A few months ago they released this new version, which is a baked cheesecake flavor. I much prefer baked ('New York style') cheesecakes to the mousse-y style ones, but in Japan it's way more common to find a light, whipped cheesecake.
They're also usually 'raw', which just means they haven't been baked. So if you're in Japan and you see something called a 'raw cheese pie', don't worry - it's just a light cheesecake - and they're pretty good! In Japan, cheesecakes also tend to have a bit 'cheesier' of a taste, which I do enjoy. So, I was expecting an interesting little KitKat here.
When I opened the bag, it smelled just like lemons. To be fair, cheesecakes across the world do tend to be scented with lemon, which goes very well with the creamy, tangy cheese that makes up the base of a cheesecake. It was a lemon cream smell rather than a tangy lemon candy, and it was definitely not a super gross lemon floor cleaner smell.
When eaten 'raw' style, they're sweet, creamy lemon with a subtle tang. They're actually lovely KitKats without the cooking gimmick, and I can see a flavor like this playing well as a Chunky. The lemon balances out the sweetness, and instead of being an incredibly sugary white chocolate, it's a bit more a milky confection. Don't get me wrong, it is sweet - but when a flavor like this could be sickly, there is enough tang & fattiness to offset that.
Now, I had a lot more trouble cooking these than I did before. Let me give you all a piece of advice - don't grill them. I don't know what possessed me to try it, but somehow I got it in my head that was I had done it. If you look at my review for the Baked Pudding version, you'll see my original instructions & the way I did them the first time. They turned out much better then.
As you can see, when grilled they crust up on the top & just melt away at the bottom. I think you really need to do these at a pretty high but consistent heat - so for me, my fan assisted oven on around 200 (being watched closely for burns) is what will probably work best.
The crispy top layer had very little lemon taste, just a hint, making it actually a very accurate rendition of an average cheesecake's level of lemon. It really very tasty, tangy & sweet with some sort of creamy edge...basically, it's a very good approximation of cheesecake flavor. The only thing that stops it from being totally cheesecake though is, funny enough, it's very gimmick. Cheesecake doesn't have a crispy top, baked or not. It's usually very smooth! However, some of that comes down to me over-grilling my KitKats.
When it comes to bakeable KitKats, I think the ones that translated best were the simple custard pudding version, but these are a close second.
You can get these in the UK at TofuCute - and that's about it! Since many Japanese snack sites take down their chocolates for the summer months, we're just outta luck. Even though I feel like any chocolates shipped to us here in Fog City, Raintown, UK would be fine, I guess they have to account for people living in Sunnyvale, California (an actual place). Anyway, be thankful UK & European readers - we're about the only ones who can get our hands on these right now!
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