Sunday, May 19, 2013

Moringa Creamy BAKE, Cheese Brulee


These are probably the strangest candy I bought in my last NapaJapan order. I've been side-eyeing them for months now, always managing to find some other sweet to eat so I didn't have to find out exactly how accurate these were.

I was inspired by a review by The Review Addict recently for the Fran Collection Fromage Macadamia Pocky-type sticks to finally give these a go. It reminded me that I've tried some weird 'cheesy' Japanese snacks before, and been relieved when I discovered that they weren't actually all that cheesy--more cream cheese, less cheddar.
The appealing thing about these BAKE treats are that they're uh...baked. Really though! The texture is described by NapaJapan as " wonderful [...] the outside is crispy while the center is soft and creamy." You can tell from the image on the package that they're baked, with the browning on top and the illustrated squidginess of the center.
Hot damn, these smell like cheese. Like, fondue. Definitely cheese of European descent, maybe parmesan.  The kind of cheese kids, and persnickety adults, refuse to eat.

I pass them along to my chewing partner, who also says they smell like cheese. Truth in advertising!

We brace ourselves to eat them, wondering if this would be our last moment shared before cheese and candy were both ruined in one fell swoop.
Well the picture also stinks much like cheese, but just maybe you can tell that it is soft and almost bubbly in the center, with a crunch on the outside. I guess the most similar texture would be a perfectly under-baked cookie or brownie. I loved the texture, if you sucked on them it just sort of all collapsed eventually, and if you crunched them you had a nice balance of crispy bits to crunch and soft bits to savor.

It tasted nothing like how it smelled, which is probably a very good thing as it smelled like a pretty formidable savory cheese. Instead, it tasted like lemon cheesecake! Or a lemon roulade cake. Actually, it is incredibly similar to a meringue lemon roulade that my husband's aunt made. It was a sweet fresh lemon taste that was crispy on the outside, with a creamy filling. Basically, it is like eating a miniature version of that without any of the effort that comes with a roulade.

If I really think about it, there is a bit of a cheesy undercurrent, therefore the lemon cheesecake comparisons, but I was quite surprised how strongly this tasted of lemon. I don't know if it's just a trick of my tastebuds, maybe protecting me from a sweetened gouda or something, but if someone would've told me that I just ate a lemon cream flavored cookie, I wouldn't have been surprised.

I really loved the texture of these, and the taste was quite nice too if you're a fan of citrus and don't mind smelling cheese while you eat lemons. I definitely plan to put either the regular chocolate or white chocolate into my cart next time I order from NapaJapan.

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