Walnut Whip – Chocolatey, Gooey, and Tasty

I wasn’t even sure what to expect from Walnut Whip, a British candy that I hadn’t heard of until I ordered it for this blog.  It looks more like an oversized selection from a box of chocolates than like a traditional candy bar, but it’s basically like a Valomilk or a Mallo Cup in a different shape.

Walnut Whip

It’s pretty simple — it features what the packaging calls a “fondant centre” surrounded by a thick layer of milk chocolate and topped with a walnut.

The fondant is creamy and marshmallow-like (it’s extremely similar to Marshmallow Fluff, though without the vanilla flavour, which I missed), and the milk chocolate is very British; Walnut Whip is a Nestle product, but the chocolate tastes like it’s trying hard to be Dairy Milk.

Walnut Whip

The walnut, oddly enough, is a bit superfluous; it adds some crunch, but is otherwise lost among the sweet chocolate and even sweeter filling.  Still, the whole thing is tasty enough — it’s probably better than Mallo Cup, but not quite as good as Valomilk.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 whip, 30 grams): 148 calories, 7.2 grams of fat (4.2 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 50 mg of sodium, 19.9 grams of carbohydrates, 0.4 grams of fibre, 18.1 grams of sugar, 1.4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, dried whole milk, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, lactose and proteins from whey (from milk), whey powder (from milk), vegetable fats (palm, shea, sal, mango kernel), skimmed milk powder, emulsifier (sunflower lecithin)), sugar, walnuts (6%), glucose syrup, glucose-fructose syrup, dried egg white, humectant (glycerol), flavouring, tartaric acid.

Pretzel M&M’s – A Delicious Combo of Chocolate and Pretzels

I’ve mentioned on this blog a few times that Peanut M&M’s are the king of M&M’s; this remains true, and I suspect will always remain true.  There’s just something about them that can’t be beat.  But Pretzel M&M’s are pretty damn close.

Chocolate-covered pretzels are delicious.  M&M’s are delicious.  Combine the two, and yeah, the result is delicious.  What did you think was going to happen?

Pretzel M&M's

The generously-sized pretzel ball in the middle of each M&M does a great job of balancing out the sweetness from the candy shell and the milk chocolate, and of course, the sweet-and-salty mix that you’re expecting from a chocolate-covered pretzel is here, and it’s delightful.  It helps that the balance between chocolate and pretzel is pretty much perfect; neither overwhelms the other, and they both work so well together.

Pretzel M&M's

The texture is great, too; the combo of the crispy shell, the crunchy pretzel, and the creamy chocolate is thoroughly satisfying.  Peanut M&M’s may be the superior M&M, but they’re neck and neck.

4 out of 4

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1/4 cup, 35 grams): 160 calories, 5 grams of fat (3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 100 mg of sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, milk ingredients, cocoa butter, lactose, soy lecithin, salt, artificial flavour, flavour), sugar, pretzel (enriched wheat flour, modified sago starch, salt, soybean oil, corn syrup, barley malt extract, baking soda, ammonium bicarbonate, yeast), cornstarch, corn syrup, tapioca, dextrin, colour (with tartrazine), salt, carnauba wax, modified coconut oil and / or modified palm oil (medium chain triglycerides), gum acacia.

Kinder Country – Chocolate Crammed with Cereal

Kinder Country is basically Kinder Chocolate, but with a whole bunch of cereal crammed in (the ingredients lists barley, rice, wheat, spelt, and buckwheat).

Kinder Country

It’s interesting; the cereal here is incredibly abundant, and is clearly the dominant flavour, with an intense wheatiness and a mild bitterness that helps to offset the sweetness of the chocolate and the milky interior.

Kinder Country

It reminds me a lot of Sugar Crisp, a cereal I haven’t thought about in years, but which came to mind as soon as I took a bite of this thing.  The chocolate is creamy, but with a mild crispiness from all the grainy bits.  The flavour isn’t as chocolatey as you’d expect, but it works.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 23.5 grams): 132 calories, 7.9 grams of fat (5.1 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 12.9 grams of carbohydrates, 11.5 grams of sugar, unknown grams of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mash, emulsifier: lecithin (soy), vanillin), sugar, skimmed milk powder, vegetable fat, whole grains expanded (barley, rice, wheat, spelt, buckwheat), dehydrated butter, emulsifier: lecithin (soy), vanillin.

Snickers – The Most Popular Candy Bar in the World

On one hand, it’s kind of odd that I’ve gone this long without reviewing plain old Snickers.  On the other hand, who needs a review of Snickers?  Is it really any kind of public service to review a candy bar that literally every person on the planet has tried?  If you’re unfamiliar with Snickers, I’m going to assume you’ve just emerged from an Encino Man scenario, and probably have better things to do than read a candy blog.

Snickers

Snickers consists of nougat, caramel, and peanuts, all covered in a generous layer of milk chocolate.  But of course, you know that already, because it’s Snickers.  It’s the top-selling candy bar in the world (or at least it was a few years ago).

Snickers

It’s good.  There’s obviously a reason why it’s so popular: the nougat and the caramel have a satisfying chewiness, the peanuts add a nice crunch, and the creamy chocolate rounds it all out.  It’s aggressively sweet, though the slightly salty peanuts do a decent job of offsetting that a bit.  It’s certainly not my favourite candy bar, but it’s easy enough to see why it’s such a big deal.

3 out of 4

Manufactured by: Mars
Nutritional info (1 bar, 52 grams): 250 calories, 12 grams of fat (4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 32 grams of carbohydrates, 27 grams of sugar, 1 gram of fibre, 4 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, milk ingredients, cocoa mass, lactose, soy lecithin), peanuts, corn syrup, sugar, modified palm oil, skim milk, lactose, salt, dried egg-white, artificial flavour.

Kinder Happy Hippo – Kinder Meets Ferrero Rocher

Kinder Happy Hippo is kind of like a Kinder Surprise and a Ferrero Rocher had a baby.  A delicious, delicious baby.  It’s got the crispy wafer exterior and creamy interior of a Ferrero Rocher, and the white/milk chocolate combo of a Kinder Surprise.

Kinder Happy Hippo

This is a European import (the one I bought seems to be German) and I’m going to have to insist that they bring this to North America ASAP, because it’s surprisingly delicious.

Kinder Happy Hippo

It’s everything you like about Kinder Surprise and Ferrero Rocher crammed into one delicious package.  The interior is delightfully soft and creamy, featuring a nice balance between the chocolatey layer and the milky layer, and the wafer exterior features a nice crispiness and a subtle wheaty flavour that helps to balance out the sweet creamy filling.  I wasn’t expecting much from this thing and it kind of blew me away.

3.5 out of 4

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (100 grams): 593 calories, 38.6 grams of fat (17.69 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 26.4 mg of sodium, 53.6 grams of carbohydrates, unknown grams of fibre, 45.1 grams of sugar, 6.7 grams of protein.
Ingredients (Google translated from German): Sugar, vegetable fats (palm, shea), wheat flour (8.5%), whole milk powder (7.5%), low-fat cocoa (5%), skim milk powder (4.5%), hazelnuts, sweet whey powder, semi-dark chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier: lecithins (soya), vanillin), wheat starch, emulsifier: lecithins (soya), sunflower oil, milk protein, raising agent: ammonium hydrogen carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate: salt, vanillin.