April 2nd: Twix

Kcal 284 Fat 13.8g Carbs 38.0g

Looking over the banner of my website today I suddenly realised that despite having reviewed a few of the more obscure varieties from America, I had not actually reviewed one of the most popular bars available in the UK... the original Twix. The Twix Java currently holds pride of place in 4th of the Chocolate Mission rankings...so how would its UK original version fare?

Picking this up from my local shop today I realised that Mars had now made Twix available in a 'King Size' version - looking at the size and nutritional content of the original sized bar (56g) I decided that the original size would suffice and picked that up.

The 56g pack is split into two long fingers that obviously weigh 28g each. Each finger contains a crunchy shortbread like biscuit base with a layer of caramel placed on top, this of course is all coated in a layer of Milk Chocolate.

Opening the bar, as with the Twix Java I was not presented with a strong aroma; a slight sweet chocolate flavour aside it offered little in this department.

Breaking one of the fingers in half it was quickly apparent that the caramel layer was really quite viscuous and was unlike the runny caramel found in products like the Aero Caramel or the Cadburys Caramel; it was not quite as chewy as a Curly Wurly or a Chomp bar but rather a real stick on middle ground between the two. This worked really quite well in that it made sure that the bar was not overly messy to eat but also ensured the bar had a nice varied texture agaisnt the crunchy biscuit. In taste the caramel was very flavoursome, in terms of quality its extremely close to being on the same level as the Cadburys and Galaxy Caramel bars - really rather good!

The chocolate coating is probably the most disappointing aspect of the bar. Its not overly poor just I found its texture to be quite waxy, it quickly melted on my fingers when I was eating the bar despite the relative short amount of time it took to do so. Flavour wise its really nothing more or less than average milk chocolate - it did its job in terms of adding the chocolaty taste but really little in the way of exciting or luxurious flavours.

The base of the bar is an area where the American and UK version of the Twix differ. As seen in the Twix PB/Java reviews the American bases had a cookie based constituents and were chocolate flavoured; the UK original Twix I had today had a shortbread type base. I found the base of this bar to be really quite good - it was crunchy yet avoided being crumbly and messy, it offered a distinct sweet biscuity taste that had a hint of saltiness like all good shortbread. Not many bars really offer a biscuit like option like this on the market at present and it really rather owns this niche of the market at present.

Overall this is one of the better bars I have had during Chocolate Mission. Its only real shortcomings come in the form of the chocolate of the bar - its flavour and texture are both not up there with the better bars that currently are hosted in the top 5 which is the only thing really holding it back from being up amongst them. The caramel and biscuit base aspects of the bar are really well done and both add unique qualities in varying textures and flavours. If this bar sounds right up your street...it really probably is... and I recommend you try it out.

8.6 out of 10