candy Archives - Page 13 of 31

October 18, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Apple Pie – Nails the Apple Pie Flavour

Candy Bars

I’ll admit that I was actually pretty excited to try this one. I mean, it’s Apple Pie Kit Kat; if you don’t think that’s irresistible then you and me are very different people.

I got a bit less excited when I looked at the ingredients list and noticed that there isn’t anything even remotely resembling an apple in what is ostensibly a candy bar all about apples.

But then I took a bite and got excited again because holy cow this thing tastes a surprising amount like a slice of apple pie. Like, it’s weird how much it tastes like apple pie. It nailed that flavour way more than I thought it would, particularly after perusing the ingredients.

Specifically, it tastes like apple pie a la mode, with a hint of tartness from whatever scientific magic they used to replicate the apple flavour, a subtle hint of cinnamon and other spices, a decent amount of pie crust flavour from the wafers, and a milky creaminess that made me think of pie a la mode. I’m shocked that this is as good as it is; I enjoyed the hell out of it.

Between this and the birthday cake variety, Kit Kat is absolutely knocking it out of the park with these novelty flavours that have the potential to be horrible but are actually amazing.

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, 40 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), wheat flour: skim milk, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk). Contains 2% or less of: chocolate, natural flavor and artificial flavor, lecithin (soy), salt, yeast, baking soda, artificial color (yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, blue 2 lake, red 40 lake), PGPR.

October 14, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Butterfinger – Nobody Better Lay a Finger…

Candy Bars

Butterfinger, along with Crunch, was recently bought out by Ferrero, who took it off the shelves to reformulate it. In the case of Crunch, this resulted in a noticeably inferior product. So how about Butterfinger?

I’m not sure. I’ll admit that it’s been years since I’ve had a Butterfinger, so it’s hard to say. I think it’s inferior? Maybe?

(This review is going really well so far, obviously.)

The bar is pretty simple — it’s just crispy, toffee-like peanut butter coated in mockolate (and the mockolate predates the Ferrero acquisition, so you can’t blame that one on them).

The peanut butter taste is surprisingly subtle, which is partially what makes me suspect that the bar has gone downhill. I remember it having a really satisfying peanutty flavour, but that isn’t the case here. It’s very sweet, with a somewhat bitter, burnt toffee flavour. The mild bitterness is actually kinda interesting, and helps to cut the sweetness of the bar a bit. But in the absence of peanut butteriness, something is missing.

As for the mockolate, it’s inoffensive enough. The bar is so crispy and sweet that you can barely even tell it’s there.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53.8 grams): 250 calories, 10 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 160 mg sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, peanuts, vegetable oil (palm kernel and palm oil), peanut flour, nonfat milk, less than 2% of cocoa, milk, salt, soy lecithin, natural flavor, annatto color.

October 7, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Mallo Cup – Overly Sweet Marshmallow Cups

Candy Bars

It’s been several years since I’ve had a Mallo Cup; my memory is that it’s basically an inferior version of Valomilk. But then Valomilk isn’t exactly easy to find. I’ve only ever seen it in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, which makes it pretty much impossible to buy at the moment. Popping down to the States for a day trip probably isn’t going to be in the cards for quite a while.

Well, Mallo Cup, it turns out, is exactly as I remembered. It’s fine? I guess? But Valomilk is the superior candy in literally every regard, and they’re so similar that it’s impossible not to compare them.

It’s a pretty simple concept; it’s a chocolate cup filled with marshmallow creme (which the packaging calls “whipped creme”). Mallo Cup distinguishes itself from Valomilk by including coconut flakes in the chocolate, but they’re otherwise identical.

The coconut is actually a nice touch; it adds a very subtle crispy texture and a hint of coconut flavour. The cups are a bit bland aside from intense sweetness, so I actually wish there were a bit more coconut. But it’s fine.

That’s the thing, there’s nothing overtly wrong with it — the gooey creme and the creamy chocolate make for a satisfying combo. But the flavour is one-note sweet; neither the chocolate nor the creme have all that much flavour other than an overriding sugariness. It’s decent enough, but since Valomilk is a thing that exists in the world, it’s kinda superfluous.

Manufactured by: Boyer
Nutritional info (2 cups, 42 grams): 200 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 24 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate liquor, and soy lecithin), corn syrup, sugar, water, coconut, dextrin, egg white, salt, guar gum, natural and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness) and soy lecithin.

October 4, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Maltesers Teasers – A Chocolatey Twist on a Classic

Candy Bars

Maltesers Teasers was a lot more Maltesersy than I was expecting. That’s a bit of a weird thing to say — Maltesers is right there in the name, after all — but sometimes these spin-off bars only have a very tenuous connection to the original. That’s definitely not the case here.

Teasers is basically a plain chocolate bar, but with bits of the classic Maltesers malty crispiness interspersed throughout. I think the chocolate itself might also be infused with a malty flavour, because that taste is quite pronounced.

It’s really good. If you like classic Maltesers (and what’s not to like??) then I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll like this. It’s basically reverse Maltesers — Maltesers is crispy with a bit of a creamy chocolaty hit, and Teasers is creamy with a bit of a crispy malty hit. But the flavour is basically identical; the only real difference is the creamy-to-crispy ratio.

It’s very, very sweet, but the thoroughly malty flavour does a great job of balancing it out and ensuring that it never feels one-note cloying. It’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 35 grams): 186 calories, 10.4 grams of fat (6.3 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 20.3 grams of carbohydrates, unknown grams of fibre, 18.5 grams of sugar, 2.6 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, glucose syrup, palm fat, lactose and protein from whey (from milk), whey powder (from milk), barley malt extract, milk fat, emulsifier (soya lecithin), wheat flour raising agents (E341, E500, E501), salt, natural vanilla extract.

September 27, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twix Cookies & Creme – You Should Probably Nix this Twix

Candy Bars

Between the Peanut Butter and Triple Chocolate varieties, I was starting to think that Twix could do no wrong. But I guess no one’s perfect.

Apparently Cookies and Creme was discontinued in the ’90s and recently revived. If you have fond, decades-old memories of this thing, I’d suggest that you pretend that it never came back and let your fond memories stay fond.

Well, it’s not that bad, I guess. It’s fine. It consists of chocolate cookies topped with some kind of sweet creme that’s studded with tiny little chocolate bits, and enrobed in milk chocolate.

It’s mostly inoffensive, and as usual for a Twix bar, the combo of creamy milk chocolate and crunchy cookies is a winner. But the creme has an off-putting lack of flavour; it’s thick and sweet, and… that’s about it. There’s not much to it. I would have rather just had cookies covered in chocolate. The creme adds nothing to the equation, and in fact only detracts, because what’s it even supposed to be?? It’s not really sweet enough to be icing, and it doesn’t particularly taste like cream, so what’s the point of it? I guess it’s supposed to be Oreo-like, but that connection only occurred to me long after I ate it, so clearly the flavour isn’t there.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 38.6 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 85 mg of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, <1 grams of fibre, 17 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, PGPR, artificial flavor), palm oil, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), sugar, corn syrup, less than 2% – cocoa powder processed with alkali, skim milk, modified corn starch, salt, cocoa powder, baking soda, soy lecithin, whey protein isolate, artificial flavor.