Quaker Chewy Dark Chocolate Cherry

Quaker Chewy Dark Chocolate Cherry (about $3 for 10, or $0.30 each).
0.84 oz, 24 g

Ingredients: granola, corn syrup, crisp rice, semisweet chocolate chunks, sugar, corn syrup solids, glycerin, high fructose corn syrup, dried cherries, partially hydrogenated vegetable oil, sorbitol, calcium carbonate, salt, natural and artificial flavors, molasses, soy lecithin, malic acid, BHT.

calories: 90
calories from fat: 20
fat: 2g (3%)
sat. fat: 0.5g (3%)
sodium: 75mg (3%)
total carb: 19g (6%)
fiber: 1g (3%)
sugar: 7g
protein 1g

All those chemicals (glycerin, really? isn't that in soap?) make this a really cheap and health-questionable granola bar, but this variety is pretty tasty. This is a new variety designed to compete with the Kashi bar, I think. I really like the Kashi version so I thought I'd try this out. There is, unsurprisingly, fewer cherries than in the Kashi version, but its still a really nice basic granola bar. Its light, and has really an almost perfect chewy granola texture, but it is a bit on the thin side and thus you're left with a slightly unsatisfied feeling. I could really eat two of these as a single serving, but I'm always left with the impression that if the bar was just a bit larger it could be so much more. I know what to expect when I get a Quaker bar after all these years, but for some reason that sort of dinky impression has really stuck and no matter how good the granola is I'll always be left with the idea that these are either designed for children or they're maximizing the unit cost or something. Given that they're so cheap I still come back to them from time to time, but only when I'm tired of the Kashi and Nature Valley bars. I wish they made a 2 oz. bar, 6 in a box for $4 like the big boys. Still, if you're buying Quaker bars, this is the variety to buy for the moment - the cherries are not overpowering and the chocolate balances them well.