Trader Joe's Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins

The pros: Trader Joe's Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins are new and seem to be pretty obvious with what they are meant to taste like. There are 8 cookies in a serving.

The cons: The box was mostly empty. Six ounces of cookies isn't much, but then again neither is the price.

The verdict:  

I blog at night, but teach by day. I literally just finished up school this week. Looking back one of my favorite things I go through as a history teacher is sometimes going through the mundane Jeopardy worthy facts that kids just love and adore knowing for no other reason other than to know those facts.

Currency questions often come up. The question of copying money came up in class and we had a quick discussion about the rules, laws, and safe guards dealing with money. They all were clear that copying money was wrong. But I asked, "How many of you have been to the dollar store and seen fake money play sets?" They had all seen them.

Then confusion hit the class to a degree to which we went over the rules. Yes, they found the US currency website to be pretty darn interesting about the security that has been placed on money over the years. For the first time, they were actually thinking about what was in their pockets. And yes, they needed to know the trivia worthy fact that the largest bill once in circulation was the $100,000 bill. That's not pocket change.

Now, while this may seem like an unrelated tangent, but in order for that play money to be allowable, it needs to be less than .75 or more than 1.5 times the size of the original (among a few other rules mentioned on that website). Because at that point there should be no confusion between real money and what clearly isn't.

These coins are about half the size of a very similar cookie. Hopefully, the packaging will give up the famed cookie that these are so very similar to.

Yes, these similar to what you might expect from a ½ sized Thin Mint Like cookies (if not smaller). This box is complete with camping references, camp fire song, and its own merit badge proclaiming "Joe'syness." Well played TJ's.  Well played.

But this product also makes me wonder. Trader Joe's recently had another new cookie come out, Bite Sized Crispy Cookies filled with Belgian Chocolate. It wasn't until one reader, Alek brought up the point that there was actually a settled lawsuit in a previous rendition of those cookies being too similar to Milano cookies. Are they mini because they are so very similar to a famous cookie or are they just nonseasonal variety of a seasonal product?

There are some differences here between this and the more famous cookie beyond size. You can also easily say these are similar to the seasonal Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Stars that were sold around the holidays minus the nonpareils and shape. These coins are also  thinner.

The cookies in Trader Joe's Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins have a nice chocolate flavor. The mint is there. Each cookie is just larger than a quarter in size. These have more of a dark chocolate flavor to them than the girl scout cookies. In fact, chocolate it the top ingredient here but is the 4th ingredient in a box of Thin Mints. Overall, each cookie is a pleasant bite.

These are inexpensively priced at $1.99. But I'm not going to make the case that there is a tremendous bargain waiting for you.

Opening these was equally as joyous as opening a bag of chips these days. There is joy, expectation, and an almost instant disappointment when you realize how much packaging you have and how little product you are left with. Yup, a plastic bag that contains more air than product.

Overall, not a bad cookie to try if you love the classic pairing of chocolate and mint flavor.

Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:

The box of Trader Joe's Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins:

The nutritional information and the ingredients:

How Trader Joe's describes these (in a camp fire tune):

Out of the package you get:

Would I buy this again? Yes, I would buy Trader Joe's Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Coins again.

Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.

Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!