Friday, October 17, 2008

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Crisp

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk CrispI’m still on my quest to replace the Krackel bar and have been finding all sorts of chocolate and crisped rice bars that area actually better than I remember the Krackel ever being.

Not to spoil the ending of this review but I’ll say right now that the Ghiaradelli Luxe Milk Crisp bar vaults to the second slot on that list. Not that there are a lot of bars on the list at the moment. (Seeds of Change Isle of Skye is above it, seeing how it’s similarly priced and organic.)

This bar is new, part of Ghirardelli new expanded line of gourmet bars. It comes at a gourmet price though, I paid $2.99 for this 2.81 ounce bar. It is all natural, Kosher and made in the USA.

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk CrispTheir gourmet-ification of such a simple bar is kind of amusing. Here’s their description of it:

This rich and creamy milk chocolate made from the finest cocoa beans is perfectly complemented with lightly toasted crisped rice. Take in the heavenly aroma and let the ultimate chocolate pleasure linger.

(Bold emphasis theirs, really!)

The bar certainly does look awesome. It was near perfect, without the scrapes and nicks that many of the bars I pick up have.

What pleased me most at first glance was how many crispies there are in the bar.

Ghirardelli Luxe Milk Crisp

So I took a photo of the bar flipped over so you could see it, too. Instead of those little engineered ball bearing sized ones that Nestle uses for their Crunch bar these days, these look like actual crisped rice grains (made with millled rice, sugar, salt and barley malt).

There’s another thing that this photo also shows, how thin the bar is. What I like about the Hershey’s Miniatures and the World’s Finest W.F. Crisp bar was how thick they were, it allowed the rice to be completely enveloped by the chocolate. Here the rice floats almost as a separate layer from the chocolate, not blanketed by it instead just a thin sheet of chocolate.

It smells more like breakfast cereal or toast than chocolate. Kind of like milk or mozzarella and fresh baked bread.

That aside, this crisped rice is insanely crispy and fresh. Rarely do I have a chocolate bar that makes so much noise in my head.

The milk chocolate is exquisitely smooth and creamy with a strong powdered milk flavor (whole milk powder is the only dairy ingredient). It’s hearty and sweet at the same time. Notes of caramel, yeast and malt.

I was all set to give this an 8 out of 10 because of the price, but then I looked it up on the Walgreen’s website and they list it at $2.29 ... which I find much more reasonable. I’d be torn at that price though between eating this and the Ritter Sport Corn Flakes (Knusperflakes) bar. This milk chocolate is better, but I love the malty crisp of the corn flakes. I prefer the thicker bite of the Isle of Skye as well. The other option for the same price is the Wheat Chocolate I found in Little Tokyo. What a happy day to have so many choices!

I do hope that Ghirardelli comes out with these in the little individual squares, since no one else is making a single bite version of a crisped rice & milk chocolate these days.

Related Candies

  1. Scharffen Berger Milk Nibby Bar
  2. World’s Finest W.F. Crisp
  3. Sweet Earth Chocolate Cups
  4. BonBonBars: Malt Ganache & Scotch
  5. Ritter Sport White Chocolate with Hazelnuts
  6. Endangered Species: Peanut Butter Brittle & Rice Crisp
Name: Luxe Milk Crisp
    RATING:
  • 10 SUPERB
  • 9 YUMMY
  • 8 TASTY
  • 7 WORTH IT
  • 6 TEMPTING
  • 5 PLEASANT
  • 4 BENIGN
  • 3 UNAPPEALING
  • 2 APPALLING
  • 1 INEDIBLE
Brand: Ghirardelli
Place Purchased: Cost Plus World Market (Farmers Market LA)
Price: $2.99
Size: 2.81 ounces
Calories per ounce: 142
Categories: Chocolate, Cookie, United States, Ghirardelli, Kosher, All Natural

POSTED BY Cybele AT 8:37 am Tracker Pixel for Entry    

Comments
  1. arenee's avatar

    I saw these in Borders the other day and thought of you.  They had the Luxe line’s hazelnut and almond as well.  I’m still looking for a Mr. Goodbar replacement - I haven’t found the Hershey version yet.  I will have to give this crisp bar a try though!

    Comment by arenee on 10/17/08 at 12:23 pm #
  2. Yurei's avatar

    Listen to the dark side! Go to the Ritter side!

    and i’ll send you a hershey with peanuts bar if you can’t find them wink

    Comment by Yurei on 10/17/08 at 3:33 pm #
  3. I just had one of these last week

    In my opinion, it needed more chocolate and smaller rice grains. The rice flavor came through way too strongly…

    Comment by Jonathan Keim on 10/18/08 at 4:46 am #
  4. They sell these at Wal-Mart for $1.99. I wish Target would get them in. These are my new favorite.

    Comment by Joyce on 10/18/08 at 10:21 am #
  5. I am soooo all over this one.  I hope I can find these…they sound perfect.
    You have a great blog here…really nice.

    Comment by dawn on 10/18/08 at 11:35 am #
  6. Love this kind of stuff. This looks delicious. I’m just going to have to wait for some cousins to come down now.

    Comment by Shaheen on 10/19/08 at 9:15 am #
  7. I’ve had the Luxe milk and the Luxe almond. These are my new favorites!  The Luxe almond reminds me a little of the World’s Finest Chocolate bar that I love and cannot find. Oh, and my Target (Tacoma area) now carries the Luxe for $1.99.

    Comment by Kate on 10/21/08 at 9:21 am #
  8. “It comes at a gourmet price though, I paid $2.99 for this 2.81 ounce bar.” “$2.29 ... which I find much more reasonable”

    That sixty cents means everything.

    Comment by Jeni on 5/26/09 at 1:13 pm #
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