21 March 2011

Hershey’s Kisses – Cookies and Cream (Sainsbury’s) [By @Cinabar]



Hershey’s chocolate is not something that I really have a soft spot for. I have tried a few bars, and to be fair most are okay, but the regular milk chocolate has an after taste that always makes me wary of the brand.
We also don’t get much Hershey’s chocolate here in the UK anyway. Reeses seems to have improved its visibility over recent months, but this is the first time I have seen Hershey’s chocolate in a UK supermarket, and it is also the first time I have tried Hershey’s Kisses. I did spot an article saying that Hershey’s Kisses were headed toward British shores, but it implied they would be an Asda exclusive, and these ones were on the shelves of Sainsbury’s.


They are in quite a distinctive pouch, shaped like one of the Hershey’s Kisses chocolates, and so were quite easy to spot on the shelf. The pouch tears open across the top and inside were eight blue foil wrapped chocolates. They are quite sweet as each ones has a paper tag which says ‘kisses’ flying like a flag from the top of each cone. The pouch also has a Hershey banner in a similar manner too. When you peel back the foil on the chocolates, this turns out to be the top of a paper ribbon with the words ‘Hershey’s Kisses’ repeated and wrapped round the chocolate inside.
I have to say before even eating one of these the packaging has already made me smile which is a good sign! I understand that Hershey’s Kisses are available in a mix of flavours in The States, but these ‘Cookies and Cream’ variety were the only flavour available in my local supermarket.


Each chocolate looks quite smart too, mainly white chocolate but with visible dark biscuit crumbs clearly hiding within. Each one looks smooth and shiny and is in that distinctive Hershey Kisses shape.
Biting into one provide a sweet and creamy treat. The white chocolate is full of flavour, and has a hint of vanilla about it too. The biscuit pieces are dark and tasty, more like Oreo or Bourbon biscuit rather than a creamy flavour. I liked the contrast in the two flavours and felt that the biscuit pieces added a lovely crunch. I enjoyed these far more than I imagined I would, and actually felt that these were quite moreish. It was a shame that there were so few in the pack and that I was sharing them with other tasters.
The only question I have is, who are these aimed at? They are a bit too substantial for a treat that you would buy just for yourself, but they are also not quite worthy of being a gift. Traditional share bag always have more content and there aren’t quite enough to share, particularly if you normally buy a large bag of M&Ms for a film night with friends or some such. Having said that, if you have an American friend who has been missing their Hershey’s Kisses – I think they would very much love to receive a pouch of these!
Have you seen any Hershey’s chocolates in shops local to you? Were there any other flavours available?
By Cinabar

3 comments:

Lot-O-Choc said...

I tried these once when I was in America, thought they were better than the usual milk chocolate they do, not a fan to be honest. They've just brought out loads of their stuff at my local asda..theres a giant hersheys kiss, milk chocolate, extra creamy milk chocolate, dark chocolate (all normal sized kisses), then a milk almond bar, a milk bar and a dark bar!

cinabar said...

I am going to have to make a trip to asda - and see what's available. Are all the Kisses in similar pouches?

cinabar said...

I might try and brave a bag of the milk chocolate kisses if I see them - but I don't like the flavour of the milk chocolate bars, so I am a bit wary.