During the holidays, my mom always makes these no-bake chocolate oat drop cookies. You know the kind with the sugary cocoa goo that you cook up on the stove, stir some oats into and then drop on wax paper to cool? I love those things, which is why I was very excited to spot Bobo's Chocolate Oat Bars, which happen to look very similar to the aforementioned cookies.
Containing only 5 ingredients (organic rolled oats, 100% expeller-pressed Earth Balance soy and vegetable oils, organic brown rice syrup, organic Sucanat, and organic chocolate chips), Bobo's claims to make "the moistest, chewiest, tastiest, and largest healthy organic oat bar you will find" which are completely natural, organic, non-refined, and 100% non-GMO plus 100% vegan and wheat free.
Check on it being a decent size. Bobo's bars are 3 ounces (43 grams) each and have a nice thickness to them. But the rest of the claims - moistest, chewiest, tastiest ... I'm going to have to respectfully disagree. This chocolate oat bar was NOT moist - in fact, it the opposite - kind of dry. This also meant it wasn't chewy, but instead it was crumbly. As for the taste, it wasn't bad but it wasn't what I would call tasty either. There was a hint of sweetness, but the chocolate was barely detectable, so it just tasted like slightly sweetened, plain ol' oats. I'm sorry to say it was also a little stale tasting which made me immediately check the expiration date. I found that the bar should have been good for only three more weeks, so maybe I'll give the Bobo people a little slack and assume that a "newer" bar might have been a little fresher tasting. Still, things should last until the expiration date, right?!
Each Bobo's Chocolate Oat Bar is actually 2 servings - 43 grams is a serving, which provides 180 calories, 10% of the daily value for total and saturated fat, 9 grams of sugar, 12% of the DV for fiber and 3 grams of protein.
I really wasn't all that impressed and can think of much better ways to blow 360 calories and 12 grams of fat while garnering only 6 grams of protein. I paid $2.09 for this item and it was marked down from a regular price of $2.99 - way too pricey. I did check out Bobo's website to see if these come in other flavors and it turns out that they come in quite a few. There is also a long page of glowing testimonials so I wonder if some of the other flavors are better? If you've tried these bars, let us know what you think. Should I give them another chance and check out the other flavors?!