What’s Your Pleasure?

With the price of Halloween candy up an average of 9.2% this year, perhaps it’s time to think more broadly about your favorite sweets.

According to the data-crunching folks at Real Simple, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups continued their nationwide dominance this year as the most popular choice in 18 states, including here in California. I love chocolate and I love peanut butter. But not in combination. Clearly millions of people disagree with my finicky palette.

Kit Kat, a favorite among folks in the Northeast and South, came in a distant second. Only nine states threw their support behind the crispy chocolaty concoction. Still, an 18% market share is notable.

A handful of other treats - Skittles, Snickers, and M&M's, round out the top five. But it is the enigmatic curveballs that always catch my eye. Like the snow-ladened Vermonters warming up with a favored box of Hot Tamales. The Kentuckians who chose Butterfingers as their candy bar du jour. Or the independently-minded Texans who insist that Starburst should reign supreme.

No matter what your pleasure, the neighborhood bowl of Halloween candy has got you covered.

"I can't help myself around candy; it calls to me like sirens to a sailor." - Jasmine Guinness