Peanut Butter Cup Showdown: Atkins vs Reese's

Since I shared that my favorite Halloween candy is Reese's Peanut Butter Cups, I wanted to host a series of candy showdowns this month to test out my favorite. I hope you'll leave comments and voice your own opinions as well.

First up, Atkins versus Reese's.


The Atkins (on the left) is darker in color and a bit smaller in thickness and diameter. As a "diet food" it also has fewer calories, 80 a cup versus 105 Reese's. Atkins decreases sugars with substitutions that can have effects on your digestive system. Pluses and minuses to both. Let's try them out.


I cut them in half first and kept the left right positions the same. Do you see how the chocolate on the top dips down into the peanut butter in the Arkins versus a larger amount of peanut butter in the Reese's?


Finally, I tasted them both.

Oddly the Atkins chocolate doesn't taste like chocolate at all and has a waxy texture to it...very disappointing. The peanut butter has a roasted peanut and salt flavor to it.

The Reese's is primarily roasted sweet peanut butter but it does have a hint of sweet milk chocolate to it.

Between the two I still have to give a thumbs up to Reese's but doing this showdown showed me just how sweet it is and how little chocolate there is in it.


Comments

Morninglori said…
I have been addicted to Reese’s peanut butter cups my whole life. So I did not hold out any hope for the Atkin’s brand. But, to my surprise, I might actually like the Atkin’s better!! It is creamy (I didn’t get “waxy” at all), with a better chocolate to pb ratio. And it tastes amazing!! The Reese’s also has more fat, more cholesterol, more sodium and more carbs, with 22g Total Sugars vs 0g in the Atkins. And the sugar alcohol in the Atkins will only mess with your digestive system if you eat more than 2 at a time, if at all. The sugar alcohol doesn’t count because it isn’t retained by the body. I recommend the Atkins over the Reese’s!!
Morninglori said…
I have been addicted to Reese’s peanut butter cups my whole life. So I did not hold out any hope for the Atkin’s brand. But, to my surprise, I might actually like the Atkin’s better!! It is creamy (I didn’t get “waxy” at all, with a better chocolate to pb ratio. And it tastes amazing!! The Reese’s also contains more calories, fat, cholesterol and sodium than the Atkins, though it does have more protein. The Reese’s also has more carbs, including 22g of sugar, while the Atkins only contains 12g sugar alcohol which will only affect your digestive system if you eat a lot of it. It is also not retained by the body like sugar is. I highly recommend the Atkins over the Reese’s!!
Thank you reading and commenting, Morninglori. Our differences in opinions just demonstrates who much individual tastes and experiences make when consuming candy.
Unknown said…
I prefer the adkins and I'm not just saying it because I do low carb. When you live a low carb lifestyle you find sweet treats ridiculously too sweet and can actually taste bad/bland. I find the adkins rich and perfectly sweet. I think the caramel and chocolate actually taste better. Maybe because I don't eat a lot of sweets like I used to but I do think the adkins taste better.
Thank you for leaving your opinions. I'd so happy that people are finally finding our series comparing peanut butter cups. I think you are right what when you live follow a food regime, it really affects how you feel about products.
I actually like the Atkins better, too. Like comments above, I find it has more chocolatey taste and it melts like chocolate should. Not waxy at all. To each his own. <3 Thanks for the comparison!
Thanks for more comments, folks.

I'm slightly amused that people think the Atkins tastes like chocolate when I've tasted so many chocolate here on The Chocolate Cult.

But everyone had a lifetime of eating chocolate and I'm sure that before I started this blog, I would have agreed it did taste like chocolate, it just pales compare to all the brands we've tested here.