crispy Archives - Page 6 of 12

November 25, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Caramel Crisp – An Overwhelming Punch of Caramel

Candy Bars

The smell hits you hard when you open the Kit Kat Caramel Crisp wrapper — caramel, but caramel times a million. It’s intense.

The flavour is equally intense. Featuring bits of crispy caramel in a thick milk chocolate coating, the caramel flavour here is unmistakable and overpowering. There’s also something about it that’s vaguely off; the packaging lists “natural flavour” among the ingredients, and there must be some kind of flavouring going on because normal caramel shouldn’t taste like this.

It’s also intensely sweet. The nice thing about Kit Kat, normally, is that the wafers do a great job of balancing out the chocolate’s sweetness. But the outer coating of chocolate here is so thick and so sweet that it completely overwhelms the wafer. The wafer adds crispiness, but that’s about it.

Also adding texture: the toffee-like crispy caramel bits. The creamy/crispy contrast here is quite nice; it’s just too bad that the flavour is a bit wonky.

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, 45 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, milk ingredients, wheat flour, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, modified palm oil, palm, palm kernel and vegetable oils, cocoa powder, sunflower and soy lecithin, natural flavour, salt, baking soda, protease, xylanase, tocopherol, citric acid.

November 15, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Crispy Crunch – Better than (most of) the Competition

Candy Bars

After reviewing 5th Avenue, Butterfinger, and now Crispy Crunch, I think I can say with a reasonable amount of confidence that they’re all about the same. Crispy Crunch is probably the best of the bunch, however, if only for the presence of actual chocolate in the ingredients, and thanks to its more pronounced toffee flavour.

Actually, I take that back — the best of the bunch is none of the above. The real champion of this type of bar is Zagnut, which goes against the grain by forgoing chocolate altogether; instead, it’s coated with a layer of toasted coconut, a combo that works so much better than you’d think. It’s a fairly obscure candy bar that deserves a much higher profile. It’s delicious.

As for Crispy Crunch, it’s the same crunchy, peanut-buttery, toffee-infused candy you’ll find in all the aforementioned bars. Like the rest of them, I wish it had a more pronounced peanut butter flavour, but it’s tasty enough for what it is, and the layer of toffee beneath the chocolate sets it apart somewhat. The thin chocolate coating may as well not even be there, however, and the whole thing is probably a bit sweeter than it needs to be.

Go try a Zagnut is what I’m saying. I think you’ll be pleasantly surprised.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 bar, 48 grams): 220 calories, 10 grams of fat (4 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 140 mg of sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 27 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, glucose syrup, peanuts, modified palm oil, modified milk ingredients, modified vegetable oil, blackstrap and fancy molasses, cocoa, unsweetened chocolate, salt, wheat flour, vegetable oil, mono- and di-glycerides, soy lecithin, natural flavour.

November 8, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

BarNone – A Delicious Candy Bar, Back From the Dead

Candy Bars

Whoa, BarNone. Whoa Nelly. (Is whoa Nelly a thing people say anymore? I don’t think I’ve ever said it, but then I’ve never eaten a BarNone until now, so there’s a first time for everything, I guess.)

I honestly can’t remember the last time I was so pleasantly surprised by a candy bar. I’ve barely even heard of BarNone, but apparently it was released by Hershey in 1987 (and was called Temptation in Canada) only to be discontinued about a decade later. It was then revived by Iconic Candy, who specialize in bringing back discontinued sweets (and based on a photo on their website, they were at one point working on bringing back P.B. Max, and seriously, where’s my P.B. Max?? Why hasn’t that happened yet???).

BarNone features chocolate wafers topped with peanuts and coated in milk chocolate, and oh man, it’s so good. The wrapper calls it “the chocolate lover’s bar,” and yeah, that sounds about right. It’s covered in a generous layer of good quality chocolate, and the wafer has a deeply chocolatey flavour that’s thoroughly satisfying.

The peanuts are a nice touch; they add some crunch and a mild nutty flavour that complements the chocolate quite well. The whole thing is creamy, crispy, crunchy, and delicious. And it’s not too sweet, which really lets the chocolate flavour shine through. I don’t think it’s available anywhere in Canada outside of import stores, but it’s worth going out of your way for. I mean, did you not hear me? I said whoa Nelly, and I meant it.

Manufactured by: Iconic Candy
Nutritional info (1 bar, 42 grams): 230 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 150 mg of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 12 grams of sugar, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, milk powder, whey powder, soy lecithin, pure vanilla extract), chocolate cream (sugar, coconut oil, milk powder, cocoa powder, unsweetened chocolate, glucose syrup, whey powder, dextrose, soy lecithin, pure vanilla extract, natural flavor, salt), wafer (wheat flour, wheat starch, cocoa powder, soy lecithin, salt, baking soda, ammonium bicarbonate (rising agent), palm oil, yeast extract, malt extract), peanuts.

November 1, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

M&M’s Fudge Brownie – Chewy, Crispy, and Tasty

Candy Bars

I remember when M&M’s were pretty much only available in regular and peanut (which, as I’ve mentioned before, is and shall always be the king of M&M’s), so I still find wacky flavours like fudge brownie to be thoroughly delightful, even if they are old hat at this point.

And this is one of those combos that’s so M&M-friendly that I’m surprised it took this long to happen. With a lot of gimmicky M&M’s varieties, they attempt to infuse the chocolate with flavouring, to questionable results (some of these, like Carrot Cake, are actually pretty good, while others, like Red Velvet… are not).

This flavour, on the other hand, features an actual piece of brownie (or something resembling a brownie) crammed into the middle of an M&M. They’re exactly what you’re hoping they’re going to be — they taste like a combo of M&M’s and fudgy, store-bought brownies. The brownie interior has a nice chewiness and a distinctive brownie flavour.

It’s nothing too mind-blowing, and it’s definitely sweeter than it needs to be, but the contrast between the crunchy shell, creamy chocolate, and chewy brownie works quite well.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 40 grams): 190 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 40 mg of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 25 grams of sugar, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Semisweet chocolate (sugar, chocolate processed with alkali, chocolate, cocoa butter, milkfat, skim milk, soy lecithin), sugar, corn syrup, hydrogenated palm kernel oil, chocolate processed with alkali, skim milk, cornstarch, less than 1% – milk fat, lactose, dextrin, salt, coloring (includes blue 1 lake, yellow 6, red 40, yellow 5, blue 1) carnauba wax, artificial flavor, chocolate, gum acacia.

October 25, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Time Out Wafer – Does this Count as a Candy Bar?

Candy Bars

Time Out Wafer is tasty for what it is, though I think calling it a candy bar might be a bit of a stretch. If you’ve ever tried Loacker — those wafer cookies that come in a rectangular block — then you’ll know what to expect here. This is basically like that, but coated in a thin layer of chocolate and individually packaged.

And that layer of chocolate is thin; you can tell just by looking at it. It’s so thin that it’s semi-transparent, partially revealing the wafer underneath.

But then the bar weighs in at a scant 112 calories, so if you’re looking for something that isn’t too substantial (which would make it the opposite of the Reese Peanut Butter Oh Henry I recently reviewed), this should fit the bill.

It’s enjoyable enough, with an airy crispiness along with a mild sweetness and nice chocolatey flavour. But despite being composed of roughly the same components as a standard Time Out bar (wafers and chocolate), its connection to that one is fairly tenuous. It isn’t much of a substitute if you’re hoping for a lighter version of a Time Out.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 bar, 21.2 grams): 112 calories, 6.1 grams of fat (3.4 grams of saturated fat, ? grams of trans fat), ? mg of cholesterol, 70 mg of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0.4 grams of fibre, 9.6 grams of sugar, 1.4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk, sugar, wheat flour, vegetable fats (palm, shea), cocoa butter, whey powder (from milk), cocoa mass, reduced fat cocoa powder (1%), emulsifiers (E442, soya lecithin, E476), potato starch, rapeseed oil, salt, raising agents (E500, E503), skimmed milk powder, milk fat, flavourings.