Candy Bars Archives - Page 8 of 29

February 3, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Chunky: Caramel – Way too Sweet

Candy Bars

I don’t think there’s any other candy bar with as many varieties as Kit Kat. It’s not even close. According to Wikipedia, over 300 flavours of Kit Kat have been made for the Japanese market alone, and Japan definitely isn’t the only country in the weird Kit Kat game.

They’re able to do this with Kit Kat because the wafer/chocolate combo is basic enough to lend itself to any number of flavour varieties, and delicious enough that basically anything you throw at it is going to taste good.

Kit Kat Chunky, on the other hand, seems to be a different story. I think the biggest problem is that, instead of merely adding a flavour to the chocolate, they actually cram something into the bar itself, on top of the wafer (caramel, in this case). This means that they have to use a smaller wafer (about half the size, as far as I can tell), which throws off the balance of the bar.

Kit Kat Chunky: Cookie Dough had the same issue. The crispy wafer normally does a great job of balancing out the bar’s sweetness, but the smaller version here isn’t particularly able to perform that function. This is especially an issue with the gooey caramel, which is intensely sweet. It’s overwhelming.

It’s too bad, because this seems like a great idea in theory, but in practice it’s a bit sickening in its unrelenting sweetness.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 55 grams): 280 calories, 15 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0.2 grams of trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 34 grams of carbohydrates, 30 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose), milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm and modified vegetable oils, wheat flour, coconut oil, soy lecithin, cocoa powder, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, salt, baking soda, yeast, calcium sulphate, natural flavour, protease, xylanase.

January 31, 2021 Michael

Duplo – Like a Hazelnutty Kit Kat

Candy Bars

Confusingly, Ferrero actually makes two different European candy bars called Duplo; one features three segments, each with a whole hazelnut surrounded by chocolate cream, and the other is a Kit-Kat-esque wafer bar infused with hazelnut. This particular one is the wafer variety, and it’s made in Poland, with nothing but Polish on the wrapper.

It’s quite good. It has so much resemblance to a Kit Kat that it would be hard for it not to be tasty. The wafer is nice and crispy, the chocolate is creamy, and the pronounced hazelnut flavour compliments it perfectly.

I wish the quality of the chocolate were better (it’s a bit one-note sweet), and the crispiness of the wafer could be more pronounced. But mostly, this is an above average chocolate bar that really capitalizes on the inherent tastiness of the hazelnut/chocolate combo.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (100 grams): 555 calories, 33.5 grams of fat (19.1 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 191 mg of sodium, 56.09 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 50.49 grams of sugar, 6.19 grams of protein.
Ingredients (Google translated from Polish): Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, full-milk powder, cocoa butter, emulsifier: lecithin (soya), vanillin), sugar, palm oil, shea vegetable oil, wheat flour, hazelnut, wheat powder, cocoa powder with reduced fat content, emulsifier: lecithin (soya), wheat starch, salt, raising agents (ammonium carbonate, sodium bicarbonate), vanillin.

January 27, 2021January 30, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme – An Oreo Transformed into a Candy Bar

Candy Bars

Do you like Oreo cookies? If you do, you’re almost certainly going to like Hershey’s Cookies ‘N’ Creme; it’s basically an Oreo in candy bar form.

(And if you don’t, what is wrong with you?? Go jump into a volcano so you don’t inflict your weird defective taste buds onto the next generation.)

The bar features something resembling white chocolate that’s studded with a whole bunch of chocolate cookie pieces. Sadly, it’s not actually white chocolate — a quick perusal of the ingredients reveals a whole bunch of oil and zero cocoa butter. But in the context of this particular bar, it doesn’t really matter. There are so many cookie pieces here that the fake chocolate’s lack of creaminess never particularly feels like an issue. The chocolate is almost just there to bind the cookie bits together.

It’s quite tasty. It’s very, very sweet, but like with an Oreo, the pronounced cocoa flavour helps to balance out the sweetness — and because there are so many cookie pieces, that’s the primary flavour. The white mockolate basically tastes like a slightly more solid version of the creme in an Oreo cookie. It’s a delightful combo.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 43 grams): 220 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 100 mg of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified palm oil and modified vegetable oil (shea, sunflower and/or safflower), modified palm kernel oil, modified milk ingredients, corn syrup solids, wheat flour, lactose, cocoa powder, lecithin (soy), high fructose corn syrup, unsweetened chocolate, baking soda, salt, natural and artificial flavours, polyglycerol polyricinoleate.

January 24, 2021January 30, 2021 Michael

Bounty – Delicious Coconut and Chocolate

Candy Bars

I’m really not sure how I’ve managed to get to over a hundred reviews on this blog without doing Bounty, which has always been one of my favourites. In fact, I think it might have been my absolute favourite candy bar when I was a kid, which means that in a lot of ways, my warm fuzzy feelings for Bounty are tied up in childhood nostalgia. So take everything I say about it with a grain of salt.

It’s really good, though.

It’s just coconut and milk chocolate, but as far as these types of candy bars go (I think Almond Joy and Mounds are the other big ones), Bounty is where it’s at. The coconut is very sweet but not overwhelming, with a nice coconut flavour. It’s fairly dense, and moist enough that you’re not going to be chewing on dried up coconut bits long after the flavour has gone.

The generous layer of decent quality milk chocolate compliments the coconut perfectly. The fat kid version of me bought these on a fairly regular basis, and eating it again now, I can definitely see why.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 57 grams): 270 calories, 13 grams of fat (10 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 28 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, lactose, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), coconut, sugar, glucose syrup, glycerol monostearate, glycerol, salt, artificial flavour, sulphites.

January 20, 2021January 20, 2021 Michael

Aero Peppermint – It’s Aero, but Minty

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Sometimes these candy reviews basically write themselves, and sometimes… they do not. This one definitely falls into the latter category.

I mean, it’s right there in the name. It’s minty Aero. It tastes exactly how you think it’s going to taste. It’s Aero that’s minty. The end.

Oh, that’s not enough? Fine, a bit more. Here’s the thing: it’s Aero… that’s minty. What? Did I say that already? Fine.

The chocolate is nice and creamy, the bubbles give it that interesting texture that Aero fans know and love, and the whole thing is very, very sweet. But the strong minty flavour (this is absolutely not a subtle bar) makes the sweetness feel right. It’s tasty stuff.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (9 segments, 40 grams): 210 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 24 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour, sodium copper chlorophyllin, turmeric.