Call your British friend Harry and tell him he’s a wizard, because in one of the strangest Easter candy release choices I have seen to date, Hershey’s is releasing Harry Potter Butterbeer Hershey’s Kisses this spring. Why is this choice strange? I don’t know, maybe it’s because I haven’t read Harry Potter in 15 years, but I remember the whole Hogsmeade/butterbeer situation being distinctly Christmas-coded and snowy. In fact, all of Harry Potter felt very wintertime coded with lets-watch-or-read-this-while-cozy sort of vibes. But packaged food innovation marches ever onward and, ultimately, who am I to disagree if Big Chocolate wants to give us all butterscotch Kisses for the springtime?
Will these new Butterbeer Hershey’s Kisses taste like the butterbeer at Universal? Do these they have a filling? Will they be cute? Again, why Easter?
All good questions, some of witch (get it? because Harry Potter?) we can answer. The packaging, which is already up on Walmart’s website even though the product isn’t out yet, describes these new Hershey’s Kisses as “gold-colored creme filled with butterbeer flavored creme.” So yes, they will have a caramel-colored shell and a white “butterbeer flavored” filling. As for what that actually means, it is tough to say. If my memory of visiting Universal Studios six years ago and trying butterbeer serves me, it tasted like cream soda with a hint of butterscotch. My guess is that these Hershey’s Kisses will taste like a somewhat more vanilla-forward version of Nestlé butterscotch chips.
The outer foil will come in three different colors: gold, blue, and red, and each will have a different little Harry Potter- and butterbeer-related symbol on it. Notably, there is no green kiss on the package, so I guess they decided no Slytherins allowed in this pack of wizard-themed Hershey’s Kisses created for a holiday that celebrates the resurrection of Jesus (hooo boy, do we live in a society). Wait, I just realized that Harry also dies and comes back…is Harry Potter a Christ figure? Ugh, my AP Lit teacher would be so proud of me right now. But I digress.
As for what these actually have to do with Easter, all we got from Hershey’s is that we can “add a magical twist to the classic Hershey’s Kisses candy by filling Easter baskets and plastic eggs with these limited-edition Harry Potter versions.” Plus, the name of the product on the Walmart site is “Hershey’s Kisses Butterbeer Flavored Easter Candy, Bag 9 oz.,” so all signs point to these bad boys having nothing to do with Easter and everything to do with just coincidentally being released around that time. So hey, I guess get that bag, Hershey’s—I know we certainly will the minute these come out and we will let y’all know if these wingardium our leviosas or if they are just plain (qu)awful.
I’m not as interested in eating these solo, but for baking. My mom always did the peanut butter cookie with the Hershey’s Kiss on top (and a Reese’s mini sometimes for variety). I could see these pairing well on a butterscotch cookie…
Mandela effect much?! I swear that have already come out and weren’t very good. But if it’s Harry Potter it’s been done before and will be done again as new generations discover Harry, Ron, and know it all Hermione.