July 20th: Kinder Happy Hippo Biscuit / Cocoa Cream

Kcal 120 Fat 8.0g Fat(sats) 3.0g Carbs 9.0g (both variants)

I quite frankly lost count of the amount of times that these have been requested for me to review...I think they must be one of the most requested of all time and not being one to let my readers down I have duly obliged and today sees me reviewing the Kinder Happy Hippo range.

Im pretty sure these are a product that are distributed all round Europe but for those who have no clue what these are let me explain. In proposition these are both remarkably similar to the Kinder Bueno. Both variants are formed of a outer layer of wafer and sugary 'meringue' crunchy pieces covering their respective flavoured fillings. The original 'Biscuit' variant contained a hazelnut like creme whilst the 'Cocoa Cream' contained a chocolate and vanilla flavoured centre. Each Hippo weighed in at 20.7g and came wrapped in a cellophane wrapper. The Hippos themselves looked nicely presented, the outer sugary crunchy pieces did fall off all over the place when handled but they looked nice and decorative...my only question is where are the Hippo's smiles?? They didnt look too happy to me...quite sad if anything lol!

I tryed the 'Biscuit' variant first and was impressed by the sweet nutty smell that emerged once removed from the wrapper. The 'Chocolate Cream' variant had less of a distinctive smell and was just more sweet than anything else. In both variants the sugary pieces smelt very much like milky white chocolate and the wafer had a nice malty smell to it.

I decided to eat the three sections in a variety of ways...first nibbling, then munching in one and then letting it melt on my tongue. By far and away the most fun and flavoursome was the nibbling away at each component option. This maximised the relatively flavourless taste of the wafer - in both variants it had little more than a slightly sweet malt flavour like the smell suggested. The 'meringue' outerpieces in both variants had a very similar taste...almost entirely of sugar! Yes they added a nice decorative touch and textured crunchyness, but flavourswise they added nothing but a sharp injection of sugaryness...if it was up to me I would still include them, just with less of a presence than both the current variants have them.

Lets get down to business end of things...the creamy fillings YUM OH YUM!! As stated above the 'Biscuit' original variant had a hazelnut filling which was almost idential to the one found in the Kinder Bueno...just a little more vanilla noted though. The filling was in a word DREAMY!! Seriously smooth with a texture that just melted on the tongue into a long smooth buttery nutty taste....this filling is seriosuly the stuff of dreams. The 'Chocolate Cream' version was not quite of the same standard but still highly enjoyable. The flavours of the vanilla and chocolate seemed to be less impactful, though still as wonderfully smooth. Looking at the ingredients cocoa only accounted for 4% of the total ingredients...maybe the cocoa could be more generously portioned to give it a more intense chocolaty taste....it just simply didnt have the same flavour depth of the hazelnut 'Biscuit' alternative.

Overall these seriously should come with some sort of health warning...they are simply addictive! I started this morning with a pack of 5 of each and now as of 4pm I am left with only two of each pack left - these are a tad moreish to say the least. The wafer and 'meringue' coatings in both lacked flavour though the simply divine creamy centres in both variants more than made up for their shortcomings...especially the hazelnut creme in the 'Biscuit' version. I very much recommend both of these...they are not the most well rounded or fulfiling products ever rated on Chocolate Mission but still theres no doubting these are fun, tasty products.

Kinder Happy Hippo 'Biscuit' 7.5 out of 10
Kinder Happy Hippo 'Chocolate Cream' 7.2 out of 10