DIY Dino Island Pudding

RAWRRRRRRRRRRRR!!! Sorry, just have to get in the spirit here, as we're going back into prehistoric times where canines definitely weren't a thing. Sad days those were... but instead we have these giant (well, actually small green plastic) dinos roaming the earth. And what better surface to roam in than scrumptious pudding? At least I hope it's scrumptious. And hearty enough to satisfy my inner T-rex.

The contents here are surprisingly simple, just a mold, the two dinos, and packets for the pudding and sauce. Sadly the utensils needed, as well as the cup to mix the pudding in, nor the milk to mix the pudding with, is not included. Thankfully I have all the necessary things. But for those who don't and want to follow along, get them or you'll be disappointed.

I don't usually arrive at the final conclusion so early with these DIY kits, but alas there wasn't much to show in the middle. The steps basically are: mix the pudding powder with milk, microwave it, leave it in the fridge, and then pop it out of the tray and put the sauce and dino toys on top of it. Pretty straightforward, though I didn't know how long to leave it in the fridge. I left it in for an hour, maybe should've been two. As I can't read Japanese, who knows.

Despite being a little messy, the pudding is still delightfully eggy, with more richness as this one takes on a darker color than some of the other pudding I've had. I have conflicted feelings about the strawberry sauce though: well it seems like a nice idea, every bite I have with it completely masks the pudding flavor, and you know I wouldn't want that.  It's nice on its own though, a little oversweet. I find myself wanting more from even the pudding component though, it's nice but not with the depth and perfect balance of sweetness and richness that I'm used to. If anything it needs some more sweetness and a stronger pudding flavor to really draw out what makes this great. I do have to say this is a really nice concept. Visually one of the best DIYs and it's such a simple idea too.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

Kit Kats: Caramel Pudding, Tokai Red Bean Sandwich, Strawberry Cheesecake

What an interesting trio of Kit Kats! I'm stoked for all of these flavors, but particularly the pudding one, as anyone who's seen me review a pudding snack would know. The red bean sandwich one is certainly a mystery in taste to me as I've never had a red bean sandwich myself. The cheesecake one of course I have a good idea of how it'll taste, having had snacks in this kind of flavor before.

The caramel pudding flavor doesn't appear to have much caramel with the pudding judging by the color, but the smell seems to tell otherwise I get some eggy pudding deliciousness in the smell, but also lots of caramel, almost overshadowing it completely. I hope this doesn't upset the balance of flavor, as these two are amazing in ths right proportions.

Looks like I didn't have to worry too much about that. The caramel dominates the smell but I get more pudding in the taste, though something seems off about this pudding flavor. It's a lot more gritty and shallow, and I'm not too much a fan. The caramel also seems that way, being way too sweet rather than rich tasting. It could be the adaptation to this crunchy wafer texture, but they could've easily done a way better job even on the flavor with that in mind. As it is now it's not too pleasant to eat.

Rating: 2 - Awrr

Pakkuncho Disney Custard Pudding Biscuits

Two pudding snacks in this month's TokyoTreat? Double the arooo! This also seems to be a limited edition snack so if I like it, better try it now while it's still around. There are also some nice Disney easter designs on thiese, this one with Donald... holding an egg with his tail? Maybe I could be the package mascot if I was able to do that, better get onto training.

Not only do the biscuits in side smell great but they have some great designs on them as well. I can only name two of the characters on these for sure, I think the top left is Peter Pan and the bottom right is Zazu? There must be a variety of designs on here for a more obscure character like Zazu to be on them, so kudos to Disney for the great variety. The pudding smell from these is absolutely tantalizing and onto of that a fresh baked cookie smell, mmm.

The custard filling in these cookies is a little more liquid than the other snack in this box which is always appreciated. Still not incredibly runny but enough to melt around the cookie in my mouth and create a great mix of flavors. The cookie also complements the custard well, having a little more substance to it. The custard flavor doesn't come out as much as I'd like it to though, and it feels like this snack is missing something... maybe a bit of caramel? Feels a bit empty, and after eating all of these, I don't feel very satisfied. They also have a very dry taste. That being said, this is still pudding and delicious cookie flavor with a satisfying crunch, but it could be so much more.

Rating: 6 - Aruff!

Kyoro-Chan's Custard Pudding Snack

We finally get some pudding in TokyoTreat, ruff ruff! Interestingly enough these are chocolate flavored as well, which is a combination I don't believe I've had before. They are also supposed to look like Easter eggs per the packaging, which by the way is so cute with the bird popping out of the egg! I hope that doesn't actually happen with this snack because that would be pretty creepy.

I was surprised to learn that not only do these snacks look like eggs, but there's an Easter egg hunt right on the box! On the last try I finally found Kyoro-chan, that sneaky little rascal. The egg appearance of the candies is really nice, not only in shape, but the white color and specks are all very realistic and fun. And the smell coming from the box is absolutely tantalizing. While these are chocolate on the outside, the custard smell comes through loud and clear and I can't wait.

Interestingly enough though, the custard filling is more of a solid crispy wafer texture than the thick liquid-y texture of normal pudding. The flavor still comes through nicely. The chocolate seems to be white chocolate which actually works better, as the milky flavor blends better with the also milk-based custard. The milky flavor of these is also what sticks out the most, with the eggy pudding flavor as an accent. It's not what I was expecting but I do quite like it. It gets a little stale after a while but still a creamy milky delight in each bite. Makes me feel all cozy like I was inside an eggshell! But of course with all the energy to burst out and play.

Rating: 8 - Rowf!

Lotte Barbapapa Custard Cake

You know me and pudding snacks. Just the sight of a picture of pudding, with the delicious eggy base and caramel coating gets my tail going and my maw drooling. And if you put this in a cake!? Well, this reminds me of a bread from Yakitate!! Japan which was a pudding-filled kouign amann, and I really wanted to bake it myself, but I couldn't find any recipe... maybe one day. But now I have this as a possible substitute! The cake could allow just the starchy base needed to complete the amazingness that is Japanese pudding.

One little unexpected touch with this box is there's a craft hidden inside! On the bottom you can cut out the pink blob-looking character and glue on some arms to have him hug whichever lucky pudding cake deserves his warmth. Of course all of them do because this stuff is bound to be really delicious, though I suppose he can hug all of them before they are ravenously consumed by me. Of course not the first one, because I'll end up flooding the den with drool if I have to wait that long.

Maruta Purin Gokko

Ah pudding, my old friend. It's certainly been a while but don't think I've forgotten about you. How your eggy creaminess pairs perfectly with your gelatinous texture, throwing my senses into cloud nine floating on some light but tasty egg custard... and this time I get to have a part in making it myself! We'll see if that measures up, or it should stay premade.

Well the contents might be the simplest of any DIY I've seen so far, it's just a cup, powder, and straw. Though I guess that's all you really need. Only slightly disappointing is that this means there won't be a separate caramel layer which really does add a lot to the pudding. The powder, strangely enough, seems to be a mix of things, there is one part that looks like tiny white sprinkles and another that is purely powder. I guess this makes sense as several components are in there.

Petit Pudding Jelly Custard

It's definitely common knowledge now that this pup loves pudding, and on my run to Nijiya Market to get some pudding I also saw this and couldn't take my paws off of it. So here we are, with more pudding, this time in jelly form. I've also noticed that many Japanese sweets have this jelly format, and it's nice for a quick sweet burst of a flavor. While I'd rather have pudding flavor around all the time, I'm sure this will be quite the pleasant burst.

Hapi Pudding

So after that wonderful pudding marshmallow I've been itching to try real Japanese pudding. Maybe the flavor was everything I could ever hoped for and I'll devour pudding for the rest of my life, or maybe the marshmallow was a one-time miracle. Regardless, I'm wagging my tail already and panting happily at the thought of getting to try the origin behind that filling I know and love. Thankfully on the prowl at my local Japanese market last night, there was a 3 pack of these right there and I knew exactly what to do.

Yaokin Pudding Marshmallow

For once I'm going to cut the fancy introduction and just say these things are incredible. So incredible that this was actually the first thing I ate when I first got the November Japan Crate a month ago, and it was so good that I immediately ordered two of these giant bags of them. This is a real gem, in fact my tail is already going a mile a minute at the chance to try these again. In fact I think my instincts are taking ove---AWOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!