It seems to be a bit of a trend these days, with classic candy bars either pumping up one of their base ingredients, or simpler candy bars adding in an additional component. Variations on classic bars are nothing new – bars going white, peanut butter suddenly appearing, bits of rice cereal being stirred through, and so on. For the purposes of this review I had a look at two bars which had either added or increased their caramel value – the Crunch Bar with caramel and the Milky Way now with more caramel.

Crunch bars are an integral part of my childhood, since my Mom always had a Crunch bar in her purse (and probably still does). One of the things I like about it is that it is so thin – the snap of the Crunch bar really appeals to me, since I think it goes well with the crisped rice. It is still one of those bars I will reach for when I want a sugar hit but not full on diabetic shock.

In the past, other giant bars like the Kit Kat Chunky have been disappointing, so I wasn’t sure how this one would go. I took a bite of it and there was no mistaking the caramel taste – it isn’t just a token inclusion. The usual Crunch elements are there, too … but the whole thing got a bit of a “ehhh, not so great” reaction from me. I really missed the thin-ness of the original Crunch bar, and I didn’t think the caramel did a lot for this one. Nice, but not all that exciting or fabulous.

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