Candy Geek

05/29/2026

This was my last Five Below find left to try, finally. It’s Japanese mochi. I assumed they were grape flavored, since they’re purple and I couldn’t read the Japanese on the box. Oops, my fault for not checking the back of the box before buying. They are definitely NOT grape flavored.

Have you guessed the flavor? I checked the ingredients after opening the box, but before eating one. I had a suspicion by that point, based on my research on Japanese KitKats. They’re ube flavored, which means purple yam… and I hate yams and sweet potatoes (which I thought were the same thing, but apparently they’re not). 🤢

I tried one anyway even though I knew I would probably hate it. And… yes, I hated it. As I was chewing my first bite, I said, “Oh, this isn’t so bad.” But a second or two later, it was. Yuck. I had to eat something else to get the taste out of my mouth.

To be fair, the texture of the mochi was nice, as was the powder. If I tried a flavor that I actually like, I think I would enjoy this brand. Literally just about any flavor would be better. I’m not sure if I’d rate these a 1 or 1.5, but it doesn’t really seem fair to rate them. It was my mistake for getting a flavor I didn’t like. Now I have to find somebody who likes yams to give these to!

05/26/2026

Here’s the next new Oreo release to be on the lookout for! The BTS Oreos are brown sugar pancake flavor, with purple cookies! They’re coming out on June 8. This sounds like such a unique flavor, and I’m looking forward to giving it a try.

OREO is teaming up with BTS for new BROWN SUGAR PANCAKE cookies and I cannot wait to give these a try!

They'll be rolling into stores on June 8th and feature the first ever purple wafer OREO cookie that has a layer of new Brown Sugar pancake creme inspired by 'hotteok, the beloved Korean street snack and the band’s favorite snack growing up' along with 13 different embossments on the cookies.

These will be a worldwide release so other countries will be getting them - are you trying the new OREO x BTS (방탄소년단) Brown Sugar Pancake flavor?

05/24/2026

Recently I tried these Birthday Cake Cookie Dough Bites. I love cookie dough and birthday cake flavors, but I wouldn’t have thought of combining the two! They even have sprinkles, which I didn’t notice until I was taking pictures of the box (I thought they were just spots to make them look more colorful), but they’re only on part of each piece.

These were really good! The flavors taste great, and the bites are just the right softness level. They seemed like they kept getting better… so of course I ate most of them the first time I opened them. (It was a little after 10 a.m., by the way. 😋) I made myself stop and save some for my husband and son. These are dangerous!

You taste the birthday cake more than the cookie dough… it might be better if they were more even. The birthday cake flavor also tastes slightly artificial. So they get a 9.5/10 from me instead of a 10. Still great, and addicting! These were one of my Five Below finds, but it looks like you can also get them at Walgreens if you’re lucky.

05/21/2026

It’s been three months since I started this Candy Geek page and made my first post (about Mint Oreos). In that time, I’ve tried 25 different desserts or flavors. Some of them were amazing, including Crunch White and Butterfinger Marshmallow, which I didn’t even know existed three months ago. It’s been a fun (and delicious) journey so far. I hope I can keep finding new things to try that are just as exciting! Thank you for following along on my discoveries.

05/19/2026

I talked my family into going to Dairy Queen on Sunday so I could try the new Choco Frosted Donut Blizzard (finally!). It has donut pieces, chocolate icing chunks, and rainbow sprinkles.

I thought it was pretty good! The donut pieces are nice and fluffy (not soggy), the icing pieces do taste like chocolate icing, and the sprinkles add some crunchiness. There’s a good balance of the three parts. It’s not quite good enough to make my list of all-time top 20 blizzards, but I give it an 8.5/10.

Dairy Queen has a couple of other new breakfast-themed desserts: a Fruity Pebbles shake and a Cinnamon Toast Crunch dipped cone. There’s also a new Strawberry Angel Food Cake Blizzard, and the S’mores Blizzard and Cotton Candy Blizzard are back for the summer!

05/18/2026

Oreo Popcorn… did you even know this is a thing? I got this at Five Below on my second trip, but it’s also available at some Meijer and Dollar Tree locations. There are some other flavors too (if you can find them), like M & M’s, Snickers, and Butterfinger.

I’m a tough sell when it comes to flavored popcorn. I love butter and salt on popcorn, sure, but that’s about it. I’ve never even liked caramel corn. But I had pretty high hopes for this popcorn. It’s Oreo flavor, so how could it not be good?

My first impression of it wasn’t great. I was ready to declare it gross after a few bites. It seemed really dry — the dry taste of popcorn and the dry taste of Oreo creme didn’t seem like a good match. It got better as I got used to it, though. Oreo creme can taste good on just about anything. The cookie pieces didn’t stick well to the popcorn, so it’s mostly just the creme. There were lots of tiny cookie crumbs at the bottom of the bag.

My son, husband, and even my parents tried it, and all five of us liked it, but I don’t think anybody loved it. It’s worth a try if you like Oreos and popcorn. 6.5/10

05/14/2026

We’ve reached the time of the year when snack companies are releasing treats with a patriotic theme… and especially this year, in celebration of America’s 250th birthday! MoonPie has two new limited-time flavors to celebrate the occasion. One of them is called Chocolate Party Pies, and it’s just the normal chocolate flavor with sprinkles on top, so I skipped it.

The other flavor is Birthday Party Pies: crispy vanilla cookies (instead of the graham cracker cookies usually found in MoonPies) and the usual marshmallow filling, coated in a birthday cake-flavored vanilla frosting, with sprinkles on top. I thought this was completely new, but I just found out that it came out last spring too, in normal packaging. At least it’s new to me!

When biting into it, it’s a little hard compared to other MoonPies, because of the new crispy cookie. (When I had my first one, I didn’t know that it’s a different kind of cookie.) Once you get past that, it’s pretty good. It tastes similar to the vanilla MoonPies, but not as amazing. I give it 8/10.

Where does it rank compared to the other six MoonPie flavors I tried recently? Right in the middle! Here’s my updated list, in order from best to worst:
1. Vanilla
2. Chocolate
3. Banana
4. Birthday Party Pies
5. Strawberry
6. Salted Caramel
7. Blueberry

05/10/2026

This week I tried Hershey’s with waffle cone pieces. This was another one of my Five Below finds, but apparently they can be found at Meijer, some Walmarts (not mine), CVS, and Walgreens. I didn’t really even know about these!

It’s good! It actually reminds me of a Krackel or Crunch bar because of the little crunchy pieces. You still get the classic taste of Hershey’s chocolate too. I probably wouldn’t have guessed that the crunchy pieces were waffle cone, if I hadn’t known. I didn’t share with anybody in my family (😆), so you only get my opinion... which is that it’s good, but not as good as the original! It could probably grow on me if I had more of them. 8.5/10

05/07/2026

I tried Japanese KitKats for the first time! Not any of the really interesting flavors, though — my choices were limited to the ones that Five Below carries. I got Matcha and Orange Chocolate, but they also carry Strawberry. It was $5 for a bag of 9-10 little two-finger pieces, which seems high but is actually half the price of most Japanese flavors that you can find online. 😳

Orange Chocolate flavor: Oh my goodness, is it strong! It’s like an overload for the taste buds. It reminds me of my husband’s Hawaiian-scented air freshener when he sprays way too much of it (which is every time). It’s growing on me, but it’s still just too strong. My son didn’t like it either. But if you’ve had orange chocolate before and liked it, this could be perfect for you. For me, it’s a 3/10.

Matcha flavor: Matcha is a type of green tea. Apparently it’s a big deal, even in the U.S., where it can be found in drinks at places like Starbucks. This is a new taste for me, and it’s hard to describe. It’s just not an exciting flavor for me, but it’s not bad. Maybe it’s an acquired taste. 6/10

After trying just two flavors, I’m wondering if Japanese KitKats have a stronger taste than ours in the U.S. (different manufacturers also: Hershey in the U.S., Nestle everywhere else). The Matcha flavor wasn’t overpowering like Orange Chocolate, but still pretty strong. I’m curious about a lot of the other Japanese flavors, but I’m not sure I want to spend $1 per two-finger piece!

05/04/2026

Oreo has a new flavor called Firecracker Pop. The red, white, and blue layers of creme are cherry, lemon, and blue raspberry flavors. I think I’ll pass, but that’s just me. As far as I can tell, this is the first Oreo with three different layers of creme, so that’s pretty cool.

OREO is dropping a BOMB POP flavor for summer and this is as festive as it gets!🧨

The new Firecracker Pop flavor has been spotted already in stores (h/t to on IG for first find) and has THREE layers of creme with one Blue Raspberry, Lemon, and Cherry between two golden OREOs.

They will be in all retailers in the coming days/weeks so be on the lookout.

What do you think of this new summer flavor?