Review: Appleways Apple Simply Wholesome Oatmeal Bar

Appleways (by Darlington Foods) are an interesting bar to me.  I've looked at them a couple of times previously and while their recipe is not overly complicated or particularly fancy (translation: very basic), I've been pleasantly surprised by how much I've enjoyed their bars.  I'd like to say that it is the positive experiences that have me looking at today's Appleways Apple Simply Wholesome Oatmeal Bar, but the truth is that the only thing that has me looking at this bar today is that I buy everything in splurges and I picked up every single flavor that Marsh had available at the time I purchased these bars for $1.29 each.  That said, I don't regret picking this up because I always need review topics and this particular review topic is 1.2 ounces with 140 calories and two grams of protein (like that smooth segue there?).  It's whole grain, all natural and kosher as well.

Before I even address how this bar looked, it's worth pointing out that as soon as I took this out of the wrapper, I was met with an immediate and potent smell of both apples and cinnamon.  Clearly this bar would not be missing out on those flavors.  Well, maybe not clearly...smells are deceiving lots of times.  Still, that potent smell was at least a sign of hopefully positive things to come from a flavor perspective.  Anyway, the bar itself was of course the whole grain soft baked oatmeal mix and within that soft baked oatmeal mix was the apple filling that had that strong aroma that I already mentioned.  The bar is then topped overall with a nice vanilla icing swirl, so that's the entire package.

My first bite into this soft and chewy bar provided me with immediate bursts of all the flavors that I've described already.  Tart apple flavor punctuated with a hit of cinnamon flavor that actually had a bit more spice to it than I would have expected.  The basic flavoring of the oatmeal baked portion of the bar combined with the melting icing swirl did cool that down a bit, which was nice because that cinnamon flavor could have had the potential to get a bit out of control.  That icing did a good job adding some moisture to this bar as well because the oatmeal portion did kind of dry out quickly, as it often does unless some sort of liquid is introduced to counteract its typical properties.

Buy It or Fly By It?  All in all, this was a basic presentation in terms of looks and recipe, but it was a tasty one that I'm happy to give a BUY IT rating to.  Once again, Appleways takes something so simple and produces a winner.  I'm not sure these bars are widely available in a ton of stores outside of Midwest-based grocer Marsh Supermarkets, but if you see these in one of their stores or anywhere else, I'd suggest picking one up and given the option of all three, I'd go for this one first as it was the best of the bunch.

BUY IT!!