Rice Crispy Bars

Before most of my city was even out of bed this morning, I had to go to one of my biggest accounts to look at their Rice Crispy bars. They have been making them in house, but he said recently he's thinking maybe he should let his cooks-cook, and leave the baking to the kids with the floppy white caps.

I'm always thrilled at the oppurtunity to outsource products for people, but to date.....we don't do Rice Crispy bars unless it is a rare Retail situation.

When Chef's ask you to fill an existing product, I have learned that it is mandatory to get a sample of what they are using.

I don't care if it is a pound of butter,sourdough loaves or a cup cake....PERCECTION IS A FUNNY WORD.

Everybody seems to look at singular objects with different eyes.

It's a good thing I made the trip this morning because the samples I saw were different than what I envisioned.

Each piece was the size of a Cinder Block Brick, and in addition to that.....they had 4 flavors.

#1 - Traditional

#2 - M&M

#3 - Black & White (where 1/2 the bar gets dipped in dark chocolate, and then you drizzle white chocolate over the dark)

#4 - Peanut Butter / Chocolate Chunk.

So now the Chef places samples into indavidual plastic bags for me, and while he's doing this, I ask for a breakdown on flavors.....

"So what are we looking at here? I'll bet 50% of the volume is plain, Black & White is 25% and the other 2 round off the menu."

Chef is tired, looks like he might want to process this for a second, but then tiredly submits.....

"Nah, its pretty even across the board. You can bank on an equal division."

Now I've known this Chef for many years, it's not like we hang out at the hitting cages together, but I've studied him (and his practices) enough to know that he is truthful.

But as I hopped back into my bread truck to run the samples back to the bakery for Hennessy to inspect, I didn't want to buy into his expert advice.

Surely 1/2 the volume had to be plain Rice Krispy bars.....don't you think?

A smart baker always listens to chefs, ecspecially when they are clients....but I sure would like to get your opinion.

TRADITIONAL - M&M - bLACK & WHITE OR PEANUT BUTTER / CHOCOLATE CHUNK

Which would you choose?