candy bar Archives - Page 14 of 27

September 20, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Mars Fudge – A Pleasant Variation on a Classic Candy

Candy Bars

The last Mars Bar variant I tried was Mars Caramel, which was a pretty clear downgrade from a standard Mars Bar. So my expectations weren’t particularly high for this one, which replaces the original’s nougat with fudge.

But hey, what do you know — it’s actually not bad. It probably helps that unlike the Caramel version, this one feels more like a tweak than a huge change.

Mostly, it tastes like a standard Mars Bar, but with a slightly stronger punch of chocolate flavour (though I will admit that it’s been a few years since I’ve had the original, so I might not be the best judge of this). If there’s a huge difference between the original’s nougat and the fudge here, I certainly couldn’t tell.

It’s quite satisfying, with a nice chewiness from the fudge and the caramel, and an intense sweetness that’s in-your-face but not too overpowering. It’s nothing to get too excited about, but it’s a solid candy bar.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 50 grams): 230 calories, 9 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 75 mg of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 30 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, corn syrup, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, hydrogenated palm kernel oil and/or palm oil, cocoa mass, cocoa powder, lactose, soy lecithin, salt, dried egg-white, natural and artificial flavours.

September 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Birthday Cake – Sweet and Delicious

Candy Bars

I recently reviewed the Hershey Birthday Cake bar, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought it tasted a heck of a lot like Betty Crocker vanilla frosting, which flashed me back, Ratatouille-style, to a childhood love of Dunkaroos.

Well, Kit Kat Birthday Cake is basically that, but in Kit Kat form. I don’t know if the coating is the exact same stuff (I think the sprinkles might be a bit crunchier), but it tastes very, very similar.

I already quite enjoyed it when it was just a bar, but with the addition of Kit Kat wafers? It’s fantastic. The wafers add a satisfying crispiness and a do a great job of offsetting the intense sweetness of the frosting-esque exterior. It takes something tasty and cranks it up from good to great.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 220 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), skim milk, wheat flour, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of chocolate, cornstarch, natural flavor and artificial flavor, lecithin (soy), artificial color (blue 1, blue 2 lake, red 40 lake, yellow 5, yellow 6, yellow 6 lake); PGPR, salt, yeast, carnauba wax, confectioner’s glaze, baking soda.

September 13, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twix Peanut Butter – Obviously Delicious

Candy Bars

Twix Peanut Butter is one of those things that you don’t even need to try to know that it’s going to be good. I mean, it’s chocolate, peanut butter, and cookies. That’s going to be delicious by default. You’d have to work hard to mess that combo up.

And yeah, it’s good. Of course it’s good. Again, it’s chocolate, peanut butter, and cookies. How could that be bad? The chocolate is nice and creamy, the cookie is crispy and sweet, and the peanut butter has a decent amount of saltiness that helps to balance out the sweetness of the bar.

I think the cookie might be slightly different than the cookie in a standard Twix bar? That one has a buttery, shortbready quality to it, but this one seems a bit lighter and crispier. That might be my imagination, however, and either way the cookie here compliments the rich peanut butter quite well.

My only real complaint is that I wish the peanut butter were smoother and creamier. It’s certainly tasty enough, but it’s quite dry and crumbly. Alas, that’s par for the course for a candy bar. I think the only mass market chocolate bar I’ve ever had that featured peanut butter with the consistency of actual peanut butter was PB Max (R.I.P. PB Max; you were too beautiful for this world).

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 47.6 grams): 250 calories, 14 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 25 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), peanuts, wheat flour with folic acid and iron (ferrous fumarate), sugar, palm oil, maltodextrin, less than 1.5% – hydrogenated rapeseed and cottonseed oil, modified corn starch, salt, glucose syrup, soy lecithin, baking soda, propyl gallate to maintain freshness.

September 6, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Aero White Chocolate – A Tasty Combo of White and Milk Chocolate

Chocolate

I think it’s clear at this point that combining white chocolate with milk chocolate is the way to go. Stuff like Kit Kat White & Milk and Kinder Chocolate is proof that it’s a great combo. I like white chocolate, but in the absence of cocoa solids, its flavour tends to be a bit one-note sweet. Adding milk chocolate thoroughly solves that problem while still retaining white chocolate’s distinct personality.

Aero White Chocolate, despite the name, isn’t fully white — it features a milk chocolate exterior with an aerated white chocolate interior.

It’s quite good. It’s got an interesting texture from the bubbles in the middle, enough milk chocolate to give it a nice punch of cocoa flavour, and a creamy white chocolate base that gives it a pleasant milkiness. If you’ve ever had Kinder Chocolate, this is the same idea, but with the bubbliness you get from an Aero.

It’s very sweet — white chocolate does tend to be on the sweeter side — but not overwhelmingly so. The milk chocolate does a solid job of balancing things out.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (7 segments, 32 grams): 170 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 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, 19 grams of sugar, 2 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, salt, natural flavour.

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.