This was released alongside a grape version, but I've had a hard time tracking that one down. Although if I'm being honest, I'm not trying that hard. Grape flavored cold medicine for children ruined grape flavored candy for me forever. (Bubble gum flavored things too.) Actually grape things, yes. Grape flavored things, mostly no.Strawberry being my go-to for PB&J sandwiches, and one of my favorite flavors of anything ever, I'm happy that I could only find this one.
Another attempt to improve upon perfection.While I'm a big fan of the Reese's cups with Reese's Pieces inside of them, I haven't liked or repurchased any of the other versions I've reviewed on the blog. I found them to be novel, but their execution managed to make Reese's worse, not better. But I'm all for giving new things a chance, so today I have Chocolate Lava and Caramel Big Cups.
I want to share one of my favorite College Humor/DropOut videos of all time, Oreo CEO.
Painfully accurate, right? Especially for junkfood people like me who remember the limited-edition-Oreo-hunting-days, but you know who else might be equally guilty? Reese's.
They, "done did the good peanut butter cup," and instead of "resting on their laurels," they are back at it again with a smooth and a crunchy version of their classic peanut butter cup. Are these improvements? Or completely unnecessary?
We have a new Big Cup, and this time there's Reese's Puff cereal inside.I found the last two flavors, pretzel and potato chip, pretty disappointing. Not bad, but far from great. I bought them once to review them, and then never again. But, the one with the Reese's Pieces inside? Amazing. I actually like them more than the original!
Reese's-ception, doubling down on the good stuff we all know and love, seems to be where their products really shine. And we've gone full-circle. The cereal's slogan was, "It's Reese's, for breakfast!" But now we have...breakfast for Reese's? (The line delivery from that TV ad lives rent free in my head.)
My food hoard is officially out of control. I have lots of expired food, and I hate myself for it. It's a waste of money, resources, and space...so, I'm finally going to do something about it. Tomorrow, after work, I am sitting down and filming myself trying as much of this junk as I can stand (anything that's still safe anyway) and getting rid of it, once and for all!That said, here are four items from my hoard pile that I already had photographed and just, never got around to posting. Consider this a literal taste of things to come...
Another, normal, year-round product with a spOoky makeover. Now I got this as a gift, so part of me feels obligated to gush over it, and yes, it has great seasonal box art, but I'm going to take this opportunity to voice a (potentially) hot take instead.
Reese's Puffs. Are Garbage. Thank you for coming to my TED talk.
Before avid Reese's-fans roast me, let me explain.
I'm one of you! I love Reese's Cups, and mourn the loss of the really awesome Reese's Oreo collab. I may not be a peanut butter addict, BUT I do love peanut butter breakfast cereal, and when it comes to great peanut butter flavor, this ain't it.
First we had Reese's filled with Reese's Pieces, a brilliant textural innovation I absolutely adore. (I even prefer them to the original!) Then we got a rerelease of the peanut butter lovers and chocolate lovers versions, dark chocolate, and thins. Unlike Oreo Thins, which turned a cookie into an addicting potato-chip-like snacking experience, Reese's thins left me wanting more. Then we got the announcement that there would be a pretzel filled Reese's cup, and a potato chip one. Both flavors sound amazing in theory, but how is the execution?
Quickie review because 1: I didn't even know Clark Bars were still around, and 2: I didn't know it came in cup-form.
A quick google search revealed this really interesting article, from 2019, back when Clark Bars were saved from extinction. The new company that acquired the recipe weren't exactly given all the facts, so they produced a lot of misshapen bars. Apparently, in an effort to use the ugly, but still delicious bars, they made these Clark Cups and started rolling them out in stores in PA. I'm all for finding ways to minimize food waste, and I love crispy peanut butter products (I still miss Butterfinger BB's), so this sounded right up my alley.
Reese's Ultimate Peanut Butter Lovers - Wawa
Back in 2005, (Which was when I graduated high school) Reese's came out with a Peanut Butter Lovers cup, and a Chocolate Lovers cup. The Chocolate lovers version had a thicker shell, which I remember liking, but still preferring the normal chocolate-to-peanut-butter ratio of the original cups. While the OG, non-ultimate, version of the Peanut Butter Lovers featured a confectionary peanut butter shell on top, normal peanut butter filling, and a very very thin layer of chocolate on the bottom. I tried it back in the day and wasn't a fan of the confectionary base.
Both flavors resurfaced in 2009, with the same formula, and now they're back again! This time with an Ultimate version, completely devoid of chocolate.
Originally I was going to skip this one, but I saw a post somewhere online saying they might be disappearing soon. None of the new packaging says "limited edition" except for the minis, but the original announcement said limited edition...so I'm not sure what's going on here. Are they now a permanent item? Are just the mini-sized cups limited? I wanted to be safe rather than sorry, so I grabbed a pack to weigh in.
We all know I dislike white chocolate, but I love marshmallows, so when this item was announced I was torn. On the one hand, fluffernutter sandwiches are amazing, and this has the protentional to taste like that AND chocolate. Brilliant combination, right? Or it'll taste like white-chocolate grossness. It's kind of a 50/50 chance.
With those odds, I didn't want to overcommit. Luckily for me, this flavor is available in a wide array of sizes, 5-packs, big bags for Easter, and this handy dandy two pack. Let's see what we're dealing with here and if I made the right decision.
Reese's Big Cup With Pretzels - Walmart
Can you improve a Reese's Cup? It's so perfect as-is, that I really thought there was no way it could get any better, until the Reese's Pieces stuffed cups showed up and completely won me over. The addition of Pieces didn't change the overall flavor, it was more-so a textural change, but I was 100% into it. With that in mind, I was very excited about this pretzel version (and a limited run potato chip version that has yet to be released), since this would not only change the texture, but add some pretzel-y flavoring to the mix as well.
Adding pretzels and potato chips to pretty much anything has become one of my favorite baking hacks. (All those broken little bits in the bottom of the bag? Dump it to your next batch of chocolate chip cookies and thank me later!) So, will adding pretzels make this better than a standard Reese's?
Reese's Franken-Cup - CVS
Historically, Reese's tends to play it safe seasonally, focusing more on shapes, like pumpkins and bats, instead of wacky seasonal flavors. At first that seems kind of lame, why not try something new? But, would I really want Reese's to make something like, pumpkin spiced peanut butter cups? Or something along the lines of Zombie Skittles? That's going to be a "no," from me, dawg.
So while this may seem boring at first, I appreciate it's practicality and how the subtle color change acts as an homage to a classic horror icon, Frankenstein's Monster, and his notoriously flat-head, but, does the colored confectionary bottom change the overall Reese's experience for the better? Or worse? We shall see...
I don't like eating actual peanuts, or spoonfuls of PB straight from the jar, but peanut butter breakfast cereal? That's my Jam.
Speaking of jam (segues are hard), I'm a strawberry kind of girl, and while the combination of strawberry and peanut butter was a rarity in my childhood, in recent years, we've gone through a strawberry-based PB&J renaissance. We've had strawberry and PB Pop-Tarts, Skippy Minis and fruits bites, snack bars, m&m's, Greek yogurt, and more...but sadly, a lot of these products were either limited edition, or discontinued far too soon. (R.I.P. PB&J Pop-Tarts.)
A perfect example of this is the Jif PB and strawberry breakfast cereal. It was released back in 2015 and, although I didn't get the chance to try it for myself, Cerealously spoke very highly of it. Thankfully, Aldi swooped into the food-flavor graveyard and stole the concept for itself. (Just like it did with the cheesy garlic bread potato chips Lay's abandoned.)
So, without futher delay let's examine this re-animated breakfast-food corpse!
Originally, when Oreo Thins were released, I was unimpressed. I figured they were a money-grab giving us less cookie for the same same amount of money while hiding behind the guise of portion-control. Oh, how wrong I was. Well, not about the money grabbing part, but man, are they good. They're light and dangerously snackable. (Especially the Pistachio ones, which were my Oreo of the year for 2018.)
The "thin" trend has taken over the cookie aisle, and now it's made it way into candy. How to Reese's Thins compare?
More items from my unexpected, "I just want to Walmart for Command Hooks," junkfood haul!
It's been well documented on my blog, and our defunct podcast, Candyology 101, that I I'm a MilkyWay kind of girl, but now-a-days I live in a Snickers household. My fiance and his daughter both love Snickers bars, it's their go-to candy bar and the first one to disappear in our candy drawer. (Does every home have a candy drawer? Or is that just a me-thing?) So I grabbed these thinking that I may not be a fan, but my family could potentially love them. Oh, how wrong I was...
A while back, Aldi introduced a new premium ice cream line that looked suspiciously like Ben & Jerry's. In fact, each Aldi flavor corresponded to a popular Ben & Jerry's flavor, making them nearly identical...except the Aldi-version is LESS THAN $2.00 USD per pint!
That's right, you can buy two of these pints for the price of a Ben & Jerry's one, and the best part? Not only is it cheap, but it tastes nearly identical!
I've reviewed five different Aldi flavors so far: (Click the links below for it's review)
(Spoiler alert!) They're all awesome! Seriously! The only one I didn't care for was My Peanut Butter Half, but that's because peanut butter ice cream just isn't my cup of tea.
The original trio of flavors (Marked with an *) have become permanent Aldi items, available year-round, but every now and again they expand the line with seasonal releases which just so happen to be MORE Ben and Jerry's dupes! Last time we got two new flavors, Swirlin' Strawberry and My Peanut Butter Half, and this time we get three more!
Currently on the shelves are: For Real Dough, Turtley Awesome, and Banana Bonanza. Which dupe Ben and Jerry's The Tonight Dough, Phish Food and Chunky Monkey respectively. Since all the other flavors were fantastic, I couldn't wait to try these three, so here we go!
For every Oreo disappointment, there is a Reese's that raises the bar. Well, kind of. Reese's plays it pretty safe when it comes to their flavors.
They have a combination that people love, and when something isn't broke, you don't fix it. More-so than playing with flavoring switch ups, they have been playing with added textures. First, it was the addition of their Reese's pieces to their peanut butter cups, and now it's cookie bits.
But wait, is this really NEW?
Aldi's line of premium ice cream pints has two new flavors! They've added Swirling Strawberry (strawberry cheesecake), and this new peanut butter one. Just like the three original Aldi offerings: Make Fudge Not War, Brookie Dough, and Thank You Cherry Much, these new flavors are dupes for popular Ben & Jerry's flavors (Peanut Butter Cup & Strawberry Cheesecake) only these cost half as much.
I'm happy to see this line expanding, but I personally wasn't excited by these two new flavors. They aren't as globally appealing as the other three, but for two bucks? I'll check 'em out anyway!
Buying a house is hard.
I know I haven't been updating, but that's because I've been dealing with all permits, repairs and legal mumbo-jumbo that come with short sale home ownership. I'm drowning in paperwork and quickly losing my mind, if there was ever a time to binge on (affordable) comforting junk food...it's NOW.
Reese's Pieces Big cups are old news. These have been out for months, but my usual stores are way off trend. The Pumpkin Spice Pillsbury cinnamon rolls started showing up on grocery store shelves in December, and I just saw freshly restocked "limited batch" Ben and Jerry's pumpkin cheesecake pints in the freezer section at my go-to Super Walmart. Great news for those of you missing basic fall flavors, not so great for cool food bloggers trying to stay relevant. (Who am I kidding, I'm neither of those things.)
If I had the time to hunt for this product at other shops, I might have found it a lot sooner, but candy is candy, so let's dig in!
Did you know that Aldi and Trader Joe's are related? YUP! They're sister companies owned by the same German family. For the most part, each store releases their own items catering to different niche markets and trending flavors, but once in a while both stores will release the same product, with different packaging and price points. (Like these pumpkin scone cookies I compared and reviewed.)
Years ago, I picked up THIS beautiful dark chocolate passport gift item from Trader Joe's, and I completely lost it over the gorgeous packaging. Flash forward to now, when I see Aldi trying to release their own dark chocolate themed gift pack for the holidays. It's no-where near as cute as the Trader Joe's one, but this has something the Trader Joe's version lacked. Variety.
The Trader Joe's bars were all dark chocolates from various locations around the world, but they were just dark chocolate. No toppings, not mix ins, no nothing. They were pretty, but by the third bar I was bored and my palette was exhausted. I don't think I ever finished reviewing the box set, mainly because...my tongue just didn't care. I was craving some flavor, and (hopefully) Aldi will deliver.
