As the Christmas bandwagon trundles out of town, many people will be looking forward to getting back a bit of normality. But for those struggling to adjust to any type of routine, it can be difficult to let go of some of those festive habits and seasonal products that we've only had in our lives for a few short weeks.
Aldi fans have recently taken to Twitter to urge the store to induct one of its Christmas chocolates into its year-round range, and it appears to have worked. The supermarket recently introduced bite-sized milk chocolate peanut butter Christmas trees in an orange package not all that dissimilar to Reese's renowned peanut butter cups.
On Twitter, fans have posted their opinions of the treat, writing comments such as, "please add these peanut butter chocolates to your normal range and not just for Xmas, they’re so tasty I’ll cry when you stop selling them."
Read More: I tried the Lidl Christmas cake that is half the price of the Waitrose version
Now Christmas is out of the way, Aldi has ditched the Christmas tree shape and seems to have committed to the cup format, which prompted us to pick up a pouch to see if they live up to the hype and how they compare to the original made by Reese's.
Long before the sweet and savoury combination was commonplace, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups were invented in 1928 by H. B. Reese, a former dairy farmer and shipping foreman who worked for Milton S. Hershey.
Now owned by the Hershey brand, the classic Reese's sweet consists of a chocolate cup filled with peanut butter and was initially called the 'Penny Cup' because they only cost one cent. Wildly successful and now available in a range of sizes and styles worldwide, Reese's has become so synonymous with peanut butter and chocolate that the brand has remarkably few competitors.
In the UK, a Reese's two-pack weighs 42g and costs 70p from both Tesco and Sainsbury's. Meanwhile, Aldi's similar-looking 99p grab bag gets you 90g of its mini cups. If you're quick, you might also be able to find Aldi's Christmas tree-shaped treats, still available online in a 110g pouch for £0.79.
Reeses does sell its own mini cups in the UK priced at £1.60 for a 90g pouch. Still, despite being able to find a host of other Reese's products on the 'American shelf' at Sainsbury's, including Reese's Dipped Pretzels and Reese's White Peanut Butter Cups, we were unable to obtain them for this comparison.
Visually there are some differences between the two cups and not just the obvious size. Reese's chocolate is glossier, and the peanut butter paste has a darker caramel colour with a thicker texture.
Taste-wise, there's also quite a bit to differentiate the two models. The Aldi version is sweeter, more mellow and creamy, with the chocolate playing a pivotal role and a touch of saltiness coming through toward the end of the bite. With Reese's, it's a different story, with a bolder, more salt-forward flavour that dominates, followed by a touch of nuttiness and finally a kicker of yet more salt.
Unexpectedly the Aldi version contains more salt, with 1.14g per 100g, compared to 0.81g per 100g in the Reese's. But based on flavour alone, we'd be more inclined to polish off a whole bag of Aldi's take on the peanut butter cup, which is why we're pleased to see this Christmas hangover is sticking around a little longer.
Read More:
- Aldi and Lidl's sausage roll Christmas centrepieces compared in our taste test
We cooked an Aldi Christmas dinner but did not find the ingredients as cheap as we expected
The JFC festive Christmas Bucket is a take on KFC with an added dollop of Japanese festive tradition
I tried the famous Yorkshire pudding wrap at Bristol's Christmas Market
