Review: Larabar uber Sticky Bun Sweet and Salty Fruit & Nut Bar

Seriously, who doesn't love a nice hot and gooey sticky bun?  They are freaking awesome, so when I saw Larabar was introducing a new product modeled after the extremely decadent treat through their uber line of products, I knew I had to try it out for another review.  I picked up this new Larabar uber Sticky Bun Sweet and Salty Fruit & Nut Bar on sale at Kroger for $0.99 and it comes in at 1.42 ounces with 220 calories and five grams of protein.  Since it aims to be a super-healthy version of a decidedly unhealthy treat, it's gluten free, kosher, etc.

This bar is based in fruits and nuts and as you can see in the picture above, it certainly meets that description.  All of those fruits and nuts include dates, almonds, pecans and walnuts.  Also within that mix is a variety of sweet and salty stickiness consisting of molasses, sea salt, vanilla extract and that is all topped off with the requisite sticky bun ingredient of mildly smelling cinnamon to provide a bit of heat on top.  As you can see, all of those things are there in spades and when I took this bar out of the wrapper, it nearly stuck to my hand because of that molasses.

When I bit into this, I expected it to be quite crunchy based on the prsence of all the nuts, but it was surprisingly not.  Actually, it was moderately close to the softness of an actual sticky bun itself and when I factored in the fact that the nuts did bring some crunch, it had the mouth feel of a nut topped sticky bun itself, so that was quite nice and kind of fun.  What struck me most about this was the mild flavor.  The cinnamon was definitely present and brought some late arriving and somewhat powerful heat, but there wasn't any overpowering sweetness in this at all.  There was some tang from the aforementioned dates, but this was lacking in the terms of real teeth chattering sweetness like sticky buns sometimes have.  One characteristic that I didn't expect from this bar but ended up experiencing toward the end was the prominence of the sea salt.  I knew it was in the bar after reviewing the ingredients of course, but I did not expect this to have such a salty taste.  It wasn't off-putting or anything like that, but it did provide a shock that I wasn't expecting.

Buy It or Fly By It?  Was this a sticky bun in its truest form?  Of course not.  Was this a reasonable approximation of a sticky bun in a "healthy" bar form?  Absolutely and for that, I give this a solid BUY IT rating.  It won't re-define your life in an uber awesome way with its flavor, but it will provide a tasty and worthwhile eating experience if you decide to venture down that path.

BUY IT!!