Japp

parent co.: Marabou/Kraft

net wt.: 30g

quantity: 2-15g bars

country: sweden

description: milk chocolate filled with soft chocolate mousse and caramel

this is so similar to a milky way (or maybe a 3 musketeers with caramel) i feel silly even saying anything about it. i will say that it tastes better, but that might just be because i'm in sweden and things are feeling all different-y. and better. the mousse inside is a bit fluffier than the milky way nougat, hence the parenthetical 3 musketeers remark. the caramel is gooey and i enjoy the fact that all of the chocolate over here is real chocolate (no mockolate coating, so far). i guess i don't have much more to say about this one, it's simple and good and the name translates to "yup".

rating: 6

ingredients (translated from swedish): sugar, glucose syrup, milk powder, vegetable fat, cocoa butter, sweetened condensed skim milk, cocoa mass, stabilizer (sorbitol), reduced-fat cocoa, malt extract from corn, invert sugar, egg white, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavoring.

allergen information: contains milk, gluten, egg, soy. may contain traces of peanuts, almonds, other nuts and wheat.

Dubbel Nougat

parent co.: Marabou/Kraft

net wt.: 50g

quantity: 1 bar

country: sweden

description: hazelnut and almond nougat in two layers

that's a bad photo but i don't feel like taking another one. this bar threw me off, big time! it's really not nougat, the hazelnut layer is basically gianduja (although technically not since it's only 23% hazelnut paste) and the almond layer is like a chocolate-almond paste. there's nothing very nougat-y about it since i expect my nougat to be chewy in some fashion and this is really creamy, but it is so delicious! i took one bite and immediately ate the entire thing. definitely my favorite one so far, the hazelnut flavor pops out and pretty much takes over so you don't even really taste the almond. i would be interested to taste the two layers separately but i somehow doubt that the taste difference would be all that noticeable since the almond layer only has 9% almond in it. such a small amount compared to the hazelnut, no wonder it tastes so hazelnut-y. the common usage of hazelnuts (and crispies) in candy over here is one of the many things i love about sweden so far, since i clearly love hazelnut (check out that sidebar over there). other things include sheep, stray cats, weird birds and fungi, tube foods and ikea.

rating: 9

ingredients (translated from swedish): sugar, hazelnuts, vegetable fat, almonds, cocoa mass, whey powder, cocoa butter, skimmed milk powder, butterfat, emulsifier (soy lecithin), flavoring.

allergen information: contains milk, almond, hazelnut, soy. may contain traces of peanuts, egg and wheat.

Pigall

parent co.: Marabou/Kraft

net wt.: 20g

quantity: 2-10g bars

country: sweden

description: milk chocolate filled with hazelnut truffle

another Marabou bar (there was a sale at the ICA next to my place so there will be a few of them), this one is interesting - i can't really think of anything in the states to compare it to but the crispies are definitely good (i like how much they use them over here, rice is cheap perhaps?). i actually didn't place the hazelnut flavor until i read it in the ingredients, i kind of just thought it was a milky-chocolatey fluff filling. it's not a nougat really, it's reminiscent of a hazelnut version of the filling in the Starbar which is a tad bit more crumbly than traditional nougat but certainly not in a bad way. overall, a decent bar although i do like Starbar better. i'm always a fan of bars that come in twos so you can save one for later (yeah right).

rating: 6

ingredients (translated from swedish): sugar, vegetable fat, milk powder, cocoa butter, rice crisps [rice flour, glucose syrup, salt, malt extract from corn], cocoa mass, hazelnuts, reduced-fat cocoa, emulsifier (soy lecithin), butterfat, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, whey product, salt, flavor.

allergen information: contains milk, hazelnut, soy, gluten.

Starbar

parent co.: Marabou/Kraft

net wt.: 49g

quantity: 1 bar

country: sweden

description: milk chocolate filled with caramel and roasted peanut pieces - "peanutty caramel crumble"

this swedish bar reminds me of a mix between a snickers and a 100 grand, it's actually really good. the crispies give it a nice crunch while the peanuts add a good flavor to the nougat-y middle, which isn't quite as dense as the nougat in a snickers. the caramel is really soft, although mine was a little melty from being in my bag all day, but the chocolate also has a nice texture - not that crumbly falling apart chocolate we get a lot of in the states. this is actually produced by kraft nordic for sweden, denmark and finland, quite good.

rating: 7

ingredients (translated from swedish): caramel [glucose syrup, sugar, vegetable oil, glycerol, skimmed milk powder, whey powder, emulsifier, flavor], milk chocolate [milk, sugar, cocoa butter, cocoa mass, vegetable fat, emulsifier, flavor], peanut, vegetable fat, sugar, glucose syrup, whey powder, wheat flour, rice flour, salt, corn syrup, malt extract.

allergen information: contains milk, peanut, wheat, gluten.