Reese’s Whoppers

After reviewing the Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers a couple weeks ago, I felt I had to give the new Reese’s Whoppers a shot. The Reese’s line may be Hershey’s most popular, and they’ve expanded well beyond the classic Peanut Butter Cup over the past few years. I’m actually surprised that the strawberry flavor hit the market before these. Peanut butter is a crowd-pleaser, and it’s a natural place to take malted milk balls.

I wasn’t thrilled with these, but I didn’t have high expectation, so that’s okay. The peanut butter coating is greasy and waxy, keeping in line with other Whoppers products. It a bit too sweet for me. The malt and the peanut butter aren’t distinctive enough. I felt like I was eating sugary cereal… this is probably what the Reese’s cereal tastes like.

For me, the peanut butter and malt are two sides of a triangle, and they really need chocolate to serve as the missing leg. I think Hershey should have gone with the classic peanut butter and chocolate combo as opposed of simple peanut butter.

Overall, not bad, but not worth it.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 17 pieces. There are 190 calories, 8g of fat (7g saturated), 19g of sugar, and 4g of protein per serving.

Rating: 5/10

Name: Reese’s Whoppers
Brand: Hershey
Store: Wal-mart
Price: $0.99
Weight: 3.5 oz.

Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers

Weirdly, I love Robin’s Eggs but don’t care for Whoppers. The candy shell makes the difference I guess, but please, don’t ask me how so.

I’ve never been a strawberry milkshake person either. I prefer vanilla or peanut butter. (No, not chocolate — I don’t care much for chocolate ice cream, surprisingly.) I only started eating strawberry ice cream a couple years ago.

So, Strawberry Milkshake Whoppers aren’t exactly my ideal candy, as much as I may love malted milk. Hershey’s introduced the flavor to the Whoppers line about two years ago. I glanced at them, wrinkled my nose, and waited for them to go away. They never did. I don’t know if that was always the intention or if these just sold very well, but they’re still here. Staring at me. Demanding that I try them

Obviously, I finally broke down and did so.

They’re pretty, pale pink little gems, not the pepto-pink color you might expect. The strawberry confection is greasy to the touch but is not unpleasant in my mouth. Of course, it would be nice to have a real white chocolate coating, but we can’t expect much seeing as regular Whoppers have a chocolate-ty versus a chocolate coating.

The flavor is surprisingly pleasant. I suppose they taste a bit like strawberry ice cream, but a little more mellow. They remind me very much of summer, cotton candy, and bubble gum. The malt-ness of the center isn’t very strong, but the salty kick provides a nice contrast.

I think I prefer these to regular Whoppers. I shared with a friend, and she absolutely loved them. So much, in fact, that she went out and bought a big box a couple days later. I wouldn’t buy these for myself, but I’ll munch on a couple if my friend is sharing.

Nutrition Breakdown: Serving size is 18 pieces. There are 190 calories, 8g of fat (8g saturated), 26g of sugar, and less than 1g of protein per serving.

Rating: 6/10

Name: Whoppers Strawberry Milkshake
Brand: Hershey
Store: Wal-mart
Price: $0.99
Weight: 3.5 oz.

Harry and David Dark Chocolate Maltballs

These candies are dark and shiny. The shape is irregular; they aren’t perfect spheres, but they are still pretty. The box is pretty cute too, and contains about four servings of candy.

Now, let me say that I LOVE malted milk balls. My top 3 candy choices are always changing, but malted milk balls are a constant. Unfortunately, they don’t seem to be that popular with others. It’s rare to see a single serving bag of Whoppers down even the most well-stocked candy aisle. So I get excited when I see a malt product, and I’m not overly picky with them.

That being said, I was incredibly disappointed my these. I didn’t even finish the box, and that’s saying a lot.

My problem was with the chocolate. It had a fruity quality which came off as medicinal to me, like cherry cough syrup. The flavor completely overwhelmed the malt in the center; I could hardly taste it. Even worse, and rather odd, was the that the chocolate didn’t melt well. I had to bite or scrape off the chocolate with my teeth. It is real chocolate, not ‘mockolate,’ so I’m not sure what the problem there was.

I can say that these were fresh. I never encountered one of those hard-sticky centers that can occur. Each was nice and crunchy. I can only tell you this because I spent time dissecting the candies (yes, I’m still playing with my food). I only ate a couple; the rest ended up in the trash because I really disliked the chocolate, and no one else in the house wanted them either.

I wonder if dark chocolate is too overwhelming for malted milk balls, or if it’s just this brand? Or just me?

Rating: 4/10

Name: Dark Chocolate Maltballs
Brand: Harry and David
Store: Target
Price: $2.08