Peanut Butter Cup from The Fresh Market (Hand-Crafted) Review
If peanut butter had a love child with cotton candy.
Author’s note: This is a completely unpaid and unbiased review. I have no affiliation with The Fresh Market.
I tried to buy a peanut butter cup from The Fresh Market. Because they were on sale for $2.
When I got home, I realized my receipt said I bought an almond cup. For $3. I was bummed.
But, just now I realized it’s actually a peanut butter cup with almonds. Mmmkay.
And, yikes! It’s AMAZINGLY good! Dangerously delicious. Wowzers.
The peanut butter filling
The peanut butter is sort of whipped and fluffy, like a buckeye candy. It’s so light, it’s almost a delicate frosting. Sweet, but not overpowering. The frothy peanut butter is gloriously ephemeral and melts in my mouth. It’s lighter than a truffle, but has a similar truffle-like, velvety-smooth, buttery texture.
It’s unlike any other peanut butter cup I’ve tried. If peanut butter had a love child with cotton candy, it would have this texture.
Despite being whipped and cloud-like, the actual peanut flavor is satisfyingly present. There’s a subtle saltiness, too, which really rounds out the taste. I could eat this heavenly peanut froth all day long.
Whole almonds
Although I didn’t want almonds, I am glad they are here. These little nuts are incredibly crunchy (and strangely small, almost peanut size). They taste freshly roasted, and not the tiniest bit soggy or old. Because they are roasted to perfect crispness, they aren’t too hard or difficult to chew, which I appreciated.
There aren’t very many almonds inside the peanut butter cup, but, I mean, it’s a SMALL disk, so how many COULD there be? I found maybe 3-4 tiny almonds in mine.
The chocolate layers
High quality, tangy dark chocolate on either side makes this more of a “peanut butter sandwich.” The chocolate is thick enough to snap crisply when you sink your teeth into the sandwich. I did truly love this chocolate — it’s smooth, decadently dark, with just the right amount of light sweetness.
There seems to be a different chocolate used for the bottom layer, compared to the top layer, which confused me. I liked the bottom layer better, if that matters.
This is, however, extremely melty chocolate. I even kept my peanut butter cup in the refrigerator, and it melted immediately when I tried to handle it. I ended up holding the peanut butter cup cradled gingerly in the foil wrapper to minimize the melty disaster. I mean, I live in Florida, so chocolate is always a bit soft here. But this was an epic melt-fest. Handle with care!
Hand-crafted appearance
The Fresh Market has a winner here. The flavor and texture combination is eye-poppingly scrumptious. Definitely the best peanut butter candy of any variety I’ve tried.
But, is it worth $3? IDK.
According to the wrapper, these peanut butter cups are “hand-crafted.” They do have a natural, almost rustic look that suggests more of a boutique confectionary than a mass-produced item from a mainstream grocery chain.
Ingredients in The Fresh Market Peanut Butter Cup
Here are the ingredients from the label:
- Chocolate (Unsweetened Chocolate, Sugar, Cocoa Butter, Soy Lecithin, Natural Vanilla)
- Peanut Butter (Peanuts, Palm Oil)
- Whole Almonds
- Sugar
- Butter
- Salt
Yes, there are only six basic ingredients here! And yes, these are pretty impressive ingredients — surprisingly natural and wholesome. It’s especially nice to see real vanilla as flavoring. Hooray!
Unfortunately, there are some potential allergens here, like milk and soy — which probably could have been avoided. Alas.
Nutrition Facts
I was surprised to see there is very little information on the label. For example, it does not list the weight of each peanut butter cup. After googling it, I found Instacart has the peanut butter cups advertised at 2 ounces each. So, we’ll go with that. But, sheesh. This is the first mainstream food item I’ve purchased without a size/weight listed.
There’s no nutritional information on the wrapper, either. And no printed link to find it at another location. There’s a general link to “thefreshmarket.net” — which takes me to an “unsecure” (and SUPER strange-looking) website that isn’t the main website for The Fresh Market. Very, very odd! Cue The Twilight Zone music. Why would they print that address on their food labels?
Anyway, after searching TheFreshMarket.com site, I was able to locate these Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups, but there wasn’t any nutritional information there, either. Just a single picture of the front of a peanut butter cup. Bah!
There is teeny, tiny print with a number to call for the nutritional information: 1-866-817-4367. I called this number, and it turns out this is just the main corporate phone line for The Fresh Market. After listening to an automated message, I was informed the business hours are 8am to 6pm. There was no option to leave a message or access the nutritional information through any kind of automated system. Boo.
I waited until business hours the following day to try again. And, although I had to provide my email address AND name to the representative, I was able to get the nutrition information emailed to me within 5-10 minutes. And here it is, my hard-won prize:
Sorry it is blurry. I did my best!
As a defeated side rant, when I google “The Fresh Market,” half the time I end up on a website that won’t allow me to search for local store products — and gives me a “no results found” when I use the search bar to look for “peanut butter cups.” Definitely something wonky going on with The Fresh Market website(s)! If you’re frustrated and you know it, clap your hands! *clap, clap*
Price and Shelf-Life
Each little individually-wrapped peanut butter cup is an eye-watering $3. Since there are an (alleged) 2 ounces per peanut butter cup, this is $1.50 per ounce.
The “best by” date on my peanut butter cup allowed me approximately 3 months to consume.
Other varieties of these peanut butter cups include:
- Milk Chocolate with Almonds
- Milk Chocolate with Chopped Peanuts
If you’re trying to locate these in the store, they are near the bulk candy and nuts.
Dramatic Conclusion
I loved these “hand-crafted” peanut butter cups from The Fresh Market. But, I wish they weren’t so spendy. I’d be willing to buy them in a multi-pack, to save money. They seem like a great stocking-stuffer for Christmas. But, put the dang nutrition facts somewhere, and fix your website!
The End.
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Check out these other chocolatey reviews I’ve written. Or don’t, that’s fine, too:
