The candy bar is the prize of lunch boxes, the scourge of waistlines and the bringer of joy to candyholics everywhere.

From one of its simplest early incarnations, the humble but delicious Hershey's milk chocolate bar, the candy bar has appeared in thousands of incarnations, from mealy-tasting energy bars to super-loaded varieties cobbled together by dessert chefs playing a game of "can you top this?"

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For this test, I looked at some of the alternate offerings, the ones made by the major candy companies but avoiding traditional Snickers, Milky Way, Three Musketeers and the like.

This was a solo test, as the post-New Year's diet resolution binge has deprived me of my tasting panel members. They're unwilling to suffer for my art.

The grades here are on a school scale from A to F, and reflect how well each bar lives up to its billing and its overall flavor and texture.

Nestle Crunch Crisp: 240 calories, 13 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 32 grams carbs

This is very similar to a Kit Kat, but better. The chocolate stands up for itself nicely but still allows the slightly buttery flavor of the wafers to come through. It's very crunchy at first bite, but melts away nicely in the mouth. This is a very simple bar, and proves that sometimes simple is a good thing. Grade: A-

Hershey's Whatchamacallit: 220 calories, 11 grams fat, less than 5 mg cholesterol, 210 mg sodium, 28 grams carbs

Remember the commercials when this first came out? Two kids: "What you got there?" "Whatchamacallit." "But what is it?" etc. It was a candy commercial version of "Who's On First?"

At the time, the Whatchamacallit was something quite new. It had the peanut buttery flavor of a Reese's cup with the crispyness of a Crunch bar, all wrapped in chocolate. However, time has passed the bar by. The peanut butter flavor is not well-defined, the crunch is muted and the chocolate is indifferent at best in flavor and very waxy. Grade: C.

Hershey's Take 5: 210 calories, 11 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 180 mg sodium, 25 grams carbs

Most candy fans will tell you that the salty-sweet contrast is one of their favorite tastes. At first, the Take 5 bar looks like a kitchen chemistry project some of those candy eaters might undertake while on a chocolate-covered pretzel jag. There's a lot going on here: peanut butter, pretzels, caramel and toasted peanuts, all wrapped in chocolate.

And it works. All the flavors play well together, but they all manage to retain their identities nicely. This is a really great candy fix, and surprisingly innovative coming from one of the big names in the business. Grade: A.

Reese's Crispy Crunchy Bar: 260 calories, 15 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 115 mg sodium, 28 grams carbs

Somewhere, there's a secluded island where Reese's version of peanut butter is made. It, to me, has never quite tasted like the PB I spread on a sandwich, but it's highly addictive.

Here, however, it gets lost. Where the Take 5 bar has a lot going on and it all works together, in this bar it's almost as if the flavors of chocolate, peanuts, peanut butter and peanut candy fight each other to a standstill. You're left with a pleasantly sweet taste with not much to distinguish it. Grade: B-.

Hershey's Milk Chocolate filled with Creamy Peanut Butter (king size) 370 calories, 23 grams fat, 10 mg cholesterol, 140 mg sodium, 35 grams carbs

I greeted this chocolate/peanut butter combination with high hopes, as Hershey has always paid attention to making sure the chocolate is right before anything else happens. That's true here, but the chocolate makers seem to have forgotten to give the same attention to the peanut butter. I can see the peanut butter in the center of the bar, but my taste buds strongly dispute its existence. Very disappointing. Grade: C-

Milky Way Midnight Dark: 230 calories, 8 grams fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 75 mg sodium, 36 grams carbs

The allure here is the dark chocolate, and the bar itself is a great case of a fantastic idea that fails utterly on execution. If you promise someone dark chocolate flavor, you'd better be able to deliver, and the Milky Way bar doesn't. In fact, there wasn't much of a defined chocolate flavor at all. The nougat was the usual creamy goodness, but that wasn't enough to avoid a grade of D+.

Twix PB: 280 calories, 17 grams fat, 15 mg cholesterol, 140 mg sodium, 28 grams carbs

So, it's a Twix with peanut butter instead of caramel? That sounded good, but the real surprise was the crispy wafer inside, which was replaced by a chocolate version that was quite tasty. Overall, this was a variation on a familiar treat that got it right, earning a grade of A.

Snickers Dark: 250 calories, 13 grams fat, 5 mg cholesterol, 125 mg sodium, 30 grams carbs

Much like the Milky Way, this bar promises a dark chocolate twist on a familiar confection. However, unlike the Milky Way, there's actually some dark chocolate flavor present, and the rest of the Snickers formula plays well with it. It's still not quite as tasty as I'd hoped, needing just a bit more chocolate kick, but it's worthy of a B-.

Reese's Nutrageous: 260 calories, 15 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 95 mg sodium, 26 grams carbs

This bar looks like something one of the Reese's candy creators might have come up with on a lunch break after a conversation about what would happen if all the available ingredients where smashed together in one bar. And, like most such experiments, this one yielded really excellent results. The bar is a riot of salty peanuts, sweet caramel, peanut butter and chocolate, and easily the most addictive of the entire test, earning the only A+ of the bunch.

Choxie Dark Chocolate Coconut Truffle Bar: 200 calories, 14 grams fat, 0 mg cholesterol, 45 mg sodium, 18 grams carbs

OK, I could forgive a bit of a weak dark chocolate "hit" from the mass-market bars, but this one from Target's much-advertised Choxie line delivered even less cacao joy than the Snickers or Milky Way entries. The predominant flavor was sugar, with a hint of coconut. Save your money and buy three Nutrageous. Final grade: D-. Other Links:

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