Halloween and Easter are two holidays where there’s a large return on candy, but none can compare to the sheer quantity of candy available at Christmas. There are the standards - candy canes, chocolate lollipops, foil-wrapped chocolate balls, and red and green jelly beans - and then there are the more nostalgic and limited edition treats that make everyone feel like it’s Christmas as much as all those classic TV specials. Here are some festive finds - both old and new - I came across downtown.

Cadbury Magical Elves - I’d never seen these chocolates before, so when I came across them at Sugar Mountain (320 Richmond Street West and other locations), I was eager for a taste. Milk chocolate embedded with pop-rock like candy - in the form of eight mischievous collectable elves - makes for a fun limited edition treat. A good amount of popping goes on when these are scarfed down - I can only imagine the look on a child’s face when experiencing the sensation for the first time. Yowza!

Ribbon Candy - Just like Grandma used to eat, ribbon candy is a delicate sugary treat. It’s a pretty and classic Christmas confection similar to a candy cane, except for the shape and chewier, soften-in-your-mouth texture. I found ribbon candy at The Nutty Chocolatier (700 Queen Street West and other locations) in a variety of traditional flavours like peppermint, cinnamon and butterscotch.

Sprinkled Mint Chips - Perhaps the most addictive out of all the Christmas candy (except maybe, for those rebranded Christmas Cadbury Mini-Eggs), these sprinkly mint chips are available at Bulk Barn (various locations) and The Nutty Chocolatier. They have the perfect hit of mint and white chocolatey creaminess with the crunch of the sprinkles. I think I’ll have another handful…

Tunnock’s Snowballs - What’s fluffy, Scottish and full of fat? That would be Tunnock’s Snowballs, big marshmallows covered in a chocolatey coating and sprinkled with coconut. Although they’re available year-round, there’s definitely a festive element to these unusual, individually-packaged balls. There’s also a historical element to them - Tunnock’s has been around since 1890. Available at Sugar Mountain .

Happy Sweet-Eating!

Editor’s Note - As a former Haligonian, it would be remiss of me to let a piece on Christmas candy run on my site without also mentioning the traditional east coast holiday candy, chicken bones. This cinnamon candy stick with a chocolate centre was originally created by Ganong, and can be found in various bulk candy stores in Toronto at this time of year. They’re not well known by folks who do not have a connection to the Maritimes, but for many of us, it’s not Christmas unless there’s a big bowl of the spicy pink candy sticks in the house.