The holiday season is here, and it’s time to disregard your diet in exchange for delicious things every day up until the new year. Every company jumps on the trend of holiday-marked goods, speciality flavored everything, from coffee beans to popcorns to hand sanitizers. (Please don’t eat hand sanitizer, this is not an endorsement.) However, for the average joe, all of these specialty items can get a bit overwhelming. So here’s my list of the top five holiday specialty food and drink for this Christmas season.
- Cadbury Snowballs:
Every Easter, Cadbury puts their chocolate eggs back on the shelves for three blissful weeks. Crunchy sugar coating and chocolate insides for a sweet, sweet month until they disappear for the rest of the year. However, you shan’t be deprived of your Cadbury sweets until next easter; the Cadbury Snowballs are the exact same thing in a bigger, differenter package. They’re just small colored, sugar-coated circles that taste like happiness and Christmas joy. Retailers like Target, Walmart, and CVS sell them until they cycle out Christmas for Valentine’s Day.
- Lavender White Chocolate Hot Chocolate:
This one’s a bit niche. If you’ve ever been to a Nugget Market, you’ll know the speciality, seasonal drinks hanging directly over the coffee bar as soon as you walk in (as long as you’re going to the good one by the In & Out). One of their winter drinks, in stock until about April when they switch over to their spring menu, is a lavender hot chocolate. It sounds nasty, and by all accounts should be, but it is absolutely delicious. It’s subtle, sweet, and toasty warm in the freezing California winter. It’s only at the Nugget, but if you’re willing to ignore the sobs of your wallet, it’s worth it.
- Sugar Plum Danish:
Usually, Starbucks foods are a bit of a flop, under microwaved or just simply lacking. The sugar plum danish is the rare exception; releasing annually with their peppermint mocha. It’s sweet, jammy, and delicately warm. Now that they’ve stopped making the red velvet loaf, this is a good, solid choice.
- Mini Gingerbread People:
In my house, we call these non-denominational gingerbread people. Purely because they aren’t gingerbread men, just people. And it’s funny. No shade. These are delicious. The texture of the Trader Joe’s Schoolhouse cookies, just a little softer, dipped in a soft icing, and absolutely spectacular. There are about three boxes in my pantry right now that will be gone before Christmas Eve. They’re only sold at Trader Joe’s for the holiday seasons, so I would recommend buying a box before I take the entire shelf. Trust me, they are that good.
- The Hazelnut Truffle Mocha from Dutch Bros.
This is the pinnacle of holiday joy. Sweet, best blended, slightly crunchy because of the ice (because you got it blended, right?), and delicious hazelnut and truffle mixed together for one beautiful drink. It’s available at all Dutch Bros alongside their other holiday drinks, but this is the only one truly worth it.
