Thursday, January 2, 2014

Justin’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

Justin's White Chocolate Peanut Butter CupsJustin’s White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are a limited edition version of their dark and milk chocolate peanut butter cups. They’re available only at Whole Foods this winter.

What sets these apart from other white peanut butter cups is the fact that Justin’s not only uses real white chocolate, it’s also fair trade cacao butter.

All of the ingredients are organic except the sea salt,which is an inorganic item anyway. The palm oil is sustainably sourced and the cacao comes from Rainforest Alliance certified growers. Justin’s is gluten free as well.

Still, with all those qualifiers, they’re still a white chocolate candy, which has a pretty narrow band of fans.

Justin's White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups

The cups are beautiful, a creamy yellow white with a little dollop in the center. The white chocolate has a lot of milk in it (the third ingredient) and has a lot of dairy flavors to it. The peanut butter center is salty, with a grainy crunch but also a smooth roasted flavor to it. From my early taste tests of Justin’s peanut butter cups, they’ve really come a long way in balancing out the texture of the center without being too oily or too dry. The white chocolate bring a lot of creaminess and vanilla flavors, the overall effect is like eating peanut butter cookie dough.

I’m a fan of good white chocolate (and will eat bad white confections against my better judgement) and this is some very well made stuff. Since Reese’s switched to a white confection, as far as I know, these are the only nationally distributed white chocolate peanut butter cups available.

I did notice one odd thing on the package. The cups are 1.4 ounces total and it says that it’s 180 calories. But the rest of the nutrition panel does not support that. There are 16 grams of fat (9 calories per gram) and 19 grams of carbs (4 calories per gram) then 4 grams of protein (4 calories per gram) all tallies up to 236 calories, not 180. (Reese’s Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter cups are 210 calories for 1.5 ounces.) So if these calculations are correct, that’s 169 calories per ounce. Mmm, high fat density.

I like these and I’d probably pick them up again. But Justin, where are those dark chocolate hazelnut butter cups I’ve been longing for?

Related Candies

  1. UNREAL #77 Peanut Butter Cups
  2. Justin’s Peanut and Almond Candy Bars
  3. Justin’s Organic Peanut Butter Cups
  4. Short & Sweet: Summer Bites
  5. Russell Stover White Chocolate Peanut Butter Rabbit
  6. Koeze Cream-Nut Dark Chocolate Peanut Butter Cluster
  7. Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Line


Name: White Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
    RATING:
  • SUPERB
  • YUMMY
  • TASTY
  • WORTH IT
  • TEMPTING
  • PLEASANT
  • BENIGN
  • UNAPPEALING
  • APPALLING
  • INEDIBLE
Brand: Justin’s Nut Butter
Place Purchased: Whole Foods (Park LaBrea)
Price: $1.99
Size: 1.4 ounces
Calories per ounce: 169
Categories: All Natural, Candy, Justin's Nut Butter, Ethically Sourced, Limited Edition, Organic, Peanuts, White Chocolate, 8-Tasty, United States, Whole Foods
Comments
  1. I love white chocolate so I’ll be making a trip to Whole Foods very soon!

    Comment by Sal on 1/02/14 at 7:52 pm #
  2. Clever use of the word “inorganic”, Cybele.

    You seem to put a lot of faith into Fair-Trade, Organic, Rainforest Alliance and the many other labels. I have heard that a lot of these organizations are just out for themselves.

    What do you think?

    Comment by Jason on 1/03/14 at 9:07 am #
  3. Cybele's avatar

    Jason - I don’t know which particular independent organizations are out for themselves, but I do recognize that the certification process itself takes money out of the pockets of the farmers even if it helps them to get more for their crops. It’s consumers who should bear the cost, but few are willing to do so in this Walmart/Amazon.com culture.

    When I started the blog there was very little transparency about the source of ingredients. Just that awareness allows consumers to make choices. So, I tried to document what I knew, and part of this blog is just a record of what the status of that product was at the time I reviewed it.

    I don’t know how to fix the issues that come with the entrenched system of small cacao growers, child labor, poverty and post-colonialism. I don’t think that boycotting chocolate completely will help anyone, but supporting companies that want to make better products and develop relationships with the growers should improve things for all concerned.

    Comment by Cybele on 1/03/14 at 9:44 am #
  4. So, does that mean that the calorie calculations are incorrect? It actually has 236 calories per 2 cups?

    Hmmm, why do these candy people lie to us?

    Comment by susan on 1/03/14 at 2:30 pm #
  5. Nicely said, Cybele. I now have qualms about these organizations but like you I also believe they do some good and on balance are for the better.

    Comment by Jason on 1/04/14 at 9:22 am #
  6. I’ve always liked the taste of vanilla chocolate fudge.

    Comment by SJCarras on 4/29/17 at 10:10 am #
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