As Christmas rapidly approaches, many flock to local grocery stores to get a taste of the holiday snack offerings. Stepping into my neighborhood Publix, the Christmas section immediately caught my eye. The selection of peppermint snacks overwhelmed me at first, but in little time I left the store with a nice bundle of holiday treats.

Celestial Seasonings Candy Cane Lane Decaffeinated Green Tea:

Before leaving for school, I always brew myself a to-go cup of tea to “cozy up” my morning. Considering this, the holiday tea section of my grocery store intrigued me. After close browsing, I chose the Candy Cane Lane flavor, as it was green tea, my personal favorite.

This tea I would describe as having a subtle sweetness. It tastes like green tea, but there’s something different about it. The peppermint flavor shines through, which I enjoyed as it did not overwhelm me. If you’re looking to try a fun new flavor of tea, I highly recommend this option.

Milano Slices Peppermint Cookies:

These cookies proved a huge success with the rest of the staff. Covered in dark chocolate and topped with peppermint pieces, the bitterness of the chocolate balances out the sweetness of the peppermint perfectly. These do break the bank just a bit (about $4 a bag), but for a Christmas treat, these hit the spot.

Pillsbury Peppermint Chocolate Chip Cookies:

Let me start out by saying that these cookies do not come pre-baked. However, before you stop reading, let me also say the process proves quite easy. Just bake them for a about 10 minutes (if you like them extra chewy like me), and voila! These tasted like ordinary chocolate chips cookies, but with peppermint pieces. This product didn’t surprise or excite me at all. While I was satisfied with the taste, these cookies did not stand out to me in any special way.

Hershey’s Candy Cane Kisses :

Notice all of the snacks above included not just peppermint, but added other flavors into the mix. Many would list these peppermint kisses as their favorite holiday treat, but I just don’t see it. Seeing that overly sweet foods disgust me, I found myself not as mesmerized by these treats as everyone else seems to be.

Russell Stover Peppermint Bark:

When I saw this in the store, I basically broke out into song and dance due to my excitement. Peppermint bark proves to be my favorite treat year after year, which is why this snack disappointed me so much. Expecting a rich, dark chocolate base with peppermint flakes sprinkled on top, I rather was left with an overly sweet white chocolate disaster. However, the snowman shape of the chocolate did bring me a small sliver of joy in an overall unsatisfactory snack.

Candy Cane Peeps:

As usual, I saved the worst for last. Seeing as I despise the taste of marshmallows (too sweet and too chewy), I knew this snack would not sit well with me. These look similar to regular peeps, but with a dark chocolate underside and peppermint flakes inside and outside of the sweet marshmallow base. Proving to be the pumpkin yogurt of this holiday season, after one bite, I couldn’t bear to take another. Unless you are a die-hard marshmallow fanatic, skip these.

Lesson learned: peppermint snacks can offer a great opportunity to get in the holiday spirit, just choose your treats wisely.

The Chant‘s rating: C+