(VIDEO) New M&Ms Mint Crunchy Cookie Flavor Launches Exclusively at Walmart, Leaving Australian Fans Waiting

M&M’S is rolling out a new Walmart-exclusive candy flavor this fall, pairing the brand’s popular Crunchy Cookie center with mint and milk chocolate in a combination fans have already started comparing to Girl Scout Thin Mints, though Australian shoppers will have to wait to see whether the treat ever crosses the Pacific.

The new M&M’S Mint Crunchy Cookie is set to launch exclusively at Walmart stores and on Walmart.com beginning in September, according to parent company Mars, which described the release as an expansion of the Crunchy Cookie platform that first debuted in 2022. Each candy features a crisp cookie center wrapped in cool mint and milk chocolate, all encased in the brand’s signature hard candy shell. The flavor will be sold in two package sizes, a 2.83-ounce share bag and a larger 7.4-ounce sharing size, according to a company announcement reported by trade outlet Chain Drug Review.

Mars has positioned the new flavor as part of a broader push into bakery-inspired combinations, following recent additions to the M&M’S lineup including Banana Nut Bread and several flavors from what the company calls its Bakery Collection, such as Peanut Butter Cinnamon Roll, Lemon Meringue and Cherry Chocolate Cupcake. A company spokesperson told the news outlet Daily Voice that the new mint variety was designed to bring “a refreshing twist on a baked goods-inspired treat that brings a satisfying crunch to the lineup,” directly building on the commercial success of the original Crunchy Cookie release.

The mint-and-chocolate pairing has drawn immediate comparisons online to the classic Girl Scout Thin Mint cookie, a connection food reviewers and social media commenters have made repeatedly since photos and early sightings of the candy began circulating. Food content creator Snackolator, who posts under the handle Snackolator on Instagram, shared some of the earliest images of the product appearing on store shelves, writing, “I am going to DEVOUR these new Mint Crunchy Cookie M&M’s!” The same post added, “They are starting to arrive at Walmart and as a mint fan these sound incredible!”

Reaction in the comments of that post and elsewhere online has been mixed. Some social media users expressed enthusiasm for the new flavor, with one commenter writing that they wanted to “chop these up and add to cookies,” while another described the concept as reminiscent of “peppermint bark.” Other commenters were more skeptical, with one comparing the texture to a “Rice Krispie” treat, and several pointing out that the marketing language appeared to be avoiding a direct reference to Thin Mints by name.

According to Walmart’s website, a share-size bag of the new candy has been listed for 2.78 dollars, and the treat appears to already be arriving at some store locations ahead of its official rollout date. Because M&M’S Mint Crunchy Cookie is being marketed as a limited-time offering, industry watchers covering the launch have noted that interested shoppers should expect the product to disappear from shelves once its initial run sells through, consistent with how Mars has handled previous limited-edition Crunchy Cookie flavors.

The new mint variety is not the brand’s first attempt at combining chocolate and mint. M&M’S previously introduced a Crunchy Mint flavor in 2018 after fans voted for it over Crunchy Raspberry and Crunchy Espresso as part of the company’s periodic Flavor Vote campaigns, which have let consumers choose new additions to the lineup since 2016. That earlier Crunchy Mint flavor was eventually discontinued, a decision some commenters referenced with nostalgia when reacting to news of the new Mint Crunchy Cookie release.

For Australian consumers, the new flavor remains, for now, exclusively a U.S. product. Australia already produces its own version of the standard Crunchy Cookie flavor domestically, distributed through major retailers including Coles, Woolworths and independent convenience stores nationwide, suggesting the manufacturing infrastructure needed to produce a local Mint Crunchy Cookie variant could already exist. However, no announcement has been made regarding an Australian release of the new mint flavor, and it currently remains locked to Walmart’s U.S. stores and website.

Industry observers covering the U.S. launch have suggested that strong sales performance domestically could increase the odds that Mars eventually brings a similar mint cookie flavor, or a locally adapted version of it, to Australian shelves. In the meantime, Australian fans of the chocolate-mint combination have been directed toward the regular, already-available Crunchy Cookie flavor as a stand-in while they wait to see whether the new variety eventually makes its way south of the equator.

The launch also comes as Mars has continued broader changes to its confectionery lineup tied to shifting consumer preferences around ingredients. The company announced earlier this month that it would remove artificial colors and dyes from many of its products, part of a wider industry trend toward reformulating snack foods amid growing regulatory and consumer scrutiny of synthetic additives in the United States.