A snack review and release history of:
- Christmas Russell Stover Assorted Chocolates
- Oreo Snowball
- Stauffer’s Iced Gingerbread Cookies
- Russell Stover Hot Cocoa Truffles
- Hershey’s Pot of Gold Caramel Collection and Milk & Dark Chocolate Collection
- Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Peppermint Hot Cocoa Squares
- Cookie Pop Iced Gingerbread Popcorn
- Candy Pop M&M’s Minis Popcorn
- Christmas Tree Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Truffle Nuggets
- Christmas Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cottage Kit
Christmas Russell Stover Assorted Chocolates
Score: 9 / 10
Why is this cheap chocolate so addicting? Is it the variety you get: the tasty truffles, creams, and thick caramels? Or maybe how sweet each piece is? Probably all the above. Even though each piece tastes stupidly artificial and many even taste the same, I can’t help but buy a set of these every holiday. These in come in a cool tin!
Russell Stover started releasing assorted boxed chocolates in 1994. Found at Walmart.
Oreo Snowball
Score: 8.5 / 10
These need to be a permanent staple and not just come out every occasional holiday. They don’t really taste like an Oreo but they’re so darn good. The milk chocolate shell encases a huge thick soft glob of moderately sweet cookies and cream filling. So addicting, so good!
Filled Oreo eggs date back to around 2017 and release for the Easter and winter holiday seasons. There’s also a Milka Oreo Snowballs with reviews dating back to a similar year. Found at Walmart.
Stauffer’s Iced Gingerbread Cookies
Score: 7.5 / 10
Usually ginger is bitter but these instead have more of a sweet crunch to them. The ginger is light, sugar a bit high, and the cinnamon alongside it all is really a great combination. Interestingly, while most of the gingerbread men are decorated haphazardly or just off, there are a few that are nearly perfect and kind of cute.
I’m not sure of an exact release date for this although reviews go back several years. Found at Walmart.
Russell Stover Hot Cocoa Truffles
Score: 6.5 / 10
Hot cocoa? This is more like milk chocolate with a hint of a hot cocoa taste. They’re soft but solid on the inside and remind me of a Milky Way candy bar. On the sweeter side and definitely artificial tasting.
There’s not much info about these online and reviews are all fairly recent. I first saw these around the holiday season 2022. Found at Stop & Shop.
Hershey’s Pot of Gold Caramel Collection and Milk & Dark Chocolate Collection
Score
Green box: 7 / 10
Red box: 7.5 / 10
The green box contains vanilla and chocolate caramels, though, they look and taste nearly identical except the chocolate one is just slightly chocolatier. No taste of vanilla in the vanilla one, it’s clearly chocolate. The milk and dark versions also look about the same and there isn’t much of a difference overall. These are all really sweet and do taste a little on the cheaper side.
The red box is my favorite of the two. It has semi-premium tasting truffles with some caramels. Like the green box, it’s all pretty sweet and chocolatey but they don’t all taste the same. Truffles and caramel versions have slightly distinct flavors.
These have been around for many years now and are most commonly found around the winter and Valentine’s season. Found at Walmart.
Ghirardelli Milk Chocolate Peppermint Hot Cocoa Squares
Score: 8.5 / 10
I was pleasantly surprised–the peppermint is very light, especially compared to other peppermint candies which shaves off any toothpaste or overly strong peppermint concerns you might have. There is a hot cocoa-like taste as well and with that peppermint, it’s very tasty and such a good combination, almost like you sprinkled some peppermint onto your hot chocolate. Basically, you’ll love this even if you aren’t a fan of peppermint and enjoy hot cocoa.
Released for the 2022 holiday season. Found at Walmart.
Cookie Pop Iced Gingerbread Popcorn
Score: 7 / 10
The texture is pretty standard bagged popcorn. Taste wise, the ginger is light but the icing really comes out in the flavor and adds a soft composition to the popcorn. Pretty accurate and as advertised!
Likely released around November 2021 alongside a Peppermint Hot Chocolate version. This brand also has other flavors including Candy Pop and Cereal Pop popcorns. Found at Walmart.
Candy Pop M&M’s Minis Popcorn
Score: 6 / 10
Standard bagged popcorn with a light crunch. There aren’t many M&Ms and the ones that are there are chopped into minuscule pieces. Most of the chocolate flavor comes from the drizzle. Overall, a decently sweet and semi-chocolatey popcorn that could use just a little more “oomph” and M&M flavor in my opinion.
Released around April 2020 alongside a Chip Ahoy! version.
Christmas Tree Hershey’s Milk Chocolate Truffle Nuggets
Score: 6.5 / 10
These taste identical to Hershey’s chocolate bar except the thick Chocolate shell houses a truffle-like center that tastes like… Hershey’s. It’s a pleasant eating experience and a cut above a regular Hershey’s bar but you can’t really differentiate the difference between the center and the shell in terms of taste.
Released around March 2022. This was found at Walmart.
Christmas Funfetti Sugar Cookie Cottage Kit
Score: 7.5 / 10
Immediately, I could smell sugar cookie, and the taste is similar to that albeit very light and not that sweet. There’s a small hint of that Funfetti / vanilla birthday cake flavor. The house-cookie texture is also dry and pretty hard and crunchy. Decorating and putting this together is a nightmare as the sweet white frosting takes a very long time to dry and simply isn’t that sticky. Inevitably, yours will likely fall down if you aren’t extremely careful. The toppings it comes with feel very cheap and their off-putting artificial taste doesn’t combine well with everything.
Released for the 2023 winter holiday season.