When referencing candy, ask anyone what “malt” is and you’ll get the same response: “Whoppers.” Ask them a second time what malt really is, and you’ll likely get a blank stare. Ask them a third time and here is the response I got: “Please stop asking me questions about junk food.” Introducing Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs!
Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs
Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs are trying to compete for your hard-earned malt dollars against Whoppers and the few other malt candies that usually appear around Easter. Since none of my friends could answer the question on what malt was, I asked Jeeves. Malted milk is a powdered gruel made from a mixture of malted barley, wheat flour, and whole milk, which is evaporated until it’s in powdered form. (Wiki) I still have no clue what malt is after reading that description. Whatever; the point is that Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs are an Easter Candy that you can eat with your mouth.
I grew up (emphasis on grew) snacking on Whoppers, so this product appealed to me. Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs are pastel-colored M&M’s that come in all sorts of weird shapes and sizes, very few of which actually resembled an egg. A couple of them even looked like butts – my favorite shape. Some are speckled with other colors, while others are not speckled at all. It’s a sloppy mixed bag all-around.
Ingredients for Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs identify milk chocolate first, sugar second, and then crisp rice made out of rice flour, sugar, and barley malt. For comparison’s sake, Whoppers go sugar, corn syrup, palm oil, whey, cocoa, and then malted milk. Of importance here is that Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs use real chocolate while Whoppers do not. Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs are also much smaller than Whoppers, and feature the typical M&M hard candy shell instead of the faux chocolate coating.
That last part -the candy shell – is exactly why these were disappointing for me. The candy shell on the Malt M&M’s Eggs is so sweet that it blocks much of the milky malt flavor. My initial reaction is that these were no different than Crispy M&M’s. The sweet M&M milk chocolate flavor is the predominant one, and the malt center has the same light crispiness as the insides of the Crispy M&M. After eating several handfuls of Malt M&M’s Eggs, however, I’m starting to pick up on the malt more consistently. Every once in a while, one egg will REALLY taste like a Whopper. These ones are the best, and it’s like a fun Easter Egg Hunt to try and locate them. The primary problem here are ratios – some eggs just aren’t large enough to contain enough crisp malt center for the malt flavor to break through the sweet chocolate.
Overall, I didn’t hate these Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs. They are actually pretty addictive… or I’m just hungry, or whatever. But by and large, these operate exactly as Crispy M&M’s do. It took us about a decade’s worth of fighting for Crispy M&M’s to return to store shelves after they were discontinued in 2005, and then Mars just drops these Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs on us so casually and they’re pretty much the same thing. If we had lost the Crispy M&M’s war, I would be a lot more excited about this addition to the M&M family while they last this Easter. In the battle of Easter M&M’s, I give the slight nod to Easter Sundae M&M’s just for being more unique.
If you want Whoppers, eat Whoppers. If you want Crispy M&M’s, eat Crispy M&M’s. But if you want little speckled candies that barely look like eggs and sometimes look like butts, Malt M&M’s Mini Eggs might be the product for you.
How Much I Know What Malt Is Rating: 2 out of 10
Jeeves Helpfulness Rating: He’s Dead out of 10
Overall Rating: 5.5 out of 10
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