sweet Archives - Page 10 of 26

November 5, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Hershey’s Creamy Milk Chocolate – Not Exactly the Best Chocolate You can Buy

Chocolate

I’m not even sure why I bought this one. As soon as I had it in my home, I regretted it: I’m actually going to have to eat this now, aren’t I?

I mean, it’s not that bad. It’s Hershey milk chocolate. It is what it is. Odds are that you’ve eaten it and you have an opinion on it. So I don’t need to waste much time describing it to you.

It’s chocolate, so it’s basically tasty, but it has a slightly grainy consistency and an odd, distinctively sour aftertaste that, as I’ve mentioned in a previous review, shares chemical properties with literal vomit.

It certainly has its own unique personality, and I don’t begrudge anyone for enjoying it, but if I have the choice between this and pretty much any other milk chocolate, it’s not a tough decision.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (1/2 bar, 50 grams): 250 calories, 15 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 1 grams of fibre, 28 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, lecithin (soy), natural flavour).

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.

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 7, 2020January 10, 2021 Michael

Mallo Cup – Overly Sweet Marshmallow Cups

Candy Bars

It’s been several years since I’ve had a Mallo Cup; my memory is that it’s basically an inferior version of Valomilk. But then Valomilk isn’t exactly easy to find. I’ve only ever seen it in the Cracker Barrel gift shop, which makes it pretty much impossible to buy at the moment. Popping down to the States for a day trip probably isn’t going to be in the cards for quite a while.

Well, Mallo Cup, it turns out, is exactly as I remembered. It’s fine? I guess? But Valomilk is the superior candy in literally every regard, and they’re so similar that it’s impossible not to compare them.

It’s a pretty simple concept; it’s a chocolate cup filled with marshmallow creme (which the packaging calls “whipped creme”). Mallo Cup distinguishes itself from Valomilk by including coconut flakes in the chocolate, but they’re otherwise identical.

The coconut is actually a nice touch; it adds a very subtle crispy texture and a hint of coconut flavour. The cups are a bit bland aside from intense sweetness, so I actually wish there were a bit more coconut. But it’s fine.

That’s the thing, there’s nothing overtly wrong with it — the gooey creme and the creamy chocolate make for a satisfying combo. But the flavour is one-note sweet; neither the chocolate nor the creme have all that much flavour other than an overriding sugariness. It’s decent enough, but since Valomilk is a thing that exists in the world, it’s kinda superfluous.

Manufactured by: Boyer
Nutritional info (2 cups, 42 grams): 200 calories, 8 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), <5 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 30 grams of carbohydrates, 24 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 1 gram of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk, chocolate liquor, and soy lecithin), corn syrup, sugar, water, coconut, dextrin, egg white, salt, guar gum, natural and artificial flavor, potassium sorbate (to preserve freshness) and soy lecithin.

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.