The Impulsive Buy

Tag: Reese’s

  • REVIEW: Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie Miniature Cups

    If you Google “peanut butter pie,” you’ll see slices of pure luxuriousness—mounds of whipped cream, swirls of creamy peanut butter filling, and, often, a chocolate drizzle or chopped up Reese’s cups for garnish.

    It’s hard to imagine recreating the excitement of this no-bake classic in a miniature (!) Reese’s cup, but Reese’s has a trick up its chocolate-stained sleeve, which is peanut butter-flavored chocolate. While the brand has utilized flavored crème confection, including marshmallow, vanilla, red velvet, and, yes, peanut butter, Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie Miniatures are the first to imbue milk chocolate with flavor.

    The chocolate shell’s flavor profile is equal parts chocolate and peanut butter, which amounts to Reese’s Cup-flavored chocolate. The chocolate tastes like when you have chewed your Reese’s several times and the peanut butter and chocolate flavors have melded together. When eaten whole, the cup has a slightly more peanut butter-forward taste than your average Reese’s.

    While enjoyable, the flavored chocolate is hard to assess. If this were a new candy, I would be thrilled with the result. But the flavored chocolate here felt a little redundant. I didn’t feel like I was tasting something new, so much as I was beginning my familiar Reese’s eating experience at the five-second mark. Given that its namesake pie contains whipped cream or cream cheese, a flavored crème might have made more sense for this product.

    It took me a while to work through my dilemma, and once I did, I remembered that Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie Miniatures utilize crunchy graham cookie pieces to represent a graham cracker crust. The crunch of these pieces is hearty (think Teddy Grahams, not graham crackers), but there is no real added flavor. It would have been cool to include a graham cracker layer at the base of the cup, and I plan on testing this hypothesis next time I buy a box of Honey Maid.

    The back of the package suggests using Reese’s Peanut Butter Pie Miniatures within a peanut butter pie recipe, just in case there is not enough peanut butter pie in your peanut butter pie. It’s a suggestion I support. The extra crunch in these cups would complement a creamy pie while giving the chef the opportunity to make lame jokes about peanut butter pie inception. While a taste of these Miniatures will quell the craving for chocolate and peanut butter, the buyer’s creativity may yield a more exciting result.

    Purchased Price: $5.99
    Purchased at: Giant Eagle
    Size: 9.6 oz (272 g) bag
    Rating: 7 out of 10
    Nutrition Facts: (per 3 pieces)130 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 60 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 14 grams of sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

  • REVIEW: Reese’s Filled Pretzels

    As someone who is allergic to chocolate, I’m used to cries of “You can’t have that. There’s chocolate in it!” when I eat Reese’s Pieces.

    “Oh, that’s a common misconception, but there actually isn’t,” I always inform my concerned companions. But, I can tell they never quite believe me, even when I point out the ingredients list on the packaging. As soon as I heard about Reese’s new Filled Pretzels with peanut butter filling, I instinctively prepared myself for more of these conversations.

    Of course, I’m happy that this is a new Reese’s treat I can actually eat, but I can imagine it causing confusion in chocolate cravers, and I can’t say I’d blame them. After all, the name “Reese’s” is practically shorthand for “chocolate plus peanut butter,” so it’s surprising that they’d make something with only half of the iconic pairing—especially in the form of a snack where it seems like chocolate would fit right in. Even though it’s what allowed me to eat these, not incorporating chocolate feels like a misstep, which is only my first caveat about these pretzels.

    The second is that… they’re just not that exciting. In addition to those mildly awkward Reese’s Pieces memories, they also instantly reminded me of the similarly pouch-like peanut butter-filled pretzels from other brands my parents like to keep on hand for long car rides. I’ve always found those pretzels okay but dry, their crackly exterior and dusty filling leaving me with an unpleasant urge to wash my mouth out, even though their flavor isn’t so bad. As it turns out, Reese’s take isn’t very different.

    Since the pretzel is hollow to accommodate its filling (which is actually impressively robust for something so bite-size), it’s extremely thin and crispy, closer to a pretzel crisp than your standard hearty fare. Despite being quite careful, my first small bite shattered the whole thing into about a billion brittle shards! I generally prefer a thicker pretzel, but fine, I can accept that that’s not logistically possible in this format. At least the peanut butter makes up for it, right?

    Well, sort of. I wanted so badly for the peanut butter to be creamier, but alas, it’s pretty powdery. It’s probably not too different than what’s in a Reese’s Cup, but since there’s a more concentrated amount here and the taste of the pretzel isn’t rich enough to really complement it, the chalky texture is apparent, and therefore unsatisfying. The peanut butter also tastes noticeably sweet rather than nutty. It’s not bad necessarily, but it’s a tad jarring (I audibly said “OHHHH, THAT EXPLAINS IT” when I noticed powdered sugar was one of the ingredients).

    The saving grace for me is the salt. While I’m usually a sweet over salty girl, here it compensates beautifully for the lackluster and slightly uncanny peanut butter, adding extra complexity and cravability. The plump shape also helps, as I never got tired of crunching dramatically into it (I’d definitely recommend that over a more delicate nibbling approach, which would just get messy).

    These Reese’s Filled Pretzels are certainly preferable to starving on a road trip, but ultimately, I’d never choose them over a bowl of classic Reese’s Pieces—or even just regular old hard pretzels.

    Purchased Price: $5.39
    Size: 9 oz bag
    Purchased at: Target
    Rating: 5 out of 10
    Nutrition Facts: (per 7 pieces) 130 calories, 6 grams of fat, 240 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, 4 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

  • REVIEW: Reese’s Spring Sprinkles Peanut Butter Cups

    I meet many people who absolutely adore Reese’s Eggs, claiming they are the best shape for the chocolate and peanut butter classic. If you have ever eaten a Reese’s Egg on Easter morning and thought, “This is nice, but I wish it were crunchy,” well, Reese’s Spring Sprinkles Peanut Butter Cups are for you!

    Reese’s with spring-kles is available as a Big Cup or as Miniatures. I tried both. Since Miniatures have been around as long as I can remember, and the Big Cups have been around a few years, I don’t need to go into the particulars about those Reese’s sizes because you’re here for the sprinkles.

    And these things are crunchy. Really crunchy. And not a simple, crisp crunch like a pretzel or crisp rice. These are a sugary crunch, like when someone puts candy cane pieces or Red Hots on a sugar cookie.

    I shared the Miniatures with my family while everyone was together for the Christmas holidays (!), and the reaction was mixed. My brother disliked the crunch, while my mom liked it. My dad didn’t feel comfortable biting on the sprinkles, but he appreciated that it forced him to slow down.

    For me, I’m glad these aren’t the default flavor of Reese’s. But as a limited-time offering, they’re unique enough. I worried the sprinkles would be soft and undetectable. But nope, they are impossible to miss.

    Like sprinkles in literally every setting, these spring sprinkles are there for two reasons: color and texture. You will get pops of color when you bite in the Big Cup, but you will miss it if you eat the Miniature in one bite. (You will also miss the color if you eat the Big Cup in one bite, but you will win my respect!)

    Sprinkles are not generally known for their flavor, and that’s the case here. The peanut butter cups taste the same as they usually do. I let one of the Miniatures dissolve in my mouth until it was just sprinkles, and they were just sugar, no flavor I could discern.

    One more thing: Easter in 2025 is on April 20, and I bought these candies on the winter solstice. That’s the equivalent of Valentine’s candy on October 15, Halloween candy on July 1, and Christmas candy on August 26.

    These won’t go down as my favorite Reese’s candy, but I appreciate that they are different enough from the standard version. With all the various shapes and sizes, it’s hard to feel like Reese’s is actually branching out, but in this case, there is no way you would mistake Spring Sprinkles for the original.

    Purchased Price: $4.99 (bag of Miniatures), $1.25 (Big Cup)
    Size: Cup is 1.3 oz, bag of Miniatures is 9.3 oz
    Purchased at: Dick’s Market
    Rating: 7 out of 10
    Nutrition Facts: Big Cup – 180 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 115 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar including 18 grams of added sugar, and 4 grams of protein.

    Miniatures (3 pieces) – 130 calories, 7 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 55 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of fiber, 15 grams of sugar including 14 grams of added sugar, and 2 grams of protein.

  • REVIEW: Reese’s Red Velvet Peanut Butter Cups

    Reese’s, one of the most beloved candies ever, has been expanding its seasonal offerings in recent years. Not content with the special shapes of hearts, eggs, pumpkins, and trees, it has been tweaking flavors, either by changing the coating or putting things in the peanut butter. And I fully support this trend.

    Well, at least in theory.

    For the Valentine’s season, Reese’s has gifted us with Red Velvet Peanut Butter Cups, each with a red velvet-flavored creme on top. I bought a bag of Miniatures to sample (I bought them before Christmas, and that’s all they had on the shelf in the seasonal aisle, but there are standard cups as well).

    Red velvet cake is a vanilla cake with a little bit of cocoa and buttermilk. That’s a very nuanced flavor profile to convert into a creme coating, especially when paired with peanut’s strong, distinctive flavor.

    I’ve nibbled on the tops of these cups, and while the flavor is unique, I just can’t tell you that I taste red velvet. I certainly don’t taste cream cheese frosting. When I eat the cup as a complete whole (i.e., the way they’re meant to be eaten), the unique flavor is mostly overwhelmed by the peanut butter. And I feel like texture is one of the best parts of red velvet cake, but the texture of the cups is nothing like cake, not that I expected it to be. (The back of the bag says, “Reese’s takes the cake,” so I feel justified in comparing it to cake.)

    I reviewed last fall’s Reese’s Werewolf Tracks, and I am going to quote from my own review because I feel the same way about these:

    “Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups are a top-tier confection, and if this were a brand-new treat, I would give it 10/10 based on taste alone. But this is simply a variation on a classic, and it’s just not that interesting or special.”

    The difference here, though, is that red velvet is a more seasonally appropriate flavor than vanilla, and the pinkish topping is lovely. I do like that. So, I will give the Red Velvet version one more point than I gave the Werewolf version.

    If Reese’s opted for another Valentine’s flavor, like strawberry, cherry, cinnamon, or rose, it would be easier to detect. But with red velvet, it feels like no one will notice if they mess up. It’s safe for Reese’s, but just a little boring for the consumer.

    Purchased Price: $4.99
    Size: 9.3 oz bag (Miniatures)
    Purchased at: Dick’s Market
    Rating: 7 out of 10
    Nutrition Facts: (3 pieces) 130 calories, 8 grams of fat, 3 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 75 milligrams of sodium, 15 grams of carbohydrates, less than 1 gram of dietary fiber, 13 grams of sugar including 12 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

  • REVIEW: Reese’s Sugar Cookie Big Cup

    As I sat down to begin this review, my mind drifted off to dream of holiday cookies. (This will happen more and more as winter draws near, during increasingly inconvenient moments.) There is something magical about the holiday cookie genre and the imagery it evokes. Those sacred recipe cards that emerge from your cupboard once a year. Enticing details like glistening sanding sugar or colored sprinkles. Tupperware containers are stuffed to capacity and then quickly reduced to crumbs, thanks to your ravenous Uncle Phil.

    Reese’s knows this to be true, and this year it honors a holiday staple: the humble sugar cookie. Whether coated in decorative icing or mixed with candy pieces, the buttery, sweet cookie is the perfect base for a holiday treat. Now available in both Big Cup and Miniature varieties, Reese’s Sugar Cookie cups add sugar cookie bits to the classic Reese’s filling.

    I found a Sugar Cookie Big Cup at Giant Eagle and decided to treat myself to some early holiday cheer. When I cut the cup in two, I wondered if I had received a cheerless factory dud. The filling looked so thick with peanut butter that I questioned the cookie bits’ presence. Did Uncle Phil strike again?

    Luckily, the bits merely camouflage themselves against the peanut butter, and the generous filling enrobes the cookies completely. The sugar cookie bits are not quite pea-sized, so about 6-7 pieces fit in the cup. Much like myself slipping cookies into my purse at a boring holiday party, Reese’s managed to cram a surprising number of cookies in a small space.

    The cookie bits do not add any flavor to the Big Cup; as is the case with several Big Cup mix-ins, the peanut butter taste overshadows their flavor. However, they do add a perfect, satisfying crunch. I expected added texture, but given that the perfect cookie texture is always up for debate, I wondered whether this Big Cup would deliver soft, crispy, or crunchy. The verdict: super crunchy. Imagine if the cookie bits in a Hershey’s Cookies’ n’ Creme bar had something to prove.

    While Reese’s Big Cups are delicious—a larger version of what I consider to be the perfect candy—their novelty varieties are almost always more interesting for their textures than flavors. The Sugar Cookie Big Cup is no different, but its crunchy cookie bits will please anyone who prefers a sweet crunch (or desperately misses the Crunchy Cookie Big Cup). If I encountered them at a holiday party, I’d slip a few in my purse for later.

    Purchased Price: $1.39
    Purchased at: Giant Eagle
    Size: 1.3 oz (36 g)
    Rating: 7 out of 10
    Nutrition Facts: 180 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 22 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 19 grams of sugar, and 4 grams of protein.