Earlier this week I reviewed a fine UK limited edition KitKat, the Toffee Treat. While very tasty, it wasn't necessarily as innovative as a lot of the Japanese limited editions that come out. It's fair enough, the consumer purchasing power in the UK is both a lot more traditional, and just far fewer actual consumers...Luckily, importing exotic treats is quite easy in this day & age. Imagine our grandfathers' & grandmothers' plight to get rare Japanese KitKats. That much patience, they truly were the greatest generation.
Before I go on, I must tell all of my UK readers that yes, these KitKats are easily procured here in the UK still! Even though it's been awhile since Halloween, you can still get them at Japan Centre, online & probably in store. Even better than that, they're actually on sale - a bag of 12 mini bars for about £10. Not bad at all for a treat - make this Valentine's Day spooky & bakeable, perhaps? The best holidays are, after all.
So the packaging, as usual, is super cute. This year it seemed to be quite difficult to differentiate between the bakeable pumpkin & regular pumpkin, which I believe was also re-released. I've already reviewed the normal pumpkin pudding KitKats here. The 2013 pumpkin pudding packaging is very similar to this year, except this one is bakeable - I'm sure the difference is made very clear if you read Japanese, but just double check that you are purchasing the version you want. The Japan Centre is selling the bakeable one for sure, though!
I like this cute little witch with the spoon.
The spice on this is very subtle - if you're used to American pumpkin spice flavors you'll be surprised by the gently warming spice rather than the cinnamon & nutmeg blast. When not baked it does it taste a bit like a squash or 'real' pumpkin more than anything else, with a strong background of vanilla or white chocolate.
Basically, it tastes almost exactly like 2013's pumpkin pudding KitKat, gently warm sweet pumpkin. Except this one can be baked!
Here it is after a huge blast in the oven grill - there are better ways to cook these, but it takes some practice. I actually quite like the brulee style with quite a crisp top, but you can bake it on a lower heat for a longer amount of time and get a more even browning rather than just crisping the top & making the bottom gooey.
You can get a bit more info about how to bake these in my previous review for the bakeable custard pudding variety, and you can see how these look when cooked a bit more slowly & at a lower temperature.
The flavor of the pumpkin dissipates in these when baked, and in it's place is a sweet & just slightly spicy flavor.
Honestly, I really liked them but the taste wasn't that different from the custard pudding variety. It was only just a bit spicier. I love the bakeable KitKats, and I'll gladly try any other flavors that come down the pipeline, but this one wasn't exactly a mind-blower. I hope that maybe the next flavor will be milk or dark chocolate, just to change things up a bit. They're absolutely worth a pick up, especially if you haven't tried the custard pudding version and therefore don't know the magic of a gooey, crispy KitKat yet.
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