candy Archives - Page 11 of 31

November 29, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Rocky Road — It’s Better than the Ice Cream

Candy Bars

Rocky road ice cream is fine. It’s generally not the first (or second, or third) flavour I’ll go for in an ice cream shop, but it’s there, and it’s tasty enough. I like it, but I definitely don’t love it.

But what about the candy bar? Annabelle’s Rocky Road is one of those hard-to-find old-timey candy bars that’s been around for decades despite the fact that there’s a decent chance that you haven’t heard of it. I know hadn’t before buying it for this blog.

There’s not much to it — it’s just marshmallow coated in a layer of cashew-studded milk chocolate. I enjoyed it way more than I thought I would.

Sometimes the marshmallow in a candy like this can be overly chewy and spongy, but the stuff here strikes a delightful balance between chewiness and creaminess. And the generous layer of milk chocolate is clearly above average, with a really satisfying flavour that compliments the marshmallow quite well.

As for the the cashews, they add a nice nuttiness without being too crunchy or assertive; the creamy chocolate and chewy marshmallow are clearly the stars of the show. The nuts are there in the background, but they let the marshmallow and chocolate shine.

Manufactured by: Annabelle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 46 grams): 220 calories, 10 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 28 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate, sugar, corn syrup, cashew nuts, palm kernel oil and coconut oil, cocoa powder, whey powder nonfat milk powder, soy lecithin as an emulsifier, vanillin (an artificial flavor), sorbitol, gelatin, glycerine, salt, artificial flavor [Milk chocolate contains: sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, milk powder, soy lecithin (as an emulsifier), natural vanilla and artificial flavors]

November 25, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Caramel Crisp – An Overwhelming Punch of Caramel

Candy Bars

The smell hits you hard when you open the Kit Kat Caramel Crisp wrapper — caramel, but caramel times a million. It’s intense.

The flavour is equally intense. Featuring bits of crispy caramel in a thick milk chocolate coating, the caramel flavour here is unmistakable and overpowering. There’s also something about it that’s vaguely off; the packaging lists “natural flavour” among the ingredients, and there must be some kind of flavouring going on because normal caramel shouldn’t taste like this.

It’s also intensely sweet. The nice thing about Kit Kat, normally, is that the wafers do a great job of balancing out the chocolate’s sweetness. But the outer coating of chocolate here is so thick and so sweet that it completely overwhelms the wafer. The wafer adds crispiness, but that’s about it.

Also adding texture: the toffee-like crispy caramel bits. The creamy/crispy contrast here is quite nice; it’s just too bad that the flavour is a bit wonky.

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, 45 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm, palm kernel and vegetable oils, cocoa powder, sunflower and soy lecithin, natural flavour, salt, baking soda, protease, xylanase, tocopherol, citric acid.

November 22, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Baby Ruth – Chewy, Nutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Like Crunch and Butterfinger, Baby Ruth is one of the candy bars that was recently bought out by Ferrero and reformulated. In this case, the wrapper is very proud to proclaim that they’ve improved the recipe with the addition of dry-roasted peanuts. Alas, it’s been several years since I’ve last tried a Baby Ruth, so I couldn’t particularly tell you whether or not this is an upgrade.

The other thing that initially stands out is the presence of mockolate rather than actual chocolate on the exterior of the bar (red flag: the wrapper doesn’t mention the word “chocolate” once). I thought this might be a Ferrero thing, but a quick search reveals that Baby Ruth has used fake chocolate since at least 2008.

Aside from the mockolate coating and the new-and-improved dry-roasted nuts, the other two elements of a Baby Ruth are caramel and nougat.

If you’ve ever had an Oh Henry, this is basically the same thing. I think the level of chewiness here is slightly less intense, but they’re very similar.

It’s quite tasty. In particular, the much-touted dry-roasted peanuts add a ton of flavour; there’s a really satisfying roasty nuttiness that complements the bar’s other flavours quite well, not to mention the pleasant crunch.

The other thing that I quite like here is the caramel — a lot of candy bar caramel basically tastes like thick, chewy sugar, but the stuff here actually has some flavour outside of generic sweetness.

The bar definitely tastes sweeter than average, but there’s also a nice hit of salt that helps to balance things out. As for the mockolate, it’s fairly inoffensive; it adds zero taste or texture. Real chocolate would have been nice, but the mockolate doesn’t detract from the bar, which is really all you can ask.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53.8 grams): 260 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 35 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 28 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, dry roasted peanuts, corn syrup, hydrogenated vegetable oil (palm kernel, coconut, and soybean), nonfat milk, cocoa, less than 2% of high fructose corn syrup, dairy product solids, glycerin, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, lactic acid esters, carrageenan.

November 19, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Aero Dark Chipotle Truffle – A Nice Combo of Sweet and Spice

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Spicy chocolate is an odd combo that can be off-putting if done poorly. Done right, however, and the spiciness adds a nice warm heat that compliments dark chocolate surprisingly well.

I honestly didn’t think Aero could pull it off, but hey, what do you know — they did it.

The chipotle truffle part of the bar doesn’t have a ton of flavour — there’s a mild floral heat, but for the most part, the bar tastes of dark chocolate with a bonus spicy kick. The level of spice is mostly just a mild tingle; you don’t even notice it at first. It’s there, but it’s subtle enough that it never gets in the way or makes the bar taste gimmicky.

And the dark chocolate is quite tasty; it’s on the sweeter side (the sweetness is likely amped up by the milk chocolate interior, which complements the dark quite well), but it has a deep chocolatey flavour that’s quite satisfying. As for the texture, the snappy exterior and the classic Aero bubbliness is a delightful combo.

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 gram of fibre, 17 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, unsweetened chocolate, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa powder, modified palm oil, soy lecithin, natural flavour, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, annatto extract, paprika extract.

November 11, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Chocolatey PayDay – A Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

I like PayDay. Consisting entirely of a dense caramel centre covered in salted peanuts, it’s delightfully peanutty and chewy, with a really satisfying combination of sweetness and saltiness that sets it apart from the competition. It’s also the rare candy bar that’s chocolate-free, which adds to its distinctive charm.

Enter: Chocolatey PayDay, which takes the classic bar and adds a “chocolatey” exterior. In case the word “chocolatey” wasn’t a dead giveaway, the bar features mockolate rather than the real deal. Oddly, chocolate is present towards the end of the ingredients list — but not enough to avoid the dreaded “chocolatey” designation, or to avoid the telltale waxy texture and lack of personality that you get from the fake stuff.

It’s fine. I’m not sure if they’ve just covered a standard PayDay in a chocolatey coating or if other modifications were made, but it tastes like the latter to me. I’m pretty sure there are less peanuts, and while the original hits you in the face with the sweet/salty combo, the level of salt is much more restrained here. It’s definitely there, but it’s in the background.

This makes a bigger difference than you’d think; the bar tastes noticeably sweeter, and the nutty flavour is much more muted. It doesn’t help that the mockolate coating basically adds nothing, and only detracts from the bar (unlike a lot of candy bars covered in mockolate, there’s a thick enough layer here that the waxy texture is quite noticeable).

The whole thing is inoffensive enough, but it takes something distinctive and makes it generic; it basically tastes like an inferior version of an Oh Henry.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 260 calories, 14 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 100 mg sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, 2 grams of fibre, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, peanuts, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil, corn syrup, chocolate, skim milk. Contains 2% or less of: whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), carrageenan, mono- and diglycerides, vanillin, artificial flavor.