pancake flavored Kit Kats

A couple of weeks ago, I got my paws on a box of limited edition pancake-flavored Kit Kats, a collaboration with San-X's Rilakkuma! As a lover of all things Rilakkuma, I asked a shopping service to help me purchase a box of these so I could try out this exclusive new flavor.



Although I've personally only tried a handful of Kit Kat flavors (green tea, jasmine tea, cherry, strawberry) aside from the typical milk chocolate, I found this one to be pretty unique compared to the U.S. Kit Kat offerings.


Above: How are we going to split these?



At 1,050 yen (~$14 USD) for a sturdy packaged presentation box of 12 Kit Kats, these are definitely the most expensive Kit Kats I've eaten.



The box almost looks as if it could be given as a gift -- check out the little Rilakkuma popping through the punch out!

The actual Kit Kat bars are wrapped in a larger clear plastic bag.



The individual Kit Kat bars are branded with Rilakkuma as well.



Upon first glance, the bars look like white chocolate, but they smell a lot sweeter, almost like maple brown sugar. Note that the bars are actually smaller than the "fun size" versions given out at Halloween in the United States. I'm not sure if these are considered the "half finger size" bars that Nestle produces, as I have actually had even smaller bars than these (1/2 this size) from the candy jar at work!





The flavor is reminiscent of a sweet maple, almost coffee flavor -- so basically imitating pancakes with syrup (or really just syrup). If you were expecting them to taste like bready pancakes without syrup, you're out of luck!

While the flavor is pleasant, I think I would best use these as gifts or to give to friends since they're quite a bit more expensive than the typical Kit Kat (especially with our poor exchange rate in relation to Japan).

If only I had these during last year's Valentine's Day to match my Rilakkuma and Korilakkuma Valentine sachets!





Surprisingly, per Wikipedia, there are tons of Kit Kat flavors listed, many of which are offered in other countries like Japan.

"Kit Kat" also sounds a lot like the phrase "Kitto Katsu" in Japanese, which equates to "surely win," a good luck phrase often used before students' exams (source). It's no wonder that Japan has by far the most Kit Kat flavors in the world!

My boyfriend and I are actually visiting Japan for our vacation in April, so hopefully I'll be able to try out a couple more elusive flavors! (As well as stock up on more Rilakkuma pancake Kit Kats!) They have some weird ones like cheese or soy sauce. I wouldn't mind trying the sweet potato or cucumber myself!