Pretzels are a quintessential snack food. Tracing their origins from Europe, the carby food followed German immigrants over to the United States in the 1700s, and by the 1900s they were a popular food at carnivals and other gatherings. Today, you can find both hard and soft pretzels at sporting events, festivals, and, of course, grocery stores.
Soft pretzels in America are often served with cheese dip. Hard pretzels, on the other hand, are mostly eaten as is. That’s not the only option, though. Back in the 1980s, an enterprising entrepreneur conceived of the notion of putting peanut butter inside of a pretzel. Today you can find peanut butter-filled pretzels — often called peanut butter nuggets — in many grocery stores, including Aldi.
There’s another option for filling a pretzel: almond butter. As the name suggests, almond butter is made from almonds instead of peanuts. It’s questionable whether almond butter is better for you than peanut butter, but almond butter does have a few small health advantages.
Aldi sells an almond butter-filled pretzel, too. Sometimes.
Simply Nature Almond Butter Filled Pretzels are an Aldi Seasonal Item. That means they’re in stores for certain times of the year. During those times, you can find them regularly restocked, but once the season is over they disappear until the next season. We happened to find these at our local store during the winter months.
At the time of this post, a 15-ounce bag costs $4.99. That comes out to about 33 cents an ounce. That’s more than what you’d pay for peanut butter filled pretzels at Aldi or at Walmart, but it is less than almond butter nuggets at Walmart.
Nutritionally, these have comparable amounts of fat, sodium, and calories compared to their peanut butter counterparts. On the allergen front, these contain wheat as well as tree nuts (almonds).
Nutrition information and ingredients. (Click to enlarge.)
We liked these. They’re a little different from peanut butter nuggets, owing to the almond butter. But they’re not all that different. We’re maybe a little partial to peanut butter, but these didn’t last long around the house, if that tells you anything. The pretzel is crunchy and salty, and the almond butter is equally salty, with a smooth texture.
The Verdict:
Simply Nature Almond Butter Filled Pretzels are an alternative to the traditional peanut butter nugget. While they’re more expensive than the peanut butter ones, they taste similar and are a good fit for those who prefer almond butter. If that’s you, these are worth looking at.
