Camino Snack Bars - portion controlled, nutty and all yummy (wait a second, am I describing me or the chocolate?)

A few days ago, I fell in love with a Michel Cluizel chocolate bar made with Venezuelan cocoa beans.  Today I have a new love: Camino Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate snack bar.  Seriously, this is the bomb. If you love peanut butter and chocolate, this chocolate bar is definitely for you.  If you love portion-controlled chocolaty snacks, this bar is also for you.  And if you also love eating organic and fair trade, try the Camino Peanut Butter snack bar.  Yum.  It's salty, it's peanut buttery, and it has a slight crunch. 

I normally taste solid chocolate bars as often as possible.  But if you read my blog regularly, you'll know that weekends tend to be a free-for-all for me, in terms of chocolate tasting that is.  Like most of us, I feel like indulging on the weekends and I want something that tastes like a real treat.  In other words, I want to taste a chocolate that is sweeter, richer and gooey-er (probably not a word, but who cares). This bar feels just right for today.

At only 170 calories, I feel like I can also indulge myself by tasting the Camino Almond Butter Dark Chocolate snack bar.  Like the Peanut Butter bar, this one was also just launched in November/December of 2010 and I received my first box of it today.  I normally do not like almond butter as much as I like peanut butter, but Camino has somehow done it again with this bar.  It is nearly as yummy as the peanut butter bar.  And since I have been avoiding peanuts during my pregnancy, I know I can snack on this bar and feel satisfied.  The only thing that I do not like, is the almond flavour that has been added to the almond butter centre.  I am not a fan of "almond flavouring".  I prefer almonds straight up and I usually cringe when eating a pastry or dessert with a lot of "almond flavour" added to it.  However, Camino has made this flavour addition rather subtle, and I have a sneaking suspicion that it would taste bland without the added flavour.

Just one more thing on these bars: the filled centres of crunchy nut butter in both snack bars are the perfect texture.  I was worried they would be too much like a nut butter texture (i.e. too gooey), but instead they are dry but with the right amount of moistness to make them melt in your mouth.  The chocolate enrobing the bar is a wonderful 55% semi-sweet that does not taste sickeningly sweet, like some sweet dark chocolate can.  It's just the perfect combination.  La Siembra Co-Operative, the founders of the Camino brand, have once again sold me a product that I would eat over and over again.

Camino snack bars have been launched at grocery and health food stores all across Canada in the last few months.  Check their website to find these bars at a store near you.  And although this sounds like a paid endorsement, La Siembra really had no previous awareness that I am writing about their chocolate bars.  I just really like them and want to tell everyone how great they are!

Here are the full package details on these two great chocolate snack bars:

Camino Peanut Butter Dark Chocolate snack bar, 32 g
La Siembra Co-Operative, Ottawa, ON Canada
www.tasteofcamino.com
Ingredients: Dark Chocolate  55% Cocoa (cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter), roasted peanuts, cane sugar, salt, soy lecithin.  (everything but the salt is certified organic and everything but the peanuts and soy lecithin are fair trade certified). May contain traces of tree nuts, dairy products and wheat. Contains peanuts and soy.

Camino Almond Butter Dark Chocolate snack bar, 32 g
La Siembra Co-Operative, Ottawa, ON Canada
www.tasteofcamino.com
Dark Chocolate  55% Cocoa (cane sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter), roasted almonds, cane sugar, salt, almond flavour, soy lecithin.  (everything but the salt is certified organic and everything but the almonds, almond flavour and soy lecithin are fair trade certified). May contain traces of tree nuts, dairy products and wheat. Contains almonds and soy.