Review: Larabar Strawberry Shortcake Bar

It's been quite a while since the oft-reviewed Larabar has made an appearance here on the blog.  It's been since July 2014, in fact, so it's been almost a year.  Each time I go to the store, I stroll through the aisles yearning to see a new flavor pop up that I've never tried, but it's been a lonely stroll for quite a while.  On a recent stroll, I was very flabbergasted to see TWO new limited edition Larabar products sitting on the shelf at my local Kroger, so I snatched both up for $1.00 each.  Today's review of this Larabar Strawberry Shortcake Bar is the first of those reviews.  The bar itself clocks in at 1.6 ounces and has 200 calories with three grams of protein.  It's also gluten free and vegan, so yahoo there if that is what floats your boat.

I took this out of the wrapper and it presented itself as a typical Larabar.  Sticky date puree with mix-ins of nuts and fruits.  As you can see above (barely because of the glare), there were red tiny shards of strawberry and surprisingly cranberry as well.  The nuts in the mix were the typical cashews and pecans, but also a surprise entrant of macadamia nuts.  That's not one that I typically see.  Anyway, I'll end my description and leave the rest to Larabar because I kind of like what they've done with this:  "Nothing says “summertime” more than Strawberry Shortcake – and we couldn’t resist putting the LÄRABAR twist on this classic treat. Strawberry and cranberry pieces bring the tart sweetness, while cashews and pecans mimic the flakey biscuit cake. And since it’s gluten free, dairy free, and non-GMO, our Strawberry Shortcake comes up anything but short!"

Biting into this, it was soft and chewy like usual, but what wasn't usual was that I felt this was a bit more soft than usual.  It was almost pillowy and being that this bar was supposed to be modeling an airy shortcake, I thought that was a very good correlation and I was admittedly impressed.  In terms of flavor, the combination of the strawberry and cranberry bits provided a nice sweet and tangy flavor component to the pillowy bar.  Also important was the inclusion of the vanilla extract, which gave off the impression of a whipped cream that was stacked on top of the shortcake.  All in all, while it wasn't an identical match, I'd have to say that this pretty much hit on all the main flavor components of a strawberry shortcake.

Buy It or Fly By It?  I've already said that it hit on the necessary flavor components of a strawberry shortcake (cake, strawberry, cream), so this one is a winner in my book.  The more that I think about it, I actually want to come out and say that this was delicious.  It really was.  Flavor that was completely unexpected and completely welcome.  For that, this gets a BUY IT rating.  Not sure how long this one will be on the shelves, but if you see it in your store, I would highly recommend grabbing one for a test of your own.

BUY IT!!