America loves its candy bars, and some of the most popular candy bars date back more
than 100 years.
But which ones are the best, and which ones leave the most to be desired?
Here are the rankings from yuckiest to yummiest.
Butterfingers are definitely unique.
And like so many unique things, people either love them or hate them.
There's really no in-between.
The Butterfinger is likely so divisive because of the texture of the candy layers.
If you're expecting a deliciously creamy peanut butter experience, this definitely isn't it.
As the old Bart Simpson commercials advertised, Butterfingers are "crispity" and "crunchity,"
not smooth and creamy.
"Crispity, crunchity Butterfinger from Nestle."
"Nobody better lay a finger on my Butterfinger."
So where does the unusual brittleness in the inside of a Butterfinger come from?
Corn flakes.
To make a Butterfinger, corn flakes are added to peanut butter, and then a separate sweet,
crystallized molasses concoction is created.
These two mixtures are folded together and formed into the bar, which is then enrobed
in chocolate.
Many people hate the result, but you never know until you try one.
Even the worst candy bar is someone's favorite.
If you love coconut, Almond Joy or Mounds should be your go-to candy bar.
Almond Joy has sweetened, shredded coconut and whole almonds smothered in a milk chocolate
coating.
The main downfall is the chocolate itself.
It's grainy and bland rather than smooth and sweet.
But if you are a big coconut fan, you aren't munching on Almond Joy for the chocolate anyway.
You just want to get your coconut fix.
Over the years, Hershey's has produced limited-edition varieties of Almond Joy, including white chocolate
key lime and piña colada flavored versions.
Most of these variations have flopped, and the company has thankfully stuck to the original
for the last decade or so.
If you prefer dark chocolate, grab a Mounds bar instead.
It has the same coconut center, but with a dark chocolate coating, and no almonds.
If coconut's not your thing?
Skip them both.
Both these bars are made by the Hershey Company and are chocolate-covered toffee bars.
So what's the difference between them?
They are ever-so-slightly different.
In the Heath, the toffee is a lighter color and the almonds in the toffee are visible.
The almond taste is the overriding flavor.
In the slightly thinner Skor, the toffee flavor is rich and buttery rather than almondy.
And the Skor bar does seem to get stuck in your teeth a bit more than the Heath does.
If you're a toffee fan, try them both.
The subtle differences in the toffee will likely determine your favorite.
If you're not into toffee, which can be an acquired taste?
You'll probably hate them both.
With its bright yellow wrapper and big red logo, you can't miss Hershey's Mr. Goodbar
on the shelf.
But this candy bar is mediocre at best.
During the Great Depression, Mr. Goodbar sold for just a couple cents each and was marketed
as a "tasty lunch" because of the nutrition of the added peanuts.
But it's been almost 100 years since then, and the bar has barely changed with the times.
Peanuts and chocolate are typically an awesome combination, but Mr. Goodbar doesn't really
live up to its name.
It's just milk chocolate combined with a bunch of Spanish peanuts, and though it's not horrible,
it's not impressive either.
There are just a few too many peanuts and the chocolate isn't as rich and creamy as
it should be.
Unless it's one of the last candy bars on the rack, you can almost always find something
better to satisfy your sweet tooth.
PayDay candy bars were created in 1932 by the F.A.
Martoccio Macaroni Company.
Production of these peanut caramel bars has passed between multiple companies since, and
they're currently part of the Hershey family.
There's no doubt that if you love peanuts, you'll love this bar.
"It's more than candy!
It's a PayDay bar."
"Are those peanuts?"
"Yes!"
A PayDay is simple: It's a log of firm caramel rolled in salted peanuts.
The saltiness of the peanuts and the sweetness of the caramel makes for a happy marriage.
But don't ever put it in the refrigerator, the caramel center will become impossible
to chew.
The big sticking point for a lot of folks is that there's not any chocolate at all in
a PayDay, though there was a now-discontinued chocolate-covered version many years ago.
If you like the composition of the PayDay but want chocolate too, then get yourself
an Oh Henry! bar.
The iconic Hershey's Milk Chocolate Bar isn't lacking in popularity: More than 264 million
of these bars are sold every year.
But if you've ever tasted high-quality chocolate, you'll know its popularity isn't necessarily
because of the quality.
Hershey's chocolate just isn't really that good.
It's not very creamy and even a bit waxy.
But it's affordable, easy to find and, maybe most importantly, everyone's heard of it.
For s'mores over the campfire, Hershey's will do just fine.
But for melt-in-your-mouth lusciousness, this is definitely not it.
And you don't need to spend a small fortune on European chocolate to eat something better
than Hershey's.
Other brands of milk chocolate, including Dove and Godiva, are better.
So, if you have a choice, buy one of those.
The 3 Musketeers bar is simple: a whipped nougat center covered in a coating of milk
chocolate.
That's it.
Just nougat and chocolate.
And while some candy bars feature very dense nougat, the 3 Musketeers nougat center is
soft, light, fluffy, and delicious.
But because these candy bars are so light and fluffy, one bar can feel a little unsatisfying.
Are you wondering why it's called 3 Musketeers?
When this bar was first manufactured in 1932, each package contained three small bars with
chocolate, vanilla, and strawberry flavors.
But during World War II, cost-cutting measures forced the elimination of the strawberry and
vanilla pieces.
Mars has produced other varieties of 3 Musketeers over the years, but the originals never came
back.
Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme bars are the same size and shape as its iconic milk chocolate
bars.
But these bars are white and contain little pieces of Oreo-like chocolate cookies.
Hershey's replaced cocoa butter with a mixture of oils to create these candy bars, so it's
not even really white chocolate.
Even so, if you're looking for something other than milk or dark chocolate, these bars are
a pretty tasty option that you can find at most stores.
If you like the white portion of the Hershey's Cookies 'n' Creme but crave a little more
crunch, you'll also like their White Creme with Almonds bar introduced in 2019.
These might be a little harder to find than other Hershey bars, but they are worth hunting
down.
Crunch bars have their issues, for sure.
For one, the chocolate has a tendency to break into a million slivers upon your first bite
if it's cold.
But the combination of chocolate and crispy rice is hard to deny.
They're two things that just seem to go together.
And if you're popping entire fun-size Crunch bars into your mouth, the shattering chocolate
is less of a problem.
Nestle sold its American candy brands, including Crunch, to Ferrero in recent years.
But years ago, when Nestle still owned the Crunch brand, the chocolate giant expanded
it to include Crunch Ice Cream Bars, a clear argument in favor of Crunch as a top-tier
chocolate bar brand.
Invented in 1964, this candy bar was originally marketed as the $100,000 Bar before its name
changed to simply "100 Grand" in the mid-1980s.
It adds another element to the Crunch formula: caramel.
It manages the perfect amounts of caramel, crisped rice, and chocolate so that none overpower
the others.
It may not be the most popular bar on this list, but it does a lot right.
And because of its name, the 100 Grand bar has been used in several newsworthy pranks.
In 2005, a woman sued a radio station after they gave her a 100 Grand candy bar as a contest
prize instead of the actual $100,000 she was expecting.
Originally produced in the United Kingdom in 1967 as the Raider bar, this candy bar
wasn't brought to the shores of the US until 1979.
But it didn't take long for it to become a hit.
The name Twix combines the words "twin" and "biscuit," since Brits tend to call cookies
"biscuits."
"Twix is the only candy with the cookie crunch."
"What about the $100,000 Bar?"
"Nope, rice and caramel."
"Nougat?"
"No."
"Positive?"
"Please."
In the last thirty years, a number of different unusual flavors of Twix have been released,
including coffee, mint, and Cookies & Creme.
Still, most candy bar aficionados will agree that the original variety still remains the
best.
In 2017, more than $63 million worth of Twix were sold in the United States, making it
one of the top six chocolate candy brands in the country.
Chocolate, caramel, and nougat come together beautifully in the Milky Way bar.
Though this nougat isn't quite as fluffy as that in the 3 Musketeers bar, it's not super
dense or heavy, either.
But make no mistake: It's the caramel in the Milky Way that makes it special.
Some chocolate bar caramel is too hard, and some is too watery, but the caramel in a Milky
Way is gooey and creamy perfection.
Milky Way isn't named after the galaxy.
Instead, its name comes from malted milk, a popular drink back in 1923 when the candy
bar was introduced.
And if you're traveling in Europe, try not to get confused.
Milky Ways there are more like American 3 Musketeers bars, while Mars bars in Europe
are more like the American Milky Way you crave.
So if you'd rather eat cheap candy bars than expensive Swiss chocolate on your trip to
the Alps, now you know.
Standard Kit Kat bars have two or four pieces in the package you can snap apart.
Each piece has three wafer layers separated by chocolate, and of course, the whole thing
is covered in more chocolate.
The result is a wonderfully light, yet absolutely delectable treat.
In the United States, 192 million Kit Kats are sold each year, making it the fourth most
popular candy bar in the country.
Outside of America, Kit Kats are sold in a wide array of flavors including scrumptious
varieties like Strawberry Cheesecake and uniquely disgusting ones like Cough Drop.
In the U.S., you'll find the original milk chocolate version, as well as newcomers like
Mint & Dark Chocolate and Lemon Crisp.
Whatever flavor you prefer, few candy bars can touch Kit Kat's versatility.
You can eat your Kit Kats by themselves, break them up into ice cream, crumble them into
cookie batter, or use them to decorate cakes.
We'll just note here that if Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were bar shaped instead of cup
shaped, they'd be at the top of our list.
But we'll abstain from a debate about whether they're candy bars.
Reese's Take 5, definitely a bar, is the next best thing.
It takes the chocolate and peanut butter of a Reese's Cup and adds caramel, peanuts, and
pretzels.
Initially released in 2004, this candy bar has struggled to gain traction among buyers.
Hershey has tried adding different ingredients, changing the wrapper, and most recently renaming
the bar as Reese's Take 5 to associate it with that wonderful cup.
Sales of Take 5 may never skyrocket, but that doesn't take away from how amazing it is.
Every bite is crunchy, salty, sweet, and chewy.
It's beautifully complex.
If you've never tried a Take 5, change up your candy bar habits by giving this relatively
new bar a try.
Mars makes 15 million Snickers bars every day and dubs it the world's best selling candy
bar.
The original Snickers bar, first produced in 1930, is still the best.
Its combination of caramel, peanuts, and nougat surrounded by milk chocolate is just about
perfect.
However, you can also find several variations including the Snickers Xtreme, which does
away with the nougat.
Snickers Almond and Snickers Peanut Butter are also worth trying at least once, although
they're not good enough to eclipse the original.
Aside from just being delicious, clever marketing and advertising campaigns undeniably play
a role in this candy bar's popularity.
"You get a little hostile when you're hungry.
Better?"
"Better."
And it can actually pay off on its "You're not you when you're hungry" slogan; it's hearty
enough to make it a meal all on its own, yet flavorful enough to be an exciting dessert.
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