Candy Bars Archives - Page 3 of 29

May 23, 2021 Michael

Mars Bar – One of the Greats

Candy Bars

Mars Bar (A.K.A. Milky Way if you’re in the States) is an absolute classic. It’s essentially the platonic ideal of a candy bar: it’s chocolatey, substantial, chewy, sweet, and thoroughly satisfying. It’s always been one of my favourites — I haven’t had one in years, and it might have been even better than I remembered.

(In fact, I think I was so eager to eat it that I actually forgot to take a photo of the bar itself. Whoops.)

It’s extremely simple: it’s just nougat, caramel, and chocolate.

Everything here just works. The fluffy nougat and dense caramel are chewy, but not aggressively so (it’s not going to work out your jaw like some overly enthusiastic nougat or caramel bars). The nougat has malted milk powder mixed in, which might just be the bar’s secret weapon. It adds a delightfully malty flavour that brings some complexity and helps to balance out the intense sweetness of the bar. Mars Bar is very, very sweet, but it’s a well-tuned sweetness; it never tastes overbearing.

And then, of course, there’s the generous layer of decent quality milk chocolate, which is what you want it to be. Sometimes the chocolate on a candy bar is basically there for appearances only, or just to bind everything together, but the chocolate here adds a lot to the bar. It’s good stuff.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 240 calories, 9 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 70 mg sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 30 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, corn syrup, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, hydrogenated palm and palm kernel oil, lactose, malted milk powder (malted barley, milk ingredients, sodium bicarbonate, salt), palm oil, soy lecithin, salt, dried egg-white, artificial flavour.

May 16, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces – A Very Tasty Combo

Candy Bars

Though Reese cramming their Peanut Butter Cups with stuff has become old hat at this point, I’m pretty sure that Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces was the first time they did this. So basically, it’s the Neil Armstrong of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup. Unless I’m wrong about it being first, in which case I guess it’s the Buzz Aldrin of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?

It’s easy enough to see why this thing kickstarted a trend — it’s delicious. The Big Cup itself is quite good, with a much more peanut buttery flavour than a standard Reese Peanut Butter Cup, and a very satisfying balance of sweet and salty.

The Reese’s Pieces bring a nice bit of crispiness that compliments the creamy cups really well. And they aren’t just there for texture; they add a decent amount of their very distinctive flavour. It all adds up to something that seems like it should just be a novelty, but is actually quite tasty.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 cups, 79 grams): 390 calories, 22 grams of fat (10 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 230 mg of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 gram of fibre, 41 grams of sugar, 8 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, lactose, lecithin (soy), polyglycerol polyricinoleate), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, partially defatted peanuts, modified and hydrogenated palm kernel oil and hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, salt, colour, corn starch, confectioner’s glaze, lecithin (soy) modified corn starch, corn syrup, THBQ, carnauba wax, artificial flavour.

May 12, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat White – It’s Missing Something

Candy Bars

Regular Kit Kat might just be the greatest candy bar on the planet. Kit Kat White & Milk? Also delicious. No, it’s not as good as the original, but what is? So I sort of assumed that Kit Kat White, which forgoes the milk chocolate altogether, would still be delicious.

It is not.

I like white chocolate, but in the context of a Kit Kat, it’s hard not to feel like something is missing. It’s sweet and milky and tasty in its own way, but the added punch of flavour you get from actual chocolate is sorely missed. It feels a bit one-note.

It probably doesn’t help that, like with so many white chocolate confections, it’s not actually white chocolate — if you look at the wrapper, the word “chocolate” is conspicuously absent. That’s because there are various oils in the ingredients (along with cocoa butter), which means that legally, this ain’t chocolate.

Still, it’s not bad (bottom-of-the-barrel mockolate doesn’t bother with cocoa butter at all); it’s fairly creamy and not particularly waxy. The biggest issue is the flavour, or lack thereof. It’s just sweet and crispy — and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I can’t imagine that I’d ever buy this again. Especially when regular Kit Kat is right there, and is like a billion times better.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 41 grams): 210 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, wheat flour, palm, palm kernel, coconut and vegetable oils, cocoa mass, soy and sunflower lecithins, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, calcium sulphate, salt, protease, xylanase, natural flavours.

May 9, 2021 Michael

Wispa – It’s Better than the Competition

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Wispa is basically Cadbury’s version of Aero or Mirage — it actually looks strikingly similar to Mirage, but Wispa is the original. According to Wikipedia, Wispa was introduced in 1981. Mirage, on the other hand, didn’t come out until 1990 (and that info doesn’t seem to be anywhere online, so I actually got in touch with Nestle to find out. Look at me, doing journalism like a regular Woodward and Bernstein — take note, Pulitzer committee).

I’m not crazy about the quality of the milk chocolate in either Aero or Mirage, but I still enjoy them both thanks to the unique texture you get from the bubbliness of the chocolate.

Wispa is clearly the superior of the three. It’s made from Cadbury milk chocolate, which is slightly too sweet, but is otherwise above average for mass-produced chocolate.

Which means that this is pretty much going to be great by default. If you start with good quality chocolate and then add the fun texture you get from the aeration, you’re pretty much guaranteed to wind up with a winner.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 bar, 36 grams): 196 calories, 12 grams of fat (6.8 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 90 mg of sodium, 20 grams of carbohydrates, 0.8 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2.4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vegetable fats (palm, shea), whey powder (from milk), emulsifier (E442), flavourings.

May 2, 2021 Michael

Almond Joy – Crunchy, Coconutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Almond Joy is basically Mounds, but with the addition of almonds, and with milk chocolate instead of dark. It’s fine, but Mounds is clearly the superior of the two.

The milk chocolate actually makes a pretty huge difference. The dark chocolate on a Mounds bar gives it a more pronounced chocolately flavour, and its slight bitterness contrasts very nicely with the very sweet coconut. The milk chocolate here is decent, but it’s just sweet on sweet; I missed the dark chocolate.

Then, of course, there are the almonds. You’d think they’d be the star of the show; they’re right there in the name. Oddly enough, they don’t add much — they bring some crunchiness, but their flavour is completely lost. If they had a toastier flavour they might have been able to nudge through, but alas, they’re fairly bland.

You’d think the coconut would be exactly the same as in a Mounds (they’re both made by Hershey, after all), but the coconutty centre here seems a bit more dry. This emphasizes the problem coconut desserts tend to have, where you’re still munching on coconut bits long after the flavour has disappeared.

Still, the chocolate/coconut combo continues to be delicious, and while I prefer Mounds (and Bounty, the king of the chocolate/coconut castle), Almond Joy is tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 45 grams): 220 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, coconut, almonds, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and/or palm kernel oil) chocolate, milk, contains 2% or less of: lactose (milk), milk fat, skim milk, cocoa, whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), PGPR, hydrolyzed milk protein, sodium metabisulfite to maintain freshness, vanillin, artificial flavor.