I was sent some king-sized packs to try out, and each pack has two separate bars in it, each bar about 3 inches long. It’s been a long time since I bought a king-sized Butterfinger, but I do know the last time I did it was one gigantic bar, which I could never finish in one sitting. Having two separate bars was pretty nice since each serving (1 piece) was the perfect size.

I didn’t hesitate when I opened the first pack — I love Butterfingers and really wanted to see if there was a difference between these caffeinated bars and the originals! And I actually couldn’t tell any difference in taste. Sometimes the hyped-up versions will have almost a vitamin-y aftertaste and be somewhat bitter, I didn’t notice it with these. There was a lingering aftertaste but to me it wasn’t unpleasant.

Really the only difference I saw — and unfortunately I don’t have a regular bar on hand to tell for sure — is that the crispy peanut butter inside of the Buzz seems to be a bit of a darker orange than the original. Butterfingers always seem to be a bit battered right out of the package, so that didn’t bother me, though these looked like they’d been through a cement mixer.

The chocolate tastes the same, melting on my fingers before I finished and not impressive overall (though let’s face it, Butterfinger is probably one of the few candy bars I don’t buy for the chocolate), and the “crispety, crunchety” peanut butter inside was perfect, getting stuck in my teeth just like always.

Now what sets the Buzz apart is that it’s supposedly loaded with as much caffeine as “the leading energy drink,” which I take to mean a Red Bull or Monster or whatever. Each individual bar contains 40 mg of caffeine and, as the package says, is “not recommended for pregnant women, children or persons sensitive to caffeine.” I’ve never had an energy drink so I can’t compare and I really didn’t notice an energy boost. If I ate both bars I probably would have, but I can’t down two candy bars in one sitting so I have yet to see!

Overall, a good candy bar but I’m going to have to take Nestle’s word about the energy boost.

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

We took a trip to Cost Plus World Market last week to stock up on some more good chocolate (they finally have Tim Tams! And Aero Bars!).

I got a nice little pile of chocolate I’ve been wanting to try and my husband went right for this one, which is saying a lot because he’s not really into sweets. I think it was the packaging that got him, though – all those almonds and chocolate, really? We had to give it a try and see!

First off, this bar is huge! I took a shot of it with my hand to show you just how big it is, weighing in at 8.75oz. Valor Chocolates is made in Spain, and the dark chocolate with almonds is considered one of their premium bars.

When you first open the bar this is what you’re greeted with! My husband let me open it up for pictures while he was at work and I knew he was in for a treat – his favorite type of chocolate is chocolate combined with almonds!

From the front you can’t even tell what’s waiting for you inside!

As you can imagine, each bite is guaranteed to have several almonds. The chocolate is truly delicious – smooth, not bitter, and very satisfying. The almonds taste fresh with a very nice crunch and neither of us came across any that had gone rancid.

At room temperature the chocolate is just slightly soft (hence the fingerprints, which I didn’t think about until I’d already handled it!), and melts perfectly in the mouth. Needless to say, as soon as he gets back from his current business trip I think we’ll be heading back to the store to stock up!

I highly recommend this bar if you happen to come across it!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes

Another trip to Sam’s, another box of candy bars! This time I found the Nestle Crunch Crisp, and much like the Snickers Charged I liked it well enough.

I’m not a fan of Nestle chocolate much anymore. Like Hershey I think the quality has gone downhill over the years though there are still the occasional treats from both that I’ll pick up when I get a craving. A Nestle Crunch is one of those, though I prefer the mini bars because a regular sized with the sub-standard “chocolate” is too much.

Anyway, the packaging for this one features an ad for American Idol, and considering the time frame I picked these up American Idol was still in its recent run, so at least they’re not expired! The bars are 1.74 oz and the wrapper has the familiar blue of a regular Crunch bar with a URL to forthekidinyou.com.

The bar is two crispy vanilla wafers with chocolate creme sandwiched between them. The outer covering of chocolate also contains the crisped rice bits of a regular bar.

The chocolate creme actually made the bar for me, though, I think. It had a strong chocolate-like flavor (and I say flavor because chocolate isn’t listed on the ingredients list, if you can believe it), that balanced out the bland chocolate of the outer coating (which ended up all over my fingers even at a room temp of 70 degrees).

Overall, I liked it and the kids liked it. I still can’t finish a full bar because of the over-punch of sweetness, but there’s no fear of it going to waste around here!

Post from: Chocolate Bytes