sweet Archives - Page 3 of 26

May 30, 2021 Michael

Planters Salted Caramel Nut Bar – Like PayDay, but Better

Candy Bars

At first glance, the Planters Salted Caramel Nut Bar looks like it should be identical to a PayDay. Like PayDay, it consists of salted peanuts, caramel, and a nougat centre (well, PayDay is technically caramel all the way through, but the “caramel” base is actually quite nougat-like).

It tastes quite different, however, thanks to the nougat centre, which is delightfully soft and creamy, with a fluffy consistency and an almost marshmallow-like flavour. It’s very sweet, but it’s perfectly balanced by the salted caramel and the very generous amount of salty peanuts, which have a nice roasty flavour that adds a lot to the bar.

It’s kind of like a cross between a PayDay and the Pecan Log Rolls they sell at Cracker Barrel (which, FYI, are amazing — the next time you find yourself in a Cracker Barrel, buy one. Trust me, you’ll thank me later). It’s crunchy and creamy, sweet and salty, and it’s delicious.

Manufactured by: Planters Peanuts
Nutritional info (1 bar, 85 grams): 390 calories, 22 grams of fat (5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 200 mg sodium, 44 grams of carbohydrates, 36 grams of sugar, 3 grams of fibre, 9 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, sugar, corn syrup, palm oil, reduced lactose whey (milk), salt, coconut oil, natural and artificial vanilla flavouring, soy lecithin, modified soy protein, invertase, natural antioxidant (canola oil, rosemary extract, natural mixed tocopherols, sunflower oil).

May 26, 2021 Michael

Dairy Milk: Peanut Butter Cookie – As Delicious As You’d Hope

Chocolate

There are some chocolate bars that you can tell are going to be good just by looking it. Peanut Butter Cookie Dairy Milk is one of those bars. Dairy Milk: delicious. Peanut butter cookies: delicious. Chocolate + peanut butter: delicious. It doesn’t take a genius to figure out that this is probably going to be delicious.

And hey, what do you know: it’s delicious. Who could have predicted that??

The wrapper describes this as “milk chocolate with cookie pieces and peanut butter chips.” The biggest surprise here is that the cookie pieces aren’t actually peanut butter cookies — all of the PB flavour comes from the peanut butter chips. This works out fine, however, with a nice combo of crunch and peanutty flavour. It’s not as peanut buttery as something like a peanut butter cup, but the flavour is there and is unmistakable.

The sweetness is surprisingly restrained, mostly thanks to the crispy cookie bits, which aren’t as sweet as you’d expect, with a fairly distinct wheaty flavour.

And of course, the milk chocolate is classic Dairy Milk, and is as tasty as always.

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Nutritional info (10 squares, 42 grams): 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg of cholesterol, 55 mg of sodium, 25 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (milk, sugar, cocoa butter, skim milk, whole milk powder, unsweetened chocolate, butter oil, soy lecithin, artificial flavour), Cookie pieces (wheat flour, sugar, palm oil, natural and artificial flavours, glucose syrup, corn flour, salt, soy lecithin, baking soda, com starch), peanut butter chips (sugar, modified oil (palm and palm kernel), peanut flour, modified milk ingredients, peanuts, dextrose, salt, soy lecithin, lactose).

May 23, 2021 Michael

Mars Bar – One of the Greats

Candy Bars

Mars Bar (A.K.A. Milky Way if you’re in the States) is an absolute classic. It’s essentially the platonic ideal of a candy bar: it’s chocolatey, substantial, chewy, sweet, and thoroughly satisfying. It’s always been one of my favourites — I haven’t had one in years, and it might have been even better than I remembered.

(In fact, I think I was so eager to eat it that I actually forgot to take a photo of the bar itself. Whoops.)

It’s extremely simple: it’s just nougat, caramel, and chocolate.

Everything here just works. The fluffy nougat and dense caramel are chewy, but not aggressively so (it’s not going to work out your jaw like some overly enthusiastic nougat or caramel bars). The nougat has malted milk powder mixed in, which might just be the bar’s secret weapon. It adds a delightfully malty flavour that brings some complexity and helps to balance out the intense sweetness of the bar. Mars Bar is very, very sweet, but it’s a well-tuned sweetness; it never tastes overbearing.

And then, of course, there’s the generous layer of decent quality milk chocolate, which is what you want it to be. Sometimes the chocolate on a candy bar is basically there for appearances only, or just to bind everything together, but the chocolate here adds a lot to the bar. It’s good stuff.

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 240 calories, 9 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 70 mg sodium, 36 grams of carbohydrates, 30 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, corn syrup, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, hydrogenated palm and palm kernel oil, lactose, malted milk powder (malted barley, milk ingredients, sodium bicarbonate, salt), palm oil, soy lecithin, salt, dried egg-white, artificial flavour.

May 2, 2021 Michael

Almond Joy – Crunchy, Coconutty, and Tasty

Candy Bars

Almond Joy is basically Mounds, but with the addition of almonds, and with milk chocolate instead of dark. It’s fine, but Mounds is clearly the superior of the two.

The milk chocolate actually makes a pretty huge difference. The dark chocolate on a Mounds bar gives it a more pronounced chocolately flavour, and its slight bitterness contrasts very nicely with the very sweet coconut. The milk chocolate here is decent, but it’s just sweet on sweet; I missed the dark chocolate.

Then, of course, there are the almonds. You’d think they’d be the star of the show; they’re right there in the name. Oddly enough, they don’t add much — they bring some crunchiness, but their flavour is completely lost. If they had a toastier flavour they might have been able to nudge through, but alas, they’re fairly bland.

You’d think the coconut would be exactly the same as in a Mounds (they’re both made by Hershey, after all), but the coconutty centre here seems a bit more dry. This emphasizes the problem coconut desserts tend to have, where you’re still munching on coconut bits long after the flavour has disappeared.

Still, the chocolate/coconut combo continues to be delicious, and while I prefer Mounds (and Bounty, the king of the chocolate/coconut castle), Almond Joy is tasty enough.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 pieces, 45 grams): 220 calories, 13 grams of fat (9 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fibre, 21 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Corn syrup, sugar, coconut, almonds, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, safflower oil, and/or palm kernel oil) chocolate, milk, contains 2% or less of: lactose (milk), milk fat, skim milk, cocoa, whey (milk), salt, lecithin (soy), PGPR, hydrolyzed milk protein, sodium metabisulfite to maintain freshness, vanillin, artificial flavor.

April 18, 2021 Michael

Aero Truffle: Chocoalte Mousse – Aero Milk Chocolate with a Creamy Truffle Layer

Candy Bars, Chocolate

This is one of those bars that doesn’t really need a review. I don’t know what I can tell you that isn’t right in the name of the bar; it’s Aero with creamy chocolate truffle filling crammed on top. It pretty much tastes how you think it will.

It’s tasty in all the ways you expect (it’s also extremely sweet, but then so is classic Aero), though I do wish that the dense truffle filling were creamier, which would probably contrast better with the bubbly milk chocolate. This would also help it resemble its namesake a bit better — there are pretty much no mousse-like properties here, other than the chocolate flavour.

My biggest problem is that the bar is kinda neither here nor there — there isn’t enough of the truffle filling to give you a nice hit of the creamy, rich truffle texture, and of course, the bubbly chocolate that you normally find in an Aero is reduced to make room for the truffle. I enjoyed eating it, but given the choice, I’d rather just have a regular chocolate truffle or a classic Aero bar.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (8 segments, 40 grams): 220 calories, 13 grams of fat (8 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 10 mg of cholesterol, 35 mg of sodium, 23 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 22 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter*, unsweetened chocolate*, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour), sugar, modified milk ingredients, modified palm oil, cocoa butter*, unsweetened chocolate*, soy lecithin, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, natural flavour. *Rainforest Alliance Certified