"mints" news and stories

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.