Candy Bar Lab

A couple years ago, I volunteered to make a few hundred little chocolate hearts for my girlfriend’s sister’s wedding. I had just learned to temper chocolate, but I was confident I could pull it off. Well, it was the middle of summer and the air conditioning decided to break in my apartment the weekend I had to make these chocolates. The humidity and 90 degree temperature in my kitchen that Saturday completely thwarted my futile efforts to temper chocolate and I was forced to travel to Burlington, Vermont (the site of the wedding) with nothing to show for my efforts.

We get there and my girlfriend suggests we buy the chocolate hearts from Lake Champlain chocolates, which was nearby. This saved the day. They were absolutely delicious; some of the best chocolate I’ve ever had.

Last week, a co-worker of mine (thanks Clinton) picked up a Lake Champlain candy bar for me and ironically, it had melted and cracked a bit in storage and transit from the store to me. Unlike my chocolate hearts effort however, this chocolate was salvageable. After a couple days of sitting in my kitchen, it was back to full health and ready to be eaten.

Structure
A six-segment, molded bar of milk chocolate with small pieces of raw almonds and sea salt spread throughout.

Texture
The milk chocolate is really smooth. It is amazing how different top-quality milk chocolate is from something like a Hershey’s Bar - they shouldn’t even be considered the same thing. Bad milk chocolate can be grainy - great milk chocolate is just so smooth (I can’t think of a better description). But besides the chocolate, there’s some great crunchiness from the salt and almonds. The sea salt crystals are definitely more noticeable, but the small bits of almond provide some depth of texture.

Taste
The milk chocolate is again the star - it tastes so smooth (I’m not creative today with my adjectives). The flavor lasts really long too - another sign of high-quality chocolate. They weren’t skimpy at all with the salt. If you don’t like heavily salted foods, you might be turned off by this candy bar. On the other hand, if you’re like me, you’ll love the combination.

Verdict
This bar is making me rethink my previous belief that I preferred dark chocolate over milk. Done this well, milk chocolate is amazing. The inclusion of saltiness makes it even better; heightening it’s flavor. Even though this was an expensive bar ($2.60 for 1.25 ounces), it would have been well worth it had I bought it myself (thanks again Clinton).

This is a limited edition bar that, to be honest, is more about the marketing than the actual product. It was made to promote the upcoming release of the new Indiana Jones movie. But to Mars credit, instead of just printing some Indiana Jones graphics on a regular Snickers bar package, they at least tried something new to match the theme of the movie. This change… to add coconut and chai flavoring.

Now, I understand going with coconut, but I was a little confused why they would add chai. In my ignorance, I thought chai meant “tea-flavored”. So I looked it up on Wikipedia and it turns out “chai spices” refers to a mixture of warm spices like cinnamon, cardamom, ginger, nutmeg, cloves, etc. Well that made a little more sense to me, but I was still a little skeptical how that would taste in a Snickers.

Structure
The center is a layer of nougat topped with a layer of caramel and peanuts; all enrobed in milk chocolate.

Texture
Texturally, it’s identical to a standard Snickers, which means it’s really good. There’s chewy nougat and caramel with crunchy peanuts. All of the textures are perfectly balanced.

Taste
When I first bit in, it tasted exactly like a regular Snickers. It took a second or two for the coconut aftertaste to hit. It’s very subtle, but tastes pretty good actually. After a few more bites, I started noticing cinnamon coming through. All the flavors actually went together surprisingly well. Though it’s good they didn’t add too much of these exotic flavors - it would have detracted from the inherent greatness of a Snickers too much.

Verdict
The coconut and cinnamon flavors are an interesting change of pace from a regular Snickers. This is a limited edition bar that while I liked it, I’m glad it’s not a permanent offering. I recommend to go out and pick one up - it’s worth tasting for yourself.

This is a limited edition Snickers bar that has peanut butter. I’ll be honest… even before I try this out, I’m about 99% sure it’s going to be awesome based on that description alone. I know I’m probably biased; but seriously, this sounds like a can’t miss combination of flavors to me.

Before we get to the tasting though, what’s the deal with the name “Nut ‘n butter Crunch”? Why couldn’t they have just chosen “Peanut Butter Crunch”? That sounds like a tasty name to me. What is “Nut ‘n butter” anyway? Whatever, I’ll let it slide if this bar turns out to be as good as I expect it to be.

Structure
The center is peanut butter nougat with peanuts mixed throughout - all enrobed in a milk chocolate shell.

Texture
This is a nice, heavy bar. It’s chewy and satisfying just like the commercials promise. In general, it’s very similar to a regular Snickers bar, though it’s a bit drier.

Taste
There’s something very distinctive about the Snickers taste. Even when they mix up the ingredients, it still comes across as uniquely Snickers. Where this deviates from tradition though is the subtle peanut butter flavor. It’s also a little saltier than usual, which is completely fine by me (I love sweet and salty together). The whole bar is nicely balanced. It doesn’t come across as a primarily peanut butter product like a Reese’s, but the peanut butter is definitely noticeable.

Verdict
Snickers Nut ‘n butter Crunch is a definite winner. I’m only disappointed that it’s a limited edition bar. If you see one in the store, definitely pick it up and give it a try.