Woman Bakes Dessert With Hershey Kisses—Then She Notices Something Alarming: ‘It’s Not Real Milk Chocolate Anymore’

Have you noticed something different about your favorite foods recently?

Across the country, grocery shoppers and restaurant diners alike are reporting that products aren’t feeling, looking, or tasting how they used to.

Sometimes, it’s simply a smaller portion size. Other times, it seems like the entire recipe changed—affecting the flavor, texture, and more.

Now, an internet user says that there’s another item that’s been impacted by recipe changes. But is it true?

Did Hershey Change Its Recipe For Kisses?

In a video with over 1.9 million views, TikTok user Liz Pulvy (@liz_bookmomma4) shows a tray of pretzel squares, upon which she’s placed Hershey Kisses.

“Has anybody else had issues making the Hershey Kisses with M&M’s and their kisses not melting?” she asks.

Looking closely at the treats, it appears that Pulvy has tried to push the M&M candies into the melted Hershey Kisses. However, instead of being depressed, the Kiss has exploded into powder.

“I thought maybe it was my batch of Hershey Kisses, and they were old,” she explains.

Frustrated, she purchased a new bag of Hershey Kisses and tried again—only to have the same result.

“[They] literally just came out of the oven, and they are hard as a rock and powdery, like they were old,” she details.

Pulvy then attempted to melt the Kisses in the microwave. After putting them in a glass bowl and microwaving for 30 seconds, they do not appear to have melted.

Is It Possible To Melt New Hershey Kisses?

So, did Hershey change the recipe? And do the new Hershey Kisses even melt?

The Hershey website offers several recipes that require one to melt Hershey Kisses. Thus, the company seems to believe that melting the Kisses is still possible.

However, some bakers claim that Hershey Kisses are not behaving in the same way that they used to.

“Can’t even believe I’m asking this, but I’m having issues getting my Hershey kisses to melt enough to put on the m&m without burning them. They just come out crumbly,” asked a user on Reddit three years ago. “I tried both the milk chocolate kisses and the Hugs.”

Last month, another Reddit user said they had a similar issue while trying to melt the Kisses onto pretzels.

“Usually around Christmas time I make these pretzel treats which are just Hershey kisses sandwiched between pretzels but this time around they didn’t melt right and just crumbled or burned,” the user detailed. “Did the recipe change? The last time I made these were a few years ago and I’ve never had this happen before.”

What We Know About The Hershey Kisses Recipe

It’s true that Hershey Kisses have changed slightly over the years. Comparing the nutritional information and ingredient list from 2015 to the one from today, it seems the modern Hershey kisses are approximately 8 grams smaller than they used to be. The ingredient list has remained the same.

In an email to BroBible, The Hershey Company confirmed that “we have not changed the formula for our iconic Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Kisses.”

But if this is the case, what are bakers experiencing?

The most likely explanation has to do with the properties of chocolate itself. Baking chocolate so that it melts is a lot harder than one might think. If one bakes chocolate at the wrong temperature or for the wrong amount of time, they run the risk of drying it out. This can result in what Pulvy showed in her video.

It could be that Pulvy and others simply overbaked the candies or didn’t account for recent Hershey Kisses size changes in her recipes.

Of course, some will always suspect that Hershey changed something. As noted by the New York Times, chocolate producers can maintain their same recipes while switching to beans from a different region, opting for lower-quality beans, or using a different manufacturer—all things that could affect a chocolate’s flavor and behavior.

Commenters Are Convinced Something Is Different

In the comments section, users offered their theories to explain what happened to Pulvy’s candies.

“Ma’am, you have burnt them,” said a user.

“I noticed in recent years that my saved recipes, that I’ve been making for years, are not cooking, baking or tasting like they used too,” countered another. “They are definitely changing the ingredients.”

“It worked for me. 200 degrees 9 minutes,” stated a third.

“Burnt them.. I did this before too. You have you set them in the LOWEST setting. And only for a few mins. They melt so smoothly,” detailed a further TikToker. “I thought I was crazy once too. You’ll get it right next time!”

BroBible reached out to Pulvy via TikTok direct message and comment as well as to to Hershey via media contact form.