October 14th: Hershey's Kisses / Marshmallow / HUGS / Peanut Butter / Dark Raspberry / Cherry Cordial / Chocolate Truffle

This truly is the definition of a super-post! As I informed you last week, with my first round of Hershey's Kisses reviews, ***I SHOP 4 YOU II*** literally sent me the widest range of Kisses I have ever seen. Today's reviews touch on truffles, limited editions, peanut butter, brand extensions ... phew where do I start ....

Hershey's Kisses Chocolate Marshmallow

Kcal 210 Fat 13.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 24.0g

These Marshmallow Kisses combined a milk chocolate coating with a marshmallow centre. They had nice funky chequered wrappers, though the Kisses themselves had a greasy look and feel.

The greasy surface area meant that the outer chocolate had a very soft and quick melt. The chocolate was creamy and avoided the tangy Hershey's milk chocolate aftertaste. I was expecting a lighter, less dense marshmallow centre, though it was more like the consistency of a creme. Tastewise the marshmallow element reminded me of the Vanilla Creme Kisses, just lacking the vanilla.

The nature of the centre meant that these tasted very sweet and on the whole were not that enjoyable. Personally I feel the marshmallow centre could have been executed better- why not just use a product similar to Fluff!? By and large disappointing.

6.5 out of 10

Hershey's HUGS

Kcal 210 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 23.0g

The premise behind these HUGS are that the original milk chocolate Kisses are being 'hugged' by white chocolate. These were a funky looking mix of white and milk chocolate, and had a very similar smell to the Hershey's Milk Chocolate Kisses - a tangy, milky smell that wasn't the most appetising.

I enjoyed the melt of these HUGS, each one melted at a nice rate in the mouth allowing the flavours to fully develop. These tasted like an even milkier version of the original milk chocolate Kisses. They were neither stunningly well flavoured or wholly satisfying, but they were relatively enjoyable. Worth trying if you like very milky chocolate.

7.5 out of 10

Hershey's Kisses Peanut Butter

Kcal 230 Fat 15.0g Fat(sats) 7.0g Carbs 21.0g

A Hershey's peanut butter product that has no tie in with Reese's!?? Errr why!? Who knows eh! These Peanut Butter Kisses had a very greasy look and feel, you can only assume this was a result of the peanut butter centres. The Kisses had a nice nut element to their aroma, despite the greasiness they were presented nicely.

I enjoyed these immensely. The chocolate seemed more flavoursome than with most Reese's milk chocolate products, it provided a nice creamy milky outer layer and had a pleasant smooth melt. The peanut butter didn't quite reach the highly flavoursome level of Reese's peanut butter, but it still provided a great creamy filling. At times it lacked that kick of saltiness, but overall it was still very satisfying. The best from the Kisses range I have tasted so far.

8.0 out of 10

Hershey's Kisses Dark Raspberry
Kcal 180 Fat 12.0g Fat(sats) 8.0g Carbs 25.0g

Limited Edition alert!!! I have no idea the reasoning behind these being released as a limited edition. Normally limited editions have some holiday tie-in but these seemingly not - I have heard whispers about valentines day!? As you can tell by the name these were an amalgamation of Hershey's dark chocolate and artifical raspberry flavours.

The product looked nice, though I was surprised when I cross sectioned one to see that it was completely solid. The product had a very strong fruity jam smell, it was poignant yet at the same time artificial.

After finding the dark chocolate Kisses to my liking in last weeks round up, I was disappointed at the sheer lack of strength of cocoa I got from these. The artificial raspberry flavouring very much dominated the taste of the product. It was very sweet, very synthetic, and just very very sickly. I really wouldn't recommend these.

5.9 out of 10

Hershey's Kisses Cherry Cordial
Kcal 180 Fat 7.0g Fat(sats) 4.5g Carbs 30.0g

Yet another limited edition, and another fruity chocolate combination. These varied to Dark Raspberry in that the outer coating was the standard milk chocolate, whilst the fruity centre was formed of a liquid cherry cordial.

The product looked nice, the cross section revealed an interesting looking pink coloured centre. The smell of these Kisses was particularly sweet and fruity, the cherry element was very detectable.

The outer milk chocolate had a very quick melt and had a nice creamy taste. The cherry cordial was surprisingly dense in it's viscosity. The cherry flavour was very strong, and unsurprisingly artificial. The fondant sugaryness did have an initial slight appeal but it soon became very sickly. These are not a flavour you would want to eat in large quantities at a time. Far from abysmal, but far from the best in the range.

6.6 out of 10

Hershey's Kisses Chocolate Truffle

Kcal 21o Fat 14.0g Fat(sats) 9.0g Carbs 25.0g

I have been informed these are a relatively new flavour. Like with some of the other Kisses I found these to have a greasy look and feel. The layering was pretty distinct when cross sectioned and could be clearly made out.

These were a rather puzzling option for me, despite texture differences the layers didn't vary at all in taste. The outer chocolate had an extremely soft, quick melt; it took a matter of seconds for the harder centre to be revealed. The centre had a thick, grittier feel, I guess this was supposed to accentuate the truffle like features, however I just really didn't enjoy its texture too much. The taste was pleasant, though at the same time quite forgettable. It was not quite as strongly flavoured as the standard milk chocolate Kisses, and had a milkier overall taste. I would personally recommend the original milk chocolate Kisses over these, but if you wish to avoid the tangy aftertaste these are a good option.

7.o out of 10

Phew .... who knew chocolate blogging could be so tiring eh!? These were a real mixed bunch. It seems that Hershey's really do struggle with their fruit flavours! Would it really be too hard to use natural fruit juices to achieve cherry and raspberry flavours? Surely they would be far better than these poor artificial flavourings. Anyway, out of the Kisses range so far the Peanut Butter ones have been by far my favourite, though the HUGS are definitely worth a look at if you like milky chocolate ... I'm off for a lie down in a dark room :)

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