Caramel M&M’s. I could’ve sworn that these already existed, and once I realized they didn’t, I was furious. How has it taken M&Ms this long to try out such a classic combination? Caramel and chocolate are one of Earth’s greatest duos, and yet somehow the people at Mars cycled through about 108 other varieties of M&Ms before deciding to give caramel a whirl. Yes, that’s right, we were given Easter Sundae M&M’s and White Boo-tterscotch M&M’s before we got Caramel M&M’s. It’s downright bonkers.

Are the other two M&Ms just ripping open their new family member? I guess it’s best not to think about these things.

I’ll let it slide, though, because they’re here now and they have so much potential. There’s been a ton of marketing surrounding this release, because unlike the million limited edition flavors that have been steadily released the past few years, Caramel M&Ms are here to stay whether we like them or not. And these M&Ms are special: much like a mama kangaroo’s pouch, they have a soft gooey center. (Note to readers: do not start Googling about mama kangaroos and their gooey pouches because you CANNOT unsee that shit.)

M&M’s have never ventured into the gooey pouch territory before: we’ve had crispy, we’ve had crunchy, but we’ve never had a soft or liquid center. Peanut Butter M&M’s is probably the closest we’ve seen to a creamy middle, and they are hands-down best flavor currently out there. How will Caramel M&M’s compare?

Caramel M&M’s look, smell, and sound exactly like the traditional M&M’s that I’m used to. But the caramel flavor and consistency is going to be the make-or-break factor here. As a self-proclaimed caramel connoisseur, I’m hoping for a Cadbury Caramello type of experience. Caramello is the gold standard of candy bar caramel (gooey, creamy, buttery yellow, makes you feel like a fancy British person). At the opposite end of the spectrum, the worst possible caramel would be Rolo-like (stiff, stuck in your teeth, dark brown, exclusively handed out by old people on Halloween).

I am praying to the Caramel Gods and/or the flavor chemists at Mars Incorporated to get this right.

One bite and I quickly realized that I was in uncharted M&M territory. That’s right, friends, I was in Caramel Heaven. Mars has done a fantastic job here.

Let’s get the bad news out of the way first: the caramel isn’t liquidy or gooey at all. I even experimented and left some in a hot setting for an extended period of time (in other words, I forgot about them in my car and then accidentally sat on them). The caramel was still pretty set even after all that. If you were hoping for a Gushers-like chocolatey experience, you will just have to continue pouring chocolate syrup onto your Gushers.

Now the good news! The caramel here is a wonderful combination of the buttery and smooth Caramello, but with a firmer texture that makes the whole thing delightfully chewy yet still creamy. At first I thought the caramel flavor was too muted, but then I realized that I had straight-up inhaled four of them without really chewing. Once I actually let it linger, the caramel came through beautifully.

These are also just plain fun. You can nibble around the outer coating until you’ve eaten all the chocolate, and then you get a little mini caramel bomb as your reward. I got an embarrassing amount of joy from doing this. The caramel is good enough to be delicious on its own, too. It doesn’t get stuck in your teeth at all, which I’m pretty sure is some breakthrough caramel technology. I ate the whole bag easily, and I will definitely buy them again as a new go-to movie theater snack. (These will be replacing my previous go-to movie theater snack, Pretzel M&M’s, because I broke a tooth on those during the 9:15 AM showing of The Fate of the Furious on Easter morning.)

Do Caramel M&M’s dethrone Peanut Butter M&M’s from their long reign as Best M&M? Eh, that’s a tough one. But they’re definitely sharing the crown.

Seriously, Kangaroo Pouch Grossness Rating: 10 out of 10
The Fate of the Furious Rating: 6.5 out of 10
Overall Rating: 9 out of 10

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