Archer Farms Jingle Blend

I wasn't paying much attention when I reviewed the Rudolph's Mix. Like this indulgent trail mix, it contains actual name-brand M&M's. And I couldn't even tell that they were the real thing. I just assumed they were a store-brand ripoff like the "milk chocolate buttons" found in other grocery store candy items.

Most of the ingredients in this mix are so big that you'll only want to eat one at a time, so there's not much mixing and matching here. You're only tasting one element in any given bite. But that's fine by me, since each ingredient stands alone just fine.

Like the Rudolph's Mix, this trail mix comes in a very small container. And I mean, like, that picture of the product on the side there...that's the entire contents of the package—only two nonpareils in the whole shebang. It's barely more than a single handful. There's a larger jar available too, for about ten bucks. But in both cases, I only purchased the small box.

Also worthy of note—in just the couple of weeks since the Rudolph's Mix review, the price on the smaller containers has fallen from $2.99 per box to $1.66 per box. Maybe they weren't selling as quickly as Target had hoped.

They're both pretty tasty. I feel like this one is just a tad more wholesome since there are more nuts and raisins, rather than just sweet bready things and chocolate—however, there is plenty of chocolate here as well. There's both milk and white chocolate covered elements, although a fair number of the nuts are completely naked, save for a dusting of salt.

In the end, it's a decent little pick-me-up snack, but there's nothing particularly Christmassy about it except for the packaging and the little green and red doodads on the nonpareils—in fact, there's nothing very memorable about it at all.

But since it's near the holidays and they did drop the price a bit, I'm feeling like another 7 out of 10 is in order here. I wouldn't be upset if Santa stuffed my stocking with another pack of the Jingle Blend on Christmas morning...but I wouldn't be super thrilled either.

7 out of 10 stars.