Thursday, November 10, 2011

Review: Klondike No Sugar Added KRUNCH Bar


In my freezer, I usually keep a supply of "emergency" sweets for those times that you just have a craving and don't want to leave the house to fill it.  Think of it as one of those "In Case of Emergency, Break Glass" fire kits.  These sweets usually consist of ice cream bars and shakes.  I usually try to keep the supply low and to products that are not overly addicting (read: Ben & Jerry's or any ice cream pints/quarts for that matter) because with my sweet tooth just runs wild when I have that stuff around and I can't control myself.  Examples of stuff I do have around are non-addictive (in my mind) treats like Magnum bars or these Klondike No Sugar Added KRUNCH bars.  Now, since they are no sugar added, that means they are healthy, right?  LOL, no, not even I'm that dumb and would try to make that argument.  They may have less sugar and therefore less calories (170 calories per bar), but we all know there's nothing healthy about anything that involves ice cream.  It's been a while, but I think I purchased a six pack of these at Kroger with a $1.00 off coupon for around $3.00.



  
As you can see, this looks pretty much like a standard Klondike bar with an crunchy exterior, so there's nothing shocking there.  The interior is made up of standard vanilla ice cream (reduced fat) and is then coated by a chocolate outer shell with "crunchy" pieces thrown in.  Funny thing is, when I first glanced at this, I couldn't quite figure out what these crunchy pieces were.  After I bit into the bar, I couldn't figure it out either, so using my friend the internet, I checked out the ingredient listing and here's what was on their site:
"REDUCED FAT ICE CREAM: NONFAT MILK, MALTODEXTRIN, POLYDEXTROSE, GLYCERINE, MILKFAT, PECTIN, MONO AND DIGLYCERIDES, GUAR GUM, POLYSORBATE 80, ASPARTAME, LOCUST BEAN GUM, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ANNATTO (FOR COLOR), CITRIC ACID, VITAMIN A PALMITATE. CHOCOLATE FLAVORED COATING: VEGETABLE OIL (COCONUT, SOYBEAN), MALTITOL, NONFAT DRY MILK, WHEY, COCOA, SOY LECITHIN, NATURAL AND ARTIFICIAL FLAVOR, ASPARTAME. CRISPY RICE: RICE FLOUR, SALT, MALT EXTRACT, RICE EXTRACT."
Well, that helps.  It looks like the crunch pieces are made up of rice flour, salt, malt extract and rice extract and are referred to as "crispy rice."  Mmm...crispy rice.  Let's just be cute like Klondike and decide to name them "KRUNCHIES."

Like I said, when I bit into the bar, I could definitely taste a decent amount of crunchiness.  It wasn't like eating a cracker, but when you combined those KRUNCHIES with the hard chocolate coating, the bar definitely did have a crunchy mouthfeel, but it wasn't anything nearing the crunchiness of say, a cracker or a potato chip.  The ice cream, while cold (DUH), was pretty much flavorless.  Being that it was vanilla, you have to expect some plainness, but even vanilla has a distinct, mild flavor.  This was missing that.  Also missing, due to the lack of sugar and reduced fat I'm sure, was the nice creamy texture that you get from a typical ice cream.

Buy It or Fly By It?  While this bar wasn't horrible, it also wasn't good, so I would definitely FLY BY IT given the opportunity again.  It's been okay to have them available in a pinch, but once the six pack runs out, these won't be making it back to my emergency freezer supplies in the future.  I would advise you to keep them out of your freezer as well.
FLY BY IT!!

5 comments:

  1. ooh, what a lovely ingredient list. I HATE anything sugar free if it involves chocolate for the most part. its yucky. like really, dont give me sugar free reeeses, id rather not have them at all if thats my only option. blech!

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  2. @Lisa: Yeah, sugar free candy/desserts have never really impressed me either, with the one exception being pudding. Sugar free pudding rocks.

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  3. I ate some twice and it has ruined my stomach for sure. Won't eat again.

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  4. Looking at the posted ingredient list, it looks like Klondike changed their recipe? They do say something like that on their website, but who knows?

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  5. Why do you bother with no sugar added at all? The ones who look forward to these no sugar added Klondike bars are people like myself who are diabetic and CANNOT have sugary sweets. I love no sugar added Klondike bars, both the crunchy and the plain and have absolutely no complaints about them. I buy them 2 packs at a time and they last almost 2 weeks. I went to the store today and was told they are being discontinued. I went to 2 stores and could not find 1 single no sugar added ice cream treat. While there are bulk packages of no sugar added ice cream it is becoming really hard to find the individual ice cream bars. Many children (my son since age 3) suffer from type 1 diabetes meaning they are insulin dependent. While they cannot even have the no sugar added treats on a daily basis they, too, look forward to being able to find no sugar added treats so they can enjoy not only the treat but the feeling of normalcy it gives to be able to eat "sweet" treats like their friends. These treats weren't made for people like the ones who commented here but your comments may be the reason they are discontinuing them. Before you are so quick to write such bad reviews on no sugar added products think twice about those who have no other choices, if you don't like them, don't buy them but don't blast them with bad reviews.

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