Review: Kashi Berry Muffin Soft n' Chewy Bar

So I've finally reached the bottom of my office snack time Kashi stockpile (for now).  You've seen lots of reviews of these Kashi products that I've picked up already, but I'm going to bore (or perhaps inform) you with another today with my review of this Kashi Berry Muffin Soft n' Chewy Bar.  I'm sure this comes in a box of five or six for around $4.00, but since I got it at the office, I don't have an official price to attach to it. The bar itself is 1.4 ounces, has 130 calories and three grams of protein.

I've taken a look at several of these Soft n' Chewy bars before, so it came as no surprise as to what this one looked like.  It was a cereal bar-like soft exterior that was baked with the fruits added into the middle of the mix.  In the case of this bar, the fruits included little bits of dried cranberries and strawberries (based on the package), but also the odd inclusion of an apple puree.  The bar itself was composed a of a baked mixture of pumpkin and it did carry that smell, although when I took a deeper whiff of it, I could definitely detect the smells of the cranberries and strawberries as they definitely were not shy in presenting themselves.  The bar is then topped with a mix of dried oat pieces and also a few shaved almonds, so that's kind of fun an adds an additional textural component.

Before I took a bite of this bar and was just looking at it, I wanted to hate this bar.  After I took a bite, that desire to hate the bar went away because the more and more I made it through this, the more I liked it.  The pumpkin soft baked part of the bar was extremely chewy and very much like a pumpkin bread with its mild pumpkin flavor.  Combining that mild pumpkin flavor with the sweetness and tang of the berries worked quite well mild flavor provided a canvas in which the berries could flex their muscles.  What was interesting about this bar as a whole though is that while it was chewy, it did have the occasional burst of crunch in it that was provided by some crisps and nuts (almonds, peanuts and walnuts) that stealthily hid themselves in the meat of the bar.  Being that I wasn't expecting that occasional crunch and pop going in, I very much appreciated it as it did break up what could have been a monotonous chew.  The oats and almonds on the top surface of the bar assisted in providing that textural crunch as well.  The one negative that this bar did have though was that it could have used some moisture in the fact that it was very dry to chew through and eventually needed some fluid to moisten my mouth in order for me to get this down.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I think I've already ruined this one by saying in the second sentence of the last paragraph that I liked this one, so this obviously gets a BUY IT rating.  It's a pretty plain bar, but sometimes you just need something plain and mildly pleasing to quell hunger pains and this bar does a very good job of filling that roll.  Now if you are expecting deliciousness, you should probably look elsewhere though as this one is not really going to fulfill that request.

BUY IT!!