Jeff’s Top 5 Candy Bars and Their Vintage Commercials

I was at Hannaford the other day and was horrified to see Halloween candy already on the shelves. Too soon! Halloween is over two months away. Are people supposed to buy this stuff and hang on to it that long? There's no way people have that kind of willpower.

It got me to thinking about candy though, and candy bars in particular. There are several candy bars I like and even more that I would never touch. Here's my list of my top 5 favorite candy bars.

First, let me explain the ground rules before you curse me for not including M&M's. M&M's are not a candy bar. Those are pieces of candy. To meet my qualifications of a candy bar, the candy must have no more than two pieces in the package and not be snack or bite sized. With that in mind, here we go.

5. Hershey's Special Dark

My grandmother used to love Hershey's Special Dark when it came on the market in the 1970s. That's probably why I still love this flavor or Hershey chocolate more than any other. It's made of dark chocolate, which is less sweet with more cocoa than milk chocolate. You wouldn't think an 8-year-old kid would be grabbing all the Special Dark miniatures out of the bag before all the others. We'll just say I was unique.

4. Twix Peanut Butter

I was never a fan of the regular Twix bars with caramel on top of the chocolate covered cookie, but when they decided to make a version with peanut butter, I was all in. It took them a while to get it right it though. When peanut butter Twix came out in 1983 it was made with fudge instead of chocolate. Then in 2000 they switched to a chocolate coating and cookie. But in 2014 they perfected it by using a vanilla sugar cookie and creamy peanut butter. A masterpiece.

3. Reese's Peanut Butter Cups

The most popular candy bar in America is my number 3 favorite. I still remember the old commercials from the 80s when one person would be eating a candy bar and another would be eating peanut butter out of jar. They'd bump into each other combining the two and found "two great tastes that taste great together." That's true, but who walks down the street eating out of a jar of peanut butter?

2. Payday

No, a Payday is not just a Baby Ruth without the chocolate. A Baby Ruth candy bar has peanuts, caramel and chocolate flavored nougat. A Payday has just peanuts and caramel. Now you also may be saying that a Payday isn't a candy bar. Oh, but it is. It just isn't a chocolate candy bar. Without the caramel it would just be a bag of peanuts.

1. Butterfinger

Surprised? Butterfinger isn't one of the most popular candy bars, but it's the best out there in my book. Homer Simpson explained it best in the commercials for Butterfinger that ran for over 10 years. It's the "crispty, crunchity, peanut buttery Butterfinger." It is hands down the best candy bar out there and nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger!

I'm sure you have your own favorites, so let me hear 'em. Leave them in the comments below or on Facebook.