candy Archives - Page 10 of 31

December 20, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Eat-More – It Tastes Better than it Looks

Candy Bars

Eat-More is, on a surface level at least, one of the more unappealing candy bars you can find. Between the frumpy retro packaging and the appearance of the bar itself (I’m too classy to say that it looks like nutty poop, but I think we all have eyeballs and can see what it clearly looks like), the makers of Eat-More seem to have no interest in making you want to eat their candy bar.

The wrapper calls it a “dark toffee peanut chew.” I’ve always been under the impression that it had zero chocolate, though a quick perusal of the ingredients reveals unsweetened chocolate right near the top. I guess they melt it right into the toffee, and now that I know that, yeah, I can kind of taste it in the background.

I haven’t had an Eat-More in years, and I actually think it’s slightly better than I remembered. It’s chewy, peanutty, and satisfying. The sweetness level is surprisingly restrained, with a slightly bitter flavour that has way more going on than the one-note sugariness of so many candy bars. There’s no molasses in the ingredients, but it definitely has that flavour, with a nice roastiness from the peanuts and a subtle chocolately kick.

As for the texture, it’s chewy but soft; it definitely doesn’t have the intense sticks-to-your-teeth level of chewiness of something like a Tootsie Roll. It’s quite different from pretty much any other candy bar, but I guess that’s part of the appeal.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 240 calories, 14 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 18 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fibre, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm kernel oil, high fructose corn syrup, modified palm oil and modified vegetable oil (shea, sunflower and/or safflower), modified milk ingredients, dextrose, high maltose corn syrup*, corn starch, salt, sorbitol, mono and diglycerides, soy lecithin, artificial flavour, invertase*, sulphites, disodium phosphate*, TBHQ*, citric acid, colour. *may not always be present.

December 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Cookie Crumble – Tasty, but a Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

The problem with a lot of these Kit Kat varieties is that the original Kit Kat is basically perfect, so there’s really nowhere to go but down. The original still exists and it’s so damn good, which means it’s hard not to wonder what the point is of so many of the new flavours that they keep churning out.

This is less of an issue with out-there varieties like Birthday Cake or Apple Pie, which bring enough of their own unique personality to justify their existence. But with something like Cookie Crumble — which is tasty, no doubt about it — it kinda just made me crave a standard Kit Kat.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with it. Featuring chocolate wafers and bits of cookie crumbs, it has a cocoa-infused chocolate cookie flavour that’s fairly satisfying. The hint of bitterness you get from the cocoa goes nicely with the other flavours in the bar, and while the whole thing is a bit too sweet, it’s pretty tasty. But it’s not hugely different from a standard Kit Kat, and everything about it that is different is inferior.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (4 pieces, 40 grams): 200 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose syrup), milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm, palm kernel and vegetable oils, cocoa powder, sunflower lecithin, baking soda, salt, sodium carbonate, natural flavour, protease, xylanase, tocopherol, citric acid.

December 13, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Take 5 – Sweet and Salty Goodness

Candy Bars

Reese’s Take 5 was formerly just known as Take 5, but last year Hershey crammed the Reese name onto it, because apparently all candy bars have to be affiliated with another candy bar. Think about it: pretty much every bar under the sun has about a billion variants (there are about a thousand different Kit Kat and M&M varieties alone), but when was the last time one of the major candy companies came out with an all-new candy bar?

By 2032, all candy bars will converge into one mega-flavour that will cause the universe to fold into itself and reset: a new big bang that’ll start this whole rigmarole over from scratch. Which, let’s face it, is probably for the best.

Until then: Reese’s Take 5, a combo of pretzels, peanuts, peanut butter, caramel, and chocolate.

It’s pretty good, though if you don’t like chocolate-covered pretzels you’re probably out of luck, because that’s clearly the dominant flavour here. I do like that combo, so I quite enjoyed it. In particular, the nice hit of salt you get from the crunchy pretzels does a great job of balancing out some of the sweetness from the rest of the bar. Which is a good thing, because Take 5 (sorry, Reese’s Take 5) is a scorcher; it’s intensely sweet. The caramel is probably superfluous, but the combo of chocolate, peanut butter and pretzels is so delicious that it barely matters.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 210 calories, 11 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 210 mg sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 18 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, enriched wheat flour (flour, niacin, ferrous sulfate, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), peanuts, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, canola oil, and/or safflower oil), high fructose corn syrup, chocolate, hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel oil, coconut oil, soybean oil), partially defatted peanuts, skim milk, contains 2% or less of: dextrose, whey (milk), salt, corn syrup solids, dairy butter (milk), glycerin, corn syrup, lecithin (soy), sodium hydroxide, mono- and diglycerides, artificial flavor, baking soda, carrageenan, milk fat, yeast, TBHQ and citric acid, to maintain freshness, disodium phosphate.

December 6, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Big Cup with Pretzels – Where Have the Pretzels Been All My Life?

Candy Bars

Kudos to Hershey for coming up with the idea to fill a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup with pretzels, but also, why did it take so long? It’s one of those ideas that’s so obvious, you have to wonder how Reese managed to be around for almost a hundred years before they came up with it.

Pretzels and peanut butter is a boffo combination. Anyone who’s had those pretzel bites that are filled with peanut butter knows that’s true. So seriously: what was the hold-up? Why have I been forced to go my whole life eating peanut butter cups without pretzels in them? Like an animal?

My only complaint is that I wish this were a regular Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup rather than a Big Cup, because I feel like the former has a slightly better ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. But that’s really not a big deal.

Otherwise, this is exactly what you’re hoping it’ll be. The pretzels are fairly abundant, and do a great job of adding their distinctive flavour and salty pop to the Reese formula. That’s not to mention the delightful amount of crunchiness they bring, which contrasts quite nicely with the creamy peanut butter and chocolate.

Suffice it to say, if you’re intrigued by the idea of a peanut butter cup with pretzels in it, you’re going to like this. It’s exactly what you want it to be.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 cup, 36 grams): 180 calories, 10 grams of fat (3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 140 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, milk fat, lactose, lecithin (soy), PGPR) peanuts, sugar, dextrose, brown rice flour, potato starch, contains 2% or less of: modified cornstarch, soluble corn fiber, canola oil, salt, sea salt, baking powder, cellulose gum, sunflower lecithin, TBHQ and citric acid to maintain freshness.

December 2, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

English Toffee Peanut M&M’s – An Intense Kick of Toffee Flavour

Candy Bars

I’ve mentioned before that Peanut M&M’s are the king of M&M’s. This is a stone cold fact and if you think otherwise, as far as I’m concerned you may as well be a flat-Earther. That’s how ridiculous your “opinions” are to me.

Peanut M&M’s are delicious. And of course, English toffee is also delicious. So I was wondering if plain old Peanut M&M’s time on the throne might be coming to an end.

Spoiler alert: it is not. Regular Peanut M&M’s are still the king.

Still, these are tasty. As soon as you rip open the pack, the English toffee aroma hits you in the face. It’s strong. And the flavour is pretty strong, too; it’s almost overwhelming at first, but after you eat a couple, you get used to it.

I should note that, as far as I can tell, there’s no actual English toffee here, just a flavour in the chocolate itself. They might have gone overboard with that flavour, but mostly, it works. The combo of chocolate and English toffee is satisfying, and the peanut does a nice job of adding some nuttiness and balancing out the sweetness of the chocolate.

If the English toffee flavouring were a bit more subtle this might have been something special, but even still, it’s quite good.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/3 pack, 31 grams): 160 calories, 8 grams of fat (3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 16 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milkfat, peanuts, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, peanuts, cornstarch, less than 1% – palm oil, corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (includes yellow 5, red 40, yellow 6, blue 1, yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, red 40 lake, blue 1 lake, blue 2 lake, blue 2), carnauba wax, artificial and natural flavors, gum acacia.