Special K Chocolate Coconut Cashew Bar
January 30, 2017
Today I decided to try the Special K Nourish® Chewy Nut Bar. I grabbed the new Chocolate Coconut Cashew flavor.
First and foremost, this bar is sweet and chewy. When you pull it apart, there are long, gooey strings of what I’m guessing is mostly corn syrup. It reminds me of thin, soft caramel strands but not the color of caramel. This is more whitish or even translucent.
The peanuts, cashews, and coconut really stand out with their strong nutty and coconut notes. The dark chocolate coating, on the bottom of the bar, along with the chocolate chips wrap your taste buds in chocolatey flavor, too.
I’m convinced the Special K “Nourish” bar nourishes your sweet tooth, but I’m skeptical it nourishes your body toward good health. That’s why I typically look for a couple of signs that a “good for you” granola or nut bar might not be so good for me.
The first things I look at on the ingredient statement are sugars and fats.
There are three listings of sugars and two kinds of saturated fats on the label. Listed in second and third place are sugar, and corn syrup. Later down the list is fructose. Also high on the list are palm kernel and palm oil. Palm kernel oil is over 80 percent saturated and palm oil is about 50 percent saturated.
Basically, it is a candy bar. The good news is that peanuts, coconut, cashews, semisweet chocolate chips, and whole grain oats are among the top ingredients, too.
So, now I’m conflicted. Is it good for me or not? I know this bar tastes good, and it satisfies my regular craving for sweet, chewy, nutty, and chocolatey. That’s pretty hard for me to ignore. However, I also know that the bar is on the small size – only 33 grams – and packs 170 calories!
I get the feeling I need to move the Special K Nourish Chewy Nut Bar from the “everyday snack” shelf in my office cubicle to the “special treats” drawer in my file cabinet. But hey, at least I don’t have to put it into my “only eat on rare occasions because it’s that indulgent” box. That one’s locked!
I bought this box at a local grocery store. As of this writing, this flavor is new and not yet available on Amazon. However, here's the link for the Chocolate Almond flavor. There is a flavor dropdown menu in the upper right which might get the chocolate coconut cashew flavor when added.
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