almonds Archives - Page 2 of 2

January 19, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Symphony – Like a Heath Bar with More Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Though Hershey has seen fit to cheapen many of its bars by replacing milk chocolate with mockolate in an effort to cut costs, it’s nice to see that you can still find real milk chocolate in at least a few Hershey products.

Hershey’s Symphony is actually quite similar to a Heath bar, only with the proportions of chocolate and toffee reversed; where Heath is mostly toffee with a chocolate coating, Symphony is mostly chocolate with little bits of almonds and toffee. The bar proudly proclaims that it features “50% more toffee,” and they’re definitely not kidding around. Though Symphony is mainly milk chocolate, there’s enough toffee in there to give each mouthful a good crunch, and to give the whole bar a surprisingly pronounced toffee taste. That’s why it’s so easy to compare this to a Heath bar, because it really is basically like a Heath with a milder toffee taste.

I generally like Hershey’s milk chocolate, though it’s not my favourite. The chocolate here is fairly creamy, and is complemented nicely by the toffee. It’s not bad at all.

An addendum – I would like to point out something that I thought was amusing, if a bit sad: There are instructions on how to open the wrapper for this candy bar. On the outside corner of the wrapper’s flap, it says “lift & pull here.” On the other side of the flap, Hershey has helpfully advised you to “hold here.”

I’m not sure what’s more sad: the fact that Hershey thought that people would need instructions to open a candy bar wrapper, or the fact that someone actually does need instructions to open a candy bar wrapper.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (42 g bar): 220

November 27, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Dark Chocolate Moose Munch Chocolate Bar – So, So Good

Candy Bars

Moose Munch is definitely unique – popcorn isn’t generally an ingredient you’ll find in all that many candy bars (in fact, I don’t think I’ve ever had a candy bar with popcorn in it). But this bar certainly makes a persuasive argument for the inclusion of popcorn in chocolate.

The Dark Chocolate Moose Munch Chocolate Bar features a creamy, truffle-like centre with chunks of almonds, crunchy toffee and popcorn, all enrobed in dark chocolate. The centre alone – a smooth, richly intense dark chocolate fudge – is enough for me to give this bar a hearty recommendation. It’s really good. The crunchy bits elevate this from “delicious” to “why can’t I buy this in Canada??” (I purchased this bar at a Target in the States, and have lamentably never seen it anywhere in Canada).

The combination of Almonds and dark chocolate is an old standby, and works quite well here. The bits of crunchy toffee have a fairly distinct flavour and definitely add more than just crunchiness to the mix. As for the popcorn, it’s not present in every mouthful, but when it is there it gives this bar a nicely unique flavour. It all adds up to something that is surprisingly awesome. It’s probably a good thing that this isn’t readily available where I live – if it were, I’d be eating it all the time, and would inevitably wind up like the gluttony guy from Seven.

Manufactured by: Harry and David
Calories (56 g bar): 290

November 19, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Chocolove: Cherries & Almonds in Dark Chocolate – Quality Chocolate and Crunchy Nuts

Chocolate

Though the name and packaging of this chocolate are seriously hokey (there is, as promised on the packaging, an actual love poem on the other side of the wrapper – in this case, Diaphenia by Henry Constable) it’s what’s inside the wrapper that counts.

A quick peek at the ingredients finds a refreshingly simple list: dark chocolate, dried cherries, and almonds. So the first question is: how’s the chocolate? It’s good; featuring a 55 percent cocoa content, it’s not the darkest chocolate ever, and is somewhat creamy and fairly sweet. The crushed almonds, which are plentiful, add a nice crunchiness to the bar. As for the cherries, they give the bar a chewiness which contrasts with the crunchiness of the nuts (it’s kind of similar to Cadbury’s Fruit and Nut, in that sense). However, they don’t add all that much flavour, save for a few mouthfuls where you get multiple cherries. Dried cherries have a pretty strong, sour flavour, so it’s probably for the best that there’s too few rather than too many.

My initial fear, when I first saw this bar, was that it was going to taste strongly of artificial cherry. Cherry seems to be one of those flavours that science just can’t get right, and so anything with fake cherry tends to have a vaguely medicinal taste. So I was glad to see that it was real cherries in here, even if they don’t add too much to the bar (taste-wise at least).

Reasonably high-quality chocolate, crunchy nuts… it’s kind of hard to go wrong with that.

Manufactured by: Chocolove
Calories (90 g bar): 480

November 18, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Colts Bolts – Further Proof of the Perfection of the PB/Chocolate Combo

Candy Bars

This is another item I found at the Cracker Barrel, which is somewhat of a treasure trove of hard-to-find candy made by smaller manufacturers (not to mention an above-average place to eat compared to similar family-friendly chain restaurants).

I think the easy comparison to make here is to Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups – but this is actually quite different from that, despite essentially being made up of the same components. Colts Bolts features a layer of milk chocolate, a very thick layer of creamy, sweet peanut butter with whole almonds mixed in, topped with another layer of milk chocolate.

The peanut butter is very smooth and sweet, and has a much more subdued peanut taste than your usual peanut butter – it almost tastes like peanut butter icing moreso than just plain PB. The addition of whole almonds gives the Bolt a satisfying crunch, as well as adding a nutty taste which helps compensate for the subtlety of the peanut butter. The almonds (rather than, as you might expect, peanuts) also contribute a unique flavour, which differentiates these from a standard peanut butter cup. The milk chocolate suits the peanut butter well, and the whole thing adds up to a pretty satisfying treat.

Manufactured by: Colts Chocolates
Calories (56 g cup): 300