Mint KitKat Chunky, UK Edition

I was so ready for this to be the edible equivalent of a shrug. Mint chocolate is something I always approach with quite a bit of reservation, it just makes me think of gross kid's toothpaste most of the time. Something they would've added 'chocolate' to in order to get kids interested in brushing their teeth.  I wasn't the only person that had gross kid's toothpaste, right? I can't even smell bubblegum these days without thinking about that toothpaste...

Anyway, mint chocolate usually seems a bit over sweet to me, like it is trying to compensate for mint's natural herbal freshness by burying it in sugar. For instance, I really don't care for Mint Aero, it just seems like chocolate coating something that I'm supposed to swish around in my mouth and then spit out.

Which brings me to another interesting point about mint chocolates. Mint freshens your breath, you get some mint in your mouth before a date or an important meeting, of course. Chocolate gives you cat breath- muggy, sweet, and unpleasant. You can't have it both ways, your breath will smell like a self conscious cat.  Sorry mint chocolateers, pick a side.

Then again, I've had mint chocolate that I enjoy...like Thin Mints.

If you're in the UK or elsewhere and don't know about Thin Mint cookies, they come from Girl Scouts in the USA. Girl Scouts are little pixies who come around to your house and ask you if you want cookies, and if you do, how many cookies you want.  When they ask you this, say Thin Mints and Do-si-Dos. How many? However many they got.

Thin Mints somehow manage to be super delicious, super sweet, chocolatey, and minty. Maybe it's because they don't play around with any 'creme' or anything, it is just chocolate, peppermint oil, and a crunchy cookie base.

See where I'm going here? The Mint KitKat Chunky is comparable to a Thin Mint. So comparable that I want somebody to do a cheesecake base with this stuff, or make some ice cream mix-ins.

It isn't too sweet, and it isn't too minty. There is no mint fondant, just mint-doused chocolate and crispy wafer. It really, really works, and I was ready to roll my eyes all over this one. I see that Mint and Chocolate Fudge are currently neck-and-neck for the Chunky Champion of this year. Coconut is my favorite so far (I haven't tried Hazelnut) but I'll be pretty pleased if Mint sticks around. Meanwhile, if Choc Fudge wins I'm going to leap out of a window. Not to my death, or anything, just sort of a protest ankle twisting.

Coconut rules, mint isn't for fools, hazelnut could be cools, but choc fudge drools!