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August 9, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Duos: Mint + Dark Chocolate – Minty and Tasty

Candy Bars

The wrapper of this American import puzzled me; it says Hershey, but isn’t Kit Kat a Nestle product? Well here’s something I just learned: due to a decades-old agreement between the two companies, Kit Kat is made by Hershey in the States, and by Nestle in the rest of the world.

I guess I’m going to have to buy a plain American Kit Kat and see how it stacks up with the Nestle version, but for now, there’s this.

There definitely seems to be a dip in quality compared to the recent Nestle Kit Kats I’ve been trying, but that might be more down to the flavour than anything else.

And it’s definitely not bad — it’s actually pretty good. But the mint flavour is intense. I like the mint/chocolate combo, so I enjoyed it, but if you don’t you might find it a bit toothpasty.

Other than that, the chocolate is slightly grainy, and the wafer seems to be a bit bland compared to the Nestle version (though that could be my imagination), but it’s generally tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1 package, 42 grams): 210 calories, 12 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg cholesterol, 25 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 19 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), wheat flour, chocolate, skim milk, corn syrup solids, cocoa butter; lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of: cocoa processed with alkali, milk fat, lecithin (soy), oil of peppermint, PGPR, artificial color (yellow 5 lake, blue 1 lake), salt, yeast, vanillin, artificial flavor, baking soda.

August 3, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Twirl – An Easier to Eat Flake Bar

Candy Bars

Twirl is basically just an enhanced version of Flake; it’s a Flake bar that’s been covered in milk chocolate. That doesn’t seem like much, but it actually makes a pretty huge difference when you’re eating it.

Flake is one of the more painful chocolate bars to eat. Its distinctive shape means that as soon as you take a bite, it starts crumbling into bits.

Twirl thoroughly solves that issue; the chocolate coating holds it all together quite nicely. Every bite is crumb-free.

Other than that? It is what it is. It’s standard Cadbury milk chocolate, but in a different shape. It’s certainly not the most interesting candy bar in the store, but if you’re craving chocolate, it’ll hit the spot. The flaky texture makes it a slightly different experience from eating a standard block of chocolate.

As for the quality of the chocolate itself, it’s very sweet, but it’s nice and creamy and has a pleasant milky flavour. It’s good.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (1 finger, 21.5 grams): 114 calories, 6.3 grams of fat (3.6 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol (British labeling standards are different, I guess), 50 mg of sodium, 13 grams of carbohydrates, 0.5 grams of fibre, 12 grams of sugar, 1.5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, whey powder (from milk), vegetable fat (palm, shea), emulsifiers (E442, E476), flavourings.

January 5, 2009January 10, 2021 Michael

Drifter – Delicious Crispy Wafers and Chewy Caramel

Candy Bars

This is another British bar, and I’m really not sure if there’s anything else quite like it. I’m starting to get somewhat bitter eating all these imported products; it’s giving me a bunch of new candy bars to crave, most of which are almost impossible to find. Oh well; such is the life of a candy blogger, I suppose.

At first glance Drifter looks kind of like Twix – two smaller bars sitting side-by-side. But it tastes almost nothing like Twix, with each bar consisting of a piece of wafer covered in chewy caramel and enrobed in milk chocolate.

Sometimes the caramel in a candy bar has the problem of being sweet without having much of a flavour at all. Drifter doesn’t particularly have that problem, with caramel that is sweet without being too sweet, with an appealing almost Golden Syrup-like flavour. It’s really chewy and slightly grainy. The wafer is crispy and has a particularly pronounced wheaty/wafery taste, which works quite well with the chewy caramel.

So basically, Drifter is definitely another addition to the “candy bars I like but can’t really buy” list.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (2 bars, 52 g): 264

December 17, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

Yorkie – A Decent Dairy Milk Knockoff

Candy Bars, Chocolate

Yorkie is the British bar which proudly proclaims that “it’s not for girls!” Based on that slogan, I had sort of figured that Yorkie was going to do something like cram every conceivable candy bar filling into one bar, or something similarly ridiculous. But nope, it’s just plain milk chocolate. I’m really not sure what makes that female-inappropriate, since on the whole women tend to appreciate plain chocolate more than men. Yorkie is slightly bigger (and thus higher in calories) than your average single-serving candy bar, so I guess that could be it? Anyway, it’s highly probable that I’m overthinking what amounts to a silly (and potentially offensive) marketing gimmick.

What about the bar? Well, as I said, it’s just plain milk chocolate. The wrapper describes it as “chunky milk chocolate”, which is something else that puzzles me about this candy – it’s pure chocolate, no chunks. In North America, “chunky” is generally only used to denote something with chunks (at least in the context of candy), but I guess that’s different over there in the UK. But again, I digress.

So how’s the chocolate? It’s not bad, actually. It kind of reminds me of a slightly inferior version of Cadbury’s Dairy Milk. It’s sweet and creamy, with a similar taste and consistency to Cadbury’s product. I don’t think it’s quite as good, though if I had tried this without knowing what it was, I certainly could have been fooled into thinking it was Dairy Milk.

Manufactued by: Nestle
Calories (68 g bar): 367

December 3, 2008January 10, 2021 Michael

100 Grand – Chewy, Crispy, and Tasty

Candy Bars

The contrast between chewy and crunchy/crispy is a popular one among many candy makers, and is certainly at the forefront here. Featuring an appealing mix of crispy puffed rice and chewy caramel, 100 Grand is a tasty bar (or a couple of bars, in this case).

The caramel is soft, chewy and slightly grainy. It’s sweet, but with more mellow flavour than what you’d typically find in a candy bar. I know this is a bizarre thing to say, but the taste almost reminds me of cookie dough. Obviously the flavour isn’t even close to identical, but the more of it I ate, the harder it was to shake the cookie dough connection.

The puffed rice adds a satisfying crispiness which complements the chewy caramel quite well. Puffed rice is actually a fairly common ingredient in candy bars; I think it’s because it’s crispy without being too crispy, and without having much of a flavour to speak of (so it just contributes to the texture of a bar without interfering with the taste). It works really well here; 100 Grand can officially be added to my list of candy I wish I could buy in Canada but can’t.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (43 g bar):190