Tag: wafers

Michael

Kit Kat Chunky – Might Even Be Better than the Original

Candy Bars

Generally speaking, I haven’t been the biggest fan of the “Chunky” line of candies – they’re fine, but not really a big improvement over the original bars, and the addition of sickly-sweet caramel or peanut butter in some of them tends to feel unnecessary. Kit Kat Chunky is, however, an exception. A sweet, sweet exception.

Kit Kat Chunky

A standard Kit Kat bar comes with four separate chocolate covered wafers; the “Chunky” variant (known as Big Kat in the States) is essentially an oversized version of one of those bars. There are a few differences: the chocolate to wafer ratio seems to be a bit higher here than in a standard Kit Kat. Also, I think the wafer is slightly crunchier and a bit more substantial.

Kit Kat Chunky

What’s good about this is that it strikes a good balance between the chocolate and the wafer; the wafer adds a lot of flavour, but not so much that it’s overpowering. The milk chocolate is fairly sweet, but it never crosses the line into “too sweet” territory. I actually think I prefer this to the original Kit Kat, but I’d have to taste them side-by-side to give a definitive answer on that.

3.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (50 g bar): 260

Michael

Coffee Crisp – A Tasty, if Somewhat Boring Candy Bar

Candy Bars

Coffee Crisp is another one of those bars that, though not particularly exciting, certainly has its place. Though I should mention that its motto (“makes a nice light snack”) is a tad misleading – it’s about the same as any other candy bar as far as its fat content and calorie count goes. Not that I particularly care – my philosophy is that generally, if you want something low in fat/calories, you probably shouldn’t be eating candy in the first place. But if you’re buying this because you think it’s somehow less fattening than other candy bars, you are out of luck.

Coffee Crisp

Speaking of misleading, the name Coffee Crisp is probably also a bit of a misnomer. Not that this doesn’t taste of coffee at all, but the coffee taste here is quite subtle. The “crisp” part of the title, however, is right on the money – the bar is filled to the brim with crispy wafers.

Basically, Coffee Crisp consists of several layers of wafer, with a filling that is sweet and slightly crumbly. The whole thing is coated in a somewhat negligible coating of milk chocolate. The aforementioned coffee taste is really more of an aftertaste – the first thing that hits you when you’re eating this bar is the sweetness; the coffee taste takes a while to kick in.

Coffee Crisp

So yes, this is a good bar – even if it doesn’t taste much like coffee.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (50 g bar): 260

Michael

Crunch Crisp – An Uninspired Twist on a Classic Bar

Candy Bars

There was a time, a few years back, when new candy bars were a fairly regular occurrence. It was always exciting to walk into the store and see a brand new candy bar you’ve never heard of before. I guess at some point the candy manufacturers realized that they could make more money by releasing variations on existing bars rather than introduce something completely new. So now whenever there’s a new bar, it’s always some twist on a currently available candy, no matter how tenuous the connection is with the original product.

Crunch Crisp

The original Crunch bar, containing milk chocolate and puffed rice, is a classic. Crunch Crisp adds wafers filled with “chocolate crème” to the mix, and replaces the milk chocolate with fake chocolate (i.e. the dreaded mockolate). I generally don’t mind when a candy bar like this is coated with mockolate; it’s not exactly my preference, but there’s usually not a whole lot of it, and it tends to take a backseat to the other ingredients.

The mockolate here doesn’t necessarily hurt the bar, but it certainly doesn’t help it either. The main problem with this bar is that it doesn’t really taste like anything. It has an amorphous sweetness, but none of the ingredients really contribute any particular flavour – the wafers and puffed rice add crispiness but don’t taste like much, and the chocolate crème is sweet without having a strong chocolate flavour. The whole thing is covered in mockolate, which is also lacking in the taste department, and of course has that slightly waxy texture all mockolate tends to have.

Crunch Crisp

That’s not to say that this is a horrible bar, simply one that epitomizes the word “meh.” If there’s one lying around, I guess I’ll eat it, but it’s not something that I’m going to be running to the store to buy again.

2.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (49.3 g bar): 240

Michael

Lion – Crispy, Chewy, and Delicious

Candy Bars

This is another British bar that I purchased at the import store I mentioned in my Time Out review. This one’s called Lion, and it’s essentially a denser version of a Mr. Big bar (which, I suppose, will mean little to most Americans as neither bar is available in the States, as far as I’m aware). Basically, it’s a filled wafer, topped with a rather thick layer of chewy caramel, and coated with milk chocolate and bits of crispy puffed rice.

Lion

It’s good. The caramel is very chewy – it takes a while to fully chew, even after the other stuff is long gone. This gives the bar a satisfying richness. It helps that the caramel is surprisingly subtle, and not very sweet at all (by candy bar standards, at least). The whole bar is actually a bit less sweet than the usual American offering. The crispy rice and wafers provide a nice contrast to the soft caramel, making the bar texturally interesting. The wafer adds some sweetness to the bar, as well as the usual mildly wheaty/wafery taste (What’s that you say? “Wafery” isn’t a word? Sure it is! Don’t look it up, though. Just take my word for it).

Lion

I think I might prefer Lion to Mr. Big, as it seems to have a bit more substance, though I’d have to try a Mr. Big again to be sure. It’s definitely a shame that this isn’t available in North America outside of specialty stores.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Calories (55 g bar): 277

Michael

Time Out – Crispy Wafers and Creamy Milk Chocolate

Candy Bars

I recently went to a candy store that had a pretty decent selection of imported candy bars from the U.K., so along with this review you can expect a few more British candy reviews coming up. Time Out is a bar that I distinctly recall being introduced in Canada in the early ‘90s. I remember it well because they had a widespread advertising blitz, something which is a bit unusual for a new candy bar. I liked it, and ate it on a fairly regular basis until it disappeared without a trace a couple of years later. I just sort of assumed it had been discontinued altogether, but I guess it sold well enough in Britain to keep it on the market.

Time Out

Time Out essentially consists of rippled chocolate (sort of like what you’ll find in a Flake bar) sandwiched between two wafers and coated in milk chocolate. Now, I might be remembering this wrong, but I seem to recall that the Canadian version of this bar featured three wafers rather than two, and creamier chocolate rather than the Flake-like stuff found here. I could be way off on that, though. Either way, both bars (the real one, and the one that could very well be a product of my imagination) are fairly similar, and both are quite good.

Time Out

The wafers in this bar are extremely crispy, and taste mildly of wheat, which helps add some flavour other than the chocolate, without being overpowering – the creamy milk chocolate is still definitely the main attraction here. The chocolate is the standard British Cadbury milk chocolate, which definitely has its own distinctive taste. That’s about it.  It’s just wafers and chocolate, but sometimes it’s the simplest thing that’s the most delicious.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Cadbury
Calories (2 bars, 34 g): 180