Baked Kit-Kat

In a few short days I travel to Tokyo, I’m excited to say the least. To get myself in the right frame of mind I attended Hyper Japan 2014 (See my Student Wire article). If I’m honest whilst the event seemed to show Japanese culture it had a clear focus on what we expect, such as Kawaii (cute) fashion. I realise it is far from the only thing I will experience whilst I’m in the actual country.

Whilst I was at Hyper Japan, however I did pick up a certain treat I have been hearing a lot about. As some of you may know Kit-Kats are rather popular in Japan, perhaps due to the name being translated as Kitto-Katsu: which roughly translates as certainly win. There is a mountain of weird and wonderful varieties available, such as Green tea, strawberry cheesecake, dark chocolate the list goes on. One of the most popular is baked pudding flavour and often even the dedicated Kit-Kat stores will sell out of them. So I felt pretty certain I had won myself when I found them on sale on a sweet stall.

Now the why out of all the flavours are these so popular? Well, it is because the ‘baked’ part of their name actually describes the preparation not the flavour. That’s right these guys can be cooked. Unfortunately for me the instructions are in Kanji, but after searching for some Youtube videos I know how to cook them. So, after lining a baking tray I was ready to begin baking like Cooking Mama herself.

Ebony and Ivory side by side on my foil-lined baking tray.

When I opened the packet I was hit by a very intense smell of caramel, almost sickly. They are meant to be Crème Brulee flavour so I expected a hint of burnt sugar. I didn’t expect to get a sugar high from the smell alone. I tried one of the fingers, they come in mini-packs of two, uncooked and I wasn’t too impressed. The outside had the appearance of white chocolate, unfortunately not  the taste: it had little flavour and a texture that was rather waxy.

However I persevered and popped the baking tray into the oven, and in the interest of science also included a regular Kit-Kat finger. I put the oven on 180 degrees, but ended up putting it a bit higher. Guides I had read suggested leaving it for four minutes. I wasn’t taking any chances, and on a Saturday night I sat on the kitchen floor eagerly watching the oven.

 

Such an exciting student.

The chocolate started bubbling and after about six minutes the outside started puffing up and turning brown. It had the appearance of puff pastry when I pulled it out. The regular bar just looked a bit burnt, and after a nibble I can confirm it was rather char-grilled. But the baked one was rather different. It had a nice and subtle vanilla aroma and the outside flaked when I picked it off the tray. Taste wise it was Ok, nothing spectacular: Just subtly sweet but not caramel as I had expected. The texture was nice as it fell apart in my mouth.

Neither looked too appealing if I am honest.

 Overall I think the main draw of these is the preparation. Their popularity lies in their novelty and, unfortunately they don’t quite live up to the hype. Unlike some I will not be cancelling my trip to Japan after this disappointment, no instead I will just have to try more flavours once I’m there to make up for it.