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

Nestlé Butterfinger: Peanut butter cups

Product name: Nestlé Butterfinger: Peanut butter cups
Purchase details: £1.50 for a 42.5g pack of two cups (A Quarter of Sweets)
Calories: 230 per pack
Country of origin: USA

A few months ago, Nestlé launched a Butterfinger version of Peanut butter cups. As a huge fan of the Reese's version, I was a bit sceptical about this – surely they just wouldn’t compare? After all, Butterfinger bars are an unusual concept in that their peanut butter comes in the form of a brittle rather than a smooth, soft filling, so I wasn’t sure how well this version would satisfy my desire for a more standard centre whilst maintaining the brand’s unique selling point.

These cups came in a very glossy yellow and blue wrapper that fitted with the usual colour scheme and I was both pleased and intrigued too see that they were described as being both smooth and crunchy. The image on the packaging suggested that the cups would be more square-shaped than circular and this turned out to be the case. They were served on a cardboard tray but, unlike Reese's, they did not come in paper cases. However, I was pleased that they did still have ridged edges.

When I first opened the pack, I immediately noticed a butterscotch-like smell, but this was only from a distance. They smelt more like nuts up close but, unfortunately, the aroma wasn’t of the greatest quality and I didn’t enjoy this aspect of it.

On opening up a cup, I must confess I winced at the inner hue – it was so orange it was almost red! It just didn’t look right at all for peanut butter. However, the interesting-sounding ‘peanut toffee pieces’ inside did look quite nice interspersed in this.

Milk chocolate (not just a flavoured coating – yay!) was the main ingredient and, whilst it didn’t bend away from the peanut butter filling in the same way I enjoy with Reese's, it was chunkier and pretty enjoyable. I found that the cocoa did a good job of mellowing the very salty and nutty flavour on offer from the peanut butter and I was pleased I could detect hints of toffee in the sweet crispy bits too. As I always find with chocolate and peanut butter combinations, the sweet and salty contrast worked really well and, as these cups were particularly salty, they had the pleasant effect of leaving a cooling sensation in the back of the mouth. This saltiness was the main feature, for me, so I was surprised that the whole pack only contained 120mg of salt which meant it scraped into the ‘low’ range.

The peanut butter’s texture was certainly different as it didn’t have the much-loved quality of sticking to the roof of the mouth. However, I did quite like the crispiness as a welcome change, and these toffee pieces also left a slightly bitter aftertaste which was something new in this kind of product.

The difficulty I had with these Butterfinger: Peanut butter cups was that, by their very nature, I was constantly comparing them to the more-established Reese's variety. I think most people would do the same thing which is why I chose to highlight the differences in this review (even Nestlé acknowledge the competition by putting the phrase ‘The cup just got crunchy!’ on the packaging). However, that’s the point – the initial concepts may be very similar but the end results that these two products bring to the table are actually very different. Yes, if I had to choose, I’d usually still go for Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, but I’d make that choice in the same way that I’d choose between a tin of baked beans and a tin of spaghetti – I enjoy them both and I like one a little more than the other but they’re not identical products and it’s nice to switch it up a bit sometimes!

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 6/10
Taste: 7.5/10
Texture: 8/10
Overall score: 7.13/10

Nestlé Butterfinger: Crisp

Product name: Nestlé Butterfinger: Crisp
Purchase details: £1.19 for a 40g pack of two pieces (cybercandy.co.uk)
Calories: 210 per pack
Country of origin: USA

Being a massive peanut butter fan, it’s imperative that I try as many products as possible that contain this magical ingredient. In my pre-blog days I had, of course, sampled the Nestlé Butterfinger which delivered the desired peanut butter flavour but in the form of a chewy brittle rather than the thick, creamy form I’ve come to know and love. When I heard of this Crisp alternative, consisting of ‘baked wafers’ and ‘Butterfinger crème’, I just had to give it a go.

Within this 40g packet was two pieces which, together, formed the 210 calorie serving. I was initially pleased that it had been separated in this way as I figured it meant a larger surface area for the chocolate coating. However, I then realised that the product description didn’t mention anything about this outer layer which I thought was odd, so I had to Google it. It was on Wikipedia that I discovered that this, unfortunately, was another American product that used ‘compound chocolate’ (ie a chocolatey coating) rather than real chocolate.

The Butterfinger: Crisps’s aroma wasn’t far-reaching but, up close, there was a definite peanut butter-like smell that broke through the chocolatey coating. Inside, the peanut butter crème was far darker and more orange in colour than I expected, although this did allow for a better contrast with the pale wafer. I actually thought that the four layers of wafer alternated with the three layers of Butterfinger crème looked quite attractive.

I much preferred the Crisp’s texture to the original Butterfinger since the peanut butter was in this crème form rather than a brittle. However, I found the peanut butter tasted far more sugary than nutty, although there was still the required saltiness. The wafer made much more of an impact, flavour-wise, than I expected, although this was also very sweet and my overall conclusion was that it was a pretty artificial-tasting bar.

The Butterfinger: Crisp definitely lived up to its name, although I wouldn’t have minded a bit more of the soft crème added into the textural mix. However, if this were to happen, I think the crème would need to be a lot less sweet to prevent a sugar overload. 

I did actually enjoy this bar, but I felt like I shouldn’t have done, and it certainly wasn’t up there with my favourites. I probably would buy it again but it was a bit too artificial to be a regular purchase. 

Appearance: 7/10
Aroma: 7.5/10
Taste: 7/10
Texture: 7.5/10
Overall score: 7.25/10