Tirol Chocolate – Canele Pastry

Canele pastries are not a new flavour to Tirol. In fact, I’ve seen it a few years before but simply haven’t had a chance to give it a go. That changes today. Admittedly this will be a tough one to compare to the pastry, largely because I don’t know that I’ve had a proper one before. I know the outside is supposed to be somewhat hard and crunchy but the inside is soft and chewy and is notoriously difficult to do well. For that reason I am just going to see how it does as a chocolate.

Admittedly this one didn’t fare too well through it’s travels, so the texture is likely different than what was originally intended. No matter, we are too far along now to quit. Plus, most of the chocolates made in Japan are usually made with shelf life and the sweltering summers in mind, so this should still be somewhat edible.

The texture is interesting, to say the least. Whether this is what is intended or not, I won’t know for sure until I get my hands on a fresh one. What I can say is there’s a chewy jelly like piece in the center, which I assume is to emulate the chewy soft center of the pastry. It’s not quite as chewy as a mochi, so the end result is like biting into a really chewy, dense cake. Tirol usually has a pretty creative way of emulating foods and pastries, and this definitely has me wondering what the actual pastry is about.

The flavour is sort of like a egg based pastry or dessert, with a hint of flavour which reminds me of cream and of course, chocolate. It wouldn’t be the first time Tirol has done a flavour like that so nothing too remarkable here, but I assume it’s quite accurate to how the pastry should taste. Ideally. Similar to the other pastry based flavours, it’s also got a buttery, baked goods quality to it’s flavour that’s hard to mistake. Credit where it’s due, Tirol really does a good job of nailing down that particular flavour.

The ultimate question though is, would I get this again? It’s a resounding maybe – while I do like myself a nice pastry based Tirol chocolate, they just have so many different ones I don’t know whether this is their best one, or worth hunting for. Having said that though, if I saw this in a store and the other flavours aren’t available, why not? It’s good, but it’s also super interchangeable and easily substituted.