Caramel M&M’s – Chewy, Caramely Goodness

Caramel M&M’s aren’t exactly new (they were introduced in 2017), but considering how much of a no-brainer the chocolate/caramel combo is, it’s surprising that it took that long.

Caramel M&M's

It’s pretty much exactly what you want it to be.  The intense sweetness is a bit of a shock at first (the best M&M’s flavours, like peanut and pretzel, work as well as they do because they balance out the sweetness of the chocolate and the candy shell), but it grows on you.  The caramel has a satisfying butterscotch-infused flavour that works quite well with the sweet chocolate.

Caramel M&M's

I wish the caramel were a bit creamier, however — it’s not exactly at Reisen levels of intense chewiness, but it does stick to your teeth a bit.  It kinda reminded me of what you’ll find in a Rolo.  It generally works, but the best M&M’s varieties have an addictiveness where you just wanna pop one after the other, and these ones never quite get there.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/4 cup, 42 grams): 200 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 65 mg of sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 27 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, lactose, soy lecithin, artificial flavours, salt), sugar, corn syrup, milk ingredients, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, cornstarch, lactose, tapioca dextrin, salt, mono and diglycerides, colours (with tartrazine) carnauba wax, cocoa mass, artificial flavour, modified coconut oil and/or modified palm oil (medium chain triglycerides), gum acacia.

Dairy Milk: Peanut Butter Cookie – As Delicious As You’d Hope

There are some chocolate bars that you can tell are going to be good just by looking it.  Peanut Butter Cookie Dairy Milk is one of those bars.  Dairy Milk: delicious.  Peanut butter cookies: delicious.  Chocolate + peanut butter: delicious.  It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is probably going to be delicious.

And hey, what do you know: it’s delicious.  Who could have predicted that??

Dairy Milk: Peanut Butter Cookie

The wrapper describes this as “milk chocolate with cookie pieces and peanut butter chips.”  The biggest surprise here is that the cookie pieces aren’t actually peanut butter cookies — all of the PB flavour comes from the peanut butter chips.  This works out fine, however, with a nice combo of crunch and peanutty flavour.  It’s not as peanut buttery as something like a peanut butter cup, but the flavour is there and is unmistakable.

Dairy Milk: Peanut Butter Cookie

The sweetness is surprisingly restrained, mostly thanks to the crispy cookie bits, which aren’t as sweet as you’d expect, with a fairly distinct wheaty flavour.

And of course, the milk chocolate is classic Dairy Milk, and is as tasty as always.

3.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (10 squares, 42 grams): 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (milk, sugar, cocoa butter, skim milk, whole milk powder, unsweetened chocolate, butter oil, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), Cookie pieces (wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, natural and artificial flavours, glucose syrup, corn flour, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda, com starch), peanut butter chips (sugar, modified oil (palm and palm kernel), peanut flour, modified milk ingredients, peanuts, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, lactose).

Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces – A Very Tasty Combo

Though Reese cramming their Peanut Butter Cups with stuff has become old hat at this point, I’m pretty sure that Reese’s Big Cup with Pieces was the first time they did this.  So basically, it’s the Neil Armstrong of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup.  Unless I’m wrong about it being first, in which case I guess it’s the Buzz Aldrin of putting stuff into a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup?

Reese's Big Cup with Pieces

It’s easy enough to see why this thing kickstarted a trend — it’s delicious.  The Big Cup itself is quite good, with a much more peanut buttery flavour than a standard Reese Peanut Butter Cup, and a very satisfying balance of sweet and salty.

Reese's Big Cup with Pieces

The Reese’s Pieces bring a nice bit of crispiness that compliments the creamy cups really well.  And they aren’t just there for texture; they add a decent amount of their very distinctive flavour.  It all adds up to something that seems like it should just be a novelty, but is actually quite tasty.

3.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 cups, 79 grams): 390 calories, 22 grams of fat (10 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 230 mg of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 gram of fibre, 41 grams of sugar, 8 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, unsweetened chocolate, lactose, lecithin (soy), polyglycerol polyricinoleate), peanuts, sugar, dextrose, partially defatted peanuts, modified and hydrogenated palm kernel oil and hydrogenated soybean oil, corn syrup, salt, colour, corn starch, confectioner’s glaze, lecithin (soy) modified corn starch, corn syrup, THBQ, carnauba wax, artificial flavour.

Kit Kat White – It’s Missing Something

Regular Kit Kat might just be the greatest candy bar on the planet.  Kit Kat White & Milk?  Also delicious.  No, it’s not as good as the original, but what is?  So I sort of assumed that Kit Kat White, which forgoes the milk chocolate altogether, would still be delicious.

It is not.

Kit Kat White

I like white chocolate, but in the context of a Kit Kat, it’s hard not to feel like something is missing.  It’s sweet and milky and tasty in its own way, but the added punch of flavour you get from actual chocolate is sorely missed.  It feels a bit one-note.

It probably doesn’t help that, like with so many white chocolate confections, it’s not actually white chocolate — if you look at the wrapper, the word “chocolate” is conspicuously absent.  That’s because there are various oils in the ingredients (along with cocoa butter), which means that legally, this ain’t chocolate.

Kit Kat White

Still, it’s not bad (bottom-of-the-barrel mockolate doesn’t bother with cocoa butter at all); it’s fairly creamy and not particularly waxy.  The biggest issue is the flavour, or lack thereof.  It’s just sweet and crispy — and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I can’t imagine that I’d ever buy this again.  Especially when regular Kit Kat is right there, and is like a billion times better.

2.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 41 grams): 210 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, wheat flour, palm, palm kernel, coconut and vegetable oils, cocoa mass, soy and sunflower lecithins, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, calcium sulphate, salt, protease, xylanase, natural flavours.

Aero Truffle: Chocoalte Mousse – Aero Milk Chocolate with a Creamy Truffle Layer

This is one of those bars that doesn’t really need a review.  I don’t know what I can tell you that isn’t right in the name of the bar; it’s Aero with creamy chocolate truffle filling crammed on top.  It pretty much tastes how you think it will.

Aero Truffle

It’s tasty in all the ways you expect (it’s also extremely sweet, but then so is classic Aero), though I do wish that the dense truffle filling were creamier, which would probably contrast better with the bubbly milk chocolate.  This would also help it resemble its namesake a bit better — there are pretty much no mousse-like properties here, other than the chocolate flavour.

Aero Truffle

My biggest problem is that the bar is kinda neither here nor there — there isn’t enough of the truffle filling to give you a nice hit of the creamy, rich truffle texture, and of course, the bubbly chocolate that you normally find in an Aero is reduced to make room for the truffle.  I enjoyed eating it, but given the choice, I’d rather just have a regular chocolate truffle or a classic Aero bar.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (8 segments, 40 grams): 220 calories, 13 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter*, unsweetened chocolate*, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour), sugar, modified milk ingredients, modified palm oil, cocoa butter*, unsweetened chocolate*, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour. *Rainforest Alliance Certified