candy Archives - Page 9 of 31

January 7, 2021January 10, 2021 Michael

Mirage – Milk Chocolate with a Unique Texture

Candy Bars, Chocolate

The continued existence of both Mirage and Aero is somewhat baffling to me. They’re both pretty much the exact same thing — plain, aerated milk chocolate — and they’re both made by Nestle.

Aero easily has the higher profile, so why Nestle hasn’t just discontinued Mirage for being completely redundant is a bit of a head-scratcher.

The biggest difference between the two, as far as I can tell, is that the bubbles in Mirage seem a bit smaller. But I’d have to eat them side-by-side to know for sure.

They’re otherwise pretty much exactly the same: overly sweet, okay-quality milk chocolate that’s elevated by the pleasant texture you get from the aeration. The chocolate here would be just so-so without the delightful bubbliness, but the unique texture it brings definitely makes this worth trying out.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 41 grams): 215 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 20 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 24 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder, lactose soya lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour).

January 3, 2021January 10, 2021 Michael

Reese Sticks – Familiar Reese Flavour with Bonus Crispiness

Candy Bars

Reese Sticks is one of those things that’s so obviously appealing, you pretty much don’t even need to eat it to know that it’s going to be good. It’s crispy wafers, creamy peanut butter, and milk chocolate. You’d have to work pretty hard to mess that up.

And hey, what do you know, it’s really good. Shocker.

Like with most Reese stuff, it’s a bit too sweet, and I wish the chocolate coating were more generous (the chocolate flavour is somewhat lost among the PB and the wafers). But other than that, this is exactly what you want it to be, with the saltiness of the peanut butter doing a great job of at least partially smoothing out the intense sweetness. It’s crispy, peanut buttery, chocolatey, and delicious.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 sticks, 42 grams): 210 calories, 13 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 135 mg of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, lactose, lecithin (soy), salt, polyglycerol polyricinoleate), peanuts, sugar, wheat flour, dextrose, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, hydrogenated palm oil, palm kernel oil, modified palm oil and modified vegetable oil (shea, sunflower and/or safflower), modified palm kernel oil, cocoa butter, salt, modified milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, corn starch, lecithin (soy), baking soda, TBHQ, artificial flavour, citric acid.

December 30, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Clark Bar – Crunchy, Chewy, and Odd

Candy Bars

I think at this point I’ve reviewed every candy bar in the genre of crispy, sugary, and peanut-buttery. There’s 5th Avenue, Butterfinger, Crispy Crunch, Zagnut, and now Clark Bar. Is that it? Am I done? I think I’m done.

Until now, they had all been mostly interchangeable (outside of Zagnut’s delightful substitution of toasted coconut for chocolate), but Clark Bar is actually a bit different. Is it different in a good way? I don’t think so, but maybe you’ll disagree.

It’s weird. It starts out incredibly crunchy — it’s oddly difficult to even bite into — but then it becomes chewy and you’re thinking, wait, is this stale? But no, that’s just part of it. Once you’ve munched out the crunchiness, you’re left with a gummy, taffy-like sugary blob in your mouth that you have to chew on for quite a while.

It’s interesting, I guess, and the bar has a deeply caramelized flavour that helps to round out its intense sweetness. But it’s also lacking in peanutty flavour, which makes it taste a bit one-note sweet.

After a while the in-your-face sugariness and the off-putting chewy/crunchy contrast becomes exhausting. It’s easily my least favourite of the aforementioned candy bars.

Manufactured by: Boyer
Nutritional info (1 bar, 57 grams): 250 calories, 6 grams of fat (3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 10 mg of sodium, 47 grams of carbohydrates, <1 grams of fibre, 37 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, milk powder, butter oil, soy lecithin, vanilla extract), corn syrup, sugar, peanuts, molasses, invert sugar, salt, coconut oil, vanilla extract, soy lecithin.

December 27, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Snickers Peanut Brownie Squares – Tasty, But Not Enough Brownie Flavour

Candy Bars

I can’t think of a single candy bar that wouldn’t be improved by cramming a brownie into it. Think about it: picture a candy bar. Any candy bar. Now picture brownie inside of it. It’s better, isn’t it?

So obviously the Peanut Brownie version of Snickers (which features peanutty brownies covered in a layer of soft caramel and coated in milk chocolate) is good. How could it not be?

The biggest problem here is that the “brownie” isn’t particularly brownie-like. It basically has the taste and texture of a cocoa-tinged version of the usual Snickers nougat. Looking at the ingredients reveals a lack of flour or butter or any brownie ingredients outside of cocoa (aside from egg whites, which are already present in the nougat you’ll find in a regular Snickers).

Still, it’s tasty; it’s essentially a normal Snickers bar, but with more cocoa flavour. Nothing wrong with that — though like with the original, it’s a bit sweeter than it needs to be.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (2 squares, 34 grams): 180 calories, 8 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 85 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin), corn syrup, sugar, peanuts, chocolate, milkfat, semisweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate processed with alkali, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, soy lecithin, natural flavor), less than 2% – cocoa powder processed with alkali, invert sugar, palm oil, skim milk, lactose, salt, egg whites, artificial flavor.

December 23, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

M&M’s Milk Chocolate Bar with Minis & Peanuts – Stop Being Stingy with the Peanuts

Candy Bars, Chocolate

I’ve already reviewed the M&M’s Milk Chocolate Bar with Minis & Crisp Rice, which I thought was decent enough, but lacking in crispiness. Well this is basically the same thing, but instead of not having enough crispy rice, it doesn’t have enough peanuts.

It’s a bit better than that one, I guess. If you get a square with both M&M’s and peanuts, it’s pretty tasty. But the amount of M&M’s and peanuts is dispiritingly anemic — particularly the peanuts.

I guess they’re trying to cut costs? But just charge a bit more and give me more peanuts. Look at the photo of the cross-section of the bar. No rational person could possibly believe that there are enough nuts there. Look at it. Look at it and weep.

Still, it’s not bad. The chocolate is middling, but tasty enough, and when the bar delivers on what it promises, it’s good. The slight crunch from the peanuts and the M&M’s works very well with the creamy chocolate. But then you get a square that’s just plain, mediocre chocolate, and why? Why is this happening? As if 2020 hasn’t been bad enough, now I have to deal with this? Come on.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/3 bar, 37 grams): 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 25 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, lactose, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, artificial flavour), M&M’s® Minis milk chocolate candies [milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, lactose, soy lecithin, salt, artificial flavour, flavour), sugar, colour (with tartrazine), corn syrup, tapioca dextrin, cornstarch, carnauba wax, modified coconut oil and/or modified palm oil (medium chain triglycerides)], peanuts (peanuts, palm oil).