only a dog once!  And remember, every calendar year puts 7 years on MY clock – so please don’t tell me it will shorten my life.  I fact, don’t tell me any short jokes at all!

Unless you live in Western New York, there is absolutely NO way you are going to get your hands (or a spoon…) into a MoJo Sundae – but you can still dream!  In fact, that is how I spend most of my days – laying around the house, sleeping and dreaming.  My day is sometimes broken up by an occasional pee break when I can get outside in the yard.

And no, the Boss won’t let me spend any time in his Bella Mia Candy Store due to those pesky Erie County, NY Health Department regulations, but it doesn’t bother me anymore.  I learned long ago to put on my “sad face”, hang around the kitchen after dinner and presto – a scoop of Perry’s Vanilla Ice Cream shows up in my bowl.  Life Is Good!

If you ever get a chance to try my MoJo Sundae, give me some feedback on FB.  I won’t be able to reply, but I always enjoy it when someone reads me the email.

Hey – Gotta’ go and chase a bus!

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MackIntosh Toffee Attack

November 8th, 2009

Have a Big Mac Attack lately? How about a Little Mack Attack?  To be more exact: that would be MackIntosh Toffee Attack (aka Mack Toffee…).  If you are a serious toffee hound, then you know just how hard it has been in the last year or so to find the MackIntosh toffee in either the traditional block / bar / slab style.  Good Grief!  Urban legends are made of this stuff.  No, not toffee – but rumors, innuendo, bad facts and errors of all kinds…MackIntosh Toffee

O.K. – sit down and take a coffee break, or candy break, or whatever!  Our contacts in the Nestle Marketing Department in Ontario, Canada have confirmed that the traditional MackIntosh Toffee Bar can be filed under “Long Gone”…So let it go!

However, don’t panic!  What YOU can do is consider Plan “B” – which is MackIntosh Toffee pieces that are individually wrapped and sold in 170 gram bags – that would be about a 6 ounce bag for all of you metrically challenged folks out there.  Works out to about 20+ pieces per bag.  Should be enough to get you through a long day at work, sustain you in the library working on those Calculus problems or keep your blood sugar levels up while you are sitting around the Student Center watching the girls walk by.  In my case, it was usually watching the girls say “Bye-Bye” – but that’s another story for another day…

Bella Mia Candy Store thinks that either a 2 Item Pre-Pack or a 4 Item Pre-Pack will work out for you.  Enough to get along on your own – or if you want to be the “Big Man On Campus” – then our 4 item pre-pack can be passed around and you can still expect to get a few pieces back for later.  Nothing worse that trying to be generous and getting bit on the ass.  As my mother used to tell me: “…The road to Hell is paved with Good Intentions…”

Added Bonus:  if you are into the culinary scene, you can toss a bag of MackIntosh Toffee into your freezer for a few hours, take it out and put a few on the kitchen counter, then beat the “Be-Jesus” out of them to make smaller toffee bits – feel free to toss a few of the toffee pieces into your favorite cookie recipe.  We think that toffee flavor tastes great in almost any cookie.

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Chocolate Suit Didn’t Fit

July 11th, 2009

 

The Marketing Department at Mars must be from another planet…Definitely NOT Mars…What were these guys thinking?

Delicious chocolate covering a tasty coconut center!

Delicious chocolate covering a tasty coconut center!

  If you have not been tuned to the Chocolate Channel or the Candy Channel this week – you may not have heard that Mars lost a legal battle when they tried to trademark the “shape” of their Bounty Bar.  Can you imagine what it cost to make the legal claim based on the unique shape of their candy bars?  Obviously, not a strong enough of a case to hold up in court…Nice try though… 

There may be two distinctive pieces inside each Bounty Bar – but surely whatever machine squeezes and shapes “The Twins” before they get wrapped and packed at the candy factory can’t be that unique.  Come On Folks – it’s just a candy bar – True, the Bounty Bar is a tasty little gem.  Even Saddam Hussein had a few Bounty Bars in his stash when he was found!  Now that is definitely a strong endorsement…What else comes to mind?  Mutiny On The Bounty?  A movie based on a “boat load” of candy in a wooden ship sailing around Tahiti?  Life can be good. Bella Mia Candy Store has plenty of Bounty bars in stock.  We import them directly from our distributor in Canada so there is no need to worry about the “sell by” date.  If you are in the Buffalo, NY area – stop in at our retail store and say hello.  You never know – if Tom The Boss is making a few of his locally infamous chocolate creations – he may even offer up a sample.  Doesn’t hurt to ask!

Aye Aye Captain Bligh!

Aye Aye Captain Bligh!

 

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$2.3 Billion Still NOT Enough?

July 2nd, 2009

 

Oh – No!  Not again!  Why can’t we just all get along?  Allegations of price fixing?  I remember something about that from Economics 101.  Oligopoly come to mind?  Thought so…Many serious chocolate fans may have been over paying too much for too long.  Or that’s what a few of the Government (G-Men) have to say…I can see as a well informed consumer, and assuming that my eyeglasses still work – that the product size has been shrinking while candy bar prices have either been steady or in the worse case, actually going up.  Now that is what the Bella Mia Candy Store calls a “double whammy”…

 

In the short run, I can see no solution.  If you like chocolate, you LIKE chocolate.  If chocolate manufacturers raise their prices, you probably will buy the same amount of their products and hopefully just chew a little slower or let the chocolate melt in your mouth just a little longer.  In the long run you will pay more – we saw that with copper, gasoline and a many other commodities last year…

 Serious Chocolate Fan At Work

There are just more of us (a reference to the Human Race of course..) and many things on Gods Little Garden (aka our Planet Earth) are finite in supply.  I don’t plan on eating any Soylent Green in my lifetime – but you never know.  Could be that Aunt Martha has to be recycled as a Protein Bar – you just never know.  I’m going to put my faith on the side of  of Modern Science!  But when it comes to price fixing and my candy bars – well, I have to draw the line somewhere.  As I get older, I appreciate more and more that there is “so much chocolate and so little time…”  So I better get crackin’ on trying any ( and all ) of the high quality chocolate and candy bars made in North America – possibly The World!

 

Since the Bella Mia Candy Store is right next to Canada, we get to bring you any ( and all ) of the “hard-to-find” Cadbury, Nestle and Kinder and will ship from our Retail Store directly to your door step.  We hope in our car, make the short drive across The Mighty Niagara River using any of the three Bridges that connect us to our neighbors to the north…and voila, we are in Wonka Chocolate Land!  And if the Bridge Traffic isn’t too bad, and the Customs and Border Patrol let us back in – we can get these items shipped out to you in very short order.  Our products are always fresh and delivered to you just in time for that Family Reunion, Corporate Picnic or just a bonfire on the beach…Pick up a box of Cadbury Candy and pass it around – make friends in high & low places…Cadbury may not beat a Cold Beer on a hot summer day – but when the sun goes down and it’s time to watch another sunset – it sure tastes good! 

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Reality T.V. Really Bites

June 4th, 2009

 

The good news is that Summer 2009 is finally here (well, almost…)  And with the heat of the summer comes the less than sizzling summer TV shows.  Now, I’m not against all of the reality TV that is being thrown at us – but how many times can we watch a blonde girl – or just a Tough Guy WannaBe – consume worms, bugs, insects and other creepy crawlers?  I mean – Come On!  If you really want to bite Mother Nature on the ass – then talk a hike down to the Bella Mia Candy Store at 1096 Hertel Avenue.  This Buffalo candy store has an adequate (whoa – check that…) MORE than adequate inventory of HotLix bug candy and other insect candies.  Personally, if you really want to host a great Survivor party with your friends or get in the mood to view any of those Lost episodes from last season – what better item to get you into that Tropical Island mood than chomping on some tasty Bug Candy.

 

From the number of items that have been “flying out the door” at the Bella Mia Candy Store  – no, not literally – the vast majority of online customers for bug candy have been female.  Surprised?  Thought so! Now that definitely throws down a Gender Gauntlet for any of you guys to pick up and challenge the opposite sex.  For me, I have no immediate plans to pop no stinkin’ insect into my cake hole!  No way!  But Hey – that’s just me…

 

There is just something about going to a summer picnic – or possibly the Drive-In on a hot summer night – to get you into the mood for Buffalo’s upcoming warm weather.  Just don’t call the boys from Terminex – they just would NOT understand.  A lot of things in Life are going to bug you – but HotLix Insect candy should not be one of them.

 hotlix_scorpion_suckers_r1

Father’s Day is just around the corner.  What better way to see “dad” Man-Up in front of the family than give him a surprise gift box, and as he unwraps his first Scorpion Sucker – then pops it into his mouth while Mom is in the room.  Better yet – just unwrap some of these Bad Boy Bug Candies and pass them around your dinner table and see who is the first one to bolt!

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Let’s Hit The Beach(es)

May 19th, 2009

O.K. – Just when is this funky weather going to stop?  Which is another way to ask “when is summer going to arrive”?  If Memorial Day is almost here, actually it arrives this weekend, why are the local weather people warning about covering up your outside plants.  Most people I know are asking when can they uncover themselves?  Good Question!

You can Burn & Chocolates Can Melt - In The Sun!

You can Burn & Chocolates Can Melt - In The Sun!

Bella Mia Candy Store has already stocked up with our summer supply of Crystal Beach suckers plus the original Crystal Beach waffles. And don’t get me going on the subject of Loganberry flavored syrups… We have all of the basic ingredients for a sunny warm day at the beach- sorry, you have to bring your own Sand Flies.

You probably want to look your best if you plan to visit any of the sandy beaches along the Canadian shoreline on the north side of Lake Erie.  You pick your poison: spray on tans, tinted topical lotions & potions or you can simply choose to lay around in the hot sunshine (yes – the sun does eventually get a little toasty in Western new York…) and get it the old fashioned way – burn a little, peel a little but tan a lot.  You make the call!

Anyway, enough of this rant.  Chocolate melts in the hot sun and our fragile chocolate retail business slows down a bit when the temps climb towards the 90s – but if you are in Western New York or near Hertel Avenue – stop in at 1096 Hertel Avenue and enjoy some Perry’s Ice Cream!  Tom (aka The Boss…) has a strong right arm and can pile the ice cream pretty high until you decide to say:  Whoa!  That’s Enough!

Need any table favors for your next Bridal Shower?  Perhaps a large Corporate or family picnic?  Perhaps the Corporate Challenge in Delaware Park?  Call us at 716.447.0922 for assistance or suggestions.

Now stop reading this screen – turn off your computer and Hit The Beach!

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