It's funny how even when it's still in English, some food names can be completely different in different places. Here in the U.S. when we hear "flapjacks," most of us immediately think about pancakes. Apparently in the U.K., Flapjacks can actually refer to a popular type of snack item.
My thanks once again to Cinabar of Foodstuff Finds for sending me this pack of McVitie's Snickers Flapjacks. I have been dying to try them since I read Jim's review back in October of last year (see it here).
Jim, to be fair, didn't like the Snicker's Flapjack all that much -- but he did say that it had a really good nutty smell. He also said they had an almost too moist, crumbly texture. But I happen to have a soft spot for that particular kind of texture (I am weird, I know).
Anyway, the package contains five individually wrapped bars.
Each bar is slightly longer and just a touch thinner than one of our "Fun Size" Snickers bars. The chocolate topping is much lighter in color than you'd guess from the packaging illustration -- in fact, it's almost a butterscotch color. And as Jim said it would, the bar does indeed have a very strong nutty smell. Looking at the bar I couldn't help but think that it looks like a hunk of chocolate (or butterscotch?) covered particle board. It's a taupe-colored mishmash of grainy looking bits, studded with peanuts. It is far from what one would call a pretty bar.
Looks aside, how did it taste?
Fortunately, it did not taste like something cheap furniture is built of. It is super moist -- moist to the point that it falls apart the moment you bite into it. The main flavors seem to be peanuts and oats. The chocolate, incidentally, may look like butterscotch, but it doesn't taste like it. It actually tastes just like any other commercial, mass market milk chocolate. It melts very easily, and while I have a feeling that on its own I would say it's too sweet, here it added a much needed kick. Without the sweetness of the chocolate, the oats would be too bland and the nuts would have nothing to jazz them up.
Also oddly missing from the Flapjack was any trace of caramel. Why is that? Caramel is such an important part of a classic Snickers bar that I don't get how they could possibly skip it here.
It's sort of hard to rate these. As a chocolate/peanut/oat flavored snack cake, they really aren't bad. I did like the texture, and I liked the fact that the cakes are just sweet enough without going overboard. On the other hand, as a Snickers flavored item, they are an epic fail. There's no caramel, and it just doesn't much seem like a Snickers bar at all.
In the end, I think I am going to just split the difference and go with:
PURCHASED FROM:
Gift from Cinabar of Foodstuff Finds
CALORIES:
167 Calories per Flapjack.
ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains peanuts, milk, soy, gluten, and is processed on equipment that also handles eggs and nuts.
OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
unitedbiscuits.com
Hmm, I'm not a fan of peanuts myself but I do like peanut brittle. Haven't tried this but I don't think I'd care for it as much as the original Snickers bar. What I really do like though is the Snickers bar ice cream. Then again, I haven't had it since I was a little kid and am not sure I ever found it in the States, though it has to exist since Snickers is an American candy bar!
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