Sweet Pudding KitKat

Woo-hoo!! My box of Japanese goodies has finally arrived! I feel like I've been waiting forever for it, but that's the price you pay when ordering stuff from half a world away. Anyway, Jbox.com didn't have the snacks I was looking for, so I went to my standby for Japanese stuff... eBay. I found some interesting KitKat flavors, and I also bought a can of feta cheese flavored Pringles. I had a hard time deciding what to review first, but I had to go with one of the KitKats.

This particular KitKat is one of the strangest that I have ever eaten, and I've had quite a few. The eBay seller billed it as being "sweet pudding" flavored, but the picture on the bag looked more like flan to me. Maybe "sweet pudding" is Japanese for flan? It doesn't help matters that the only English word on the bag (Mini) has to do with the size and not the flavor; these KitKats are what we would call fun-sized here in the U.S.

I have to say that the color of the KitKat freaked me out a bit; it's sort of a off-white yellowy color, almost like banana pudding. The smell is very strong but pleasant, and I can only compare it to toffee (which I love!). It has a complicated flavor, too; the yellow "chocolate" is very sweet, but the crispy layers have a malty flavor. I'm also pretty sure that I picked up an almost coffee like flavor as well.

All in all, I enjoyed this flavor despite all my confusion. It's not as good as some I've had, but it's by far not the worst. I'll have to share these with my daughter; she loves every KitKat that comes her way... even the abysmal pumpkin ones we had a year or so ago!

Product: Sweet Pudding KitKat
Place Purchased: eBay
Price: $9.99 for a bag of 14 mini-bars

Overall Rating: 3.5 out of 5

Walker's Crisps ~ Prawn Cocktail

I don't eat potato chips very often, but when I do I tend to gravitate to unusual flavors. My hubby gets pretty tired of my adventurous streak and gets all passive-aggressive until I bring home a bag of plain ol' Lay's, but my kids are game to try out the new flavors. Junk food is junk food, after all.

Anyway, I picked up this single serve bag of Prawn Cocktail "crisps" (which is just the fancy British way of saying potato chips) on my last trip to Whole Foods. I was a little wary about trying these; I know that prawns are a type of sea creature (similar to shrimp) and I wasn't sure about how well that flavor would translate to a snack food.

They actually weren't too bad. I'm happy to say that they didn't have a fishy smell, just a scent of mixed spices. The flavor was a little odd, however. It reminded me of salt and vinegar potato chips with some ketchup mixed in. I do like salt and vinegar chips, but I just couldn't get used to the ketchup taste. I ate about half the bag before giving the rest to Spencer, who declared them "tasty." There's nothing quite like the culinary opinion of a five-year-old!

I'm not sure that I would buy these again, but they were most... interesting.

Product: Walker's Crisps ~ Prawn Cocktail

Place Purchased: Whole Foods

Price: $ .69

Calories: 131 per serving

Overall Rating: 2 out of 5

See's Candies ~ Awesome Peanut Brittle Bar

A few years ago I read a blog about See's Candies, a mid-range chocolate and candy company based in California. I decided to give them a try, and I ordered a bunch of items from their website. I wasn't disappointed... See's makes good quality candy at reasonable prices, and now I order from them on a fairly regular basis. Even though I have ordered many different products, there is one particular candy bar that is always on my order form- the Awesome Peanut Brittle Bar.

As of right now, I'm operating under the theory that See's peanut brittle bar may just be the most delicious candy bar ever created. That's really high praise coming from me considering that I'm not particularly fond of peanuts. See's has managed to find the right balance of ingredients to make a candy bar that has every right to be referred to as 'the nectar of the gods.'

The concept is pretty simple; it's a rectangular plank of peanut brittle covered all over in milk chocolate. The brittle itself is divine; it's the perfect combo of sweet and salty with a hint of buttery flavor. The peanuts are crunchy and have a wonderful roasted flavor, and the milk chocolate compliments the brittle perfectly. Normally I find milk chocolate to be a bit too sweet for my tastes, but in this case I don't think any other type of chocolate would have had the same effect.

See's has a lot of unique chocolates and candies, so if you're into the sweeter side of the snack world you should definitely check them out. They have a website as well as a catalog, and they have several physical locations as well... but most of those are out west.

Product: See's Candies ~ Awesome Peanut Brittle Bar
Place Purchased: www.sees.com
Price: $7.80 for a box of 8 bars
Calories: 150 per bar


Overall Rating: 5 out of 5

Ritter Sport ~ Dark Whole Hazelnut

Ugh. I have had a horrible week! I was sick, Spencer was sick... pretty much the whole family was sick. Since I've had such a tough go of it lately, I decided to treat myself to one of my favorite indulgences: a Ritter Sport bar.

Ritter Sport has long been one of my favorite candy bars. I'm a first generation American on my mom's side, and as kids my brother and I always got packages from Germany containing all kinds of candy. I loved the milk chocolate Ritter Sport bar with raisins and hazelnuts... yummy! Nowadays there are all kinds of flavors, and I don't have to wait for my German relatives to send them to me. Finding Ritter Sport is as easy as making a trip to your local Target, which is where I happened to find this dark chocolate and hazelnut bar.

And it is a really good bar. The chocolate is smooth and creamy, and it's smoky without being bitter. And the hazelnuts! There are so many of them; you can't take a bite without getting a mouthful, and that's not a complaint. The nuts are crunchy and flavorful, and they add just the right balance to the chocolate. It took a lot of self control to stop at one serving instead of devouring the whole bar.

The "normal" 100g Ritter Sport bars are pretty hefty; one bar has three servings. Fortunately, the company has made it easy to save some for later. The bars can be broken into rows, and the package it comes in can be resealed. All in all, it's a great value for the price.

Ritter Sport bars aren't too hard to find. They're sold at Target, Whole Foods, amazon.com, and Cost Plus World Market. You can also find some of the hard to find flavors, such as Blueberry Yogurt or Irish Coffee, at Germany's Best or German Deli.

Product: Ritter Sport ~ Dark Whole Hazelnut
Place Purchased: Target
Price: $1.99
Calories: 210 per serving, 3 servings per bar


Overall Rating: 4.5 out of 5