I work strange hours at an office in the middle of downtown Edmonton, where the streets empty and restaurants close en masse outside of the Monday to Friday workday hustle. As a result, the closest thing to a quick supper I can find at 9:30 on Sunday night is often a Snickers bar from the cafeteria vending machine. And so I’ve learned to appreciate Snickers bars as a slapdash meal replacement. I have grown to like them.
As a fan of peanut butter, there was much happiness when I found a new Snickers Peanut Butter chocolate bar not in the office vending machine, but at a grocery store checkout. How could I not buy it?
The Look: Giant Snickers logo on a golden yellow background, with “Peanut butter” clearly spelled out in big letters — you won’t mistake it for a regular Snickers. Inside, there are two pieces of chocolate bar instead of one large bar. Each square piece is like an oversized version of something you’d find in a box of chocolates.
The Taste: Milk chocolate coating (good) with peanuts (good), caramel (good), whipped peanut butter (not that great), and nougat (OK). The peanut butter layer is waxy and strangely flavourless, especially compared to products from Reese, where the peanut butter stands out. The whole thing is more sweet than salty, and the balance isn’t quite right — it feels like it’s missing something.
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RATINGS AND DETAILS
Cost: $1 (on sale) for a 50-gram bar at a grocery store.
Value for cash money: Good.
Availability: Here and there, but not necessarily everywhere.
Nutrition?: Per 50-gram pack: 250 calories, 13 grams of fat, 150 mg of sodium, 4 grams of protein. Each pack contains two squares, so divide the above numbers in half for per-square data. (But you could have figured that out, right?)
The verdict: Like a regular Snickers, but with some bland, mediocre peanut butter added. OK, but not great.
I love chocolate and pb combination and was excited when I saw this new snickers bar. I opened it with great anticipation (because I like the regular snickers bar) but was really disappointed. It’s no Reese, that’s for sure. Not a big enough hit of pb for my taste.
Exactly. If a company is going to introduce a peanut butter version of their chocolate bar, the peanut butter needs to bring some serious deliciousness to the table. In this case, that doesn’t happen. Oh well. Lesson learned.
For peanut-buttery goodness, my husband swears by Jer’s All-Natural Peanut Butter Bars, which have replaced Purdy’s as his favourite PB confection. They come in several varieties, and I’ve only ever found them at Winners downtown. Like everything else at Winners, they appear sporadically, so I tend to pounce and hoard.
Thanks kroozle for tip. Are the jer’s bars peanut butter and chocolate or just pb? Either way, I’ll have to check it out.
They’re chocolate-covered, and variously include pretzel bits, rice krispies and caramel. For my taste, they could be a little more obviously peanutty, but my assessment is based on the few errant crumbs I’ve managed to wrest away from Himself;I’ll be interested in your take.