In honor of National Chocolate Day … my Top 10 chocolates

October 28 is National Chocolate Day! I usually pay no mind to these types of honorary, seemingly arbitrary national days of recognition. I’m not quite sure how to celebrate National Toothbrush Day or National Trash Receptacle Day — are balloons and party hats the norm? — or why we need to recognize almost everything under the sun.

But I love chocolate — almost to an epic proportion on the stereotypical level that women do. I recently bought a bag of chocolates because my lovely wife said she had a craving for them. A day and a half later, they were gone. She got at least one … I think. You just can’t leave that stuff around our house or else I, the Chocolate Monster — think of a big brown version of Sesame Street’s Cookie Monster shouting “chocolate!” — will scarf it all down.

So, in honor of National Chocolate Day, here’s a list of my ten favorite chocolate-flavored candies.

1. White Chocolate Easter Bunny

   Every Easter, I can’t wait to bite into a big ol’ honkin’ solid brick of white chocolate shaped like an Easter bunny.

2. Raisinets

   Who doesn’t love the mixture of chocolate and raisins? Unless you have a problem with raisins, that is.

3. Whoppers

   What exactly are these things? A cookie? A piece of candy? Whatever gives these malt balls their chocolatey crunch is all right in my book.

4. Mounds

   Here’s another chocolate candy with a special ingredient that doesn’t jive with everyone’s taste buds. If you don’t like coconut, you must not like these. Fortunately for me, I do. Every now and then, I’ll throw in an Almond Joy for the nut inside.

5. M&M’s (Peanut Butter, Mint, Pretzel, Plain)

   These are an all-time classic candy. Bite-sized chocolate with a thin candy shell that melt in your mouth and not in your hand. I threw all of my favorite types of M&M’s together in this one category because there sure are a lot.

6. Cadbury Caramel Eggs / Cadbury Caramello

   Chocolate and caramel is an excellent combination and these two products from Cadbury just ooze with deliciousness. As we honor the resurrection of our savior Jesus Christ, one of my favorite secular parts of Easter is biting into the Cadbury Eggs.

7. Hershey milk chocolate bar / Hershey Special Dark / Hershey’s Kisses

   This is another product that could have been divided into different items, but they’re all closely related. I’m a big fan of dark chocolate and will reach for one of those before the milk chocolate bar. But both are delicious. And, of course, who can resist a bite-sized kiss to quell the oncoming hunger during snack hours? The only problem is that those things can turn into a meal if you’re not careful!

8. Butterfinger

   This was my favorite candy bar as a kid — maybe the fact that Bart Simpson endorsed it had something to do with that. I still like to indulge in one of these every now and then and the combination of peanut butter and crispy crunch is too much too pass up.

9. 3 Musketeers

   This has been my favorite candy bar since I grew out of my Butterfinger phase as a kid. The fluffy whipped chocolate inside provides a nice change of pace from the crunchiness of the Butterfinger, Kit Kat, Whoppers, and others. I also don’t feel as full after eating one of these as I do from some other chocolates.

10. Reese’s Pieces / Peanut Butter Cups / Peanut Butter Chocolate Trees

    Reese’s Pieces are my favorite candy. Period. They’re not exactly a “candy bar”, so the 3 Musketeers holds that title for me. The peanut butter cups are delicious as well, but a little more difficult to open up and can be more messy. And every Christmastime — and throughout the year as well — Reese’s comes out with different-shaped peanut butter and chocolate bites. But Christmas is the best because they’re shaped as little trees — don’t ask why that makes ’em the best. They just are.

Honorable Mention:

• Milky Way
  How do you list your favorite chocolates and not include this classic? It’s solid, but not the best in the universe.
• Snickers
  Hungry? Why wait? Sometimes I need a few peanuts with my chocolate.
• Kit Kat
  Give me a break. Break me off a piece … oh, who am I kidding? Give me the whole thing!
• Twix
  Two for me and none for you … unless I like you.
• Heath Bar
  For when I’m feeling like I need a little toffee in my life.
• Junior Mint
  Just ask Kramer from Seinfeld: Junior Mints are “chocolate, peppermint, delicious. … They’re very refreshing.” The combination of chocolate and mint is an excellent choice. Too much of a good thing, though, can be overload.