We Tried Reese's Stuff Your Cup Experience
The great state of Pennsylvania has enriched our lives with a cornucopia of remarkable things, many notable in the culinary department. The birthplace of democracy has delighted our taste buds with a wonderful bounty of fresh meats and dairy products, courtesy of the Dutch Amish. Without a doubt, however, the most impactful contribution is chocolate.
Milton Hershey's career began with a few hiccups along the way, but would eventually lead to one of the largest chocolate and confectionery companies in the world. Previously a luxury good, the expert confectioner brought affordable chocolate to the masses in North America and beyond. Headquartered in none other than Hershey, Penn., you can feast your chocolate fantasies 365 days a year in the suburban town — complete with a theme park — aptly named Hersheypark. But, it's not all chocolate.
During the late 1920s, H.B. Reese combined chocolate and peanut butter, creating the total marvel that we now know of as Reese's peanut butter cups. The venture later joined The Hershey Company in 1963 and is still located in the town to this very day. Nearly 100 years after its invention, the treat has been given a modern-day upgrade with the Reese's Stuff Your Cup Experience. It allows guests to bring their candy consumption to an unprecedented level by stuffing a custom mix of ingredients into a ginormous, 1-pound cup.
We had to see it to believe it, so we immediately made a bee-line straight to the sweetest place on earth.
Reese's Stuff Your Cup Experience is exclusive to Hershey's Chocolate World
Just outside the gates of Hersheypark, you will find the sugary mecca that is Hershey's Chocolate World — a place that can best be described as if Willy Wonka's famous chocolate factory was open to visitors in real life. Once inside its storied walls, you will find several candy-centric experiences, including an interactive tasting lab, an attraction that explores the story of Milton Hershey, and the biggest Hershey's Chocolate retail store in the world. Visiting is free to all guests ready to indulge in more than 500 different varieties of candies.
Hershey's Chocolate World also happens to be a bona fide foodie's delight. Here, you are not just looking at and learning about chocolate, but you are tasting it. The true chocolate connoisseur will delight in the next-level food court, complete with Nibby coffee — coffee infused with chocolate cocoa nibs. There is also a build-your-own s'mores bar, and alcoholic beverage and chocolate pairings, including a Yuengling Hershey's Chocolate Porter. There's even an appropriately named "epic" 1-pound pretzel served in a pizza-sized box with HERSHEY's Special Dark Chocolate peanut butter ganache.
The Reese's Stuff Your Cup experience is one of the newest offerings and welcome addition to the next-level haven of chocolate.
For $19.95, all of your Reese's dreams can come true
With a little imagination and the modest price tag of $19.95, you can channel Milton himself as you design the peanut butter chocolate collaboration of your dreams. It all begins with an empty chocolate cup that is ready to be filled with fresh peanut butter and up to 4 of your favorite toppings from a selection of over a dozen options. On our visit, we were able to pick from chopped brownies, mini marshmallows, rainbow sprinkles, HERSHEY's sea salt caramel chips, bacon bits, potato chips, HERSHEY's milk chocolate chips, HERSHEY's kisses minis, Hershey-ets, crushed cookies, pretzel bits, and for the PB obsessed, both Reese's pieces minis and chopped Reese's peanut butter cups. Your 4 selections are then folded in with 2 generous scoops of fresh Reese's peanut butter, direct from the factory — more on that to come.
Sounds like enough, right? Well, you are then able to top it with marshmallow fluff, caramel topping, and fudge topping — just 1 or all 3, if you're feeling particularly adventurous. The final step is the addition of a chocolate lid on top of your "cup" and voila! You are a bonafide chocolate master.
They use Reese's Peanut Butter direct from the factory
When you are visiting Hershey, PA, it is all about the iconic candy — from its inclusion on menus across the town (hello, chocolate martinis!) to the HERSHEY's KISSES adorned lamp posts that line the streets. You also could swear the air even smells of it... that is because Hershey's production factories are right there in town.
Ready for what we think is one of the coolest parts about this new experience? The Reese's stuff your cup experience uses peanut butter direct from the factory that is literally down the road. That means, you are getting the highest level of freshness and the difference in taste is palpable. While there are other direct from factory Reese's products, being able to taste the peanut butter in its most pristine form makes all a difference. It is over-the-top in the best possible way.
Thinking of planning a visit? The experience is exclusive to this location of Hershey's Chocolate World in Pennsylvania only.
What is the process like?
While the experience isn't hands-on for the guest, you work directly with their staff, also known as "tasteologists," in creating the peanut butter cup that you had previously thought only existed in your wildest of dreams. The magic may happen behind the counter, but you are there every step of the way as you and your "tasteologist" create the monstrous cup. The entire experience may only last about 5 minutes, but it is a total blast. Since this is a judgment-free zone, they won't scoff at you if you want to combine some bacon bits with your marshmallow fluff. We'll be completely honest. We were practically drooling as they brought out the tray of fresh from the factory peanut butter.
Once your cup is ready to go, it is packaged to take home in an adorable resealable box emblazoned with Reese's world-known branding and color scheme. There was also a photo opportunity at the end, adding to this unique and memorable experience.
How does it taste?
This is likely the largest chocolate creation you will ever see IRL, but more importantly, how does it taste? Simply put: it felt like we had won the golden ticket a la Charlie Bucket.
Upon hitting our tastebuds, we were shocked at just how fresh the peanut butter tasted. It had more of a whipped-like texture as opposed to the denseness commonly found in your average peanut butter jar. We have to give props on the sheer size of this thing. It's massive, and we'd compare it to the circumference of a small pizza while being a good 5 inches in height. With 1 pound of peanut butter in there, it could easily be shared by a small army, but we won't judge if you want to go solo at it.
We decided to break pieces off the cup's lid and scooped the peanut butter out "chip and dip" style. This was a good way to nail the peanut butter-to-chocolate ratio with each bite. While the peanut butter is so good that it could easily work on its own, we were surprised by how much we enjoyed the addition of bacon. It added a nice level of crispiness and a bit of saltiness to balance out the overall flavor profile. While combining bacon and peanut butter is nothing new, the flavors melting together in our mouth was downright transcendent.
If you love the finer things in life, head to Hershey's Chocolate World ASAP, friends.