Oh, so CLOSE....

Longtime readers will remember that last summer, my long quest for my favorite, and elusive, candy bar came to an end when I found the Boyer Peanut Butter Smoothie, an all-peanut butter peanut butter cup, on sale at Vidler's in East Aurora. (Side note to my Buffalo readers: Vidler's is a freaking treasure. You must go there. Why that place isn't front-and-center on all of the Buffalo-Niagara region tourist literature is beyond me.)

Well, I'm at 7-11 this afternoon buying drinks for me and the kid (evil, thy name is "IBC Root Beer on tap at 7-11"), and I spied something nifty-looking: the fine people at Reese's, who have been doing variations on their classic Peanut Butter Cup for several years now (White Chocolate cups, Inside-Out cups, Big Cups, et cetera) now have a "Peanut Butter Lover's" limited edition out. Did I buy them? Oh, you bet.

And is it as good as the Boyer Peanut Butter Smoothie? Oh, it's so damned close...but no.

It's a really good item. I plan to fill my fridge with the things. But no, they're not replacing the Boyer delicacy, because Reese's just couldn't get beyond the idea that there had to be chocolate in this thing, somewhere -- so the bottom and sides of the cup are chocolate. There's the same peanut butter filling, and the "lid" of the cup is a peanut-butter shell, but there's still chocolate there. It's almost like someone at Reese's chickened out -- "It can't be all peanut butter! Who'd buy that!" -- and so, well, it looks like the small candy company from Altoona is still the king of Peanut Butter Cup World, as far as I am concerned.

(Sadly, Reese's is running a promotion where you vote for either the Peanut Butter Lover's cup, or the "Chocolate Lover's cup", which I have not tried -- I love chocolate, but what's the point of that thing?? -- and the Peanut Butter Lover's cup is getting its ass kicked as of this writing, 75-25%. Come on, America! Chocolate is wonderful stuff, but there are other candy flavors out there, awaiting your discovery!)