I’m going to go out on a limb here and say that these Pecan Logs don’t feel like they’re entirely handmade. I’m sure they’re handmade enough to be able to legally put on the package that they’re handmade, but I’m sensing some large scale commercial construction to this log. I’ve always wondered what allows a company to say that they’re handmade, other than they were made with human hands. No one really makes it clear if to be handmade, every single portion of the making of this candy has to be done without machines. When I think about the word handmade, I think about someone in a small kitchen slaving over a mountain of candies. I don’t think about conveyor belts or machines that stir large amounts of ingredients.

The reason I don’t get a handmade feel about this candy (not that I’m accusing anyone of lying) is that everything in this log is so perfect. I don’t mean perfect in that this treat is the best candy I’ve ever eaten. It’s just that the shape, the amount of ingredients, and the way the ingredients are perfectly placed, seems very automatic. While this can be an advantage in the case of some treats, this Pecan Log seems to suffer a little bit because of this.

The nougat is the very whipped nougat you often get with factory made treats. I’m not accusing the folks at Cracker Barrel of anything, but if someone is hand making this bar they’re doing their best to make the nougat feel like something that came out of a machine. The other problem is the caramel, or actually the lack of caramel. It feels like they use the absolute least amount of caramel possible. It feels like they have just enough to stick the nuts and hold in the nougat, and not a millimetre more.

Speaking of the nuts, the nuts are way too broken apart. Some of the best pecan and caramel treats I’ve had have a variety in the size of pecan bits. These pecans feel like they’ve been grind just big enough that they’re not powder, but so small that they lack any variety.

I really like pecan logs, and on paper this one should be fine. The problem is that it’s completely lacking in character. It feels like someone wrote down what the minimum one needs to be a pecan log. This log lacks any spirit, or wow factor. It’s a fine treat, but it’s not exciting or overly indulgent.