I haven't had them in NYC, but I've had them at the Beverly Hills Bouchon.

I am not a pastry person but I am absolutely addicted to these. The shop happens to be above the parking structure I use when I go to the doctor, so I always stop and pick one up.

However, I find it about 30% too large for me. So it's best shared.

Here in Los Angeles, Short Cake at the LA Farmers Market makes something called a Buttercup, which lacks the full caramelized sugar crust (it should be like the top of a creme brulee) but is still quite wonderful and about half the size.

I didn't care for the Dominique Ansel one ... but I did enjoy my Canele from there.

I liked the Gingerbread ones from last year (which I suppose may show up again this year). The Cinnamon Bun ones, though similar, were too sweet and artificial.

Both benefit with a little toasting over a gas burner.

I love the Spinach Boreka. If I'm going to eat at the Farmers Market (and my office is walking distance), that's what I get. Every single time. I've been eating there for four years, never had anything else there.

It's a bit too much food for me. I can eat three pieces, not all four, and no sides. (Gotta save room for a Littlejohn's Pecan Praline.)

I applaud your use of a post for this instead of those wonky, page-view-grubbing slideshows that force me to keep clicking through each photo.

CTE has it right. The true Japanese HiCHEW are fantastic. The ones now sold in the US are made in Taiwan and though they're still quite good, they're definitely inferior.

As a kid I was always squicked out at "true" recipes that called for parafin. I could always tell the moms that used wax at the bake sale. I get that the combination of chocolate and fatty peanut butter can cause setting problems.

Getting good quality couveture chocolate (not just grocery store chocolate chips which are made for baking) and proper tempering takes care of the firmness issue.

Molasses isn't really "just sugar". It's only about half sugar, the rest is water and minerals. Most of it is sucrose with smaller amounts of free glucose and fructose. Most of all molasses has flavor along with heaping amounts of minerals like manganese, copper, selenium, calcium, magnesium and selenium.

A tablespoon has 58 calories, versus 86 in corn syrup (which basically has similar water content).

Unsulfured, as mentioned, means that it comes from older cane. As long as you're not sensitive to sulfur, it shouldn't matter much which you get, though I prefer unsulfured because I think that mature cane has a better flavor profile.

I also love muscovado sugar which is one of the darkest there is.

23 years this month. (That doesn't count those "Portabello Burgers".)

Honestly, I don't miss them and never really cared for them. When I found that I was craving them in the first few years of being a vegetarian, a nice grilled cheese sandwich actually did it for me. (I think it was just a hot sandwich I wanted after all.)

I think it's been 33 years since I had a hot dog.

Tamadhur, do you think that information was important as an ethical commenter to include in your first post?

It says on the website that Sweet Cactus Farms 100% Blue Agave Syrup is 90% fructose. That's "better" than the glucose of plain corn syrup (or glucose syrup from other grain sources) or the 50/50 glucose & fructose mix of HFCS how?

Sorry, sock puppets don't do much to convince me that any sugar is better than another.

"Sucrose - table sugar - is made up of one molecule of glucose and one molecule of fructose."

Actually, sucrose is made up of sucrose, which is a di-saccharide - it is a bonded pair of glucose and fructose molecules. It's not the same as HFCS because HFCS is made up of free glucose and free fructose.

I agree with everything else though - it's just a cheap bulking agent that appeals to our senses. And I think this whole campaign to use Agave syrup (it's not nectar) is pure silliness - not only is it the same thing in the end, but it's just as "processed."

I think the clotted cream fudge is available here. I mean, it must be, I bought a box of the Chocolate Hazelnut at Bristol Farms in Los Angeles.

I second Vermont Country Store. I haven't seen them at Economy Candy, but they might stock them seasonally. I don't think Dylan's is really the source for candy in bulk as they're so expensive. (But fun to shop at.)

I've had the version from Daffin's in Sharon Pennsylvania which are quite nice and come in a variety of colors/flavors. (My review is here.)

Jelly Belly also makes a version, they're not ridged on the bottom but smooth on all sides. (Photo here) You can order them directly from Jelly Belly but they appear to be out of stock right now.

I like your tasting notes, but which were the "best and worst?"

I've never seen it called Licorice Ice before, it's always been some variety of School Chalk or Skoolkrijt.