Clio Yogurt Bars

My mornings aren't usually that rushed, particularly in this new hybrid world where I work from home in the mornings, but, sometimes I just don't want to put any thought or energy into grabbing breakfast, where even cereal counts as energy - I still need to decide which cereal (or, in my case, usually which blend of cereal), I need to pour milk, and, I usually chop up some fresh fruit to throw on.  Sometimes, I want it to take just the amount of time my coffee takes, with no effort required.  

Enter Clio.  Clio makes Greek yogurt, in bar form, designed for eating on the go.

Clio makes 3 product lines: the "Original" Greek yogurt bars, a Less Sugar line, and the newest offering, "Parfait" bars with granola and yogurt.  I didn't try any of the originals, but they describe them as "Cheesecake-like morsels without remorse", which, I'll admit, does sound temping.  I tried bars from each of the other product lines though.

All require refrigeration, and don't have a particularly long shelf life, which, well, makes sense if they are yogurt.

Less Sugar

"We made Clio less sugar, but kept it 100 (calories that is)."

The Less Sugar line is basically the same concept as the Original Greek Yogurt bars, basically, Greek Yogurt, in a bar form, with a chocolate coating.  The Less Sugar bars are available in 5 flavors: vanilla, peach, mixed berry, coconut, and berry acai, which is an entirely different lineup than the Originals (strawberry, blueberry, chocolate, peanut butter, vanilla, and, seasonal, pumpkin spice).  I thought it was interesting that they choose different flavors for both lines, as I'd expect no difference in flavor appeal?  

Anyway.  I'll admit that I had no idea what to expect from a greek yogurt bar.  It looked like a candy bar, but, was yogurt?  In my head, I somewhat skipped the "yogurt" part, and thought it would be like a protein bar of some kind (which, I guess it was, just not a traditional one).  They all have 7-8g of protein in these petite little bars, which seems good for a small snack.

Vanilla Less Sugar Greek Yogurt Bar.

"Just when you thought vanilla Greek yogurt couldn’t get any more perfect, we go and swap the container for a dark chocolate shell. No lid to lick. No plastic cup to throw away. Save the spoon for another day. You get to eat the yogurt AND the container because it’s made out of delicious dark chocolate. So to all the vanilla Greek yogurts out there trapped inside of plastic cups, we’re sorry. We once loved you, but suddenly you seem— how do we put this nicely? — a little too vanilla."

I opted for the simple vanilla, when I couldn't find the coconut one I wanted to try.

I found the bar quite attractive (so much chocolate!) although a bit petite.  I looked forward to more chocolate goodness.  And then I took a bite.

Hmm.  Yeah.  That was, uh, yogurt.  Tangy, creamy but solid, yogurt.  It was almost like eating froyo, but, just chilled, not frozen.  Or, I suppose, like eating yogurt in bar form.  Which it was.  It had a slight "fake sugar" taste to it, a sweetness that was just a touch too sweet in an odd way, if you know what I mean, likely from the maltitol.

My brain definitely struggled with this.  I love froyo, I like greek yogurt parfaits for breakfast.  But yogurt in bar form ... I wasn't quite there.  The yogurt was fine though, it tasted like average, vanilla flavored greek yogurt.  And I see the convenience.  Just ... a bit odd for me.

**+.

I decided to freeze the rest of this, and have it more like a frozen yogurt bar, since my brain understands frozen yogurt.  It froze very hard, so I definitely needed to let it soften a bit, and the yogurt aspect of it actually was more pleasant that way, but, when frozen, I could taste the "fake sweet" aspect of it that I didn't really care for.  Still not a winner.  I later saw that Clio even recommends freezing them, and letting them thaw 5 minutes before consuming.  This seems like a great idea if you want to throw into your bag on the way out the door and eat sometime a bit later during your commute.

Parfait

"Greek yogurt meets granola in a bar. How convenient."

Undeterred, I decided to try a parfait bar.  The parfait bars come in only 4 flavors: key lime pie, vanilla almond, strawberry, and S'mores.   

When I eat Greek yogurt, I generally have it as a parfait layered with granola, so, the parfait bars were far more appealing to me than the simple yogurt bars.  That said, I dislike granola bars (I can quasi-endure a crunchy granola bar if I break it up and put it on a parfait, but I really don't like chewy ones at all), so, I did worry a bit about the granola "in a bar" aspect of this product.

These bars are double the calories (200) and 10g of protein, so, a bit more substantial than the tiny snack bar Original/Less Sugar ones, but it still didn't feel like a complete easy breakfast on the go as advertised.

Vanilla Almond Granola & Yogurt Parfait.

"We took everyone’s favorite classic Vanilla Greek yogurt and gave it a Clio twist in our new Vanilla Almond Granola & Yogurt Parfait. Our Vanilla Almond Parfait bars combine our classic vanilla Greek yogurt with toasted almond and cranberry granola - all wrapped up in a delicious layer of decadent almond butter coating. "

To do a good comparison with the other bar I tried, I went for the closest thing, the vanilla almond.

When I opened this one, I was very surprised.  I still expected to see chocolate coating, as the picture on the front of the product even had chocolate coating.  My bar did not.  That said, the description did say it would have almond butter coating, which it more of what it looked like, pale blonde in color.  The coating didn't really taste like much of anything though, I really wanted to taste almond butter, but, I didn't pick up almond anywhere in this bar really.

I bit in, and was suddenly very unhappy.

Vanilla Almond Granola & Yogurt Parfait: Cross section.

The top layer of the bar was actually fine - this was the creamy, smooth, Greek yogurt.  As this was not a Less Sugar product, it didn't have the slightly odd fake sweet taste to it, and was pretty good.  It made me want to try a regular Clio bar, as maybe I'd actually like it, and I can see the appeal of a sorta like cheesecake yogurt bar.

But the layer under that, the more dominant layer was ... the granola.  Soft, soggy, mushy, slightly chewy, granola.  Exactly what I don't like.  Which I guess makes sense, even if they wanted a bar with crispy granola, there is no way it could stay that way in the fridge.  But the fridge is required per the yogurt.  So, mushy granola, really not very appealing.  But even worse, the dominant thing here was the dried cranberries.  I somehow entirely missed that in the description ... I wouldn't have picked this had I realized it.  I just don't care for dried cranberries much at all.  They were chewy, sweet, and, well, not for me.

So, almond butter coating that tasted like nothing, decent enough yogurt layer, and meh on the granola with too many cranberries.  I really was craving nut butter at this point though, so I added on a big gob of cashew butter, and it helped balance the fruity cranberries and added more depth of flavor.  I finished it, but wouldn't get another.

**+.

Original Greek Yogurt Bars

"Cheesecake-like morsels without remorse."

The Original Greek Yogurt Bars were the last product line I tried, and certainly the best of the bunch.  I recommend starting there.  These come in 5 regular varieties (vanilla, chocolate, peanut butter, strawberry, blueberry) and a seasonal pumpkin spice flavor.  I did find it interesting that besides the vanilla, the flavor lineup was entirely different from the Less Sugar line, which featured more interesting options like berry acai, peach, and coconut.

These bars are slightly bigger than the Less Sugar bars, and have more protein, but also, obviously, more sugar.  The format is the same as their lower sugar counterparts, with a chocolate shell wrapping the yogurt center.

Vanilla.

"Just when you thought vanilla Greek yogurt couldn’t get any more perfect, we go and swap the container for a dark chocolatey shell. No lid to lick. No plastic cup to throw away. Save the spoon for another day. You get to eat the yogurt AND the container because it’s made out of delicious dark chocolate. So to all the vanilla Greek yogurts out there trapped inside of plastic cups, we’re sorry. We once loved you, but suddenly you seem— how do we put this nicely? — a little too vanilla."

I went for the simple vanilla, and it was enjoyable.  Decent quality dark chocolate shell, creamy, indulgent tasting tangy yogurt center.  The fake sweet taste I noted in the Less Sugar variety was not present here, and the bar overall wasn't too sweet.  The description of a "cheesecake-like morsel" really did fit, and I can see actually treating one as dessert if I wanted (although I quite enjoyed it with breakfast too!).  

***+.