crispy Archives - Page 5 of 12

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 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Cookie Crumble – Tasty, but a Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

The problem with a lot of these Kit Kat varieties is that the original Kit Kat is basically perfect, so there’s really nowhere to go but down. The original still exists and it’s so damn good, which means it’s hard not to wonder what the point is of so many of the new flavours that they keep churning out.

This is less of an issue with out-there varieties like Birthday Cake or Apple Pie, which bring enough of their own unique personality to justify their existence. But with something like Cookie Crumble — which is tasty, no doubt about it — it kinda just made me crave a standard Kit Kat.

Still, there’s nothing wrong with it. Featuring chocolate wafers and bits of cookie crumbs, it has a cocoa-infused chocolate cookie flavour that’s fairly satisfying. The hint of bitterness you get from the cocoa goes nicely with the other flavours in the bar, and while the whole thing is a bit too sweet, it’s pretty tasty. But it’s not hugely different from a standard Kit Kat, and everything about it that is different is inferior.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (4 pieces, 40 grams): 200 calories, 10 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose syrup), milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm, palm kernel and vegetable oils, cocoa powder, sunflower lecithin, baking soda, salt, sodium carbonate, natural flavour, protease, xylanase, tocopherol, citric acid.

December 9, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

M&M’s Milk Chocolate Bar with Minis & Crisp Rice – Needs More Crispiness

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Why does the M&M on the packaging of this bar look so worried? Is it because he knows he’s about to be entombed in milk chocolate and then eaten? I’ve always found it odd that anthropomorphized M&M’s are the face of the candy. Why would an M&M want you to eat M&M’s?? Are those not his brothers and sisters? At least the look of terror on the M&M on the wrapper is honest about what the experience of being an M&M must be like.

But I digress. Outside of the ethical implications of eating a sentient being who has the capacity to feel fear for his own mortality, this was fine, I guess?

The bar consists of mini M&M’s and crispy puffed rice surrounded by milk chocolate. It’s not bad, but it’s not something I’m particularly keen to rush out and buy again.

The milk chocolate is typical M&M’s chocolate — it’s a bit too sweet and it’s not exactly the best chocolate you’ll ever eat, but mostly, it’s creamy and tasty. It’s chocolate. It’s fine.

The biggest issue is that there aren’t nearly enough M&M’s and puffed rice to bring the bar all that much crispiness. It’s neither here nor there; the level of crispiness is too mild to be satisfying. It makes the bar feel pointless. I’d much rather eat something way crispier, or not crispy at all. This particular bar teases crispiness but doesn’t deliver. It’s frustrating.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/3 bar, 36 grams): 190 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 30 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 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), crisp rice (rice flour, rice bran, raisin juice concentrate, honey, salt).

December 2, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

English Toffee Peanut M&M’s – An Intense Kick of Toffee Flavour

Candy Bars

I’ve mentioned before that Peanut M&M’s are the king of M&M’s. This is a stone cold fact and if you think otherwise, as far as I’m concerned you may as well be a flat-Earther. That’s how ridiculous your “opinions” are to me.

Peanut M&M’s are delicious. And of course, English toffee is also delicious. So I was wondering if plain old Peanut M&M’s time on the throne might be coming to an end.

Spoiler alert: it is not. Regular Peanut M&M’s are still the king.

Still, these are tasty. As soon as you rip open the pack, the English toffee aroma hits you in the face. It’s strong. And the flavour is pretty strong, too; it’s almost overwhelming at first, but after you eat a couple, you get used to it.

I should note that, as far as I can tell, there’s no actual English toffee here, just a flavour in the chocolate itself. They might have gone overboard with that flavour, but mostly, it works. The combo of chocolate and English toffee is satisfying, and the peanut does a nice job of adding some nuttiness and balancing out the sweetness of the chocolate.

If the English toffee flavouring were a bit more subtle this might have been something special, but even still, it’s quite good.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/3 pack, 31 grams): 160 calories, 8 grams of fat (3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 15 mg of sodium, 19 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 16 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, chocolate, skim milk, cocoa butter, lactose, milkfat, peanuts, soy lecithin, salt, artificial and natural flavors), sugar, peanuts, cornstarch, less than 1% – palm oil, corn syrup, dextrin, coloring (includes yellow 5, red 40, yellow 6, blue 1, yellow 6 lake, yellow 5 lake, red 40 lake, blue 1 lake, blue 2 lake, blue 2), carnauba wax, artificial and natural flavors, gum acacia.