Grown Up Halloween Treats

You never really outgrow Halloween.  You may not feel like dressing up
or going to door to door for treats, but you still want to seize the
opportunity to eat candy.  I never turn down sour patch kids or a bag of
M & M’s (especially peanut or the new pretzel variety, which happen
to be very good), but sometimes you want something a little more
interesting and sophisticated. We scouted out this year’s best treats
for grown ups and grown up kids alike…

Not Your Average
Ring Pop
Papabubble
Address: 380 Broome St.
Phone:
(212.966.2599)
Website: www.papabubble.com
Ring
pops were a favorite of mine as a kid; I loved the idea of wearing my
food.  Barcelona-based candy company, Papabubble, makes a version
(pictured right) I wouldn’t mind wearing out at night or to the office.
Funky and fun, you can choose to have yours made from dozens of flavors
and colors like orange and cinnamon and even a cough drop flavor. How
can the boss object when you’re really just wearing medicine on your
hand?

PB&J Candy Bars
Liddabit Sweets
Various
locations. www.liddabitsweets.com
I
love Snickers and Milky Way bars, the typical candy bars you can get
from the vending machine or the corner grocery, but Liddabit Sweets’
PB&J bars blow the mass-produced variety away.  A crunchy cookie
wafer is paved in creamy peanut butter and strawberry preserves, then
dipped in milk chocolate — a genius take on America’s favorite
sandwich.

Pretzel-Covered Sea-Salted Caramels
Bespoke
Chocolates
Address: 6 Extra Pl, off E. 1st St.
Phone:
(212.260.7103).
Website: www.bespokechocolates.com
Salted
caramels meet Martin’s pretzels in these sweet flavor bombs. The
crunchy pretzel crust gives way to the gooey caramel and the sea salt
offsets a bit of the chocolatey sweetness. I would have a hard time
sharing these with my best friend let alone some stray trick-or-treater.
Save these for yourself and hand out pretzel M & M’s instead.

Mega Candy Buttons
Dylan’s
Candy Bar
Address: 1011 Third Ave.
Phone: (646.735.0078)
Website:
www.dylanscandybar.com
What are candy buttons, really, but
colored dots that taste like sugar?  The candy buttons at Dylan’s Candy
Bar are the X-large exception to the rule.  Instead of just tasting like
sugar these blown up buttons are flavored with fruit—orange, cherry,
lemon, and raspberry—and don’t leave behind the sugary grit of cheaper
version.  The best part is that they come in grown up sizes.

Chocolate
Covered Corn Flakes
Jacques Torres Chocolate
Address:
66 Water St, Brooklyn
Phone: (718.875.9772)
Website: www.mrchocolate.com
Where
Jacques Torres is concerned, anything can be dipped in chocolate. In
this case, he’s coated breakfast cereal in premium dark chocolate,
producing a surprisingly refined, rich treat.  A crunchy bowl of this
stuff would be a perfect way to kick off Halloween this Sunday morning,
though I’d have a hard time stopping at one.

Hand Dipped
Halvah Squares
Economy Candy
Address:
108 Rivington St.
Phone: (212.254.1531)
Website: www.economycandy.com
Halvah
is one of my favorite candies to eat all year round.  Made from ground
nuts or
seeds, halvah has an exceedingly crumbly texture and savory taste. This
version is made with tahini (sesame paste) and dipped in
dark chocolate to delicious effect.  It’s an exotic treat with a very
grown up flavor.