Taste test: new peppermint, eggnog and other seasonal holiday treats

Off the bat, one person stated the obvious: Who wants sweet and salty triscuits? That said, topped with a bit of cheddar, these weren’t so bad, so we’ll keep them around for holiday cheese plates this season.

The bits of candy cane crunch were pleasant, but not enough to offset the waxy white chocolate flavor.

These are the superior seasonal Hershey kisses. They have a rich truffle texture and are almost on Andes mint level in taste. 

The mint didn’t come through with these M&Ms. They’re inoffensive overall, but one taste tester compared the experience to eating candy after using mouthwash.  

It's unanimous. These are better than regular Oreos, akin in flavor to a Thin Mint. That said, we wish these cookies had a bit of candy crunch in them. 

Sometimes a soft cookie is perfect, like one fresh from the oven. But a soft packaged cookie comes off soggy and tastes uncooked, and sadly that's the fate of this cookie company's latest endeavor. We also weren’t fans of the fake marshmallow taste, which, oddly enough, also had a crunch.

We can’t quite explain it, but we didn't like this surprisingly savory tasting snack. The cranberries were too small too. 

This was a bazillion times better than the cranberry chocolate biscotti, but what we really learned is we just don’t like packaged biscotti. 

Despite measuring out more than suggested, this tasted weak and lacked any discernible spice flavor. Maxwell House suggests using it with coffee as creamer, which at least would give it some backbone. 

If you like warm water that smells like a cookie but has no flavor, we’ve found the tea for you. 

Remember those frosted animal crackers you ate as a kid? Now they come in festive holiday popcorn form. These also give off a vanilla birthday cake Lip Smackers vibe. 

As Puppy Chow fans, we had high hopes, but Chex missed the mark with a total lack of chocolate to balance the powdered sugar. It's Chex with a faint peppermint taste, a weak substitute for puppy chow. 

Why try to improve on candy perfection? We love regular Junior Mints, and although the addition of candy cane crunch was nice, these had a grainy feel.

This smells like something went wrong. You know the gritty toothpaste at the dentist? This could easily stand in for that. It reminded us of paste. 

Creamy and refreshing, this ice cream has the perfect amount of perfectly sized hunks of candy. It tastes like peppermint without being offensive, and it was a tasty treat we’d enjoy again. It's one of the few things that won’t remain for long in our office freezer.

The tartness takes away any rich fattiness of eggnog, leaving us with regular old kefir, which we love, but we felt left out in the cold with the promise of nog. 

It’s got a booze flavor, but no booze. That just makes us sad. While one person said it made them feel “all Christmas-y inside,” most of the staff wished for homemade instead. 

If you like thin eggnog with a cheap booze burn aftertaste, grab this.