Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch

Wow, can you believe Thanksgiving has come and gone as quickly as it did?  The holidays are truly sneaking up on us and leaving in a hurry.  For as much as I'd like the work weeks to speed up, I want Christmas to take it's sweet time getting to me.  The 25 days of Christmas are upon us and though that may seem like a lot of time to shop, write, party, drink, laugh, and wrap, it's going to move much faster than we realize.  So, because we've reached the last day of November and I'm still recovering from the Thanksgiving overload, I have a quick post for you about a box of $1.00 candy.

When walking down the holiday aisles and scouring through the Christmas section for seasonal items, I see a lot that I overlook and don't consider worthy of my time and effort.  There are some things I buy for me and The Holidaze, and then there are others that I buy for The Holidaze alone.  If it doesn't fit either of those categories, then on the shelf it sits.  Normally, Junior Mints would be one of those products, but not this year.  Because The Holidaze has neglected Christmas in the past, this box of candy may or may not be new, but either way, between the Christmas box and classic Rankin/Bass font, I certainly wasn't passing up on Junior Mints Peppermint Crunch!

Now, if you've never tried these, you may be asking yourself -- what separates these from everything else I've ignored and left sitting on the Island of Misfit Products?  Well, with me, it doesn't take much and the fact that they added "real candy crunch" to the outer shell of these traditional Junior Mints made all the difference.  I just had to see what they looked like and how much of a change these crunchies made to the texture.  And no, Google and other reviews simply wouldn't suffice this time around.

Obviously, the Junior Mints look much more round, smooth, and chocolatey brown on the box art, but that's what I expected.  Junior Mints always come out looking like little black mushroom heads.  However, they're usually much smoother in their traditional pack and I attribute the bumpiness to the candy crunch.  Already, we've found one difference that they've made and, honestly, I don't know if I like it.  The little indentations and change in appearance make the Junior Mints much less appealing, but I was willing to overlook that because of the seasonal effort they put into the recipe.  There had to be a good reason for these distorted Junior Mints to be on sale.

I can't remember the last time I actually bought a box of Junior Mints, but I'm willing to bet it was at a movie theater.  Even then, it was probably because they were sold out of Raisinets, Gummy Bears, and Sour Patch Kids.  What I'm saying is, Junior Mints are never my first choice when buying candy, but they've definitely climbed through the ranks with their Peppermint Crunch.  These are so much better with the candy pieces that I think they should keep them in the mix from here on out.

The traditional Junior Mint flavor hasn't changed, but the texture has and it's enough to make this feel like an entirely new product.  Forget about their shape and appearance, because this is more than that.  Instead of biting down into a gooey Junior Mint that lasts one or two bites before it's gone, now you have a little crunch.  Now you find yourself looking for the little candy pieces to chew.  Who woulda thought a Junior Mint could give us so much to do in the span of 7 seconds?  Now, whenever I go to the movies between today and Christmas, this is the candy I'll be sneaking in with me.  In fact, I may just bring these with me to see "Frozen," tomorrow.  Sounds chilly...