Vanilla Crème Peeps

Place purchased: Target 

Price: $1.99 

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 8.3

The Vanilla Crème Peeps have a white marshmallow coated in white sugar and light blue, purple, pink, and yellow flakes. 

C: I like the multicolored sugar crystals.

J: I really like the fancy packaging, as well as the multicolored flakes.

Flavor and Taste - 7.0

The Peeps are very sweet and have a strong vanilla flavor. 

C: Vanilla is prominent, but not overpowering. Stronger than just a regular marshmallow vanilla.

J: The vanilla flavor is much stronger as you wait. Initially very normal Peep tasting. Very sweet, but as expected.

S: A little soapy and extremely sweet.

Texture - 7.6

The marshmallow is soft and spongy, and the sugar exterior is crunchy. 

C: Chewy and fluffy.

J: Soft like a normal Peep.

S: Felt creamy.

Aftertaste - 7.4

The aftertaste is mainly sweet with a faint vanilla flavor. 

C: Sweet, vanilla.

J: Nice mellow vanilla flavor. Still present, but not overbearing.

Overall - 7.4

Overall, the Vanilla Crème Peeps taste good, though vanilla is not a very exciting flavor. 

Strawberry Crème Peeps

Place purchased: Target 

Price: $1.99 

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 7.8

The Strawberry Crème Peeps consist of a pink marshmallow coated with the same color pink sugar and red sugar flakes. Unlike most Peeps, these are individual marshmallows rather than several connected together. 

J: I like the red and pink contrast.

Flavor and Taste - 5.8

The Peeps smell strongly of real strawberries, not artificial. Unfortunately, the flavor of the Peeps is very subdued compared to the aroma. These Peeps have a faint artificial strawberry and somewhat plasticy flavor.

C: Smells very much like strawberries. Very artificial taste, with lots of sugar. Medicinal note at end.

J: Great strawberry flavor, but also creamy, so not too overbearing.

S: Very artificial strawberry, and also soapy.

Texture - 6.8

The texture is that of a normal Peep: A soft, chewy marshmallow with crunchy sugar. The red sugar flakes do not have a noticeable texture. 

C: Lots of sugar coated on outsides, makes it gritty. 

S: Becomes creamy. 

Aftertaste - 6.3

There is a faint strawberry aftertaste.

C: Artificial strawberry. 

J: Begins to become overly artificial as it sits in mouth. 

Overall - 6.3

In contrast to other new Peeps like Blue Raspberry and Sour Watermelon which have very strong flavors, these Strawberry Crème Peeps only have a subtle artificial strawberry flavor. The Peeps would have benefited from a more authentic and prominent flavor. 

PB & J's Strawberry

Place purchased: Walgreen's

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 6.0

There are eight wrapped pieces in the box. Each piece is divided into four segments. The chocolate is filled with a thick layer of peanut butter on the bottom and a thin layer of brown colored jelly. 

L: I didn't like the wrapping. It looks like old school Batman. 

Flavor and Taste - 2.5

The strawberry jam is sweet and has a floral flavor rather than strawberry. There is not much of a peanut butter flavor. Also, the chocolate tastes very cheap. 

C: Bad quality chocolate. Strawberry and peanut flavors not very pronounced. Weird floral off flavor.
L: It's just sweet, gross, floral. Kinda peanut at the end. 
S: Tastes like clove and really floral. Didn't really taste the peanut butter. 

Texture - 3.0

There were waxy, chewy pieces in the filling.

L: Waxy/chewy. 
S: Has some crunchy, waxy pieces inside. 

Aftertaste - 4.3

The aftertaste was mainly sweet. 

C: Waxy off-flavor stays.
L: Weird peanut flavor. 
S: Not much. Floral.

Overall - 2.9

This PB & J bar tastes like neither peanut butter nor strawberry jam. 

Candy Hunting - Reese's Fan Edition

Place found: Target 

Price: $0.79

Reese's Fan Edition Peanut Butter Cups are available at Target and Walgreen's for the duration of NCAA March Madness, which ends on April 7. There are a total of 10 different basketball themed designs printed on the peanut butter cups. 

More info: Click here

Russell Stover Brownie Egg

Place purchased: Walgreens

Price: $0.59 

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 6.5

The Russell Stover Brownie Egg has a milk chocolate shell with a dense chocolate brownie filling. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.3

The filling is very rich and fudgy. The milk chocolate shell is sweet and chocolaty. The filling and chocolate shell together taste like milk chocolate coated brownie batter.  

C: Very eggy. Tastes like uncooked brownie batter. 

J: Great chocolate flavor and inside tastes like real brownie batter.

S: Tastes just like brownie batter. 

Texture - 6.5

The brownie filling is thick and very rich. There are tiny sugar granules within the filling, which makes it slightly crunchy, like actual brownie batter. The harder texture of the milk chocolate coating provides a good contrast to the filling. 

C: Almost slimy, gooey. 

S: Grainy like brownie batter.

Aftertaste - 7.3

The aftertaste is mainly the flavor of milk chocolate. 

C: Chocolate cake batter.

J: Brownie batter. 

S: Chocolate, eggy. 

Overall - 7.1

Overall, I enjoyed the Russell Stover Brownie Egg. Though, I think the name should be changed to 'Brownie Batter', as the filling has the exact flavor and texture of brownie batter, not baked brownies. 

J: I love things that taste like uncooked batter, so I'm sold on this one. 

Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash Egg

The Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash egg is described as a "Chocolate Covered Cake Batter Cream Egg with Cookie Dough, Fudge, and Whipped Topping." The Cold Stone Creamery eggs are made by Frankford Candy. There also are Cold Stone Chocolate bars, made by The Cacao Group, which are still not available in stores (they were supposed to be released in Cold Stone Creamery locations in summer 2013, but that never happened). While I have not tried the Cold Stone Chocolates, I have tried four Crev Truffle bars which are also made by The Cacao Group and look exactly like the Cold Stone Chocolate bars. The Crev Truffle bars are phenomenal, and I would expect the Cold Stone Chocolate bars to be similar. Unfortunately, I could not say the same about this Cold Stone Creamery chocolate egg. 

Place purchased: Walmart

Price: $5.00

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 7.8

The egg has a milk chocolate shell with a dark chocolate drizzle. The shell separates from the filling and breaks into large pieces when the egg is cut. The filling is the light brown in color and has a few specks of chocolate scattered throughout the filling. The egg is also quite large, at a weight of 170 g. 

J: The egg is huge! It's also protected well, so I'm sure you wouldn't get a broken product, which is important. 

Flavor and Taste - 6.9

The filling is very rich and tastes exactly like the cookie dough pieces in chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream. The chocolate shell is very sweet and does not have much flavor. It is disappointing that the egg tastes mainly of cookie dough, when this is supposed to be cake batter flavored. 

C: Tastes more like cookie dough than cake batter, but I get a little bit of vanilla that reminds me of yellow cake.
J: The chocolate on top is very sugary and fake tasting. The inside tastes like cookie dough, but is also very sweet. 
L: It's okay. Overly sweet. They over compensate on the fake cake batter, need to tone it down.

Texture - 5.5

The filling is soft, slightly gritty, and coats the inside of your mouth. 

C: Has a raw cookie dough texture. Grainy, soft, chewy.
J: I really don't like the inside texture. It is gummy and adheres to all your teeth and mouth. 

Aftertaste - 5.5

The aftertaste is sweet and has a strong vanilla flavor. 

C: Raw cookie dough taste.
J: Slight egg/batter but mostly highly sweet/sugar.
L: Plasticy vanilla.

Overall - 6.6

Overall, the Cold Stone Creamery Cake Batter Cookie Bash egg was underwhelming. The chocolate had no flavor, and the filling had a bad texture and was not cake batter flavored. While the serving size is listed as 1/4 of the egg, the product is so rich that I could only eat a small amount at one time. I think the egg should have been smaller and would have been much better if the The Cacao Group had manufactured them rather than Frankford Candy. 

J: I thought I would like this more, but the high sweetness sugar taste of the chocolate and weird texture of the inside brings it down. 


The Cold Stone Creamery eggs come in two other varieties: Cookies & Creamery and Strawberry Banana Rendezvous. 

Peanut Mega M&M's

Place purchased: CVS

Price: $4.39

Number of reviewers: 4

Appearance - 7.0 

The Peanut Mega M&M's are very irregular in shape and look like slightly larger peanut M&M's.

J: They do not look much different from a normal peanut M&M. 

L: They don't look that different. 

Flavor and Taste - 7.3 

The M&M's have a strong peanut flavor. The milk chocolate is secondary to the flavor of the peanut. 

J: Normal, expected. 

L: Little oxidized peanut.

Texture - 7.8 

The shell is crispy, and the peanut is crunchy. 

J: Texture still good despite bigger size. 

Aftertaste - 7.3 

The aftertaste is that of milk chocolate and peanuts. 

Overall - 7.1

The Peanut Mega M&M's are delicious, just like regular peanut M&M's. However, they do not seem that different from normal peanut M&M's, and they are not available in single serve size bags. 

L: They're pretty much the same. 

S: Could have added more chocolate. Not much bigger than the normal ones.