Vegan Candy Bars
The transition to going vegan can be challenging for many of us. We were raised with foods that are nostalgic or that spark joy with just our sensory memory. This challenge came about for a customer that came in to Sanctuary Bistro who said they were struggling with transitioning to veganism because of candy bars. I told them about a few that I knew about and told them if they got excited about them they could share a blog of their findings. Here is what they learned. - Jennifer
On the day I decided to go from a vegan-leaning vegetarianto a full-time vegan, I started my “One Last” list – the foods I wanted to haveone more time and savor before saying goodbye. This technique had worked wellfor me when I became a vegetarian and I credit it with making the transitionpretty easy.
That list was long, and most of it was candy bars. I likechocolate, preferably milk chocolate, and with lots of textural and flavorinterest. Maybe someday I will be the “two squares of high-quality darkchocolate totally satisfies me” person I aspire to be, but that’s not today.
There are vegan candy bars out there, I am pleased to report.They are generally not widely available and typically are more expensive thanstandard candy bars, but on my quest to eventually be thatdark-chocolate-savoring, fancy grownup lady, this is probably helpful. Notsurprisingly, the places I found these were the El Cerrito and Berkeley Natural Groceries, the Davis Food Co-Op, Monterey Market, and Animal’s Place Vegan Republic.
Fortunately, I knew I would have an ally in this endeavor. Myomnivorous officemate, Tiffany, and I did a “Candy Bars I Have Never Tried”Challenge in 2017, followed by an Apple Challenge at the beginning of 2018 assomewhat of a post-holiday detox. Late 2018, then, would be our “Vegan vs.Standard Candy” Challenge. The guidelines are simple – block off 15 minutes onthe calendar as “Science,” try an item, discuss at length, consider anobjective rating system, abandon the elaborate spreadsheet prepared for thepurpose, next item. The bars I chose were chocolate-based with at least oneother primary ingredient rather than plain chocolate, and I opted for veganmilk chocolate options when possible. (Also, I was a jerk and ate some of themmyself).
To the results!
The most common vegan candy is peanut butter cup variants,which we compared to a standard Reese’s peanut butter cup (one of my top 5pre-vegan choices).
Cleo’s by GoMax Go: peanut butter is creamier than a standard Reese’s and less sweet.
New vegan verdict: acceptable substitute forReese’s.
Omnivore verdict: “I feel like I’m done withReese’s.”
Unreal:also creamier, smaller, and available in a single serving.
New vegan verdict: no strong feelings but don’tsee myself seeking them out.
TraderJoe’s sunbutter cups: sunbutter is a pretty different taste from peanutbutter but these have a big advantage of being easily procured and inexpensive.
New vegan verdict: sunbutter is not yet my thingbut I bet these will be a common impulse buy when I’m at TJ’s.
Free2bsunbutter cups: similar to Unreal.
New vegan verdict: similar to Unreal.
EatingEvolved chocolate caramel sea salt coconut butter cups: not peanut butter –coconut butter. Initial flavor is verysubtle, then bitter, sour, and finally again rather flavorless.
New vegan verdict: threw away after one bite.
Omnivore verdict: via IM – “I tried the coconutbutter cup again today. It’s not betteron the second day.”
Justin’sdark chocolate peanut butter cups: you might actually find these at a gasstation, and halleluiah, because they are really good. Also creamier and a little less sweet thanReese’s.
New vegan verdict: via IM – “I’m going to needyou to try the Justin’s dark chocolate peanut butter cup. It will make up forthe coconut butter cup.” These will likely be common purchases, partly becausethey are great and partly because they are ubiquitous.
There are also several Almond Joy/Mounds variants, which isgood news since I do like a heavily sweetened, sticky coconut concoction.
Go Max Go Mahalo:not quite as sweet and sticky as Mounds, but combines dark chocolate and thealmond.
New vegan verdict: satisfying vegan version ofthe standard.
Omnivore verdict: comparable to Mounds/AlmondJoy. Seems like higher qualityingredients.
Ochodark chocolate and coconut: really small, dark chocolate and coconut.
New vegan verdict: via IM – “sorry not sorry Iate the whole Ocho. It was tiny and sodelicious.”
We also had some one-offs.
If you like Snickers, try Go Max Go Jokerz. Less sweet, whole peanuts,really high-quality ingredients.
New vegan verdict: “I am not going to missSnickers AT ALL.”
Omnivore verdict: “me either. I don’t even wantto eat the Snickers now.”
If you like Baby Ruth, try Eli’s Earth Bars Dream Big.Caramel/nougat hybrid with nuts and chocolate.
New vegan verdict: whew, I didn’t realize howmuch I liked Baby Ruth until I thought it was all over. 100% acceptable.
Omnivore verdict: “this is soooo much betterthan that coconut butter cup.”
If you like Nestle Crunch, try Go Max Go Snap! This one struck out for both ofus. Again, the ingredients seem very high quality – the rice crisps areenormous – but it’s not that exciting. To be fair, the original wasn’t on mylist anyway.
If you like Butterfinger, try Go Max Go Thumbs Up. Neither of us caredfor this one – messier than tasty.
In sum – Go Max Goproducts are a great way to start if you can find them. (One checkout line in Monterey Market). Iwish the Twix variant, 2fer, was available because I’d love to try it. I’ll betrying the rest of the Eli’s Earth Bars soon, and Justin’s is going to be ago-to.
Happy sweet toothing!
Bio:
Elisabeth Willoughby can turn anything into a long-term projectwith a spreadsheet. If you would like to develop a vegan variant of a 100 Grandbar (a highly underrated candy bar), she is happy to serve as a taste tester.