12 Trader Joe's Peppermint Chocolate Goodies, Ranked

There are so many wonderful things that can signal the start of the holiday season. Some people first get that holly-jolly feeling when holiday lights and decorations go up; for others, it occurs while volunteering or gathering with friends and family. But for us at Tasting Table, it's always been about the food –– and nothing says "it's the season" quite like the arrival of Trader Joe's peppermint chocolate goodies.

From pink peppermint ice cream to deep dark chocolate cookies and candies, it has been our absolute pleasure to gather up, evaluate, and rank Trader Joe's peppermint chocolate items this season. If you think this sounds a little too ho-ho-Joe-Joe, we want you to know that it was actually an exhaustive process –– filled with lively discussion, a number of heated arguments, and, let's face it, way too many calories to count. All that now remains are the crumbs, so we are ready to share some of the most memorable, merriest, and even messiest moments of our product testing experience.

Trader Joe's Peppermint Hot Chocolate is fairly thick and reasonably flavorful, as far as hot chocolate mixes go. Although it is made from bittersweet chocolate and a hint of natural peppermint flavor, the peppermint element fell short of even being much of a hint. (We could barely taste it.) We did see tiny chocolate shavings in the mix, which we liked, along with a chocolatey powder.

We followed the tin's instructions exactly: Stir 3 tablespoons of the mix into ¾ cup of hot water or milk. This equated to quite a lot of the mix and not all that much liquid. In other words, our mug was only half full –– but if we hadn't measured and filled it up with liquid, the result would have been too diluted. We tried making the mix two ways –– with and without milk. While this probably comes as no big surprise, using milk instead of water led to a richer, creamier beverage.

Despite the lack of much peppermintiness for a peppermint chocolate product, this hot chocolate mix still makes for an easy, sweet, and soothing treat on a cold night. Your kids will probably love it –– though really, has there ever been a mug of hot chocolate that they haven't loved? Consider adding Peppermint Mini Marshmallows for extra mint flavor and to see their little eyes grow further aglow. Adults, on the other hand, may prefer to settle in with one of our spiked hot chocolate recipes for winter.

Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Minty Mallows are pretty much exactly that –– peppermint marshmallows that have been covered in dark chocolate. What you may not be able to gather from the name, however, is just how ridiculously good a combination of peppermint, marshmallow, and dark chocolate makes. Mmmm.

Go ahead and try placing a Dark Chocolate Covered Minty Mallow into your hot cocoa, or make some super-luxurious s'mores one night. You can also simply pop one in your mouth for a late afternoon or after-dinner pick-me-up –– trust us, these mallows can easily hold their own as is. Overall, we think that biting into one of these fluffy, minty, chocolatey marshmallows is like experiencing one of the very best hugs –– the kind you want to go on forever. Savor the feeling while you can since this product is only a limited-time offer. For more seasonal minty marshmallow-iness, you may also want to look for Trader Joe's Peppermint Mini Marshmallows.

These little bundles of peppermint chocolate joy taste an awful lot like York peppermint patties, though thicker and somewhat stickier. We're not complaining –– it wouldn't be the holidays without treating ourselves to something similar! In this case, Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cremes are made from bite-sized discs of dark chocolate with an added smooth (well, sort of sticky) mint filling. Each piece is then sprinkled with crushed peppermint candies.

We enjoyed the contrasting textures of soft minty innards and crunchy outer-layer peppermint candy pieces. We also liked how using two types of mint more than doubled the overall mintiness factor. By the time we accounted for the addition of rich, thick dark chocolate –– which would have been good even minus the peppermint –– we were convinced this was something special.

As an added bonus, Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cremes come boxed (as opposed to bagged or binned), making them super easy to gift wrap this holiday season. Pass these out to coworkers, place them under the tree, or bring some to your mother-in-law, just because. Each box contains 15 candies.

After eating a big bowl of Candy Cane Joe-Joe's Ice Cream, we thought this product had a good shot at our number one spot. This goes to show just how good it is –– but also how absolutely amazing our last several peppermint chocolate items are. Regardless of the 5th place finish, this rich and delicious ice cream flavor still makes holiday magic by swirling together pink peppermint and vanilla ice creams with chocolate fudge and Candy Cane Joe-Joe's. There is so much seasonal joy in the flavor's colors, textures, and flavors. Need we say more?

Well, perhaps. We understand that there's some pretty stiff competition out there when it comes to peppermint ice cream brands. For starters, look towards Van Leeuwen Peppermint Pattie holiday flavor or Jeni's White Chocolate Peppermint ice cream flavor, two seasonal styles which have held their own in some of our ice cream taste tests. You can also opt to make your own peppermint ice cream at any time of the year. And if plain peppermint ice cream ever gets boring, try topping it with crushed Candy Cane Joe-Joes or Peppermint Pretzel Slims (discussed below). Remember to stock your pantry with plenty of these goodies before they disappear for the season.

Oh, how we love thee, Candy Cane Joe-Joe's –– and we are certainly not alone in this sentiment. In fact, Candy Cane Joe-Joe's are one of Trader Joe's most popular holiday items. But what, exactly, makes these seasonal cookies so crazy good? Perhaps it's the mere simplicity: Trader Joe's sandwiches a layer of vanilla creme (sprinkled with candy cane pieces) between two chocolate wafer cookies. Peppermint + chocolate + vanilla creme = yum. (And with science like that, who needs divine intervention?!)

Best of all, there are so many glorious cookies in each box. This means plenty to snack on daily, dunk into your hot chocolate, share with friends and family, or leave out for Santa — hey, the world is yours for the taking (and giving)! But even with all this in mind, we highly recommend stocking up on Candy Cane Joe-Joe's ASAP. When your local store runs out, you won't see them again until next year. If you don't have a Trader Joe's store near you, you can always try making a homemade chocolate peppermint sandwich cookies recipe.

If we had the musical talent to write a holiday song about Trader Joe's Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe-Joe's, we would. Words alone fail to convey how spectacular this product is –– it's sort of like a peppermint creme cookie, chocolate bar, and peppermint bark candy all in one. (Seriously, what more could we peppermint chocolate lovers possibly ask for?) To make these divinities, Trader Joe's dunks Candy Cane Joe-Joe's –– already heavenly on their own –– into copious amounts of dark chocolate and crunchy bits of peppermint candies. The result is a true holiday miracle.

Bottom line: If you are planning to buy only one Trader Joe's peppermint chocolate goodie this season, we are highly confident that this should be the one. However, we strongly recommend getting out there and trying all these products yourself. Whether you ultimately love them all or end up going Grinch on one or more of them, the experience will be unforgettable. Live it up this holiday season!