McVitie's Snickers Flapjacks

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

Sahale Snacks: Barbeque Almonds with Mild Chipotle & Ranch

Nut mixes are just awesome. They are crunchy, they are salty, and they go well with beer. And if you are really tasteless, they have an entire set of built in dirty jokes (not that I would ever tell such jokes, of course).

Today was a nut mix kinda day, so I reached into my stash and grabbed this bag of Sahale Snacks Barbecue Almonds with Mild Chipotle + Ranch.



You know, I have a love for all things hot and spicy. And I do in fact like chipotle peppers. But -- much as with jalapeño a few years back (and to be fair, chipotles are in fact smoked, dried jalapeños) -- chipotle has become one of those trendy, hipster food flavors. And since it's had it's heyday, maybe it's time to do something fresh and stop using it as the go-to "hot" ingredient in everything. The only thing that could make this any more whitebread and predictable would be if they paired it with ranch flavor...

...Oh, wait!

Don't get me wrong: I know this sounds pretty harsh. And yes, I do like ranch dressing (though not to the point of those who practically drink it with dinner). It's just that the two flavors are at this point predictable, and honestly boring. No, it does not mean this can't be a good mix -- it just means that it's going to have to work extra hard to impress me. Maybe if it did some hard core parkour, that would help. (And dammit, that has had its heyday too!) C'mon, Sahale, bring it on!



The smell of the nuts...who doesn't like to smell nuts? (Insert snickering of thirteen-year-old boys here) It's sort of a spicy, oily smell, not bad. The nuts themselves are whole, which is always good, and they are completely encrusted in the spice mixture.

The nuts are very crunchy. Gotta love that! The taste is mostly smokey, with a teeny bit of heat. I can't say I actually tasted the ranch at all -- at least not in that full-on "where's the lettuce," super-strong, powdered flavor sort of way that most ranch items end up with.

Same with the chipotle. There's a bit of heat, but there's not much flavor that's really identifiable as chipotle.



So what did it taste like? Honestly, it tastes like they'd opened up some of those foil flavor envelopes that come inside Ramen packages -- any Ramen flavor -- and rolled the almonds in that. I'll admit that doesn't sound very good, but it does have an interesting, salty addictiveness. It reminded me a lot of Cratz snacks, actually.

It's hard to rate this snack, because while I don't think it tasted anything like the flavors it's supposed to, it actually does taste fairly good. Since I can only in good conscience rate based on what the product is supposed to be, that is how I will do it -- but I did like them more than the actual number reflects.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company

CALORIES:
140 calories per 1/4 cup.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
Contains nuts. Processed at a factory that also processes peanuts.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
sahalesnacks.com

Sahale Snacks: Sing Buri Cashews

I love nut mixes. So it's always a treat when I find a mix that is a little out of the ordinary. Don't get me wrong -- I am a big fan of things as simple as "hot" style peanuts, but it is nice to get something special now and then.



Sahale Snacks actually offers several interesting mixes, and they were nice enough to send samples for me to opine on. I decided to start with the Sing Buri Cashews. In addition to the cashews, this mix also has pineapple, lemongrass, mild Chinese chili, sesame seeds, and peanuts. Sounds more exotic than simply "hot," doesn't it?

Each whole cashew is decently sized. Not the biggest cashews I have ever seen, but they are big enough. They are nicely coated in spices and sesame seeds. The smell is nutty and slightly sweet. As mentioned, there are also peanuts in the mix -- but surprisingly few of them. Not that I am complaining, because that means you're getting more cashews.



So how does it taste?

The easiest way to describe it is to say that they taste like cashews that have been lightly glazed in sweetened Sriracha sauce (you know, the one with the rooster on the label), but not quite as hot as that would probably be. It also tastes like there's a little ginger, though that might actually be the lemongrass. The sesame seeds add some texture and hint of nutty flavor.

The pineapple bits actually convey the heat of the chili more than the nuts do. The pineapple is sweet; little dried diced chunks that are also covered in spices and sesame.

I was hoping that these were going to be some seriously hot little cashews. They are not. Even chili wimps can eat them without fear. But despite the fact that the chili is not the heat packer I was hoping for, the nuts are in fact quite tasty. I also found myself digging through for the pineapple bits... and before I knew it, the bag was almost empty.

That's how you know you have a good snack -- when you just keep nibbling until there is nothing left.



PURCHASED FROM:
Sample from company.

CALORIES:
130 calories per 1/4 cup.

ADDITIONAL INFO:
All natural, trans fat free. Contains peanuts, wheat and soy.

OFFICIAL WEBSITE:
sahalesnacks.com