January 1st/2nd: Ritter Sport Weiss + Crisp

Kcal ??? Fat ??? Fat(sats) ??? Carbs ???

HAPPY 2011!!! ChocolateMission is back, and boy is it back with a bang!!! I couldn't think of any more appropriate bar to start the year off with than Ritter Sport's 2011 flavour of the year. I was sent this bar back in October 2010 as part of Ritter's bloggers tasting panel to give them some early feedback on what I thought (hence the stock photo of the wrapper above!), suffice to say I've been excited about telling you all about it for a good while now. So what is flavour of the year for 2011? Why of course it is the 'Weiss + Crisp' variant - that's 'White & Crisp' to us Brits! Formed of 'white chocolate and cornflake cereal pieces' this was a rare opportunity to see what Ritter could do with their white chocolate.

As I said above I received this in sampling form so all the 100.0g bars came delivered to me in unmarked Ritter packs. I'm making assumptions about the wrapper, but looking at the design of it I would say that it retains the modern feel of the Ritter brand and manages to communicate the flavour theme in an unfussy manner. My first impressions of the chocolate that were that is was absolutely jam packed full of cornflakes at the base. Compared to the milk chocolate Knusperflakes bar, the chocolate seemed to have more cereal - I guess this is something we can check out when the details emerge on the Ritter website.

What with Ritter being so kind to send multiple bars along, I was able to share them with the rest of my family who are also experienced Ritter Sport consumers. Aroma wise the chocolate smelt nice and offered a dairy based set of scents that had minor biscuity hints. Breaking the bars apart did cause fragments of cereal to disperse themselves but this worried us all very little as soon as we had the chocolate in our mouths. I think we all know that white chocolate isn't my favourite type, but boy was I loving this stuff! It was sinfully creamy in taste and although sweet it never developed an over reliance on it's sugaryness. As the smooth melt of the chocolate progressed an ever developing note of vanilla came to the party and was the lasting impression left in the mouth. The cereal constituents were also well integrated. The corn flavours may not has been as powerful as any nuts, but the saltyness of cereal complimented to the sweet taste of the chocolate wonderfully. This was such a moreish chocolate, I had no problems eating over a half a bar in one sitting - it was that good!

Overall the Ritter Sport bars of the Year haven't always been the best the brand has to offer (See last years HERE), but we should all be very pleased that this Weiss + Crisp is going to be around for at least 12 months. Ever since I reviewed the Ritter Sport White & Whole Hazelnut bar back in 2008 (See HERE), I have been a massive advocate the Ritter should try make a few more variants using their white chocolate recipe. Up until now, Ritter have only obliged with a smattering of white chocolate in their summer bars, but this bar here provides us with further evidence that they really need to start using it an awful lot more. Ritter Sport's white chocolate is quite frankly delicious, and as showcased here pairing it with cornflakes made for a really top combination. I needn't have to say anything more about this particular flavour other than you should try it if you like white chocolate. What a cracking start to the year, fingers crossed everything lives up the standard set here.

8.4 out of 10