Tag: Reese’s

REVIEW: Reese’s JUMBO Cup

Julie 6 Comments

In addition to an excuse to buy more chocolate, the new Reese’s JUMBO Cup has given me the opportunity to brush up on elementary school math and vocabulary.

The JUMBO Cup is Reese’s latest experiment with size, this time expanding its classic peanut butter cup to a 2.8-ounce confection. This weight is equivalent to four original size peanut butter cups, a King Size package.

JUMBO is an appropriate adjective to use because this thing is bigger than Big. (Literally—a Big Cup weighs in at 1.4 ounces each. Also, think of all the other adjectives Reese’s may have in store for us. I like to imagine a Reese’s Vast Cup as a Reese’s Thin the size of a dinner plate.) For visual comparison, I purchased a JUMBO Cup and a pack of original size cups.

The JUMBO Cup is shaped like the original cup, as compared to the comparatively tall Big Cup or squat Minis. With a diameter of about 2.75 inches and a height of one inch, it’s just smaller than a hockey puck. The cup comes in its own little tray, both to protect the cup and to set it on a pedestal as though it has won a race. The chocolate shell is heavy and solid, which, along with the side seam running along the outside of the cup, gives it a well-molded appearance.

The chocolate and peanut butter here are classic Reese’s, as familiar and delicious as ever. The JUMBO Cup has a thicker base and top layer of chocolate. This chocolate is not thin and pliable enough to get stuck on the wrapper, but it’s not too thick either. The perfect peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio is a very personal preference, and this JUMBO Cup only raises more opportunities for discourse. I suspect peanut butter lovers will want to stick with Big Cups or the seasonal shapes. Those who prefer equal parts chocolate and peanut butter (or give chocolate a slight edge) will find the JUMBO Cup to be a super-sized treat.

While the JUMBO Cup is impractical for me in that I can’t eat it in one sitting, I won’t fault it for this in my rating. Yes, one benefit of smaller Reese’s products is the ability to enjoy conveniently portioned packages. However, there is something equally satisfying about carefully cutting a JUMBO Cup into slices and pretending that I’m sharing dessert with a cadre of gnomes. This novelty may fade, but Reese’s assures that my range of peanut buttery choices never will.

Ultimately, Reese’s JUMBO Cup is just that, a really big Reese’s cup. That means more of the chocolate and peanut butter that I love. No complaints here.

Purchased Price: $2.99
Size: 2.8 oz
Purchased at: Walgreens
Rating: 10 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: 400 calories, 23 grams of fat, 8 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 240 milligrams of sodium, 46 grams of carbohydrates, 3 grams of fiber, 42 grams of sugar, and 8 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Cluster Bites

Tiffany 4 Comments

Reese’s is the elite, the S-tier. So, when it came out with its new Cluster Bites, I was immediately intrigued. All its new items have been pretty fire so far, from the DiPPeD line to the Big Cups with various inclusions.

While the name itself is a mashup of the now-discontinued Reese’s Bites and the current Reese’s Clusters, the offering is a bit different from both. It touts “creamy peanut butter, gooey caramel and crunchy peanuts, all covered in smooth milk chocolate.” So, unlike the clusters, there are no pecans! But honestly, it may have benefitted from it.

I ripped open the bag to find bigger clusters than expected. I thought it would be smaller because of the bites part of the name. For once, the food itself actually matched the size of the picture on the bag!

Unlike a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, it smelled more like peanut butter. But, it was its texture that shook me. It was quite a different eating experience compared to a Reese’s cup, which has that distinct texture of the thin chocolate snapping under the pressure of your teeth. Instead, these clusters were soft and squishy, particularly because of the caramel. The texture primarily came from the whole peanut rather than tempered chocolate. Its flavor was like eating a softer, smaller nougat-less Snickers bar. Meh.

All good things come to an end, including Reese’s streak of fire innovations. This was just OK, but maybe it’s because Reese’s other new items have been so good that they set the bar way too high.

I will say that the new Cluster Bites are indeed more “snackable,” and I can appreciate the volume. I can eat many without feeling as guilty or full as I would if I ate an equivalent number in mini cups or DiPPeD pretzels. Even so, I don’t see this replacing or being added to my weekly Reese’s rotation.

Purchased Price: $4.42
Size: 7 oz pouch
Purchased at: Menard’s
Rating: 5 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (4 pieces – 30 grams) – 160 calories, 10 grams of fat, 3.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 45 milligrams of sodium, 16 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 13 grams of sugar (including 11 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Lovers Cereal

Marvo 11 Comments

There once was a Nutter Butter Cereal from Post.
Being so peanut butter-y nutty, it could boast.
But it disappeared from shelves like a ghost.
And for a bit, my PB cereal choices were toast.

But now there’s Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Lovers Cereal, and it’s made me forget about the Nutter Butter one, which, by the way, should’ve returned this year with the rereleased Chips Ahoy Cereal. So if Post doesn’t want my money, I’ll happily give it to General Mills with its cereal that’s as great as Post’s discontinued offering.

Reese’s Puffs Peanut Butter Lovers Cereal is influenced by Reese’s Peanut Butter Lovers Cups. General Mills could’ve just pulled the chocolate pieces from its regular Reese’s Puffs, brushed off the cereal dust from its hands, and offered the tan peanut butter pieces as a brand new product, but it didn’t. There seems to be a thin peanut buttery coating that gives the puffs an added oomph of nutty goodness, and oh my goodness, that makes a difference.

They have a strong peanut butter taste but without the jaw-slowing texture of the spread. And that flavor shined whether I ate it dry from my hands or in milk from my hands. I think the coating will also help the pieces stay crunchy in milk for a bit longer. I wrote “I think” because this cereal is so good that my taste buds won’t let it stay in milk for long. The dairy (or non-dairy) at the bottom of the bowl does have a slightly nutty flavor. It might’ve had a more robust flavor if the cereal was allowed to soak a little longer, but, again, my taste buds won’t allow that.

Peanut Butter Lovers Cereal should be a permanent member of the Reese’s Puffs line. But if not, it’s so tasty that I’d love to see it come back yearly in the same seasonal shapes as the original Reese’s Puffs — Bunnies, Hearts, and Bats.

DISCLOSURE: I received a free product sample from General Mills. Doing so did not influence my review.

Purchased Price: FREE
Size: 11.5 oz box
Rating: 9 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (1 cup – cereal only) 160 calories, 4.5 grams of fat, 0.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, 1 gram of polyunsaturated fat, 2 grams of monounsaturated fat, 0 milligrams of cholesterol, 250 milligrams of sodium, 29 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of fiber, 12 grams of sugar (including 12 grams of added sugar), and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Caramel Big Cup

Julie 4 Comments

While I love The Impulsive Buy for padding my grocery list with fun new items, I also value it as a historical record of all the products I’ve loved before (or never got to try or barely remember).

Digging into the archives reminded me that a Reese’s Caramel Cup once existed circa 2005. But that was then, and now it’s time for an upgrade. After recent varieties filled with such treats as salty snacks, candy pieces, and cereal, Reese’s Big Cup is embracing caramel, that candy bar classic. Combining a layer of caramel with its quintessential peanut butter filling, Reese’s Caramel Big Cup is available in standard or King Size packages.

Knowing what to expect from a standard Big Cup, I was most interested in the caramel element. A slim layer sits at the bottom of the cup, beneath the generous peanut butter core. It’s smooth and loosely textured, but not runny. When I cut the Big Cup in half with a knife, the caramel reminded me of jarred caramel ice cream topping: it is soft enough to coat parts of the blade, but not so thin as to be messy. Yes, I did feel like Sweeney Todd in this moment if he were either very hungry for a sweet treat or just trying his best to transfer his dark urges to something more wholesome.

There seems to be a very thin layer of chocolate separating the peanut butter and caramel, so the two don’t mix together too much. It’s possible to taste them separately. The caramel is sweet, buttery, and soft. You don’t get the chew of a Twix or Snickers caramel here. When all elements combine, the caramel gets a little lost, but it enhances the Big Cup’s sweetness. Overall, the Big Cup tastes like a regular Reese’s, just sweeter. The Big Cup is a good vehicle for caramel because it provides a solid structure to encase what is often a messy ingredient. If the cup had dedicated a tad more space to it, the caramel’s buttery tones might have harmonized more equally with the peanut butter flavor.

Without the historical archives of The Impulsive Buy, I might not remember the Reese’s Caramel Big Cup in ten years’ time. (That Great Gatsby-level of pining is reserved for the Elvis Peanut Butter and Banana Creme Reese’s Cup, thank you very much!) But for now, it’s a nice, slightly sweeter variation that I may pick up next time my sweet tooth goes into overdrive.

Purchased Price: $2.28
Purchased at: Walmart
Size: 2.8 oz (79 g) King Size package
Rating: 7 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (per 1 cup) 190 calories, 10 grams of fat, 4.5 grams of saturated fat, 0 grams of trans fat, less than 5 milligrams of cholesterol, 120 milligrams of sodium, 24 grams of carbohydrates, 1 gram of fiber, 22 grams of sugar, and 3 grams of protein.

REVIEW: Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins

Brandon 3 Comments

Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins Pouch with the Pillsbury Doughboy on it. Oddly other than the logo on the Doughboy's hat, there isn't any other Pillsbury logo on the pouch.

What is it?

Despite the cutesy “Poppins” moniker, Reese’s Cookie Dough Poppins are just… little balls of ready-to-eat peanut butter cookie dough, no more, no less. Is it just me or has it only been within the past few years that companies began selling “safe to eat raw” cookie dough nuggets? Why did it take them so long to start doing this?

How is it?

In the case of this one, they probably should have kept fine-tuning the recipe before release. While there was nothing inherently bad or offensive about this particular Poppins, there wasn’t really much to love, either. The texture is a familiar one in line with any kind of unbaked cookie dough — though I was expecting a bit more grittiness — but the taste is lackluster.

Brown balls of edible cookie dough.

Look, I don’t know how you describe the taste of peanut butter as anything other than “like peanut butter,” but this was like half the taste of peanut butter. Maybe peanut, no butter. That’s not quite it, but I don’t know how to explain it. The PB flavor was there initially, but it just trailed off at the end.

Anything else you need to know?

You can’t bake these. Also, while there are a few safe-to-eat raw cookie dough products on the market that you can bake, there are many others that aren’t meant to be eaten raw. There’s a chance you could get some Salmonella from the eggs or flour or, perhaps more seriously, E. coli from the latter. Thankfully, the only risk with this edible Reese’s dough is the disappointment of spending over $7 on something you shouldn’t spend more than a buck on.

Conclusion:

Even though these aren’t the worst things I’ve ever eaten, I’d never buy them again, and never in good conscience could I recommend that anyone spend $7 on them. But if I was at a party, and they had a tray of Poppins (not sure what strange party this is, but just pretend), I might eat, like, a couple. But only if it was the only dessert. You know, at the world’s weirdest party.

Purchased Price: $7.49
Purchased at: Hy-Vee
Rating: 6 out of 10
Nutrition Facts: (5 pieces) 120 calories, 5 grams of fat, 1 gram of saturated fat, 25 milligrams of sodium, 17 grams of total carbohydrates, 9 grams of total sugars, 0 grams of fiber, and 2 grams of protein.