The Good: Taste good, Decent size for regulating portion
The Bad: Doesn't really taste very Butterfingery, No real nutritional benefit (and some detractions)
The Basics: Butterfinger Crisp is an enjoyable treat, but not one that will light the world on fire for its taste or nutrition.
Back when I was just a movie and music reviewer, it took quite a bit for me to try my hand at reviewing things outside my specific bailiwick. So, when I started reviewing food, I started with tea and after so many of those reviews, I took up the challenge of writing a non-tea food review. One of the first came with me reviewing the 1.76 Oz. Butterfinger Crisp candy bar.
It's a good thing I've been drinking a lot of tea today so the sugar intake from all these candy bars needed to write this review will not cripple me!
Basics
Butterfinger Crisp are milk chocolate wafer cookie candies that come wrapped in a 1.76 oz size, which is roughly one inch wide by six inches long and a 5/8" height. Interestingly, this is considered 1 1/2 servings. This is a decent candy that comes individually wrapped like virtually every other candy bar on the planet. This is a chocolate coated wafer cookie with butterfinger filling used between the wafer cookies. It is most analogous to a KitKat bar and, in fact, it seems like it is Nestle's attempt to compete directly with Hershey for that niche. If that were the competition, the Butterfinger Crisp would lose. That said, it's enjoyable.
For those who have never had a wafer cookie candy bar before, wafer cookies are a light, almost styrofoam-type layered sugary cookie that are layered to make a thicker cookie. Usually, between layers of the cookies is a substance like chocolate or vanilla cream; a paste that is flavored. Moisture - or saliva - dissolves the wafer and the cream within the coating, so many people who savor candy like this either let the coating melt away in their mouth and let the wafer cookie's cream center dissolve without chewing. That works perfectly well for the Butterfinger Crisp.
The coating of the Butterfinger Crisp is a milk chocolate coating. It is a fairly bland and generic mass-produced milk chocolate coating and it's not going to win any awards for that. The coating is not strong enough to prevent the candy from getting crushed and it is topped with fragments of Butterfinger candies.
Ease Of Preparation
Well, it's candy so preparation is pretty much limited to opening the wrapper and popping candy into one's mouth. Do not try to swallow Butterfinger Crisp wafer candies whole and you'll be fine!
Taste
The Butterfinger Crisp does not have any real aroma; the milk chocolate keeps any scent from the Butterfinger filling inside and does not let it out.
Biting into the candy, I was unsurprised to discover that the first taste of milk chocolate almost immediately gave way to the buttery flavor of peanut butter. The first bite did not taste like Butterfinger candies, but rather peanut butter - which is not as sweet as Butterfinger's flaky and hard filling. In fact, it is only when I put the candy bar upside-down in my mouth that it tasted like Butterfinger to me. This, no doubt, has to do with the fact that the topping of crushed Butterfinger bars coated in chocolate is right there on the top and so of course, that's where the taste of Butterfingers would actually be present.
Those looking for a strong, Butterfinger taste are very likely to be disappointed by this candy. It does not have either the texture or the taste of Butterfingers, outside the top of the candy bar. Instead, this tastes more purely like peanut butter than like Butterfingers bars. The best analogy for this truly would be a strongly peanut butter flavored KitKat, in the shape of a candy bar as opposed to the thinner bars that make up the usual KitKat candy.
I ended up a little disappointed as a result because I love the occasional Butterfinger bar and I hoped this would be the best of both worlds. Instead, within two bites, I found myself enjoying this candy for what it was instead of what it could be.
These are a decent treat and the cookie flavor and peanut butter taste good enough to get the "recommend." They are sweet and flavorful instead of just being sugary.
Nutrition
Well, it's candy, so it's not exactly designed to be the healthiest thing on the planet. However, because this possesses some peanut butter, it is also not the least healthy candy on the planet. The Butterfinger Crisp candy bars are made primarily of sugar, vegetable oils, and ground roasted peanuts. After months of reviewing all natural teas, it's somewhat disconcerting to review these; I can't pronounce at least one of the ingredients and that there are at least five artificial colors and an "emulsifier," kind of freaks me out. There are enough ingredients like that that I am actually surprised that the one I picked up expires in June of this year.
Butterfinger Crisp wafer candy bars have 200 calories per serving and the 11 grams of fat are somewhat intimidating! The 11 grams of fat represent 17% of the recommended daily value of fat and that's 34% of the daily recommended saturated fat. The ingredients pretty much diminish the simple pleasure of the candy! At least it doesn't taste like fat!
There are 110 milligrams of sodium and 19 grams of sugars. Unsurprisingly, given that there are peanuts in this candy, there are two grams of protein in a serving of Butterfinger Crisp wafer candies, but it is interesting to note that there is no calcium in this product, which makes one wonder what exactly the milk chocolate coating is made of.
These are not nutritious, so if you were thinking of living off them, you might want to reconsider.
Storage/Clean-up
The Butterfinger Crisp bars store just fine in its wrapper and as long as it is kept in a cool, dry (preferably dark) place they ought to last for quite some time (I've never had a Butterfinger bar go bad on me).
Like all chocolate products, it is not recommended to let the chocolate melt into any fabric as it will leave a stain.
Overall
Butterfinger Crisp is a good candy for fans of peanut butter, even if it falls down for fans of Butterfinger flavors. They come in different sizes, but the single bar is the standard and it's usually inexpensive enough - I tend to find them at my local supermarket for 2/$1.00 and often on sale for 3/$1.00.
These are all right and I'll eat them when they are around or on sale, but it's not my first pick to rush out and buy.
For other candy reviews, please visit my reviews of:
Cadbury Creme Eggs
Gimbal's Buttered Popcorn Jelly Beans
Lindt Lindor Dark Peppermint Truffles
5/10
For other food and drink reviews, please be sure to visit my index page!
© 2011, 2008 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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