Review: Lindt Hello Assorted Chocolate Mini Sticks

This line of “Hello” chocolates from Lindt is not new, but they’ve been taunting me from the candy aisle at Target since last fall. Around Christmas time I even snapped a photo of the assorted mini sticks in their fancy holiday-accented bag, as if to mark them for future consumption.

That day, I also texted a photo of a 22 oz. cherry gummy bear to my husband. He didn’t take the hint, and there was no super awesome giant gummy in my stocking. Oh, the sads. Target doesn’t have the mega bear in stores right now, but the Lindt chocolates are always around, so I figured it was about time I give in and buy the damn things.

The Hello chocolates actually come in several forms: full segmented bars (which include additional flavors not mentioned here), segmented single sticks, “bits” that are like individual bite size chocolates, and these mini bars. I chose the assorted mini bars bag so I could try four different kinds with one purchase… AND, Target had them on sale last week, so yay.

One thing I find odd is that there are 14 bars in the bag, and 4 flavors. So, for two of the flavors you only get 3 bars. Why wouldn’t they just put 16 bars in the bag and give 4 of each flavor? Even the serving size is 4 pieces.

Out of their individual foil packages, the bars are well-formed, even after being jostled around in the bag. Each one has something stamped on the top to go with the product line, like little hearts, or their cute slogan “Nice to Sweet You.” Love that. Since I write headlines for the magazine all the time, I’m a sucker for fun wordplay!

I started out with the Strawberry Cheesecake flavor, as it intrigued me the most. Wow, this thing really does taste just like cheesecake! I think the creamy, fluffy texture of the filling helps. Wait, what are those little crunchy bits? Strawberries! And there are little other crunchy things! It doesn’t say this on the bag anywhere, but a quick search reveals those to be “biscuit pieces.” Yum. The Lindt milk chocolate was good and smooth as ever here, and the ratio really compliments the filling. Overall, a really interesting and well-done take on cheesecake. I was left wondering what the cheesecake filling alone might taste like, or with flavors other than strawberry (Caramel? Cookie?).

Next up, Crunchy Nougat. Ooh. Again, in the bag-style packaging there aren’t individual descriptions of the bars anywhere, but I expected something more brittle-like. Lindt’s other packaging refers to the filling as “nougat, hazelnut brittle and wafer pieces.” Hmm. They don’t look particularly interesting on the inside, and I’m not sure I get all of those flavors in a bite, but it doesn’t freaking matter — this bar is damn good. The overall flavor really reminds me of a Kit Kat. Also, it may just be warm in my office, but I’m just realizing these bars can be a bit melty if you hold it between two fingers too long while analyzing the taste. *licks fingers*

On to Caramel Brownie, which I had high hopes for since I love caramel. This one has a thin caramel layer at the top, and a brownie filling underneath with chocolate crunchy bits. As you can see in the picture, there seems to be a thicker outer chocolate shell on this one. Hmm. There’s something odd here. An aftertaste bordering on… minty? It should also be noted I’m not a big fan of brownies, but I expected more of a salty/sweet effect with this combination, and was let down. It was almost too sweet. Not bad, but not a favorite. I’m going to try this one again later and see if my opinion changes.

Cookies and Cream is always a favorite flavor of mine, though the usual solid white chocolate with cookie bits bar usually leaves me wanting more. Well, less, really… those are damn sweet. But this bar is done really well. Here, the fluffy cream filling is much more pleasing, and while the flavor does somewhat remind me of a Hershey’s Cookies ‘n’ Crème bar, the texture in combo with the milk chocolate shell is superior. I’ll crave this one for sure.

Would I Buy Them Again? Yep, sure would, though I’d probably try the bigger sticks that are sold individually next, and pick the flavors I liked best. If I had to rank them right now, Crunchy Nougat was definitely my favorite, followed by Cookies and Cream, Strawberry Cheesecake, then Caramel Brownie.