Snickers Limited Edition Xtreme Caramel

The 2014 limited edition version of the Snickers bar from Mars is a play on a Mars bar LE we saw recently; caramel, caramel and more caramel. Xtreme Caramel does away with the nougat layer and replaces it with more caramel.

Curiously, this same variation has been seen in the US, albeit with a slightly different name - Snickers Xtreme vs our Snickers Xtreme Caramel.

On the outside, Snickers Xtreme Caramel looks very much like its cousin. The scent gives away the difference; where an original Snickers has a savoury, almost salty, peanutty scent, Xtreme Caramel is much sweeter, with only a touch of peanut. The bar weighs in at 48g, 2g lighter than the original. As it has no nougat, it is a bit smaller physically as well, as caramel is more dense.

Without the firm nougat to provide stability, the bar is a bit messy to eat. The caramel is rather sensitive to heat as well, so eat it on too-warm a day and it becomes a stringy caramel mess. The peanuts are distributed all throughout the caramel, and I would hazard a guess that there are more than in the original, too. Surprisingly, the bar is not as sweet as it smells; the higher volume of peanuts is in good proportion to the caramel, easing the potential sweetness. The caramel is rather boring on its own; sweet, with very little burnt sugar notes. It's a pleasant mix, with the chewy caramel and the crunchy, fresh peanuts, and it's quite filling, too.

Score: 3.5 out of 5 jelly beans

Snickers Limited Edition Xtreme Caramel is made in Australia. It contains peanuts, wheat, soy and milk, and may contain traces of tree nuts and egg.