Candy Bar Lab

On a recent trip to London, one of my friends was nice enough to pick up some bars that I generally can’t find here in the US. The first of these bars that I’m digging into is the Kinder Bueno; but first, a few interesting facts about this product…

• “Kinder” is the German word for “children”. “Bueno” means “good” in Spanish.
• Kinder products are produced by Ferrero, the makers of Nutella.
• My mom thinks these bars are “wonderful”.

Structure
The package contains two small bars, each with four wafer pockets filled with hazelnut cream. The whole bars are enrobed in a thin layer of milk chocolate and drizzled with dark chocolate.

Texture
When you pick this product up, you’ll instantly notice how light and delicate it is. In fact, both bars came to me slightly broken from their overseas trip in a suitcase. The wafers are crispy and the cream filling is really light and smooth. I’ve tried similar products with cream centers that are dry and chalky. This is nothing like that. It’s closer to whipped cream. Kinder Bueno also get points from me for a nicely tempered chocolate coating.

Taste
I hadn’t actually paid attention to the packaging that states “Milk and Hazelnut” as the flavors and shows a tall glass of milk next to the bars. I usually think of milk as a base, not a flavor. But as I was tasting this bar, I really picked up on the milk flavor. The hazelnut was tertiary, behind both the chocolate and milk flavors. Overall, the flavors are very subtle. The wafers are mostly flavor-neutral, but the thin chocolate layer is surprisingly good.

Verdict
This is getting a big thumbs up from me. I could eat six of these in one sitting. The only knock (and its hypothetical one) is that it might be better with pieces of chopped hazelnuts in it.

When we hear “nougat” in America, we think of a fluffy, white substance like the stuff found in Snickers and Three Musketeers. But nougat means something entirely different in other parts of the world. This German candy bar is the gianduia variety of nougat, which is a combination of chocolate, hazelnut paste and almond paste. I had never seen this bar before recently finding it in a local store, so I had to check it out for myself (I’m hoping it’s worth the $3.99 I paid for it).

Structure
This is a solid, molded bar with six segments.

Texture
Nougat Praline is soft and smooth - like a thick chocolate mousse. It thoroughly coats your mouth and dissolves nicely. The texture is completely homogeneous; there are no crunchy bits.

Taste
This bar was delicious on the first bite, which was likely accentuated because I wasn’t entirely sure what to expect. It tastes almost exactly like Nutella; bursting with hazelnut and chocolate flavors. The downside… it’s REALLY sweet. There’s a lot of sugar in this product. I enjoyed the first bite, but became overwhelmed after a few more. It’s an indulgence that should be split across multiple sessions or shared with a few others.

Verdict
I’m on the fence about this one. This is a high-quality candy that is certainly tasty, but it has a one-dimensional texture and is a bit too sweet. Most importantly, I don’t think this product should be made as such a large bar. It would be better to make this candy in bite-size pieces. I definitely won’t be shelling out four bucks for another one.

A lot of bars have been released under the Snickers brand - Cruncher, Almond, Peanut Butter, Hazelnut, Maximus, Xtreme, and more. You’d think sometime before last year, Mars would have thought to slap some dark chocolate on the world’s best selling bar. Maybe they were waiting for the American palette to come around on dark chocolate.

Whatever the reason for the delay, I could not have been more excited when I started seeing commercials for the Snickers Dark. But for reasons as inexplicable as Mar’s, I personally waited a while before trying out Snickers Dark. Considering classic Snickers has always been my favorite bar and that I prefer dark over milk chocolate, I had high expectations going in.

Strucure
The middle is a nougat layer topped with layer of peanuts and caramel. The core is completely enrobed with dark chocolate.

Texture
Classic Snickers bars are great because they have perfect balance between all of their components textures. Snickers dark is no exception with its chewy nougat, soft caramel, and crunchy peanuts. Interestingly, the dark chocolate is very soft. It doesn’t have the typical snap you may expect from other dark chocolates. This is a long-winded way of saying that Snickers Dark retains the exact same textures as its milk chocolate sibling.

Taste
The bitterness of the dark chocolate definitely alters how you perceive the rest of the ingredients. Most notably, the saltiness of the peanuts is accentuated. I was delighted to discover how long the chocolate flavor lasts, more so than milk chocolate in the regular version.

Verdict
In one of the least surprising conclusions you’ll ever read about on this blog, I’m giving this bar a big thumbs up. I was not able to personally decide if I like dark better than milk chocolate Snickers, but I’m certain that I love them both.