Dark Chocolate Dipped Altoids sounded so good after reading Joe's initial review that I decided to keep an eye out for them while shopping. Target seems to be a veritable gold mine of new and limited edition candies, so it didn't surprise me when I saw a box near the checkout and picked them up.

At least, I thought I saw a box of the candies I was looking for. I didn't discover that I picked up a tin of Dark Chocolate Dipped Cinnamon Altoids instead until I took a closer look at the package later that day. I'm not a big fan of cinnamon candies in general, but I have to admit that the chocolate-coated cinnamon Altoids were pretty addictive. The chocolate was not too sweet and melted fairly easily in my mouth, cutting the normally sharp cinnamon flavor substantially and leaving behind an almost Mexican chocolate-type flavor.

I still haven't had a chance to sample the regular chocolate covered Altoids, but I think I'll be satisfied with my accidental purchase for a while yet.

Earlier this summer Nicole tipped us off to the impending arrival of dark chocolate-covered Altoids. This afternoon while impatiently waiting in line to purchase some much-needed dental floss after an afternoon spent eating Korean barbecue I spied a tin of Dark Chocolate Dipped Peppermint Altoids.

When I got home I took the tin out of my shopping bag and brought it to my nose only to find that I could smell chocolate and mint through the plastic wrap. Upon opening the tin I was greeted by an even more intense aroma.

I crunched one up and found it pretty tasty. Soon I popped a few more. Although the intensity of the peppermint was tempered by the dark chocolate coating, I was left with a refreshing minty cool chocolateness that lingered on my palate for some time.

Newman's Own Organics is a daughter company to Newman's Own, literally, it was founded and headed by Paul Newman's daughter Nell. Currently they are making all organic cookies, chocolate, popcorn, pretzels, and coffee, vinegars, pet food, and offering fresh produce. The latest to their lineup are an assortment of tasty mints.

Like all Newman's Own Organics they are attractively packaged with the mints coming in interesting tins with a 19th century feel to them. Each mint flavor comes with a different animal logo on the tin. Ginger with a dragon, Wintergreen's is a polar bear, Hot Cinnamon has a tiger,and Peppermint has a mountain goat. Of course they are all stamped with the USDA organic seal and are Kosher Kof-K Parve.

These are the kind of things that I really liked as stocking stuffers as a kid, especially cinnamon, although ginger and wintergreen aren't half bad either. So if you're looking for some tasty new mints or stocking stuffers you now have another option.

It's time to break out the flour, cookbooks and parchment paper and start doing some holiday baking. Aside from an increase in the amount of red and green sprinkles used for decorating, there isn't anything that really separates a Christmas cookie from a regular cookie, but there are some seasonal flavors that are going to be a bit more prevalent in these seasonal treats. This month, we're going to put up a new Christmas cookie recipe every week that will hopefully inspire you to bake a little bit before December 25h. Our first cookie recipe is for Chocolate Peppermint Drops.

These cookies have a deep, dark chocolate flavor and a moist texture, like a soft and slightly chewy brownie. In fact, they look just like little brownies. They taste very decadent and rich, so make sure to have a glass of milk or a cup of coffee at the ready to wash them down. The peppermint flavor comes from crushed up peppermint candies, although Andes mints or chopped up peppermint bark would make an excellent substitution.

AttachMints are a new mint being released and marketed to the smoker who doesn't want to carry a bulky mint container around with them. The small flat package is sized perfectly so that you can clip them to the top of your pack of cigarettes. The mint is made strong enough to cover up cigarette smoke on your breath and will be available at first in spearmint. To be followed later with peppermint, wintergreen, cinnamon, and orange flavors.

For non-smokers the mints can be clipped to other things so they are handy and accessible like car visors, belts, notebooks, pockets, wallets, purse, etc. and are being billed as "the mints that get around." I have no clue how good these mints are, or even what form they take, but as a very ex-smoker, all I can say is that any product that covers up cigarette breath is a good idea.

While I was doing some research on AttachMints I came up with this spacey, weird song on My Space with the same name, Attachmints.

It looks like Hershey's has just rolled out a new limited edition chocolate for the upcoming Christmas season. Before I took a good look at the package, I momentarily thought that the Candy Cane Mint Kisses might be tiny mints that were shaped like Kisses, but it turns out that they are a white chocolate-based treat. The white kisses are flavored with mint and have red stripes on the outside. Embedded in the chocolate are tiny red nonpareils, which add a tiny crunch to the candy and look vaguely like bits of candy cane, though they actually have no discernible flavor of their own. The chocolate is very smooth and the mint is not so overwhelming that it would stop you from reaching for a second, but the Kisses seem to be slightly richer than average. Overall, these seem like a good holiday candy option to put out in a candy dish for occasional treat, but they're not so good that I would want to have a bowl all to myself. If they ever decide to put bits of candy cane in them, however, I might have to reconsider.

Along with the check, after dinner one night last week, the waiter brought over a few stick of gum to our table. It wasn't a subtle hint that our breath needed freshening, but the restaurants way of presenting diners with an "after dinner mint" of sorts. The gum, as it turned out, was melon flavored and, though it was excellent, made me wonder what ever happened to real after dinner mints.

For years and years, it seemed as though every single restaurant either had a small basket of mints at the host/hostess stand near the front door or delivered a few mints to the table with the bill. Mints gradually faded from popularity until they were only found at a handful or family-friendly restaurants, left in the face of declining popularity to appease children. Now, those restaurants seem to only grudgingly offer toothpicks. While the mints weren't necessarily candies of the highest order, I still enjoyed them, whether peppermint, cinnamon or, on occasion, chocolate. Can we get them back, please? Melon gum is lovely, but it just doesn't provide the same satisfying conclusion to a meal.