Not to be outshone by its fellow Mars cousin, Twix, Snickers is reissuing its own dark chocolate spin-off that seems to only appear around this time of year: Snickers Dark Almond. Playing off the whole miniature, trick-or-treat-sized Halloween candy idea, Mars has released a bag of minis entitled Snickers Dark Mix, which I bought at Target.
The Snickers Dark Mix is comprised of Snickers regular (which makes me wonder how they can then call the whole bag dark), Snickers Dark, and the aforementioned new flavor. I have never really been a big fan of the original Snickers, but have always enjoyed the Dark line, so I was willing to give these a chance.
Lately, it seems to be all the rage in the candy world for marketers to modify or remodel their confectionery lineup by replacing the milk chocolate with dark chocolate. Do I have a problem with this? In theory, no I do not. Being only half-American and spending a lot of time outside of the country, I tend to prefer dark chocolate.
Frozen: There is a hard crunch, with the piece being a little sticky. The sweetness is muted, which is a good thing for me because that is one of the things I dislike about the original, but I can’t really taste the dark chocolate.
Chilled: This is a little firm, but not overly sweet. The slight chill really highlights the almonds, which I don’t taste nearly to the same degree that I see them inside.
Room Temperature: The whole mini is richly smooth and satisfying. Still, there is no clear indicator of this being dark chocolate whatsoever aside from the outer shell being a dark hue. This was my favorite way to consume.
My verdict at the end is that these things are… eh. I bought a Snickers Almond just to compare the two and vastly preferred the milk chocolate one. Why? Because the original is sweeter, in terms of how it carries overtones of honey and milk, trademarks of a good nougat. Those two flavors mesh swimmingly with almond. Milk chocolate inherently tastes better with those flavors because it is creamier and sweeter than dark chocolate. The bitterness of the dark chocolate only mars (pun intended) the embedded taste.
So candy scientist people out there, listen to me. Dark chocolate is not the panacea to all your marketing ills. Sure, I’ll still buy any limited edition bar you release for just swapping the chocolate you use, but that doesn’t mean I’ll like it! It also requires a high quality chocolate, not “dark†because its color is oh-so-black chocolate. Dark chocolate should only be utilized when it’s appropriate, much like you would never add caramel into gummy bear mix (though as a coating it might not be so bad). Now there’s an idea….
Buy Snickers Products Online:
- at Candy Crate
- at Candy Direct
- at Old Time Candy
- at Amazon.com
Caramel covered gummy bears sounds absolutely incredible. Snickers dark chocolate…not so much.
October 13th, 2008 at 1:44 pmI agree with you about the classic milk chocolate being a better candy bar coating with one exception. I find the dark chocolate mounds to be phenomenal, though this probably has a lot to do with the coconut being so mild.
October 17th, 2008 at 12:22 pm