Candy Bar Lab

I purchased this German candy bar a few weeks ago and have been anxiously waiting to try it out. The excellent packaging for the Ritter Sport product line is the first thing that caught my eye. It’s distinct, simple, and successfully conveys what’s inside - which is a milk chocolate bar “chock full of whole roasted hazelnuts”. They’re not kidding either. Judging by the packaging, there must be 40+ hazelnuts in this bar.

Structure
A square, molded milk chocolate bar with 16 small square segments - each embossed with the Ritter Sport logo. Whole hazelnuts are liberally distributed throughout.

Texture
It’s really thick (enough to conceal the whole hazelnuts), but easy to bite through. The milk chocolate has a nice feel to it; very smooth and not at all grainy. The hazelnuts are nicely toasted and thus, provide a great crunch. Smooth chocolate and crunchy nuts are a classic, heavenly combination and this bar doesn’t disappoint in delivering that combo to it’s fullest potential.

Taste
This is a straightforward, two tone tasting experience. There’s milk chocolate and there’s hazelnuts. Nothing else thrown in to confuse it. The hazelnuts taste fresh, like they were toasted right before being sealed in. The milk chocolate is good, though I noticed it wasn’t intense. In a way that’s good because it balanced well with the hazelnuts, but the chocolate flavor was fleeting. In the end, I think it all worked.

Verdict
This is a very simple, yet really high quality candy bar. Most importantly, the packaging doesn’t lie. There are a lot of hazelnuts in it, so you feel like you’re getting your money’s worth. I’d definitely buy more of the milk chocolate with hazelnut bars, but I’m also going to try to get my hands on the 22 other Ritter Sport varieties.

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.

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.