When I stopped by Trader Joe’s this morning to pick up a few essentials I was THRILLED to see that the store was full of amazing seasonal and holiday items. I resisted the urge to rip open a few boxes and consume them mid-isle, and instead decided to be bold with the camera phone so that I could share these great goodies with you. If I had known I’d hit the holiday jackpot, I would have brought an actual camera, but I think you can get the idea. Here we go!
Let’s start with the first Trader Joe’s product I think of when winter rolls around. Trader Joe’s Candy Can Joe Joe’s! I have quite a few friends and dance teachers that I know are looking forward to me showing up with a box of these in my hands. These are so popular they have their own Facebook page!
How do you make a Candy Cane Joe Joe even more amazing? Well cover it in dark chocolate of course! I’m so glad that the folks at Trader Joe’s clearly share in my appreciation of dark chocolate.
Peppermint Pretzel Slims. I picked up a bag of these a few days ago and wasn’t sure what to expect. These are mind boggling amazing. Shut the front door these are so good that I am going to need to seriously hoard these before the season is over. They are unbelievable. If you don’t live near a Trader Joe’s, don’t worry, I’m going to try and recreate some at hone (mainly because I need to know that I can get my fix any time of the year).
Peppermint Bark – such a wonderful, wonderful thing.
Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows – light and fluffy peppermint marshmallows drenched in smooth, dark chocolate.
Trader Joe’s Mini Peppermint Waffle Cookies. They are really rocking the peppermint this year!
Peppermint Salt Water Taffy.
Mini Candy Cane Cookies.
Trader Joe’s Minty Melts – dark chocolate squares with a festive minty stripe.
I think that covers most of the great peppermint items that they had. Let’s move on to some other great sweet treats!
Trader Joe’s Peanut Brittle.
Trader Joe’s English Toffee.
Trader Joe’s Merry Mingle – cranberries, pecans and caramel don their dark chocolate apparel, creating a heaping helping of holiday candy.
Assorted Chocolates.
Milk Chocolate Salted Caramel Butter Cookies. Um, yes please!
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Sea Salt Caramels. I’m banging my head against my keyboard wondering how I walked out without these. Dark Chocolate? Sea Salt? Caramel? It’s like they made them just for me!
Chewy Egg Nog Cookies – I will have to pick some of these up for my “nog” loving hubby.
Almond Snowman Cookies.
Chocolate Drizzle Star Cookies.
Chocolate Rings With Sprinkles.
These are one of my favorites – Dark Chocolate Stars Shortbread Cookies. I’m bummed that they now say they may contain tree nuts, as my kiddo loves them, but I’m sure we can find a number of other great treats to take her mind off of them.
Gingerbread Man Kit – these are great, fun and easy to do. Nice to have a few on hand and would be perfect for kids at a holiday party.
Mini Gingerbread Men.
Gingerbread House Kit.
Edel-Marzipanstollen.
Trader Joe’s Pfeffernusse.
One of my favorite traditions – the chocolate Advent calendar! Trader Joe’s is the one place I know I can count on to have them each year. When my oldest gets home from school I’ll have to let her pick which style she would like this year.
Wide shot! All of the items I’ve shown so far, I found in the fridge/freezer isle.
Now for a bit more variety, here’s what I found when I finally pulled myself away from the amazing isle of holiday yumminess.
Maybe not “holiday” but S’mores Ice Cream Sandwiches? Wowza!
Pumpkin Pie and Pumpkin Souffles in the Trader Joe’s Freezer section. Great price on those souffles!
And pumpkin cheesecake!
One of the most important ingredients this month – canned pumpkin!
Some of their great mixes including Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix, Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix and Apple Bread Mix.
Trader Joe’s Winter Blend Ground Coffee and Vanilla & Cinnamon Black Tea.
Sweet Potato Bisque.
Fresh Cranberries in the fridge section.
Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Cream Cheese.
Not a holiday item but one of my favorites – I adore their fresh pesto. ADORE.
Apple Pie Filling.
Ready for your Thanksgiving meal! Trader Joe’s Turkey Gravy, Pumpkin Butter and Cranberry Sauce.
Ice Triple Ginger Biscotti.
Trader Joe’s Spiced Cider.
Cranberry Mango Blueberry Bran Muffins.
Trader Joe’s Fresh Pumpkin Pie.
Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Tart.
Pumpkin Spice Cake.
Apple Pie.
Mini Carrot Cakes and Inside Out Carrot Cake Cookies. I need to break down and buy those cookies – carrot cake cookies with cream cheese frosting in the middle? Yeah, need those.
Turkey Gravy and Cornbread Stuffing Mix.
A pretty pumpkin wreath on the way out.
I hope you enjoyed seeing some of the amazing seasonal and holiday items that Trader Joe’s has. So many great options, the hardest part is picking what to try next!
One last photo – my big helper and her pal Violet. 🙂 By chance her shopping cart cover fits in quite well with the Trader Joe’s Aloha shirts the employees wear.
Kristina says
Oh my goodness, this goes down as the absolute best Trader Joe’s holiday product pictorial blog post ever! Yum! Glad I stumbled on the post before shopping tomorrow. 😀
Meg says
Don’t forget the candy cane green tea!! I’m seriously addicted
Owen says
My wife and I are regular “worshippers” at TJs. We like a lot of their products, and thanks for a great list with photos. But am I the only one who has noticed that almost every product is full of sugar? Is that really what holiday foods are all about? I will admit, that many of the products sound good, but at this time of year, I cannot afford that many extra calories. Maybe I will need to avoid TJs for a month or so to resist these temptations. Sigh!
Christi says
Owen, I hear you. I try to leave with just photos and very few of their sweets. Their sweets in general are just incredible – far better than my willpower! We always pick up some of the Candy Cane Joe Joe’s (mainly because we have a lot of dance teachers who love them!), but most of the stuff has some crazy addictive quality, can’t stop at just one. And by one, I mean box. 🙁
Barbi B says
Well, here it is November 12, 2012 and lots of the pumpkin items are back in my local Trader Joe’s, but I’ve yet to see the Pumpkin Tart, my very favorite. I fear it’s been discontinued. Sure hope I’m wrong.
Joy Schumann says
Wow! I just found your site! All I want to do now is shop at Trader Joes! LOL
Your website is nicely done and I will be back; it is so intresting! I invite you to visit my blog and leave a comment…Joy
Julie B. says
Thanks for the great info. We do not have TJ in Hawaii so whenever a family member travels to LAS or SEA in Nov/Dec, I have them purchase alot of the Christmas goodies. We need a TJ in Hawaii. Aloha
Christi Leber says
We wait EVERY year for the Sea Salt Caramels. I have to buy several (yes, more than 10) to ship to TX…..love being back on the West Coast!! 🙂
The Sweetest Vegan says
How did you not get kicked out? LOL
Kate H. says
Just another reason to love Christmas!!! I wish we had a Trader Joe’s in TX!
Brittany Miller says
OMG!!!!! I read your blogs ALL THE TIME but I’ve never commented before. I’m sitting at work and I seriously want to take off so I can go to Trader Joe’s!!! I absolutely LOVE LOVE all things mint, eeeeeek!! Come on 5 o’clock!