candy Archives - Page 27 of 31

November 13, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Whatchamacallit – Sweet and Peanutty, but Real Chocolate Would be Nice

Candy Bars

The oddly named Whatchamacallit is another bar affected by the recent Hershey cheapening, in which Hershey has replaced the chocolate in many of its products with a cheaper chocolate substitute (mockolate). Though real chocolate probably would have improved things, I don’t think its absence is particularly felt here (there’s so much other stuff going on in this bar that it’s doubtful that your average person would even notice that it’s mockolate rather than chocolate).

Whatchamacallit consists of a crispy hunk of peanutty puffed rice, topped with a thin layer of caramel and coated in mockolate. The bar is quite crispy with a fairly pronounced peanut flavour. The caramel gives it a lingering chewiness and adds some sweetness to the mix (this is a very sweet bar).

Because of the crispiness/chewiness of the filling, and the strongly sweet, peanutty flavour, the mockolate is pretty much completely unnecessary – it neither detracts from or adds to the bar. A stronger chocolate flavour might have helped. I recall liking this a bit better the last time I had it (in its Canadian iteration, called Special Crisp), though it’s been a while, so it’s hard to say.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (45 g bar): 220

November 12, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Mars Caramel – A Downgraded Mars Bar

Candy Bars

You can file Mars Caramel under “U” for “unnecessary” – not that it’s completely without virtue, it’s just that it’s essentially superfluous. It’s an offshoot of the Mars Bar (Milky Way in the states), which normally consists of nougat topped with a layer of caramel. Mars Caramel forgoes the nougat altogether, and consists entirely of caramel enrobed in milk chocolate.

The problem here is that the bar contains the exact same caramel you’ll find inside a regular Mars Bar, which normally, balanced out by the nougat, works quite well. Here, however, the soft, slightly chewy and very sweet caramel just seems to be missing something. You expect to taste the nougat, but of course, it’s not there. The caramel itself doesn’t really have the complexity to carry the whole bar, and while it does have that Mars Bar taste, it’s just kind of plain – sweet, but without anything to ever make you want to pick this over a standard Mars Bar.

Ultimately, Mars Caramel is unnecessary because it’s just a downgraded Mars Bar. It’s kind of like listening to a song you like with one of the main instruments removed – it’s a little bit interesting at first, but ultimately there’s a reason why all the instruments are there.

Manufactured by: Mars
Calories (45 g bar): 210

November 11, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Droste Holland: Pastilles – A Decent Mix of Milk and Dark Chocolate

Chocolate

About the size of a large coin, these Pastilles feature a mixture of half milk chocolate, and half dark chocolate, split down the middle. It’s a pretty simple product, so I’ll keep this review brief.

The chocolate has a nice snap to it, and both sides are of an above average quality. This isn’t simply a case of the two sides having a different colour but tasting the same – the milk half is quite creamy and sweet, while the dark half has a nicely rich cocoa flavour. There’s no indication on the packaging as to the cocoa content of the dark side, but if I had to guess I’d say sixty or seventy percent. The two halves work together quite well, resulting in a nice balance between the creaminess of the milk chocolate and the more intense flavour of the dark chocolate.

It’s not the best quality chocolate I’ve ever had, but it’s above average and makes for a pretty good snack.

Manufactured by: Droste Holland
Calories (8 pieces, 40 g): 220

November 10, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese’s Pieces – Loved by Humans (and Aliens) Worldwide

Candy Bars

I don’t think there’s any other candy out there that can thank its success so thoroughly to a movie; I think it goes without saying that the movie I’m referring to is E.T.. If Reese’s Pieces hadn’t been so prominently featured in that film and subsequently found success because of it, who knows if we’d still be eating them today (and of course, there is the infamous story of the people at Mars refusing to allow M&Ms – Steven Spielberg’s first choice of candy – to be used in the movie. That’s one of those colossal blunders that you have to imagine still stings a little bit).

The question of “favourite candy ever” is one that, for me at least, probably changes on a daily basis depending on my mood. However, ask me that question, and more times than not I’ll probably say Reese’s Pieces. I mentioned in my review of Reese Peanut Butter Cups that it took me a while to warm up to their distinctive, crumbly peanut butter. I never had that problem with Reese’s Pieces; it’s always been one of my favourites.

There’s just something about the sweet, creamy peanut butter filling combined with the crunchy shell that hits all the right notes for me. The smooth peanut butter centre is sweeter than the average PB, and contrasts very nicely with the crunchy shell. They also happen to be highly addictive; once you start eating them, it’s pretty hard to stop until you’re scraping the bottom of the bag and wishing there could be just one or two more left.

I do have a small quibble with the packaging – I’m of the “if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it” school of thought, and so I kind of miss the box. I guess it doesn’t make a difference, but I miss it nonetheless.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Calories (51 g bag): 250

November 7, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Chocolate +Plus: Milk Chocolate Tiramisu Crisp – A Suprisingly Tasty (and Maybe Healthy?) Chocolate Bar

Candy Bars

I have to admit, my expectations for this were pretty low. Healthy chocolate seems like an oxymoron to me, and the thing that supposedly makes this bar healthier than the average chocolate – “bifidobacterium longum” – certainly isn’t one of the more appetizing-sounding ingredients I’ve seen in a candy bar. So colour me surprised that it actually tastes pretty good.

According to MicrobeWiki (now there’s an exciting web site), Bifidobacteria “promotes good digestion, boosts the immune system, and produces lactic and acetic acid that controls intestinal pH.” So that’s good, I guess…? I’m really not too concerned about how healthy this is, what I really care about is how it tastes.

Chocolate +Plus Milk Chocolate Tiramisu Crisp features creamy milk chocolate with a smooth, truffle-like centre. The bar has a pleasantly sweet, coffee aroma, and with the letters “+PLUS” embossed on the individual segments, it’s one of the nicer looking bars I’ve seen in a while. The bar is also slightly crispy thanks to little bits of puffed rice, though I’m not sure why as Tiramisu is probably one of the least crispy desserts you’ll find (it’s not crispy at all).

It’s good. The milk chocolate kind of reminds me of a slightly creamier version of Cadbury’s chocolate, and the truffle centre has a mild coffee flavour and is pretty tasty. I’m not sure how much it tastes like Tiramisu, but it’s good nonetheless. It definitely doesn’t have any kind of strange taste or unpleasant aftertaste that you might imagine, given that it’s a “health” bar, which leads me to believe that it probably isn’t very healthy at all. But healthy or not, it tastes good, and I’m curious to try some of the other flavours.

Manufactured by: Smart Confections
Calories (50 g bar): 290