Reese’s Puffs are a lot like Krave.

As I mentioned in my recent review, Krave is a cereal with nearly limitless potential for awesome flavor fillings, a potential that’s been largely (and tragically) unrealized in America while European Krave lets its freaky flavor flag fly.

General Mills’s iconic peanut butter puffs are the same way. As Reese’s candy division is stuffing Reese’s Pieces into Reese’s Cups, cramming peanuts into Reese’s Pieces, and (probably) distilling the ethereal essences of Mr. Peanut’s ghostly grandparents into Reese’s NutRageous bars, Reese’s Puffs cereal remains plain and unchanged. Outside of our sweetest nightly dreams, we’ve never seen Reese’s Puffs with Reese’s Pieces, Reese’s Puffs with Nougat & Nut Shavings, or even Chocolate PB&J Reese’s Puffs.

I’m not the only one who feels this way, either. One of my favorite YouTube gamers went on a recent Twitter tirade that inspired this intro:

Reese PB Puffs Ideas:
Dark Chocolate
White Chocolate
Peanut Butter Flavored Marshmallows
Banana Flavored Marshmallows
Cookies n Creme Bits

— Matt McMuscles (@MattMcMuscles) February 19, 2017

All I'm saying is
DO NO STAGNATE
Don't rest on your laurels and wait for others to catch up to you

— Matt McMuscles (@MattMcMuscles) February 19, 2017

The only thing that holds back cereal is preconceived notions of reality

— Matt McMuscles (@MattMcMuscles) February 19, 2017

No, instead of any of those great ideas, we get Reese’s Puffs Bunnies: the same cereal, now conveniently in the same bunny shape as Annie’s recent Bunnies cereals. My brain says, “Boo, that’s lazy!” but my inner child—whose heart is concentric with mine—says, “Ooh, I love cute lil rabbits!”

Fine, 8-year old Dan: let’s (begrudgingly) dig in.

The good news is that Reese’s Puffs Bunnies aren’t just more adorable than their spherical ancestors: they’re tastier, too. Why? Because the many nooks and crannies of these crunchy bunnies—from the folds of their ears to the pits of their paws—allow for more delicious peanut butter powder to adhere and stick to each piece. Just be warned: this extra powder also makes grabbing a handful of Reese’s Bunnies more messy than sneezing into a powdered doughnut.

General Mills should have included a moist towelette as the “free prize inside.”

This nice nuttiness is recognizably Reese’s, too: very oily, slightly roasted, and not all that salty. While this increased PB flavor ratio is great for peanut nuts like me, those hoping for a robust chocolate pairing might be disappointed. Ever since Reese’s Puffs switched to all natural ingredients, the cereal’s mellow cocoa butter taste has taken a backseat to Reese’s leading legume flavor.

But just like Jesus in that classic song, I’m okay with peanut butter taking the wheel.

If there’s one trade off I am disappointed in, it’s the crunchiness. These bunnies seem somehow hollower and airier than classic Reese’s Puffs, so while I can psychologically trick myself into believing I’m “eating lighter,” Reese’s Puffs Bunnies still leave me craving a more potent crunch.

And speaking of Crunch, the Cap’n might need to baste some more Skippy on his Peanut Butter Crunch if he wants to keep up with Reese’s Puffs’s ever-growing nuttiness. When you add milk to Reese’s Puffs, the peanut butter flavors becomes smoother and creamier than an untouched jar of JIF, but the chocolate taste becomes even more muted. At this point, its milk chocolate notes are about as noticeable as a lone Milky Way bar in a map of our Milky Way galaxy.

If you want more chocolaty goodness, I’ll leave you with two recommendations. Either throw in some of that new “More Chocolate” Krave, or do what I (stupidly) did:

Use a lobotomized chocolate rabbit as a cannibalistic cereal receptacle! I “joked” in my earlier post that I’d do this, and now I’m proving that I’m a man of my hedonistic word. In short, this tasted ridiculous, delicious, and ridiculously delicious at the same time: kinda like a Panera Bread Bowl that insists on trying to kill you.

As with Kellogg’s new Krave, your enjoyment of Reese’s Puffs Bunnies will depend first on how much you eat Reese’s Puffs. If you regularly down family-sized boxes by yourself in a dimly lit room while watching re-runs of Garfield & Friends (not that I would know what that feels like), you’ll probably appreciate the extra-nutty nuances in these rabbits’ corny crevasses. But if you only sporadically tackle bowls of “normal person-sized” Reese’s Puffs, Reese’s Puffs Bunnies will be more aesthetic eye candy than anything revolutionary.

And if you really prefer chocolate to peanut butter? Well, these hares would still make great figurines for an alt-history diorama that re-creates the Battle of Gettysburg.

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The Bowl: Reese’s Puffs Spring Time Edition Bunnies

The Breakdown: Though they’re cuter and peanuttier than ever before, Reese’s Puffs Bunnies just aren’t NutRageously innovative enough to be timeless. We love you, Reeses’s Puffs, and that’s why we want you to evolve. 💓

The Bottom Line: 8.5 General Robert E. Bunnies out of 10