Sunday, January 12, 2014

Good, But Bearing A Burnt Taste, Sheila G's Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle Is A Well-Made Average Snack!


The Good: Affordable, Good ingredients, Good company! Good toffee taste.
The Bad: Packaging does not protect the Brownie Brittle, Not especially nutritious, Burnt aftertaste
The Basics: Sheila G’s Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is a good treat that is robbed of a higher rating by a lack of a consistent strong toffee flavor the fact that is has a burnt aftertaste to it that lingers unless one has milk handy!


It always excites me to form a new relationship with a company whose products I have reviewed. I recently found Sheila G’s Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle (reviewed here!) to be somewhat lacking and the company made contact with me and provided me with their four current products for me to review. I’m always impressed when a company takes such a chance; having received a negative review from me, providing product does not guarantee that other products from the company will get a positive recommendation from me. Sheila G’s gamble paid off with me, though, in that I found their Mint Chocolate Chip Brownie Brittle (reviewed here!) to be absolutely delightful. In fact, it is a product that I will happily purchase now that I have tried it and enjoyed it so much.

The second new-to-me flavor to get my attention from the package Sheila G’s sent is the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle. At this point, it is worth noting up front that Brownie Brittle is essentially a cookie; those who associate gooey softness with brownies will be shocked by the Brownie Brittle; these treats are much closer to being cookies, thin and crispy, than they are like brownies. As with the other products Sheila G’s sent, the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle in the bag directly from Sheila G’s was quite a bit more intact than the packages I bought in the store. I assert that one of the serious detractions to buying Sheila G’s Brownie Brittle in the stores is the packaging; while I love resealable packages, the type of bag that the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle comes in does not adequately protect the product so consumers get the most out of it.

The Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle also suffers some, at least the batch that I was sent, from having a burnt taste to it. My wife, who loves all things toffee-related, the way I adore mint chocolate items, sampled the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle with me and when I was worried that I might be too hard on the product, she frowned upon her first bite and noted the burnt flavor to the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle, so I feel like that is a very objective issue with the product.

Basics

Redefining the nature of traditional brownies, Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle are 1/16" thick and, when unbroken, they are 2 1/4” long by 1 3/4” wide rectangular “chips” (or cookies). Each piece of Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is fairly rough on both sides, like the bottom of a brownie that has been very much overcooked to solidify with the bubbles from the batter. Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle comes in a 4 oz. bag. According to the nutrition facts, a serving of Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is one ounce, 28 grams and there are four servings per container. Measuring out this bag, we found that meant four pieces of Brownie Brittle per serving. Our bag, sent directly from the manufacturer, had only four completely intact, unbroken, pieces.

For those who have never had Brownie Brittle before, Brownie Brittle are flat, hard chips that are similar to bagel chips. Moisture - or saliva - dissolves Brownie Brittle on the tongue. They are more like a thin cookie than a soft, chewy brownie and in even from the well-protected bag sent directly from the company, most of the pieces of Brownie Brittle were broken up bits. The Toffee Crunch Brownie Bites have the actual toffee pieces embedded in the tops of the Brownie Brittle. They actually look like they are melted onto the tops. Some of the pieces have as few as one bits of toffee, some as many as nine!

Ease Of Preparation

Unlike making brownies from scratch, Brownie Brittle is easy to prepare. Simply open the resealable bag and remove four pieces and consume. There is no other preparation needed; this is a ready-to-eat product. As one who absolutely loves the end of cereal (cereal crumbs), I found a certain delight in taking the two tablespoons of crumbs at the bottom of the bag, adding milk to it and eating it like cereal crumbs! Even in that form, though, there was a burnt flavor to this Brownie Brittle.

Taste

Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle has a buttery aroma that is distinct to butterscotch or caramel. The scent is inviting and instantly overpowers any hint of chocolate to the bouquet of the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle. The strong scent of toffee is very inviting to anyone who likes toffee.

As far as taste goes, the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is the most erratic of the flavors I have tried so far, though it does taste good. Unlike the other two Brownie Brittles I have tried so far, the flavor of the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is only distinct on one of its two sides. Placing the Brownie Brittle with its top-side (the side with the toffee pieces) down on the tongue or chewing the Brownie Brittle right away yields the flavor of toffee. If one sets the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle bottom-side down on the tongue, the taste is entirely that of the brownie “cookie.” In this case, it is the flavor of a very mildly burnt or slightly overcooked brownie. That way, the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is unremarkable, but not at all truly bad.

Flipped over so the toffee side connects with the tongue, the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is sweet and buttery. The flavor of butterscotch blends with the chocolate of the brownie well . . . for about twenty seconds. After that point, though, the sweetness fades and the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle has a strong burnt aftertaste to it. The aftertaste lingered for about five minutes after the last piece I consumed, which was broken up easily by milk but otherwise took its time in dissipating.

Nutrition

Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle is a baked sweet, so one ought not to be living off it. The Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle pieces are made primarily of sugar, enriched bleached wheat flour, and cocoa. There are, surprisingly, no unidentifiable ingredients in this food product and nothing that seems at all artificial (in fact, this is one of the few mass-produced product I have reviewed where the ingredients list reads more like a recipe than a chemical equation!). The bag of Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle carries an allergy warning for wheat, eggs, soy, tree nuts and milk.

Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle has 120 calories per serving, 35 of which are from fat, though it is tough to stick with the somewhat nebulous serving size of 28 grams. The 4 grams of fat represent 6% of the recommended daily value of fat and 5% of the daily recommended saturated fat; there are no trans fats in this Brownie Brittle. As well, there are 95 milligrams of sodium and 14 grams of sugars (21 total grams of carbohydrates). There is a gram of protein and 4% of one’s RDA of Iron in a serving of Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle, but there are no other real nutrients in these.

These are not nutritious, but have nothing bad in them, so they make for a healthier sweet snack, though they are not Vegan compliant.

Storage/Clean-up

The Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle stores just fine in its bag, breakage aside, and as long as they are kept in a cool, dry (preferably dark) place it ought to last for a few months. The bag I received a couple of days ago, directly from the company bore a November 22, 2014 expiration date.

Unless one really crunches down sloppily on these, cleanup ought not to be an issue. The Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle generates quite a few crumbs, but they are pretty easy to clean up.

Overall

Sheila G’s Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle are good, but ought to be paired with milk in order to enjoy them the most. Pairing the Brownie Brittle with a glass of milk cuts the aftertaste and seems to accent the toffee’s sweetness. While this is not a dealbreaker for me, it does mean that it is not ideal on its own. That makes the Toffee Crunch Brownie Brittle more average than extraordinary.

For other toffee products, please be sure to visit my reviews of:
Ferrara Milk Chocolate Toffee Crunch Orange
Blue Diamond Butter Toffee Oven Roasted Almonds
Celestial Seasonings English Toffee Tea
Hills Bros. Cappuccino English Toffee Instant Coffee

5.5/10

For other food or drink reviews, please visit my Food And Drink Review Index Page for an organized listing!

© 2014 W.L. Swarts. May not be reprinted without permission.
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