Review: Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut Layered Granola Bars

I don't think I've had more polarizing responses to a particular manufacturer's products than I have to Kashi products.  There are some products that I have genuinely despised, while there are others that I have loved.  That typically hasn't happened with most manufacturers on this blog (that I can immediately recall), so it is worth noting that as I dive into another Kashi review after a long vacation from their reviews with this box of six Kashi Dark Chocolate Coconut Layered Granola Bars that I picked up on sale at Meijer for $3.00.  Each bar comes in at 1.1 ounces and has 120 calories with four grams of protein.

The fact that the name of this products includes a reference to layers and the fact that Kashi painstakingly pointed that out by underlining "Layered" in the product name shows that this bar certainly should and does consist of several layers of ingredients.  The base layer of the bar is the Kashi granola mix.  That is then topped by a layer of gooey and strong smelling (in a pleasant, almost sweet way) of dark chocolate.  That dark chocolate then includes on top of it (more like in it) an ample mix of coconut shards and some large walnut pieces.  I guess I should really call the coconut component shards and something more like shavings because they were large, thin and very noticeable as you can see.

As I bit into this, there were to immediate things that I noticed in regards to the texture of this bar.  This granola mix had a bit of an airy snap to it and was the same old chewy granola bar mix that I've come to expect from just about every single mass-marketed granola bar out there.  The second thing I noticed was how gooey that dark chocolate layer was and I can honestly say that I not only enjoyed the gooeyness, but also the fact that the dark portion of the chocolate flavor was muted and leaned toward being semisweet.  Of course, that sweetness could have come from the coconut shavings on top that while they did not have a potent flavor, did have mild coconut flavor and brought a hint of sweetness to the entire package along with a lot of graininess to the chewing texture since there were so many of them.  As for the walnuts, they were just there to an add occasional hard crunch to the airy crunch of the granola mix.  All in all, this was a delightful mix as that dark chocolate coated the granola mix and made this borderline decadent.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I've got to say that this bar ended up being exceedingly more fun and tasty than I could have ever expected and I thoroughly enjoyed it and need to give it a BUY IT rating.  I had low expectations going in because of my usual distaste of dark chocolate, but this bar did an excellent job winning me over and if you can find a box of these in your store (at the right price), I'd recommend grabbing them off the shelf.

BUY IT!!