Tag Archives: new england confectionery company

Sweets and Snacks Expo

NECCO Booth

Last week, NECCO attended the annual Sweets & Snacks Expo in Chicago. In attendance were hundreds of confectionery and snacking companies from across the country and the world. Companies set up booths and exhibited their product lines, helping to educate others in the industry.

In 2013, NECCO debuted a brand new booth that showcased all of their classic candies such as NECCO Wafers, Sweethearts, Sky Bar, Mary Jane, Haviland Thin Mints, Clark Bar, Candy Buttons and more! (Check out Necco.com for our full product line!) Each towering kiosk highlighted NECCO’s widespread product line and production capabilities.

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Also featured within the booth was a display of NECCO’s proud, storied history. With artifacts such as an authentic early 20th century era Clark Bar or a sales ledger from 1901 as well as a plethora of important milestone photographs, the crowd was abuzz when they visited this kiosk. Guests walking by studied the shelves, took photos and pulled others over to take a glance.   This kiosk, which so wonderfully showcased our passion and innovation over our 166 years of existence, was a fan (and company) favorite.

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In addition to their display of their classic sweets, NECCO also unveiled three new products which will appear in the upcoming year, including Tropical NECCO Wafers, which has just hit the store shelves!

Attendees were able to sample some of NECCO’s candies as they learned about the extensive history, product line and production capabilities of this classic American candy maker. The Sweets and Snacks Expo was undoubtedly a great experience for all!

Brownie Cookie Sandwiches with Haviland Thin Mint Filling!

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What’s better than a cookie you ask? Two cookies. What’s better than two cookies you wonder? Well, the answer is a cookie sandwich! =)

Our decadent Haviland Thin Mints provide the filling on this indulgent chocolatey delight, and we used a pre-made brownie mix to make these cookie sandwiches irresistibly fudgey and chewy.

These little desserts will be perfect for entertaining or for treating yourself! =) With a mouth-watering chocolate flavor, accented by a hint of mint, this is one NECCO-inspired treat you just can’t miss!

Ingredients:

  • Boxed Brownie Mix (18.3 Oz)
  • 2 large whole eggs
  • ¼ cup of vegetable oil
  • 1/3 cup of all-purpose flour
  • up to 1 tsp of water (optional)
  • Haviland Thin Mints (You choose the flavor: Original, Orange or Raspberry!)

Haviland Thin Mints

Baking supplies:

  • parchment paper
  • 1 or 2 flat cookie pans/sheets (depending on size of oven)
  • 1 large mixing bowl
  • mixer (stand or hand)
  • measuring cup
  • 1 tsp
  • whisk
  • cooling rack

Instructions:

  1. Begin by pre-heating the oven for 350°F or slightly warmer to 375°F depending on the size and strength of your oven.
  2. In the large mixing bowl, gently mix together the Boxed Brownie Mix and the flour, using the whisk.
  3. Add in the 2 eggs and the vegetable oil and beat together using the mixer until completely combined.
  4. As you see fit, add small increments of water to help reduce the thickness and stickiness of the batter. Water can be left out completely. This is purely optional and open to your sweet tooth interpretation!
  5. It’s often best to chill the batter for 30 minutes before you begin baking, but this is optional. Chilled batter is easier to form into more precise shapes on the cookie sheet.
  6. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into golf ball or slightly larger sized balls (you can flatten them slightly) and place onto the sheet at least 2-3 inches apart.
  7. Bake for approximately 12 minutes until the edges are beginning to harden. Remove these from the oven, and allow to cool.
  8. After the brownie cookies have begun to set but are still warm, take two cookies and place a Haviland Thin Mint (or two or three!) in between them and press together gently to melt the mints and create your cookie sandwiches!
  9. Cool on a cooling rack until chocolate and filling sets.
  10. Indulge! =)

Cookie sandwiches can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

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Room to Grow Mother’s Day Benefit Breakfast!

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On Friday, NECCO attended Room to Grow‘s “Celebrating Inspirational Women and Mothers” benefit breakfast at The Taj Hotel in Boston.

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Room to Grow’s tagline is “building a strong foundation for babies in poverty.”  They are a non-profit organization committed to enriching the lives of babies born into poverty throughout their critical first three years of development. Support they provide benefits the children as well as their parents.

Throughout the morning, many women spoke about their experience as mothers and how thankful they are to have Room to Grow as part of their lives. Attendees were able to see the strong and overwhelmingly positive impact Room to Grow has made on the lives of not only those who benefit from the charity, but also on those who donate and volunteer.

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The breakfast raised money that will support the organization’s many initiatives, from physical supplies like clothing, books and toys to extensive social work and support for children and their families. All in attendance were noticeably proud that they could help give Room to Grow the assistance it needs to complete these wonderful efforts.

Guests of this great event were treated to a SWEET surprise on their way out: Haviland Thin Mints! Room to Grow even dressed our sweets up in lovely wrapping to show their guests how much they appreciated their attendance and support.

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The ”Celebrating Inspirational Women and Mothers” benefit breakfast was a wonderful experience for NECCO, who was extremely proud to support an organization that has such a positive impact on members of our community.

Head to Room to Grow’s website and find out how you can contribute to this great charity!

Make Mother’s Day personal with custom candy from MyNecco.com!

Want to make this Mother’s Day extra special? Give your mom a sweet surprise this year with personalized candy at MyNecco.com!

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You can personalize both NECCO Wafers and Sweethearts with your own text! You can include your mom’s name, an expression of love & appreciation or a personal message that is commemorates your special relationship.

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Skip the potted plants, the gift cards, the generic candles and the bottle of questionable perfume and get her something unique this year! Express your love and heartfelt appreciation with a personal gift that she will never forget! [And will enjoy indulging on too! ;-) ]

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Chewy Nonpareil Cookies!

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We’re on a cookie baking roll! And, we love enjoying all of our NECCO candies so much that we just love to incorporate them into as many recipes as we can.

Today’s recipe brings you a warm, chewy treat that you’ll love to share! These cookies are topped with Haviland Nonpareils, one of our fans’ favorite theater and snack time sweets. So grab a glass of milk or a mug of coffee or hot chocolate and settle down with some friends and family to indulge on these delectable desserts!

Ingredients:

  • 1 tsp of baking soda
  • 1 tsp of salt
  • 1 and ½ tsp of vanilla extract
  • 1 large egg
  • 1 large egg yolk
  • 1 cup (16 Tbsp) unsalted butter, softened
  • 1 & ½ cups of bread flour
  • ¼ cup of sugar
  • 1  cup of light brown sugar
  • 1 oz of milk
  • 1 Box (or more!) of Haviland Nonpareils (in our photos we have colorful Nonpareils as we used our seasonal Easter Haviland Nonpareils)

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Baking supplies:

  • parchment paper
  • 1 or 2 flat cookie pans/sheets (depending on size of oven)
  • 1 large and 2 medium mixing bowls
  • mixer (stand or hand)
  • measuring cup
  • 1/2 tsp , 1 tsp, and 1 Tbsp measuring spoons
  • whisk

Instructions:

  1. Begin by pre-heating the oven for 350°F or slightly warmer to 375°F depending on the size and strength of your oven.
  2. In the medium sized mixing bowl, gently mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt, using the whisk. Set aside.
  3. In the large mixing bowl, beat the butter, sugar and brown sugar together at medium speed with a mixer until well blended.
  4. Beat together the egg, egg yolk, vanilla extract and milk until completely combined in the second medium mixing bowl.
  5. Add the mixture in the second medium mixing bowl to the butter/sugar mixture in the large one. Use the mixer to blend until thoroughly combined.
  6. Gradually add the dry mixture from the first medium mixing bowl into the large mixing bowl and use the mixer to blend completely until you have a light fluffy mixture.
  7. It’s often best to chill the dough for 30 minutes to an hour before you begin baking, but this is optional.
  8. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper. Roll the dough into golf ball or slightly larger sized balls and place onto the sheet at least 2-3 inches apart. Tip: we also like to sprinkle a little extra sugar on top as well, as shown below. =)
  9. Bake for 10-12 minutes, paying attention not to burn the cookies. Remove from oven when they are golden brown around the edges.
  10. Once removed from oven, take one Haviland Nonpareil and place it on top of each ball of dough and press down slightly so it sinks into the warm dough and begins to flatten the cookie.
  11. Leave to cool for a few minutes and then move cookies onto a wire cooling rack to cool completely.
  12. Indulge! =)

Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

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Marshmallow Swirled Chocolate Covered Peanut Cookies!

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What more delicious way to celebrate the changing of the seasons is there than indulging in some freshly baked cookies? Stumped? Don’t worry. We’re not sure if there’s an answer to that either! =)

Today we’ll share with you an easy recipe using one of our favorite pop-able sweets: Haviland Real Chocolate Double Dipped Peanuts! This creation will make your taste buds smile and have you reaching for a cold, refreshing glass of milk! We just can’t resist baking with these Haviland Double Dipped Peanuts as their real chocolate and peanut crunch make them the perfect ingredient in nearly every recipe. So, today we bring you a recipe that creates a blend of peanut, chocolate and marshmallow that is simply irresistible!

So before you dive into your spring cleaning, whip up these yummy treats and take a moment to enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1  & ½ cup of all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp of baking soda
  • ¼ tsp of salt
  • 1 tsp of pure vanilla extract
  • 1 large whole egg
  • ½ cup (8 Tbsp) of unsalted butter, softened
  • ½ cup of sugar
  • ½ cup of light brown sugar
  • 4 oz. of marshmallow creme spread
  • Haviland Double Dipped Chocolate Covered Peanuts

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Baking supplies:

  • parchment paper
  • 1 or 2 flat cookie pans/sheets (depending on size of oven)
  • 1 large and 1 medium mixing bowl
  • mixer (stand or hand)
  • measuring cup
  • ¼ tsp,½ tsp , 1 tsp, and 1 Tbsp measuring spoons
  • whisk

Instructions:

  1. Begin by pre-heating the oven for 350°F or slightly warmer to 375°F depending on the size and strength of your oven.
  2. In the medium mixing bowl, gently mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt, using the whisk. Set aside.
  3. In the large sized mixing bowl, use the mixer to blend together the butter, brown sugar, and sugar until completely combined and smooth.
  4. Add in the egg to the large mixing bowl and blend with the mixer until it is a light, fluffy consistency. Repeat with the vanilla extract.
  5. Once this mix is ready, slowly add the flour/baking soda/salt mix from the medium sized bowl in increments to the mix. Use the mixer on a lower setting to thoroughly combine these ingredients. This will be a gradual process to complete mix ingredients.
  6. There are many methods to filling the dough with the Double Dipped Peanuts and marshmallow creme, so feel free to improvise! We used our hands to roll the dough into at least golf-ball sized balls (these cookies often work best if they are made larger!) and then pressed our thumbs into the center to hollow them out.
  7. Then, we dipped a few of the peanuts into the marshmallow creme, coating them completely and placed them in the hollowed center of the dough. Close the dough around the peanuts completely. More Double Dipped Peanuts can be added throughout the dough for more chocolatey peanut crunch! =)
  8. Again, improvise and make changes where you want. This recipe is great for that! Want more marshmallow creme? Add it on in! A couple extra Double Dipped Peanuts? You got it! Have fun!
  9. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper, and place the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes (judge if more time is needed). Pay close attention to the cookies to ensure they are not over-baked or burnt.  Remove from oven when cookie edges appear golden brown.
  11. Once golden brown, remove from oven and set aside to cool completely. Once cooled, move cookies from parchment paper to a cooling rack. Don’t do this too soon or your cookies will crumble.
  12. Indulge! =)

Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

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Students redesign NECCO Wafers packaging for class project!

NECCO has proudly been producing delicious sweets for our fans since 1847, and we love to hear back from them on their ideas and entertaining suggestions for all of our candies. It’s always exciting to receive input from creative minds who have fun visions for us.

Recently, a design class from the International Academy of Design & Technology in Michigan was tasked by their professor to redesign the iconic packaging of our classic NECCO Wafers for their class project. The students embraced this project and put their own wonderfully artistic spin on revamping a classic.

Now, don’t you worry; we won’t be changing the wrapper that you all love to tear into so dearly!! But, it’s refreshing to see what these young fans have imagined up. The exciting colors and packaging styles are boldly creative and a twist from traditional styles we’ve seen!

Here are the three cool and wonderfully imaginative creations these talented students came up with:

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Amazing work by all!

NECCO Candy Store Opening for Easter!

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Following a wonderful turnout for Valentine’s Day, we will be opening our candy store at our headquarters again for one week to celebrate Easter!!

For those of you in the area, please be sure to stop by and stock up on Easter favorites like Mighty Malts Speckled Eggs and other classic candies, such as Necco Wafers, Clark Bars, Mary Janes and Sky Bars! There will even be a small “make your own mix” candy buffet. Don’t miss out!

Dates:                 Sunday March 24th– Saturday March 30th

Location:           NECCO World Headquarters
                                  135 American Legion Highway, Revere, MA

Time:                  Daily, 10:00AM – 4:00 PM

A portion of the proceeds will be donated to Room to Grow, a Boston charity whose mission is to enrich the lives of children born into poverty through their first three years of development.

Likes us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter for updates, photos and more! This is where you’ll be up to date about the store and find info about what will be on sale, potential changes in scheduling and all the most important updates!

Please stop by and celebrate Easter with your favorite childhood sweets and help us support a wonderful cause!

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Personalized NECCO Candy for Unforgettable Favors!

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As spring slowly makes its way here, many of us are excitedly planning (and attending) fun parties, showers, birthdays, weddings and other events. Many of us are looking for ways to make these occasions extra special for both us and our gracious guests.

At MyNecco.com, you can personalize two of our most beloved classic candies: Sweethearts and NECCO Wafers! You can choose your own custom names, sayings, dates, and other phrases to appear on these candies!

Custom NECCO candy will be the perfect favor for any event and will add a sweet personal touch that will be hard to forget and will surely have your guests buzzing over how special this token was!

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The process is just four easy steps:

  1. Select which type of candy you want: NECCO Wafers or Sweethearts.
  2. Select which colors you want. We provide you a flavor guide, so you know how your treats will taste!
  3. Include your personal message.
  4. Select your quantity and order!

If you’re DIY focused or simply want to create something unique and special for your event, be sure to head over to MyNecco.com and place your order today to make it truly unforgettable!

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Peanut Butter Clark Bar Surprise Cookies!

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Peanut butter is one of our favorite foods , which is why we just can’t resist our Clark Bar! It’s made of real chocolate with a real crunchy peanut butter center. The crunchy blend of PB & chocolate make it a regular snack and dessert for our loyal NECCO fans!

We love the Clark Bar so much that we love to incorporate it into many of our favorite candy-inspired recipes. For this weekend delight, we whipped up some chewy peanut butter cookies with a surprise Clark Bar filling.  With every peanut buttery bite you get the surprise crunch of our classic candy bar.  These will be sure to quickly disappear from the plate, and are perfect to enjoy alongside a cold glass of milk. So take a couple minutes to whip up these simple delights and enjoy!

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup of all-purpose flour
  • ½ tsp of baking soda
  • ¼ tsp salt
  • 1 and ½ tsp vanilla extract
  • 2 egg whites
  • ½ cup (8 Tbsp) unsalted butter
  • 1 & ¼ cups of peanut butter
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • 1 & ¼ cup of light brown sugar
  • 2 Full Sized Clark Bars (or more if you want to add some crunch!)

Clark Bar

Baking supplies:

  • parchment paper
  • 1 or 2 flat cookie pans/sheets (depending on size of oven)
  • 1 large and 1 medium mixing bowl
  • mixer (stand or hand)
  • measuring cup
  • 1/4 tsp, 1/2 tsp , 1 tsp, and 1 Tbsp measuring spoons
  • whisk
  • cutting board
  • sharp, chopping knife

Instructions:

  1. Begin by pre-heating the oven for 350°F or slightly warmer to 375°F depending on the size and strength of your oven.
  2. In the medium sized mixing bowl, gently mix together the flour, baking soda, and salt, using the whisk. Set aside.
  3. In the large mixing bowl, add the the sugar and the brown sugar. Then, add in the butter. Using the mixer, carefully cream the butter and sugars together until ingredients are completely combined, and there are no clumps of butter in the sugar. The end result should be a light mixture.
  4. Once this mixture is near-fluffy, add in the egg whites. Using the mixer, beat in the eggs until completely combined.
  5. In the same bowl, pour in the vanilla extract and the peanut butter. Again, use the mixer to completely mix all ingredients in the bowl until completely combined. Be thorough in the mixing here to avoid clumps of unmixed ingredients.
  6. Once this mix is ready, slowly add the flour/baking soda/salt mix from the medium sized bowl in increments to the mix. Use the mixer on a lower setting to thoroughly combine these ingredients. This will be a gradual process to complete mix ingredients.
  7. On the cutting board, chop the Clark Bars to your desired size of pieces. When cutting, the Clark Bars often crumble. Don’t worry; these smaller pieces add a great peanut butter crunchy flavor and texture to the cookies!
  8. Use your hands to roll the pieces of dough into small balls. Push your thumb into the ball to hollow the center and place a piece of the Clark Bar in the open space. Fold the dough around the piece of Clark Bar making sure it’s completely covered on all sides.
  9. Line the cookie sheets with parchment paper, and place the dough balls 2-3 inches apart.
  10. Bake for 10-12 minutes. Pay close attention to the cookies to ensure they are not over-baked or burnt.  Remove from oven when cookies appear golden brown.
  11. Add time if needed. Once golden brown, remove cookies from oven and set aside to cool completely. Do not remove cookies from parchment paper until completely cooled to avoid crumbling.
  12. After 5-10 minutes, feel free to move cookies onto a cooling rack or other plate to complete the cooling process.
  13. Indulge! =)

Cookies can be stored in an air-tight container at room temperature.

 

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