Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter

Product name: Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter
Purchase details: £1.28 for a 68g bar (tesco.com)
Calories: 254 per bar
Country of origin: USA

I bought this Clif Bar: Crunchy peanut butter at the same time as the White chocolate macadamia nut that I’d previously reviewed. Despite my love of peanut butter, I had actually been more excited about the concept of white chocolate, although I did still hope that this variety would be better than the other peanut butter energy bar I’ve tried: Lenny & Larry's Muscle Brownie.

Understandably, this bar had the same history and features of the White chocolate macadamia nut version. The packaging was also identical apart from the mountains being brown instead of white.

Described as an ‘oat and peanut butter energy bar’, it contained 15.2% rolled oats, 6.3% peanut butter, as well peanut flour and peanuts. It was the same shape as the other variety but was darker in colour (even more akin to a flapjack), had no drizzle decoration, and was sticky to the touch.

The aroma was different but still slightly strange. The waxy element remained, and it didn’t smell natural, but there was the subtlest hint of nut and no floral aspect.

Thankfully, the flavour on offer here was also nicer. The peanut butter wasn’t as strong as I’d have liked but there were hints of it and, every now and then, I hit a ‘clump’ of it which felt like a nice treat and had a toasted nut aspect to it. However, I did find each mouthful had a bit of a journey – it started off nice and relatively nutty, then tasted a bit weird and artificial just before the swallow, but had a pleasant aftertaste to follow!

The moist texture remained good and was actually improved. There was still a chewy/crispy combination but with an added starchy feel, as well as the odd crunchy nut, and thick flake of oat.

There is no doubt in my mind that this Crunchy peanut butter bar was nicer than its White chocolate macadamia nut sibling, as well as the Lenny & Larry's Muscle Brownie: Peanut butter competitor. As I’ve come to expect by now, I do prefer more general snacks than these functional ones, but I definitely wouldn’t complain if I was given one of these as an energy boost! 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 6.88/10