chewy Archives - Page 5 of 8

August 26, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Old Faithful – Chewy Marshmallow and Crunchy Peanuts

Nut Clusters

I’ll admit that I hadn’t even heard of Old Faithful before a few weeks ago, but apparently it’s been around since 1925, so clearly it’s doing something right.

It has a traditional bar shape, but Old Faithful is actually a peanut cluster a la Goo Goo Cluster; it features chewy marshmallow creme, lots of peanuts, and a generous coating of milk chocolate.

It’s pretty simple, but also pretty tasty. The chewy marshmallow, crunchy peanuts, and creamy chocolate are a winning combo.

The marshmallow is maybe a bit too chewy (it’s slightly rubbery), it’s extremely sweet (it’s a throat-burner), and there’s something slightly off about the flavour that I couldn’t quite put my finger on, but I otherwise enjoyed this. The quality of the chocolate is pretty decent and the big peanut chunks add a ton of flavour. It’s easy enough to see why it’s been around for almost a hundred years.

Manufactured by: Idaho Candy Company
Nutritional info (1 bar, 43 grams): 220 calories, 12 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, whole milk powder, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, soy lecithin (added as an emulsifier), and vanilla), sugar, corn syrup, peanuts, egg albumen, gelatin, salt, and vanilla.

August 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twix Triple Chocolate – Delightfully Chocolatey

Candy Bars

I quite like Twix. Aside from the fact that it’s the only candy with the cookie crunch (at least according to George Costanza), it features a great balance of crunchy cookie, chewy caramel, and creamy chocolate.

Like the Snickers Creamy Almond Butter that I just reviewed, Twix Triple Chocolate is weirdly small. Presumably this is because a regular Twix is closer to 300 calories, and 200 seems to be the magic number. Suffice it to say, if you attempted to stage a candy line-up with this and standard Twix bars, the size would be a dead giveaway.

Basically, Twix Triple Chocolate is a standard Twix bar, but with cookies and caramel that are infused with cocoa. I was afraid it would be some kind of weird bastardization, but I actually think I prefer this to regular Twix. It’s got everything you love about Twix — the crunchy/chewy/creamy combo is delightfully intact — but with a satisfyingly chocolatey flavour.

My only real problem with a normal Twix bar is that its level of sweetness is a bit intense; the cocoa-packed flavour here does a great job of offsetting that. It’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 40 grams): 200 calories, 9 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 95 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, <1 grams of fibre, 19 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, lactose, milkfat, soy lecithin, PGPR, artificial flavors), sugar, enriched wheat flour (wheat flour, niacin, reduced iron, thiamine mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid), palm oil, corn syrup, skim milk, dextrose, less than 2% – cocoa powder, chocolate, modified corn starch, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda, artificial flavor.

August 6, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Snickers Creamy Almond Butter – Sweet and Salty Overload

Candy Bars

The first thing you’ll notice about the almond butter variety of Snickers is how comically small it is. Consisting of two tiny little squares that can’t even fill up the small wrapper, it’s definitely one of the smaller candy bars you can buy. I’m assuming the candy companies have done a bunch of research showing that 200 calories is the magic number, and because this is so dense, it had to be tiny. But it’s still weirdly small.

The illustration on the wrapper seems to indicate that it’s just smooth caramel and creamy almond butter enrobed in chocolate, but the caramel is actually dotted with tiny little almond shards. This is a good idea in theory — crunchy nuts would be a nice contrast to the bar’s chewiness, and of course, the peanuts in a regular Snickers are one of its defining characteristics. But the minuscule almond bits are way, way too small to bring a satisfying crunch.

Other than that, it’s fine, I guess. It’s generally decent enough, with a satisfying chewiness that never feels overbearing. But boy is it ever sweet; it’s a throat-burner, that’s for sure. Of course, a standard Snickers bar is also quite sweet, so I guess that’s par for the course.

There’s also a decent amount of saltiness, which helps to counteract the sweetness and gives the bar that satisfying sweet/salty combo. But the intense sweet and salty punch kinda kills all the other flavours of the bar; you can barely even taste the almond butter or the chocolate. It’s basically just there for texture. A more apt name for Snickers Almond Butter would be “Sugar and Salt: the Bar.”

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (2 squares, 38 grams): 190 calories, 11 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 140 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 17 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Almonds, sugar, invert sugar, milk ingredients, lactose, corn syrup, cocoa butter, corn syrup solids, cocoa mass, modified palm oil, dextrose, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, vegetable glycerine, hydrogenated cottonseed oil, salt, calcium carbonate, soy lecithin, TBHQ, flavour.

July 12, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Wunderbar – Chewy, Crunchy, Crispy, Peanut Buttery, and Delicious

Candy Bars

Wunderbar is a classic — known as Starbar in the UK, it’s been around since the ’70s, but has apparently never been sold in the States. This is clearly America’s loss. It’s so good.

If you’re an American and have never been blessed with the deliciousness of the Wunderbar, it features crunchy peanut butter mixed with puffed rice that’s surrounded by chewy caramel and milk chocolate.

I haven’t had one in years, but it’s just as delightful as I remembered it being. It’s got everything you want in a candy bar: it’s chewy, it’s crunchy, it’s crispy, and the sweetness is perfectly tuned — it’s delicious.

The puffed rice is a stroke of genius; it gives the bar a memorable crispiness that sets it apart from something like a Reese Peanut Butter Cup. Between that, the very chewy caramel, and the crunchy chunks of peanuts, you’ve got a bar with a really satisfying contrast of textures.

The layer of decent quality chocolate on the outside is substantial enough to add a decent hit of flavour which — of course — works nicely with the peanut butter. I mean, why wouldn’t it? Peanut butter and chocolate are best friends. The rich caramel only adds more flavour, and the bar has a very mild saltiness that rounds things out.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (58 g bar): 290 calories, 17 g of fat (8 g of saturated fat, 0.1 g of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 105 mg of sodium, 32 g of carbohydrates, 1 g of fibre, 26 g of sugar, 4 g of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup peanuts. modified palm oil, modified milk ingredients, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, modified vegetable oil, rice, cocoa, unsweetened chocolate, salt, malt extract (barley wheat), soy lecithin, baking soda, calcium chloride, monoglycerides, natural and artificial flavor.

May 24, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Les Reclettes de L’Atalier: Raisins, Almonds & Hazelnuts – Creamy, Crunchy, and Chewy

Candy Bars, Chocolate

You know that a company is trying very hard to make their candy seem gourmet when they pull out the French. Les Reclettes de L’Atalier; oh la la. Well that must be fancy.

Aside from the pretentious name, this is basically a Cadbury Fruit & Nut bar, but with the addition of hazelnuts.

It’s good (sorry — I mean c’est bon). If you like Fruit & Nut, it’s a safe bet you’ll like this; the flavour of the chocolate is actually quite similar, and the addition of hazelnuts is a welcome one.

I mean, the chewy/crunchy/creamy combo is always going to be great, and the quality of the chocolate is pretty decent. It’s sweeter than it needs to be (the addition of more sweetness thanks to the raisins doesn’t help), but the nicely toasted nuts do a decent job of balancing it out. It’s not going to blow anyone’s mind, but if you’re looking for a decent quality piece of chocolate, you could certainly do worse.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (3 segments, 42 grams): 230 calories, 13 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 25 mg of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, raisins, almonds, hazelnuts, sunflower lecithin, vegetable oil, natural vanilla flavour.