A New Take On An Old Favourite (Cadbury Caramel Nibbles)

Member Name: zoe_page_1

Product:	Cadbury Caramel Nibbles
Date:	10/10/09 (123 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: Not too sweet, but a nice change to plain chocolate

Disadvantages: Only come in multi-serving bags at present

In the shop at Cadbury World recently we were looking for new things to try, and though I had seen these in supermarkets a few times already, I'd deliberately 'saved' them for the Cadbury weekend, so we bought - among many other things - a pack.

There are various ways chocolate companies try to extend their ranges. Sometimes they sell the same thing in different varieties or flavours (like all the different M&Ms and KitKats you can get) but sometimes they literally just change the shape as they have done here.

Caramel Nibbles are essentially a cross between a Caramel bar and Giant Buttons. They use Cadbury Dairy Milk (though not marked as Fairtrade like the bars) to make the buttons and then fill them with a liquid caramel centre. This is the same caramel they use in their standard bars - smooth and runny, not like that Chunky KitKat Caramel nonsense.

The Nibbles look like Giant Buttons with one great exception - while one of the best things about Buttons is how smooth the cut is, these all have a little 'drip' of chocolate on top as well. It's probably something to do with the way they make them, and helps seal in the caramel, but it does add an edge to the texture which purist Buttons fans might object to. The ridge is not massive, though, and like with Buttons, these are something you can suck on or bite in half, but not something you would need to chew with any effort, which means the name Nibbles is a bit confusing, since it implies the need to take many small bites. You don't do that with these. They are small and soft and go down easily. Too easily.

The chocolate shell that contains the caramel is your standard Dairy Milk / Buttons, i.e. a creamy if somewhat sweet smooth milk chocolate. It melts on your tongue, despite the aforementioned 'drip' and if you tend to like Cadbury chocolate, you won't be disappointed.

The caramel, on the other hand, deserves more attention. In my opinion they have taken a standard Caramel bar and made it...better. The reason I don't tend to eat Caramel bars on their own is that I find the sheer amount of caramel in them overwhelming and sickly. I don't mind the mini ones in boxes of Heroes, but for me a whole bar is too much. These Nibbles are much better as they contain only a little bit of caramel in each one, with a higher chocolate:caramel ratio than the bars. It's still nice and thick, not stringy and messy, but it gives the overall product a more delicate caramel taste since there's comparatively less of it. The caramel is sweet but also has a slightly burnt taste to it which adds depth to the flavour and keeps it interesting.

These Nibbles come in 175g bags which can be shared or saved for later. In theory the bag can be resealed, and a sticky seal is included for this purpose, but in practice this loses its stickiness after a few un-peelings - I was eating these 3 or 4 at a time rather than in their suggested ¼ bag serving, so I kept dipping in and out. In the end I pegged the bag closed but I imagine nothing too bad would have happened even if I'd left it open (in a cool, dry place) for a few days since chocolate tends to survive quite well even if a little air gets in.

I liked these Nibbles but would prefer them to come in individual serving bags since although they're good, I wouldn't tend to eat 4 of the same chocolate bar in quick succession, and having a 4-serving bag of these equates to the same thing. These are a sweeter version of Buttons but a less sickly version of the Caramel bar. They're also neater to eat since you can pop a whole Nibble in your mouth at once, rather than biting into it as you might with a chunk from the original bar. If that sounds good, you'll like these.

These cost about £1.50 a bag and launched in September. They are available in all major supermarkets.

Summary: Caramel Buttons by another name