Candy Review: Reese Hazelnut Crème

Monday, July 7, 2008 - by Laurie

The way I see it, there are two ways to make a Reese’s special edition candy, and they hinge on the two main elements of a peanut butter cup: the peanut butter, and the cup. You can take that distinctively dry, salty, crumbly peanut butter and use it in a non-cup format, with results like the Reese’s Crispy Crunchy Bar, and even non-candy items like Reese’s Puffs Cereal and Reese’s Cookies. Or you can take the cup format and mess with it: change the size (Reese’s Big Cup), the shape (Reese’s Peanut Butter Eggs), the chocolate coating (Reese’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups), and/or the filling (Reese’s Elvis Cups).

Since there are so many ways to alter the Reese’s formula and still be able to get away with putting a Reese’s logo on it, it’s no surprise that Hershey has been milking this cash cow for all it’s worth – Reese’s has had more special edition flavors and other spin-offs than almost any other candy (except maybe Kit Kat). Keeping that in mind, today’s candy was probably inevitable: the Reese Hazelnut Crème cup. (They’ve decided to keep the accent on “crème,” perhaps hoping to evoke, say, crème brulee rather than marshmallow creme or numerous other “We can’t legally call it ‘cream’ because there’s no dairy in it” products.)

For such a winning-sounding candy concept, Hershey has opted for a suspiciously low-profile release – there’s nothing about this candy on the Reese’s website, none of our affiliated candy suppliers carry it and, oh yes, it’s Canada-only. Being fortunate enough to live in said northern climes, I had only to mosey on over to my local Dollarama to obtain a couple of samples for review purposes.

The first thing I notice about the Reese Hazelnut Crème cups is that they’re small – only 15 grams per cup. Upon opening the package, I’m greeted with a sweet milk-and-hazelnut smell that reminds me of Nutella. The familiar paper liner is conspicuously absent – while regular Reese’s need the added protection of the paper cup to keep their soft, salty, greasy goodness from soaking into the cardboard liner and being lost forever, these are firm enough to hold up on their own. Actually, they’re very firm, way firmer than you’d expect from something with “crème” in its name.

There’s a slight graininess to the texture, but it’s difficult to tell whether it comes from the filling or the chocolate, since, texture-wise, there’s not a lot of difference between them. They have a mild but definite Nutella taste to them. Yup, there’s definitely hazelnuts in there, even if they are way down there on the ingredient list, behind two kinds of hydrogenated oils but well ahead of cocoa. That’s right, Hershey has elected to go mockolate for this release. Why, Hershey, why?

My final verdict: a resounding “meh.” They’re not terrible, but there are better (real) chocolate and hazelnut candies on store shelves, especially if you have access to a German or Italian grocery store. If you live in Canada, go ahead and give these a try, but if you don’t, they’re probably not worth going through customs for.

• Official Reese’s website

Buy Reese’s Products Online:

• at Candy Crate
• at Candy Direct
• at Old Time Candy
• at Amazon.com