white chocolate Archives

August 3, 2021 Michael

Kinder Country – Chocolate Crammed with Cereal

Candy Bars

Kinder Country is basically Kinder Chocolate, but with a whole bunch of cereal crammed in (the ingredients lists barley, rice, wheat, spelt, and buckwheat).

It’s interesting; the cereal here is incredibly abundant, and is clearly the dominant flavour, with an intense wheatiness and a mild bitterness that helps to offset the sweetness of the chocolate and the milky interior.

It reminds me a lot of Sugar Crisp, a cereal I haven’t thought about in years, but which came to mind as soon as I took a bite of this thing. The chocolate is creamy, but with a mild crispiness from all the grainy bits. The flavour isn’t as chocolatey as you’d expect, but it works.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (1 bar, 23.5 grams): 132 calories, 7.9 grams of fat (5.1 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg cholesterol, 65 mg sodium, 12.9 grams of carbohydrates, 11.5 grams of sugar, unknown grams of fibre, 2 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, whole milk powder, cocoa mash, emulsifier: lecithin (soy), vanillin), sugar, skimmed milk powder, vegetable fat, whole grains expanded (barley, rice, wheat, spelt, buckwheat), dehydrated butter, emulsifier: lecithin (soy), vanillin.

July 20, 2021 Michael

Kinder Happy Hippo – Kinder Meets Ferrero Rocher

Candy Bars

Kinder Happy Hippo is kind of like a Kinder Surprise and a Ferrero Rocher had a baby. A delicious, delicious baby. It’s got the crispy wafer exterior and creamy interior of a Ferrero Rocher, and the white/milk chocolate combo of a Kinder Surprise.

This is a European import (the one I bought seems to be German) and I’m going to have to insist that they bring this to North America ASAP, because it’s surprisingly delicious.

It’s everything you like about Kinder Surprise and Ferrero Rocher crammed into one delicious package. The interior is delightfully soft and creamy, featuring a nice balance between the chocolatey layer and the milky layer, and the wafer exterior features a nice crispiness and a subtle wheaty flavour that helps to balance out the sweet creamy filling. I wasn’t expecting much from this thing and it kind of blew me away.

Manufactured by: Ferrero
Nutritional info (100 grams): 593 calories, 38.6 grams of fat (17.69 grams of saturated fat, unknown grams of trans fat), unknown mg of cholesterol, 26.4 mg of sodium, 53.6 grams of carbohydrates, unknown grams of fibre, 45.1 grams of sugar, 6.7 grams of protein.
Ingredients (Google translated from German): Sugar, vegetable fats (palm, shea), wheat flour (8.5%), whole milk powder (7.5%), low-fat cocoa (5%), skim milk powder (4.5%), hazelnuts, sweet whey powder, semi-dark chocolate (sugar, cocoa mass, cocoa butter, emulsifier: lecithins (soya), vanillin), wheat starch, emulsifier: lecithins (soya), sunflower oil, milk protein, raising agent: ammonium hydrogen carbonate, sodium hydrogen carbonate: salt, vanillin.

June 24, 2021 Michael

Reese’s White – A Downgrade from the Original

Candy Bars

The three major types of chocolate, ranked: dark chocolate > milk chocolate > white chocolate. I’m sorry, but that’s just a fact. White chocolate is okay, but if you prefer it to milk or dark then you need to come to terms with the fact that your opinions are bad.

But of course, like so many would-be white chocolate confections from the major candy-makers, this isn’t actually white chocolate — it’s “white creme.” There’s no cocoa butter in the ingredients, so the word chocolate does not apply.

It’s fine? I guess? Even if it were great quality white chocolate, I don’t think this would have been anything too special; the chocolate/PB combo is magical for a reason, and removing the cocoa flavour from that equation diminishes it quite substantially.

Still, it’s tasty enough. The salty peanut butter does a great job of balancing out the sweetness from the white creme, and with the quantity of PB here, the waxy texture from the fake chocolate isn’t all that noticeable. The whole thing is a clear downgrade from a standard Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, but it’s not bad.

Manufactured by: Hershey
Nutritional info (2 cups, 39 grams): 200 calories, 12 grams of fat (4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat), 0 mg of cholesterol, 150 mg of sodium, 21 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fibre, 18 grams of sugar, 5 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Peanuts, sugar, vegetable oil (palm oil, shea oil, sunflower oil, palm kernel oil, and/or safflower oil), skim milk, dextrose, corn syrup solids, lactose (milk), contains 2% or less of: salt, lecithin (soy), TBHQ and citric acid to maintain freshness, vanillin, artificial flavor, PGPR.

May 12, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat White – It’s Missing Something

Candy Bars

Regular Kit Kat might just be the greatest candy bar on the planet. Kit Kat White & Milk? Also delicious. No, it’s not as good as the original, but what is? So I sort of assumed that Kit Kat White, which forgoes the milk chocolate altogether, would still be delicious.

It is not.

I like white chocolate, but in the context of a Kit Kat, it’s hard not to feel like something is missing. It’s sweet and milky and tasty in its own way, but the added punch of flavour you get from actual chocolate is sorely missed. It feels a bit one-note.

It probably doesn’t help that, like with so many white chocolate confections, it’s not actually white chocolate — if you look at the wrapper, the word “chocolate” is conspicuously absent. That’s because there are various oils in the ingredients (along with cocoa butter), which means that legally, this ain’t chocolate.

Still, it’s not bad (bottom-of-the-barrel mockolate doesn’t bother with cocoa butter at all); it’s fairly creamy and not particularly waxy. The biggest issue is the flavour, or lack thereof. It’s just sweet and crispy — and hey, there’s nothing wrong with that, but I can’t imagine that I’d ever buy this again. Especially when regular Kit Kat is right there, and is like a billion times better.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 41 grams): 210 calories, 11 grams of fat (6 grams of saturated fat, 0.1 grams of trans fat), 5 mg cholesterol, 55 mg sodium, 26 grams of carbohydrates, 21 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugar, modified milk ingredients, cocoa butter, wheat flour, palm, palm kernel, coconut and vegetable oils, cocoa mass, soy and sunflower lecithins, yeast, sodium bicarbonate, calcium sulphate, salt, protease, xylanase, natural flavours.

March 3, 2021March 6, 2021 Michael

Kit Kat Gold – Almost as Delicious as the Original

Candy Bars

Though I had initially assumed that Kit Kat Gold was a spin-off of Hershey’s Gold, they’re actually not affiliated. Remember, while Hershey makes Kit Kat in America, it’s made by Nestle in the rest of the world — and Kit Kat Gold is a Nestle product. I guess the word “gold” is too generic to copyright.

Like the Hershey version, the main draw here is the presence of caramelized white “chocolate,” and like the Hershey version, the chocolate isn’t real. The label simply calls it “caramelized white gold,” and Nestle’s website calls it “caramelized-white chocolatey coating.”

However, as I’ve noticed with other Kit Kat varieties made with mockolate, the presence of the fake stuff doesn’t have much of an impact on the tastiness of the bar. There’s almost no waxiness here, and the presence of the crispy wafers covers up any of the mockolate’s textural shortcomings.

It’s really, really good. This might actually be one of my favourite Kit Kat varieties — the toastiness of the wafers and the mild caramel flavour from the coating is a boffo combination. As usual with Kit Kat varieties, the wafers do a great job of balancing out the overall sweetness of the bar. It’s surprisingly delicious.

Manufactured by: Nestle
Nutritional info (1 bar, 45 grams): 240 calories, 13 grams of fat (7 grams of saturated fat, 0.2 grams of trans fat), 10 mg cholesterol, 40 mg sodium, 27 grams of carbohydrates, 22 grams of sugar, 0 grams of fibre, 3 grams of protein.
Ingredients: Sugars (sugar, glucose), milk ingredients, modified palm and modified vegetable oils, wheat flour, vegetable oil, soy and sunflower lecithin, cocoa powder, polyglycerol polyricinoleate, cocoa butter, unsweetened chocolate, natural and artificial flavours, yeast, baking soda, salt, calcium sulphate, protease, xylanase.