Mmmm, Minty Seasonal Miniatures

Chocolate Mint is probably my favorite flavor in pretty much anything, except the short-lived chocolate mint Bubblicious (see the TV commercial link for a Cookie Crisp cross-promo, and what they're wearing - I looked like that too). Back in the day when I chewed a piece of the chocolate mint gum, as soon as I stopped thinking about it I tried to swallow it. Every time. I tossed the pack after 3 pieces, figuring it's better to just divide church and state and keep gum and chocolate mint apart for good before I died trying. I guess they did, too.

Here are a few new-ish chocolate mint candies – I sampled these in the miniature size bars. Andes Peppermint Crunch (photo - top)
Andes brings back memories of trying not to eat a whole row of them when my mother had company over at Christmas. If you close your eyes, you feel the consistency of the regular andes mint in this new vessel of white chocolate and nice crunchy bits. I find this candy my favorite of those pictured, as it's refreshing without feeling "chocolatey", like when you eat a lemon square instead of a brownie and somehow you think it's healthier or better for you - more refreshing.
Hershey's Mint Milk Chocolate (photo - bottom left)
Bravo! This tastes like a york peppermint patty, but with the 'chocolate only' consistency. I am not a big fan of milk chocolate, but this is an impressively good milk chocolate mint.
3 Musketeers Mint with Dark Chocolate (photo - bottom right)
I had the highest hopes for this one when I bit into it the first time. However, my reaction was not unlike the scene in Big when Tom Hanks eats caviar for the first time. I love mint, I love dark chocolate, but man... I never imagined that the consistency of the mint "filling" would play such a huge role. As we know, 3 Musketeers is this fluffy nougat type deal, and usually it's tolerable to good (unless stale, then very bad). For some strange reason the white nougat filling in this is SO distracting to me, the initial horror and surprise is unexplainable - you expect substance from a mint interior (like a peppermint patty or a truffle-weight filling), not this faux mint whip. It felt like someone dipped a piece of Wonder Bread into Godiva Chocolate. To it's credit, dark chocolate is actually quite good which allowed me to eat it - grimacing all along in a state of taste confusion.

In summary, I think that the true 'bar' of chocolate mint to aspire to is still the York Peppermint Patty. Personally, I prefer the snack sized ones (in the bulk bags) as I feel the ratio of chocolate to peppermint is far better than the large one they sell individually. The commercials from the old days were right on, "When I bite into a york peppermint patty, I feel the sensation of...". It's visceral, has a good bite, and a good dark chocolate wavy coat.

Honk if you like mint chocolate!