Wondershop Gingerbread Village Indulgent Trail Mix

It's that time of year again. Snow shall fall. Presents shall be opened. Wondershop products shall grace the shelves of local Target stores and waistlines shall expand in gut-busting glory. We've seen a couple of other holiday-themed trail mixes in recent years and were neither greatly impressed nor disappointed with those. Let's see how this new concoction compares. We'll break it down by its constituent parts once again.

Gingersnap cookies: If any element is overrepresented in this mix, this is it. Decent gingersnap cookies, but way too many of them.

White chocolate gingersnap almonds: I love white chocolate. I love almonds. I love ginger. I love these. Why wouldn't I? I wish they sold a big jar of nothing but these.

Red spice drops: Cinnamon-flavored. Kinda works. Odd to include gumdrops in a trail mix. Christmassy, I guess.

Green spice drops: No, no, no, no, no. Disgusting. Like plowing through a bag of chocolates and cookies and inadvertently shoveling a wad of spearmint gum into your mouth and then being forced to swallow it. Just no. Leave those in the candy dish on Grandma's coffee table.

M&M's: No explanation needed. Actual M&M's. Not "chocolate buttons" or "chocolate gems" like other store brands may or may not use.

Roasted, salted peanuts: Again, no explanation necessary. I wish there were more of these in the mix. I wish they sold a big jar of nothing but these. Oh, wait. They do. <Adds roasted peanuts to shopping list.>

White chocolate peppermint marshmallow bits: Marshmallow bits? Marshmallow? Really? That's what you're going with for these little things? They're crunchy, for goodness sake. They do indeed taste like peppermint and they're sweet. I would have gone with "white chocolate candy cane bits" myself, but whatever. Other than the misnomer, these are okay. Like peppermint candy canes, I wouldn't eat them at any other time of year.

The ingredients are a little different, but overall, I'd put this indulgent snack on par with both Rudolph's Mix and the Jingle Blend from previous years. I'm tempted to snub this one just because of the green spice drop debacle, but since there weren't that many of them in the mix, I'll be nice. 'Tis the season and all.

I give this trail mix 7 out of 10 Christmas stars.

Archer Farms Pumpkin Cheesecake Creme Sandwich Cookies

I'm not tasting anything as specific as pumpkin cheesecake here. These are crispy cookies with a vaguely pumpkin-spice-esque creme filling. They taste as much like gingersnap sandwich cookies as they do pumpkin cheesecake cookies to me. Fortunately, I'm down with gingersnaps.

There's an odd tang to the creme. It's super sweet, but also a little tart. It leaves an unpleasant aftertaste.

There seems to be a hint of pumpkin spice in both the cookies and the creme, but as I've already hinted at, the cookies seem to flaunt ginger spice more than anything else. Looks like there is some actual "pumpkin powder" in the mix, but I assure you there's no detectable squash flavor in these cookies.

Real cream cheese was used, but it doesn't taste like it in my humble opinion. Also, I'm curious as to how they can make real cream cheese shelf stable at room temperature. I guess the secret is all the "spices," most of which aren't even listed in the ingredients.

I wish these cookies were chewy rather than crispy. I wish the creme actually tasted like what it is: cream cheese. I wish there were no aftertaste, and I wish I could taste cinnamon, nutmeg, and clove.

On a positive note, the gingery, crispy cookies aren't bad for what they are. If you like crispy cookies, you'll probably like these okay.

My wife loves pumpkin and pumpkin spice products this time of year. She was thoroughly impressed with these. I, personally, don't think they taste all that much like pumpkin spice or pumpkin cheesecake, but they're a big thumbs up in her book.

I would have naturally leaned toward a score of 6 or so, but since she loves them so much, I'll give 'em a little bump just in case there are others out there like her. $3.69 for about 18 cookies.

7 out of 10 stars it is.