candy bar Archives - Page 2 of 27

June 20, 2021 Michael

Aero Truffle: Black Forest Cake – A Delicious Combo of Cherry and Chocolate

Candy Bars, Chocolate

The last Aero Truffle bar I tried was the chocolate mousse variety, which I enjoyed, but probably wouldn’t ever buy again. I sort of figured that this would be more of the same. I also wondered about the black forest cake element; is that just a fancier way of saying that the truffle part is cherry-flavoured?

I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this. It’s delightful.

I should note that I quite like black forest cake; your enjoyment of this bar very much depends on your fondness for the cherry/chocolate combo. The cherry flavour is not subtle.

If you do like that combo, however, you need to try this bar ASAP — it’s great. There’s no actual cherry in the ingredients, which seems like a red flag, but there’s absolutely none of the cloying, medicine-like flavour that you sometimes get from cherry candies. The cherry flavour is quite nice.

The bar features a dark chocolate coating and a milk chocolate interior, which does a great job of tempering the intense sweetness that you normally get from an Aero bar, and adds a nice punch of rich dark chocolate flavour.

Maybe I wouldn’t have come up with the connection if I had eaten this blind, but the whole thing is actually pretty reminiscent of a black forest cake. It’s a lot better than I was expecting it to be.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (8 segments, 40 grams): 230 calories, 15 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 16 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, unsweetened chocolate*, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter*, cocoa powder*, modified palm oil, beet red, natural flavour, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate. *Rainforest Alliance Certified

June 6, 2021 Michael

Dairy Milk – Classic Milk Chocolate

Chocolate

How do you even review Dairy Milk? Just plain old regular Dairy Milk? The flavour of Cadbury milk chocolate is so fundamental that trying to describe it is like trying to describe the colour blue. I don’t know, it’s… Dairy Milk. It tastes like Dairy Milk. What do you want from me?

I will say that I think I accidentally bought a Greek version of the chocolate bar — like a lot of European confections, there are about a dozen languages on the packaging, but Greek is first. If it tasted any different from the usual Dairy Milk, however, I couldn’t tell.

The texture is a bit grainier than you’d like; a quick perusal of the ingredients reveals the presence of palm and shea oils, which is never a good thing. It’s still creamy enough, but it’s slightly off (this might be a Greek and/or European thing, because Canadian Dairy Milk doesn’t contain either of those oils).

Otherwise, it tastes how it tastes: it’s milky, chocolatey, and very sweet. It’s Dairy Milk. It tastes like Dairy Milk.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (27.5 grams): 147 calories, 8.4 grams of fat (5.1 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg cholesterol, 70 mg of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 0.5 grams of fibre, 15 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vegetable fats (palm, shea), emulsifiers (E442, E476), flavourings.

May 30, 2021 Michael

Planters Salted Caramel Nut Bar – Like PayDay, but Better

Candy Bars

At first glance, the Planters Salted Caramel Nut Bar looks like it should be identical to a PayDay. Like PayDay, it consists of salted peanuts, caramel, and a nougat centre (well, PayDay is technically caramel all the way through, but the “caramel” base is actually quite nougat-like).

It tastes quite different, however, thanks to the nougat centre, which is delightfully soft and creamy, with a fluffy consistency and an almost marshmallow-like flavour. It’s very sweet, but it’s perfectly balanced by the salted caramel and the very generous amount of salty peanuts, which have a nice roasty flavour that adds a lot to the bar.

It’s kind of like a cross between a PayDay and the Pecan Log Rolls they sell at Cracker Barrel (which, FYI, are amazing — the next time you find yourself in a Cracker Barrel, buy one. Trust me, you’ll thank me later). It’s crunchy and creamy, sweet and salty, and it’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Planters Peanuts
Nutritional info (1 bar, 85 grams): 390 calories, 22 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 36 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fibre, 9 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, sugar, corn syrup, palm oil, reduced lactose whey (milk), salt, coconut oil, natural and artificial vanilla flavouring, soy lecithin, modified soy protein, invertase, natural antioxidant (canola oil, rosemary extract, natural mixed tocopherols, sunflower oil).

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 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.