Wondershop Peppermint Hot Cocoa Indulgent Trail Mix

It must be Christmas time, because we have yet another indulgent trail mix from the Wondershop at Target. This time it's peppermint hot cocoa flavored. Oddly enough, it actually tastes like hot cocoa. Well, some pieces do, anyway—particularly the "cocoa dusted almonds." 

Let's break this mix down like we do here, piece by piece, ingredient by ingredient.

I've already mentioned the cocoa dusted almonds, so let's start there. The flavor of almonds with a little cocoa is a winning combo. The cocoa powder isn't chalky or overbearing. It doesn't make me want to cough, as other "dusting" powders have in the past. They're just nice whole almonds of a pretty good size, and they bring a hot cocoa vibe courtesy of the tasty coating on their outsides.

There are also "sweet creme almonds." That's one of the best things about this mix: it's chock full o' almonds. If the cocoa almonds represent the hot cocoa powder, then these are the "milk." They are indeed sweet and creamy, and they balance out the richness of the cocoa elements.

"White chocolate peppermint pretzel balls." If you're down with white chocolate and peppermint, in the manner of peppermint bark, then you'll probably like these minty, sweet, salty little spheres. They didn't go over the top with peppermint flavor, which I'm thankful for. The good news for mint-haters is that these are the only elements in the mixture that taste like peppermint, and they're pretty easy to avoid if you're not into them. If you do like them, they blend very well with all the other ingredients.

The "chocolate chunks" are tasty little morsels of dark chocolate. They're not too bitter, but they add a bit of complexity to the overall chocolatey essence of the trail mix.

The "white chocolate marshmallow bits" are sweet and crunchy. We saw a peppermint version in the gingerbread village trail mix, but these are just sugary, not minty. I still don't understand why something named after marshmallows would be crunchy, but I like these particular elements better without the mint flavor.

All in all, this Wondershop Peppermint Hot Cocoa Indulgent Trail Mix is one of the strongest holiday mixes I've seen, from Target or anywhere else. People who absolutely love peppermint might be a tad disappointed that it's not more pepperminty, but I think it's got a great balance of flavors.

I give this trail mix 8 out of 10 stars.