crispy Archives - Page 7 of 12

October 14, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Butterfinger – Nobody Better Lay a Finger…

Candy Bars

Butterfinger, along with Crunch, was recently bought out by Ferrero, who took it off the shelves to reformulate it. In the case of Crunch, this resulted in a noticeably inferior product. So how about Butterfinger?

I’m not sure. I’ll admit that it’s been years since I’ve had a Butterfinger, so it’s hard to say. I think it’s inferior? Maybe?

(This review is going really well so far, obviously.)

The bar is pretty simple — it’s just crispy, toffee-like peanut butter coated in mockolate (and the mockolate predates the Ferrero acquisition, so you can’t blame that one on them).

The peanut butter taste is surprisingly subtle, which is partially what makes me suspect that the bar has gone downhill. I remember it having a really satisfying peanutty flavour, but that isn’t the case here. It’s very sweet, with a somewhat bitter, burnt toffee flavour. The mild bitterness is actually kinda interesting, and helps to cut the sweetness of the bar a bit. But in the absence of peanut butteriness, something is missing.

As for the mockolate, it’s inoffensive enough. The bar is so crispy and sweet that you can barely even tell it’s there.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 53.8 grams): 250 calories, 10 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 160 mg sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, peanuts, vegetable oil (palm kernel and palm oil), peanut flour, nonfat milk, less than 2% of cocoa, milk, salt, soy lecithin, natural flavor, annatto color.

October 4, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Maltesers Teasers – A Chocolatey Twist on a Classic

Candy Bars

Maltesers Teasers was a lot more Maltesersy than I was expecting. That’s a bit of a weird thing to say — Maltesers is right there in the name, after all — but sometimes these spin-off bars only have a very tenuous connection to the original. That’s definitely not the case here.

Teasers is basically a plain chocolate bar, but with bits of the classic Maltesers malty crispiness interspersed throughout. I think the chocolate itself might also be infused with a malty flavour, because that taste is quite pronounced.

It’s really good. If you like classic Maltesers (and what’s not to like??) then I can pretty much guarantee that you’ll like this. It’s basically reverse Maltesers — Maltesers is crispy with a bit of a creamy chocolaty hit, and Teasers is creamy with a bit of a crispy malty hit. But the flavour is basically identical; the only real difference is the creamy-to-crispy ratio.

It’s very, very sweet, but the thoroughly malty flavour does a great job of balancing it out and ensuring that it never feels one-note cloying. It’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 35 grams): 186 calories, 10.4 grams of fat (6.3 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 20.3 grams of carbohydrates, unknown grams of fibre, 18.5 grams of sugar, 2.6 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, cocoa mass, glucose syrup, palm fat, lactose and protein from whey (from milk), whey powder (from milk), barley malt extract, milk fat, emulsifier (soya lecithin), wheat flour raising agents (E341, E500, E501), salt, natural vanilla extract.

September 23, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Dairy Milk Crispy Rice – A Better Version of a Crunch Bar

Chocolate

I recently wrote about my disappointment with the current version of the Crunch bar, which was bought by Ferrero, reformulated, and made thoroughly mediocre.

Crunch used to be one of my favourites, so this kinda bummed me out.

Well, here comes Cadbury to the rescue — Dairy Milk Crispy Rice is basically a Crunch bar, but without the crushing disappointment.

There’s not much to it; it’s just crispy puffed rice and milk chocolate. And of course, if you’ve ever had Cadbury milk chocolate, then you know exactly what to expect here. It’s distinctive and tasty, and aside from the rice, that’s the entirety of this bar.

The puffed rice is nice and crispy, though I wish there were a bit more of it. The ratio of chocolate to rice is higher here than in a Crunch bar, but that’s a fairly minor complaint. The contrast between the creamy chocolate and the crispy rice is absolutely delightful.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (10 squares, 38 grams): 200 calories, 11 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, soy lecithin, natural and artificial flavour), rice crisps (rice, sugar, salt, malted barley extract, monoglycerides).

September 16, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Birthday Cake – Sweet and Delicious

Candy Bars

I recently reviewed the Hershey Birthday Cake bar, which I thoroughly enjoyed. I thought it tasted a heck of a lot like Betty Crocker vanilla frosting, which flashed me back, Ratatouille-style, to a childhood love of Dunkaroos.

Well, Kit Kat Birthday Cake is basically that, but in Kit Kat form. I don’t know if the coating is the exact same stuff (I think the sprinkles might be a bit crunchier), but it tastes very, very similar.

I already quite enjoyed it when it was just a bar, but with the addition of Kit Kat wafers? It’s fantastic. The wafers add a satisfying crispiness and a do a great job of offsetting the intense sweetness of the frosting-esque exterior. It takes something tasty and cranks it up from good to great.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 220 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 0 grams of fibre, 20 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), skim milk, wheat flour, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of chocolate, cornstarch, natural flavor and artificial flavor, lecithin (soy), artificial color (blue 1, blue 2 lake, red 40 lake, yellow 5, yellow 6, yellow 6 lake); PGPR, salt, yeast, carnauba wax, confectioner’s glaze, baking soda.

September 13, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twix Peanut Butter – Obviously Delicious

Candy Bars

Twix Peanut Butter is one of those things that you don’t even need to try to know that it’s going to be good. I mean, it’s chocolate, peanut butter, and cookies. That’s going to be delicious by default. You’d have to work hard to mess that combo up.

And yeah, it’s good. Of course it’s good. Again, it’s chocolate, peanut butter, and cookies. How could that be bad? The chocolate is nice and creamy, the cookie is crispy and sweet, and the peanut butter has a decent amount of saltiness that helps to balance out the sweetness of the bar.

I think the cookie might be slightly different than the cookie in a standard Twix bar? That one has a buttery, shortbready quality to it, but this one seems a bit lighter and crispier. That might be my imagination, however, and either way the cookie here compliments the rich peanut butter quite well.

My only real complaint is that I wish the peanut butter were smoother and creamier. It’s certainly tasty enough, but it’s quite dry and crumbly. Alas, that’s par for the course for a candy bar. I think the only mass market chocolate bar I’ve ever had that featured peanut butter with the consistency of actual peanut butter was PB Max (R.I.P. PB Max; you were too beautiful for this world).

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 pack, 47.6 grams): 250 calories, 14 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg of cholesterol, 130 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 25 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate, skim milk, milkfat, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), peanuts, wheat flour with folic acid and iron (ferrous fumarate), sugar, palm oil, maltodextrin, less than 1.5% – hydrogenated rapeseed and cottonseed oil, modified corn starch, salt, glucose syrup, soy lecithin, baking soda, propyl gallate to maintain freshness.