As any Nutella fan knows all too well, hazelnuts and chocolate make the most perfect flavor combination. The idea of a Mars and Snickers bar with hazelnuts is such a simple one but sadly, these are not UK Limited Editions, they're actually from Poland*. Instead we've had the dull recent limited edition of "Mars Extra Choc" - that's a Mars bar with a slightly thicker layer of chocolate. The good news is that these Polish chocolate bars are both fairly easy to find in the UK.
Snickers & Hazelnut: As I'm sure everyone reading this will know, Snickers consists of a thick layer of peanuts within caramel, on top of a layer of nougat. The Snickers & Hazelnuts sees the introduction of hazelnuts within the caramel layer. The ingredients are all in Polish but as far as I can tell, this bar still includes "peanuts" in the ingredients list. The main fillings listed are: nougat (15%), caramel (27%), peanuts (17%) and hazelnuts (only 5.6%).
The chocolate itself looks great, with lots of hazelnuts and peanuts within the caramel layer. Unfortunately when it comes to the flavor it's a bit of a let down. The hazelnuts have quite a soft texture and not much in the way of real hazelnut flavor. Instead, I could predominantly taste the salted peanuts more than the hazelnuts themselves, which were largely flavourless. It's still a tasty chocolate, but it didn't have the hazelnutty flavor I was expecting.
Mars Hazelnut: The Limited Edition Mars Hazelnut (for any US readers the Mars bar in the UK is the same as the Milky Way in the US) differs from the above Snickers & Hazelnut by adding the nuts into the layer of nougat rather than the caramel. The main filling ingredients are nougat (20%), hazelnuts (14%) and caramel (27%).
The hazelnuts are again quite soft, and it's a shame they're not crunchier, although they still add a little texture and interest to the nougat. As there are no peanuts to compete with the flavour, I could taste the hazelnuts a little more in this Mars edition, although it's still a fairly subtle taste overall. I probably shouldn't have mentioned Nutella at the start of this review as it's clear that neither of these chocolate bars can reach those levels of hazelnut perfection.
Despite that, these are still far more interesting than our recent UK Limited Editions so I don't mean to sound too negative. I still think these Hazelnut Limited Editions are worth a try if you spot them. If you've tried either of these bars then let us know what you thought of them in the comments below!
Grocery Gems Review: Mars Hazelnut and Snickers & Hazelnut
RATING: Mars Hazelnut - 7 out of 10, Snickers & Hazelnut - 6 out of 10.
Buy them again?: Probably.Nutrition: Mars Hazelnut (47g)- 229 calories, Snickers & Hazelnut(49g) - 240 calories
Purchased: Large newsagent.
Price: £0.69p each.
*The Snickers & Hazelnut has Mars Polska on the packaging and the ingredients are all in Polish. The Mars Hazelnut has less information but the languages on the back are German and Polish.
