Love or heartbreak? Red Velvet Reese’s Cups are here for Valentine’s Day

There is no break for a seasonal aisle. Once the calendar reads December 26, the shift from Christmas to Valentine’s Day is imminent. And with that shift comes a new wave of seasonal snacks.

In honor of Valentine’s Day, we’re getting Reese’s Peanut Butter Cups Red Velvet this year. The red velvet flavor is something the Reese’s Cups line has never tried. While it’s hard to rival classic chocolate when it comes to desserts like cookies and cake, I was curious what a Red Velvet Reese’s Cup would be like.

Would I develop a crush on this new Reese’s Cup variety? Or would it be instant heartbreak?

Where I found it

The Red Velvet Reese’s Cups in the standard size were a find at Wegmans. I ordered the Miniature Cups from Target.

What I paid

A four-pack of standard-sized Red Velvet Reese’s Cups cost me $2.79 while the Miniatures were $4.69 for a 9.3 oz. bag on Target’s website.

My thoughts

The Red Velvet Reese’s Cups were an immediate disappointment for me.

I tried the standard-sized versions first. They lacked almost any kind of red velvet oomph. Without the full chocolate cup surrounding the peanut butter, a Red Velvet Reese’s Cup is the equivalent of eating a Reese’s Cup that’s gone flat.

The Miniature Cups are actually a touch better. The ratio of chocolate and “red velvet flavored creme” to peanut butter gives this version a stronger balance.

The problem with a Red Velvet Reese’s Cup, no matter the size, is that you can’t properly replicate the red velvet flavor without the assistance of cream cheese frosting. The red velvet Oreos that we last saw on shelves a year or two ago were highly successful because an Oreo has the advantage of not only being able to offer a cookie that’s flavored like red velvet, it can pair it with creme filling that’s flavored like cream cheese frosting. That’s how you properly capture the magic of red velvet.

Final verdict: PASS

As I mentioned before, I found the normal-sized Red Velvet Reese’s Cups during a lunch stop at Wegmans during our drive back from Rochester after New Year’s. I happened to walk by the seasonal aisle at the Williamsport Wegmans and spotted these, picking them up instead of our usual Wegmans chocolate chip cookie dessert. When I gave our daughter one of these Reese’s Cups, I asked her what her thoughts were.

“My thoughts are I want to go home,” she replied.

Fair. We’ll stick to the chocolate chip cookies in the future.