Ritter Sport White + Crisp

Product name: Ritter Sport White + Crisp
Purchase details: £0.75 for a 100g bar (99p Stores)
Calories: 536 per bar
Country of origin: Germany

I don’t know what’s up with my memory but this bar of Ritter Sport White + Crisp, like the White Whole Hazelnuts, was a variety I thought I’d tried before. As a result, I didn’t pick it up at the same time as the Espresso, so I had to make a special return trip to buy the bargain once I’d realised my mistake!

From the name, it would be easy to assume that this bar would be like an interesting white chocolate and higher quality version of the Nestlé Crunch and, in many ways, it was. However as well as containing 6% ‘crispy rice’, another 6% of the bar was ‘crunchy roasted cornflakes’. As usual, I was able to find the nutritional information on the Ritter Sport website.

The cream wrapper was similar to the White Whole Hazelnuts but lacked the cool effect of making the packaging look like the chocolate itself. The bar’s appearance wasn’t far off the Weisse Cocos, either, although there was an abundance of orange cornflakes in addition to the rice cereal. I particularly loved the strange sensation of breaking up the 16 squares since they had a solid snap, with a real crisp right in the middle, and this allowed pieces of cornflake to poke out at random.

The white chocolate had a rich and milky scent which was a little sickly but, in terms of taste, it was nothing short of beautiful and strong. It was so crammed full of bits that it had a really hard texture which, at times, made it feel like it contained more cereal than chocolate! I really did love the crispiness of it all, though, and it reminded me of a non-gooey version of the Chocolate crispy bites I made last year.

As usual, I tried sucking on some of the squares too, with limited success. The top of the chocolate melted nicely as this contained less cereal but the base was a bit painful so I found I had to keep shifting its position! I tended to give up after a while and chew on the remainder but this was totally worth it as the chocolatey cereal was still very enjoyable.

 

I never expect to not enjoy a Ritter Sport product but I couldn’t work out what it was about this apparently simple concept that made it so very special. Then it hit me...it reminded me of one of my long-term favourites – the Nestlé Kit Kat: Chunky (white choc).

Love, love, love, love, LOVE!

Appearance: 8.5/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8.5/10
Texture: 8.5/10
Overall score: 8.13/10

Nestlé Butterfinger: Bar

Product name: Nestlé Butterfinger: Bar
Calories: 270 per 59.5g bar
Country of origin: USA

This Nestlé Butterfinger: Bar was a gift from my brother-in-law because he’s nice like that...I think he got it from Tesco!

Although I’ve reviewed the Crisp and Peanut butter cups from the Butterfinger range before, I’d only ever had the Bar once, and this was before I had a blog. My memories of it were ones of enjoyment but it didn’t become a favourite due to its ‘peanut-buttery’ features being ‘crispety, crunchety’ – I prefer the smooth stuff to the brittle!

 

Imported by Empire Food Brokers Ltd, the long Bar featured the usual yellow and blue branding, and was described as having a ‘chocolate flavour’ rather than being coated in real chocolate. It also listed GM ingredients but, on the plus side, the ground roasted peanuts and cornflakes it contained sounded good.

I remember being a bit disturbed by the orange shade of the peanut butter in the Peanut butter cups but I’d clearly forgotten this was the usual shade of an actual Butterfinger! My bar had actually broken in two so its hard, shiny and slightly crystallised inner appearance was immediately noticeable beneath the milky-looking outer coating that felt waxy and melty between the fingers.

The snack produced a pretty strong smell – one of chocolate and peanut butter combined but with a sweet, buttery depth. It was initially hard to bite into but the bar did then give way with a real crunch. It felt very much like a hardened butter tablet since the peanut butter centre tended to crumble with a powdery sensation. However, the filling did also stick to the back teeth during the chewing process, providing another dimension to the experience. Overall, the texture was better than I remembered it, although I’d still opt for peanut butter in non-brittle form when given the choice.

In terms of flavour, the chocolatey coating wasn’t particularly strong but it did mix in with the general experience. The peanut butter’s taste was relatively gentle but its saltiness came through, resulting in a good overall balance of sweet, salty and nutty tastes.

Despite being pretty big, this Nestlé Butterfinger: Bar was gone in no time – it was very addictive and I have no intention to leave it as long before I have my next one!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7/10
Taste: 8/10
Texture: 7/10
Overall score: 7.25/10

Klik Cornflakes

Product name: Klik Cornflakes
Purchase details: £1.40 for a 75g bag (Tesco Superstore)
Calories: 363 per bag (484 per 100g)
Country of origin: Israel

I stumbled upon Klik Cornflakes when walking past the ‘Foods of the World’ section in Tesco. Described as ‘milk chocolate coated cornflakes’, they don’t sound particularly exciting, so I don’t know quite what compelled me to buy them – I’m just a sucker for anything I’ve not tried before!

Like many children, growing up, I consumed my fair share of cornflake cakes. Based on these experiences, I expected the simplicity of this product to be nice enough, but I can’t say I had high hopes for what was essentially cornflakes dipped in chocolate.

When I opened the bag, I was surprised and slightly concerned by the waxy feel of the chocolate. However, I needn’t have worried about what this meant about the quality as it actually felt lovely on the tongue. The smooth chocolate blended well with the bumpy surface of the cornflakes and, although it resulted in a lack of melting experience, the chocolate also felt pleasantly cool.

The cornflakes came in various sizes. Most of them were unusually small, but I preferred the larger ones as they had a bigger surface area for better chocolate coverage! I particularly enjoyed the few rogue cornflakes that had stuck together as these provided an extra crunch to what was already a very crispy product.

The area where I was slightly disappointed was the aroma which, whilst slightly chocolatey, was pretty much non-existent. However, what I did particularly like about the product was the fact that, because the main ingredient was cornflakes and, therefore, light in weight, I felt like I was getting a large snack due to the size of the portion. For this reason, I thought it would make a good cinema snack, particularly as it tasted and felt very good in small handfuls. 

All in all, I would describe this product as pleasant chocolates with added crisp. I would certainly be happy to eat these again but, at the price, I wouldn’t choose them over cheaper UK products which are a little less basic. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7/10