Candy Isn't Always a Bed of Nougat
You never really appreciate nougat until it isn't there anymore: that's the lesson of Snickers Cruncher, the unbalanced new addition to the Snickers family, an odd compromise of a candy bar. There's nothing really wrong with the parts that are there, but omissions and odd combinations prevent it from really working.
Snickers' Previous Undefeated Streak
Up until now, Snickers had steadily built up their brand franchise without dealing out a single dud. Snicker's Almond swapped peanuts for the woodsy nut crunch of big roasted almonds, backlit by a milder white nougat that offset nuttiness with placid purity. Peanut Butter Snickers kept the peanuty crunch but added a double dose of peanut with a Reeses-style filling. Given that so many of our favorite sweets (100 Grand, Nestle Crunch, Whatchamacallit, Rice Krispies Treats) include crisped rice, it makes sense that Mars would want to integrate that light crispness into one of their products. After all, apart for Crisp Rice M&M's (which haven't really gained much traction) Mars has no other crisped-rice candies in its lineup.
Crisped Rice Needs a Purpose
The critical mistake I believe Mars made was failing to ask just what purpose they wanted the crisped rice to play. In every other successful crisped-rice product, this purpose is quite clearly defined. In Rice Krispy Treats, the rice is a densely-packed but defiantly crisp counterpart to the chewy marshmallow with which it's interwoven. Together they form a paradoxical crisp-chewy substance that has won over millions. Nestle Crunch's genius lies in its simple contrast between creamy and crispy, featuring only two great tastes that "go great together". Whatchamacallit assembles its rice into a brick-like wall of crunch that gives it a bold and clear identity. And Topps' Crunchkins, reviewed yesterday, uses crisped rice as a means to the end of causing their coated casings of creamy candy to cave in on themselves when bitten. In each of these successful candies, the rice has a role to play. As the picture below shows, that role is awfully confused in Snickers Cruncher.
Not Enough Room at the Inn
In order to make room for the rice, something had to go and Snickers logically enough concluded that it couldn't be peanuts, for a candy bar without any kind of nut couldn't be reasonably placed within the Snickers family. So they naturally nixed the nougat. But biting into one of these squares immediately reveals the problem with that choice. It would be a lie to say that Snickers Crunchers don't taste good at all; anything with chocolate, caramel, and peanuts is going to give us some pleasure. What is immediately clear is that there's no real reason for the rice to be there. They're not there for crunch because the peanuts are already crunchy, and the two items intermingle such a way that they constantly undercut one another. As the peanuts break down in the mouth it becomes difficult to know whether you're tasting gritty, sandy peanuts or chunky, coarse crisped rice. The magical contrast between chewy and crunchy is lost, especially because the only chew comes from the relatively sparse caramel. Without the wide bed of nougat, the peanuts have nothing to roll around and play in, and we're left with a mealy-crunchy jumble made marginally more palatable by a chocolate and caramel cover.
Conclusions
Neither fish nor fowl, Snickers Crisper was an interesting attempt to add one more textural element to a revered classic. But to make way for the rice, an underappreciated element of the classic Snickers
was tossed aside, throwing the equilibrium out of whack. You'll never take nougat for granted again.
You never really appreciate nougat until it isn't there anymore: that's the lesson of Snickers Cruncher, the unbalanced new addition to the Snickers family, an odd compromise of a candy bar. There's nothing really wrong with the parts that are there, but omissions and odd combinations prevent it from really working.
 |
| Big, bold, and aggressive packaging promises a real earthquake of taste, making the candy's actual tameness a riddle to unpack. |
Up until now, Snickers had steadily built up their brand franchise without dealing out a single dud. Snicker's Almond swapped peanuts for the woodsy nut crunch of big roasted almonds, backlit by a milder white nougat that offset nuttiness with placid purity. Peanut Butter Snickers kept the peanuty crunch but added a double dose of peanut with a Reeses-style filling. Given that so many of our favorite sweets (100 Grand, Nestle Crunch, Whatchamacallit, Rice Krispies Treats) include crisped rice, it makes sense that Mars would want to integrate that light crispness into one of their products. After all, apart for Crisp Rice M&M's (which haven't really gained much traction) Mars has no other crisped-rice candies in its lineup.
 |
| An army of enrobed squares dares you bite down and explore their innards. What role does the crisped rice play and how much is there? |
The critical mistake I believe Mars made was failing to ask just what purpose they wanted the crisped rice to play. In every other successful crisped-rice product, this purpose is quite clearly defined. In Rice Krispy Treats, the rice is a densely-packed but defiantly crisp counterpart to the chewy marshmallow with which it's interwoven. Together they form a paradoxical crisp-chewy substance that has won over millions. Nestle Crunch's genius lies in its simple contrast between creamy and crispy, featuring only two great tastes that "go great together". Whatchamacallit assembles its rice into a brick-like wall of crunch that gives it a bold and clear identity. And Topps' Crunchkins, reviewed yesterday, uses crisped rice as a means to the end of causing their coated casings of creamy candy to cave in on themselves when bitten. In each of these successful candies, the rice has a role to play. As the picture below shows, that role is awfully confused in Snickers Cruncher.
 |
| Snickers Cruncher packs the rice cheek-by-jowl alongside the peanuts, making it hard to tell where the nuts begin and the rice ends. Note also the absence of nougat, for which there was no longer any room. |
In order to make room for the rice, something had to go and Snickers logically enough concluded that it couldn't be peanuts, for a candy bar without any kind of nut couldn't be reasonably placed within the Snickers family. So they naturally nixed the nougat. But biting into one of these squares immediately reveals the problem with that choice. It would be a lie to say that Snickers Crunchers don't taste good at all; anything with chocolate, caramel, and peanuts is going to give us some pleasure. What is immediately clear is that there's no real reason for the rice to be there. They're not there for crunch because the peanuts are already crunchy, and the two items intermingle such a way that they constantly undercut one another. As the peanuts break down in the mouth it becomes difficult to know whether you're tasting gritty, sandy peanuts or chunky, coarse crisped rice. The magical contrast between chewy and crunchy is lost, especially because the only chew comes from the relatively sparse caramel. Without the wide bed of nougat, the peanuts have nothing to roll around and play in, and we're left with a mealy-crunchy jumble made marginally more palatable by a chocolate and caramel cover.
Conclusions
Neither fish nor fowl, Snickers Crisper was an interesting attempt to add one more textural element to a revered classic. But to make way for the rice, an underappreciated element of the classic Snickers
was tossed aside, throwing the equilibrium out of whack. You'll never take nougat for granted again.
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