Candy Bars Archives - Page 16 of 29

August 30, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Andes Crème de Menthe Snap Bar – Minty and Refreshing

Candy Bars

Mint and chocolate is one of those combos that seems like it shouldn’t work, but absolutely does; it’s sweet, refreshing, and delicious.

But the odd thing about Andes Snap bar is that despite ostensibly being a mint/chocolate bar, the packaging doesn’t once use the word “chocolate,” and cocoa butter is nowhere to be found in the ingredients — only palm oil.

The even odder thing? It doesn’t really matter. You definitely get a nice chocolatey flavour that compliments the strong mint quite well, and though the texture is softer and less creamy than actual chocolate, it works. It’s satisfying.

I will say that eating it in bar form is probably unnecessary. Andes mints are typically sold as individually wrapped, bite-sized pieces, which is really all you need. The chocolate flavour mellows out the mint a bit, but the mint is clearly the star of the show. It’s tasty and refreshing, but eating a whole bar’s worth of it is overkill. It’s a bit much.

Manufactured by: Tootsie Roll Industries
Nutritional info (1 bar, 43 grams): 230 calories, 15 grams of fat (13 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 20 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 23 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, lactose), palm kernel and palm oils, cocoa, skim milk powder, modified milk ingredients, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavours, peppermint oil, tartrazine, brilliant blue FCF.

August 23, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Matcha Green Tea – Nails the Green Tea Flavour

Candy Bars

I’m probably not the best person to review this particular Kit Kat variety. I’m not sure why I even bought it; I’m just not a fan of green tea, either in beverage or dessert form. It’s a super popular flavour, and I keep waiting for something to come along to sell me on it. But this Kit Kat isn’t it.

It’s fine? I guess? There’s something about the bitter, vaguely swampy flavour of green tea that just never clicks with me, but if you like that then I’m sure you’ll like this. The matcha flavour is surprisingly pronounced, and the sweetness is relatively restrained.

It is what it is — it’s a Kit Kat that tastes like green tea instead of like chocolate. If that sounds good to you, then this is exactly what you’re hoping it’ll be.

The only real issue here, outside of my personal distaste for matcha, is that the stuff on its exterior has no relation to chocolate — the bar contains palm and vegetable oils and zero cocoa butter, so it’s not the white chocolate with green tea that you’d expect. But it’s creamy enough, with very little of the waxiness you’ll find in most mockolate. If I hadn’t known, I don’t think I would have realized.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 35 grams): 190 calories, 11 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 14 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: palm kernel, palm and vegetable oils, modified milk ingredients, sugar, wheat flour, maltodextrin, green tea powder, glucose syrup, soy lecithin, green tea leaves, salt, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, baking soda, calcium carbonate, protease, xylanase, natural flavours.

August 19, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Hazelnut Spread M&M’s – M&M’s + Nutella = Delicious?

Candy Bars

Hazelnut Spread M&M’s are basically M&M’s stuffed with Nutella. That’s about as close to a surefire hit as you can get, isn’t it? M&M’s and Nutella are both delicious, obviously, so there was no way this wasn’t going to be good.

And yeah, it is predictably tasty, if not quite the taste extravaganza I might have hoped.

I should note that the wrapper states that it’s a new recipe, so if you’ve had this before, maybe they’ve improved it? Or maybe they’ve made it worse? I have no idea; this is my first time trying it.

It basically tastes how you want it to taste, with a few minor caveats. There’s something slightly off about the flavour that I couldn’t quite put my finger on; it was also a bit more sweet than it needs to be. And I wish the hazelnut filling were creamier, or more accurately, creamy at all — it’s dense and grainy. There’s nothing wrong with it, but it feels like a missed opportunity (and a bit misleading; there is literally nothing spreadable about the “spread” in the middle of these candies).

Also, it’s not a Peanut M&M — the undisputed king of M&M’s — which makes me wonder: why would I eat this when Peanut M&M’s exist in the world? Peanut M&M’s are the ultimate M&M, and if you disagree with this, you’re wrong about M&M’s and wrong about the way you’ve chosen to live your life.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 38.3 grams): 200 calories, 10 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, hazelnut flour (hazelnuts, safflower oil, TBHQ to maintain freshness), dextrose, cornstarch, cocoa powder, less than 1% – corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (includes blue 1 lake, red 40, yellow 6, yellow 5, blue 1), carnauba wax, natural flavor, propyl gallate to maintain freshness, gum acacia.

August 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twix Triple Chocolate – Delightfully Chocolatey

Candy Bars

I quite like Twix. Aside from the fact that it’s the only candy with the cookie crunch (at least according to George Costanza), it features a great balance of crunchy cookie, chewy caramel, and creamy chocolate.

Like the Snickers Creamy Almond Butter that I just reviewed, Twix Triple Chocolate is weirdly small. Presumably this is because a regular Twix is closer to 300 calories, and 200 seems to be the magic number. Suffice it to say, if you attempted to stage a candy line-up with this and standard Twix bars, the size would be a dead giveaway.

Basically, Twix Triple Chocolate is a standard Twix bar, but with cookies and caramel that are infused with cocoa. I was afraid it would be some kind of weird bastardization, but I actually think I prefer this to regular Twix. It’s got everything you love about Twix — the crunchy/chewy/creamy combo is delightfully intact — but with a satisfyingly chocolatey flavour.

My only real problem with a normal Twix bar is that its level of sweetness is a bit intense; the cocoa-packed flavour here does a great job of offsetting that. It’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 40 grams): 200 calories, 9 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 95 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, <1 grams of fibre, 19 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, PGPR, artificial flavors), sugar, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm oil, corn syrup, skim milk, dextrose, less than 2% – cocoa powder, chocolate, modified corn starch, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda, artificial flavor.

August 9, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Duos: Mint + Dark Chocolate – Minty and Tasty

Candy Bars

The wrapper of this American import puzzled me; it says Hershey, but isn’t Kit Kat a Nestle product? Well here’s something I just learned: due to a decades-old agreement between the two companies, Kit Kat is made by Hershey in the States, and by Nestle in the rest of the world.

I guess I’m going to have to buy a plain American Kit Kat and see how it stacks up with the Nestle version, but for now, there’s this.

There definitely seems to be a dip in quality compared to the recent Nestle Kit Kats I’ve been trying, but that might be more down to the flavour than anything else.

And it’s definitely not bad — it’s actually pretty good. But the mint flavour is intense. I like the mint/chocolate combo, so I enjoyed it, but if you don’t you might find it a bit toothpasty.

Other than that, the chocolate is slightly grainy, and the wafer seems to be a bit bland compared to the Nestle version (though that could be my imagination), but it’s generally tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 210 calories, 12 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), wheat flour, chocolate, skim milk, corn syrup solids, cocoa butter; lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of: cocoa processed with alkali, milk fat, lecithin (soy), oil of peppermint, PGPR, artificial color (yellow 5 lake, blue 1 lake), salt, yeast, vanillin, artificial flavor, baking soda.