Review: OhYeah! Cookie Caramel Crunch Bar

I hadn't realized it (probably because I hadn't thought about it), but it's been a really long time since I've reviewed an OhYeah! product.  I mean, with a fun name like that and a wrapper that states "Unprecedented Taste", how could I not keep reviewing these bars?  Actually, that's an easy one to answer...there weren't any other flavors available in my local stores.  Kroger recently added OhYeah! products and in doing so, added a flavor that I haven't looked at before so for one whole dollar, I picked up this OhYeah! Cookie Caramel Crunch Bar.  This one's gluten free and weighs in at 1.59 ounces, packing in 180 calories and fifteen grams of protein.

One thing I noticed when I was looking at the wrapper getting the nutrition facts for this bar is there are a TON of ingredients in this.  It's almost borderline scary.  It's going to take up a lot of blog space, but I just feel compelled to post the entire list here because the level of manufactured-ness (yep, I made that word up) in here is amazing:

"Protein Blend[( Oh Yeah!®Blend Consisting Of Whey Protein Isolate, Soy Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Isolate, Milk Protein Concentrate, Calcium Caseinate), Hydrolyzed Gelatin), Chocolate Coating(Maltitol, Palm Kernel Oil, Whey Protein Concentrate, Sugar, Cocoa Powder, Soy Lecithin (as Emulsifier), Vanillin), Gluten Free Chocolate Cookie Pieces (Rice Flour, Sugar, Vegetable Oil (Soybean And/or Cottonseed Oil), Cocoa Processed With Alkali, Salt, and baking soda), Soy Nuts, Caramel (Sugar, Corn Syrup, Nonfat Dry Milk, Maltitol Syrup, Cocoa Butter, Corn Starch, Butter, Sucralose, Soy Lecithin (as Emulsifier), Natural And Artificial Flavors), Glycerine, Fractionated Palm Kernel Oil, Canola Oil, Soy Lecithin (as Emulsifier), Natural And Artificial Flavors, Salt, Sucralose, Almond Butter, Peanut Flour, Acesulfame Potassium (An Artificial Sweetener), And Potassium Sorbate Added as A Preservative "

So, how's that?  Again, amazing.  Anyway, I will point out that the level of peanut and chocolate cookie pieces (gluten free!) in the crust was pleasantly surprising to me.  They were everywhere!  The interior was almost nougat-like in it's appearance, but I suppose they have to pack the protein somewhere and a nougat-like composition is a good place to do that.  Wrapping that "nougat" was a layer of very sticky caramel and then that caramel held in the aforementioned peanuts and chocolate cookies pieces.  For having so many ingredients, it really didn't smell like anything in particular.  It was kind of chocolate, kind of peanut, kind of caramel...it was kind of everything in the laundry list of ingredients.

As I took my first bite, my immediate reaction was that this was extremely crunchy from the plethora of peanuts and chocolate cookie pieces.  Both tasted as you'd expect them too, although the peanut pieces seemed weaker than typical peanut flavor.  Perhaps it was the kind of peanut used or just the fact that the chocolate from the cookies and the extremely rich and gooey caramel cancelled them all out.  I'm not sure.  As for the chocolate coating, it wasn't particularly strong, but it did bring additional sweetness to what was already an extremely rich bar.  Being that this was so extremely crunchy, it was nice that the "nougat" interior was flaky and fell apart more easily than I ever would have expected.  It really saved the bar because had that been gummy and/or chewy, I'm not sure this bar would have been all that appealing to eat.  Mixing that with a crunchy bar that turned to be grainy after some chewing would have been just strange.

Buy It or Fly By It?  This reminded me of a Snickers bar...only if Snickers added chocolate cookie pieces.  Everything else about it was fairly similar to me, although the nut crunch in this one was off the charts.  It was extremely rich and that may be a turn off to some, but I found it right up my alley and definitely give this a BUY IT rating.  I could say that it is borderline decadent, but I'm not willing to go all the way on that one.  Regardless, I found this quite appealing and if it somehow mysteriously makes it into one of your stores, it's a bar worth picking up to taste.

BUY IT!!