At work last Thursday, I received the following email:
Liz,
A package arrived for you in shipping and is rather large and heavy. I will leave it in shipping for you so you can swing by and grab it on your way to your car, so as not to have to carry it all the way from your desk.
I thought to myself, "Um, Wow. It's M&Ms. *How* big and heavy could it possibly be?"
See, I'd accepted an offer from BlogHer to review the new M&M's Premiums Chocolate Candies. The only caveat was that I must be fun and fabulous, so of course I heeded the call! And then Mars sent me A LOT of M&Ms.
I had plans to go with the Hunky Actor to see Batman that night, but I had to swing by home to drop off the M&Ms so they wouldn't sit in the car. I get home and my roommate says, "I thought you were going out."
To which I say, "I had to come home and drop off my M&Ms." I turn around and bring the - oh, yes - large and heavy box in from the hallway where I dropped it to open my front door.
She takes one look at it and exclaims, "Is it the new M&M Premiums! How much did they send you!"
Oh, yes, she knows all about them already: Snack Goddess.
Well. At this point I still didn't think that the box was completely full of M&Ms. I'm thinking maybe they sent me M&Ms and some sort of heavy candy dispenser. I cut open the box and before I raised the flaps, I say, "There is no way this box is completely full of candy."
You know what's coming, right?
This is Erin calling her mother to tell her that her crazy (and fun! and fabulous!) roommate just brought home 60 packages of M&M's Premiums Chocolate Candies. I'm on a schedule, so I call the Hunky Actor to pick a flavor for the movie. He picks Mocha, and I pick Raspberry Almond. I throw them in my purse and fly out the door.
We get to the Arclight in Hollywood, and there's a premiere going on. Of course, the absolute first thing we think is, Man, I hope they aren't using the restaurant. We're hungry! It takes me a beat to think, We're at the Arclight, and there's a movie premiere going on. That's fun and fabulous!
It would be really slick of me if guy in black was actually Hunky Actor, but it's not.
We finally tried the M&Ms when we got into Arclight's Cinerama Dome. The raspberry almond are my absolute fav, yummy and crunchy and raspberry-y. But I have to tell you, when I tried the mocha, the lack of a candy shell was pretty shocking. I mean, they're M&Ms, right? My initial reaction to the ones without almonds was rather tepid. Hunky Actor agreed.
On Saturday, I went to see Sixteen Candles at The Hollywood Forever Cemetery - Simply the most fun thing to do in Los Angeles in the summer. Everyone picnics on a lawn before the movie, which is projected onto the side of a mausoleum. Of course, I brought M & Ms.
That sentence is going to happen a lot this month.
Marlisa and I tried the Chocolate Almond, since I knew I would like those.
And Randy tried the Mint Chocolate.
We really enjoyed them, and Randy noted that the chocolate is really good. Very creamy and rich.
However, they agreed that the lack of a candy shell was odd at first.
On Sunday, I was script suping on a shoot all day. I'm creating a series of webisodes with my directing group, GRIT. We're each directing one. To me, any time I'm on set is the most fabulous thing about my life in the LaLa.
Guess what ended up on the craft services table...
Next to their cousins, the original M&Ms! I have to tell you, people were going for the new. The M & M's Premium Chocolate Candies have a pearly marbled outside that's pretty shiny.
But it was my second favorite, the Triple Chocolate, that schooled me on the M & M's Premiums. The flavor is new, so I was intrigued and before long I was letting them melt in my mouth instead of biting into them for that candy shell crunch. And yeah, the chocolate is tasty, tasty.
So I tried the Mocha one more time. Hunky Actor had noted that they didn't taste super coffee-y. Turns out that's because we were chowing down on them instead of letting them melt in our mouths. Which you'd think one would know about M&Ms! They are indeed very tasty and pretty coffee-y.
All in all, I think the only M & M's Premium flavor I wouldn't buy is the Mint Chocolate. I'm just never going to prefer them over the regular mint M & M's with the candy shell. They have a slightly different type of mint chocolate flavor, as they're white mint chocolate inside, and I like my mint with the candy crunch.
But the other flavors are top-notch. In particular, the Raspberry Almond is exceptional, as is the Triple Chocolate.
I recommend buying at least a couple flavors and mixing them in a bowl or a clear baggie, like for a party or a picnic. I gave my roommate one package of each flavor, and she immediately opened them all and mixed them into baggies to bring with her on her weekend excursions.
Besides being tasty, they're just really pretty.
Coming up for me? More script suping webisodes and some board gaming with friends. Hey everybody... I'm bringing M & M's!
Want to read more? You can read all the bloggy review goodness on BlogHer!
Please note: Beyond receiving an absurd amount of M&Ms, I was paid $50 to write honestly about my experience with M&M's Premium Chocolate Candies.

