I am currently on vacation with my family in Cape Cod. A huge part of our family vacations is the sweets we pick up along the way, in the car on our way to the destination, during our stay, and even little treats on the way back. So whenever I travel, I have something Reese's related, considering it is my favorite candy and my family's candy of choice.
The first blog post I ever wrote was about Reese's and their secret of the golden ratio; if you don't know what it is, go ahead and look at that blog post because this secret is integral to Reese's empire.
Yes, I would declare Reese's to be an empire. With everything from breakfast products, to their own peanut butter, to the best dessert, you could ever ask for. Reese's has it all, and they do it all with their combination of peanut butter and chocolate.
For the trip, I brought two Reese's products that aren't in the traditional cup form: the Reese's Snack Cakes and the Hershey's bar with Reese's Pieces.
Once we arrived at our destination, I found two more Reese products in all the food we had brought: Mrs. Freshley's Reese's Peanut Butter Flavored Cupcakes and Reese's Puffs.
So how is it that with almost no coordination, my family and I got four different kinds of Reese's products that were not the original cup?
Once I found out about our Reese's synchronicity, I knew the first thing I had to do, was write a blog post.
So here we are at the biggest Reese's face-off of the century (maybe I am slightly exaggerating).
Since none of these products are the cup of creamy peanut butter and delicious chocolate that I know and love, I thought I would rate them in three categories that I consider an essential part of Reese's reputation:
1. Reesenticity: (not a real word, but it should be): The quality of being authentic to its ancestor, the original Reese's cup.
2. Flavor: How tasty is it? Does it deserve Reese's namesake?
3. Creativity: Is this product basic and one that everyone could think of, or does it have you flabbergasted at its existence and excited to eat it?
Now that you understand my criteria, I think I can give you the results of the face-off of the century.
Our first product, Mrs. Freshley's Reese's Peanut Butter Flavored Cupcakes, was delicious and hit my craving for that combination of peanut butter and chocolate.
However, Reese's Flavored Cupcakes were missing that golden ratio of peanut butter to chocolate that switches any peanut butter and chocolate product into Reese's one. It was cool, though, because it brought that hard chocolate cup into a scrumptious soft cake version!
Ratings for Mrs. Freshley's Reese's Peanut Butter Flavored Cupcakes:
Reesenticity: 6/10 Like I mentioned before, it tasted like peanut butter and chocolate but not like Reese's cup.
Flavor: 8/10 The icing on top of the cupcake and inside of it was delicious, and so was the cake, just not enough to give it a perfect score. However, I would 100% eat it again!
Creativity: 8/10 I think it is really fun to turn a candy product into another type of confection; however, we have seen it before.
The Reese's Snack Cake was our second product of the day. I was honestly looking forward to this one the most because of how enticing the packaging is.
I have had this Reese product before on vacation, but I couldn't quite remember what I thought of it, so I was looking forward to giving it another go.
Ratings for the Reese's Snack Cakes:
Reesenticity: 7/10 They tasted like Reese's products but didn't quite have that golden ratio of peanut butter to chocolate. It honestly reminded me of Reese's cup in candy bar form, so to me, it's more of a candy bar and less of a "cake."
Flavor: 7/10 I really liked these snack cakes. They aren't even close to the classic peanut butter cup. However, they are still outstanding, and I recommend trying them.
Creativity: 10/10 I have never heard of a "snack cake" before, so I think this is an enjoyable addition to the candy realm. It was really creative to turn something that is hard chocolate and creamy peanut butter into something with entirely different textures but still keep a similar flavor profile.
The third thing I tried was the Hershey's Bar with Reese's Pieces.
Before I start, I have never been a fan of Reese's Pieces. It's strange because I am a die-hard Reese's cup fan (if you can't tell), but I really don't like Reese's Pieces (especially when they combine them with the cup in the Reese's Pieces Big Cup).
I think mainly because the sweetness of the peanut butter they use in Reese's Pieces is more than what they use in the traditional cups.
Ratings for the Hershey's Bar with Reese's Pieces:
Reesenticity: 4/10 It just tasted like a chocolate bar with bits of peanut butter here and there. It wasn't that authentic to its namesake because it was so much chocolate to such little pieces of peanut butter.
Flavor: 7/10 It did taste good because it was a Hershey's chocolate bar, but I would probably prefer just a plain one since I'm not the biggest fan of Reese's Pieces. It was good, though, and I recommend it if you like them.
Creativity: 7/10 I do think that adding other Hershey's products to their candy bars is pretty creative and a fun way to combine their various different brands, but I don't think it's something utterly unheard of.
Last but not least was Reese's Puffs, Reese's flavored cereal. I grew up on this cereal, so I absolutely love it. Some people might think a candy-flavored cereal is gross, but it's incredible.
Ratings for Reese's Puffs:
Reesenticity: 7/10 They taste like Reese's cups, but the flavor is very light, so I didn't give it a perfect score.
Flavor: 9/10 I absolutely love this cereal. It tastes delicious and is such a great way to start the morning. They say they make the morning time epic, and trust me, they do!
Creativity: 10/10 Like I said before, some might think that it's absolutely absurd to start the morning with a candy-flavored cereal, but I think it's incredible. I also think it's highly creative to make a candy that you typically have for dessert into a breakfast food that is complete opposites.
Reese's is my favorite candy so testing all these products was the perfect way to start my trip. The winner of today's face-off was Reese's Puffs.
They are delicious and maybe not so nutritious, but they are the way I like to start off my day. So if you are up to trying some different kinds of Reese's products, we have them for you, but if you just wanted the original cup, we also have that!
