In December, the Grinch’s heart grows three sizes, and so do our shopping lists, thanks to TJs. Their holiday treats are amazing – unless you count the Lebkuchen cookies. Simply step around those and then scan this list to see the best new Trader Joe’s products for December 2023.
While TJ’s has truly decked their halls with items dripping in holiday cheer, they didn’t neglect the non-denominational treats, either. Unless, of course, you count Our Lady of Perpetual Deliciousness, otherwise known as chocolate mochi.
Maybe you’re tired of Christmas lights but never of fridge lights. Maybe you’re sick of peppermint, but still want belly-warming flavors like gingerbread. Either way, Trader Joe’s has great products this December, from bread pudding to fancy cheeses to chocolate rondos. Whatever those are.
20 Best Trader Joe’s Products This December 2023
1. Cranberry Butter Cookies
Butter cookies are already great because, well, butter. The addition of bright cranberries and warming cinnamon take these to the next level. The use of cultured butter means we should eat them with our pinkies up, right?
2. Chocolate Mochi
Start your New Year’s resolution early, and get rid of the toxic people in your life. Namely, anyone who tells you that winter is too cold for ice cream. Especially if that ice cream is chocolate and wrapped in mochi.
3. Pretzel Bread Pudding
Bread pudding is what happens when someone starts making French toast, but says “that custard stuff is great, let’s add more.” With the addition of salty pretzels to cut the sweetness of the caramel sauce, this thing is genius through and through.
4. Shrimp Pouches of Many Colors
Santa’s sack of toys is great and all but we’d much rather have a sack of shrimp. We understand why the branding of “sack of shrimp” is inferior to “Shrimp Pouches of Many Colors,” but hey, same tasty idea. We’ll work on our PR skills while munching on these yellow, red, white, and green treats.
5. Stollen Crisps
Derived from the classic German stollen, these crackers are jam packed with enough dried fruit and citrus peel to have stollen our hearts. And, they’re so much tastier than the bread version which is pretty much fruitcake.
Eat them by the handful. Dip them in baked brie. Crumble them on a casserole. Just get them before they’re gone for the season. That’s the kind of heartbreak time could never mend.
6. Chocolate Rondos
We looked up what rondos were, and found that the results included a soccer drill, a musical phrase, and a European dessert involving almond paste. While one of those sounds delicious, none match up with what TJ’s advertises as such.
TJ’s describes a rondo as “an expertly crafted disc of chocolate” and probably some other stuff, but we stopped reading because we were already sold. They offer two varieties: milk chocolate with caramelized pecan crunch or dark chocolate with raspberry, strawberry, and cherry.
7. Herbes De Provence Triangles
This product is a three-in-one. French lesson, geometry lesson, snack. Buy this and you’re probably good to skip school.
8. Figgy Cheddar
Keep your pudding and bring us your cheese. Figgy pudding has had its moment, but let’s face it – nobody really knows what that is and we’re not ones to turn down cheese.
Especially when that cheese is marinated in booze and spices, like white wine, rum, coriander, cinnamon, ginger, fennel, nutmeg, and cloves.
9. Dolce Creamy Gorgonzola Style Cheese
‘Tis the season of charcuterie boards, so it’s the perfect time for this cheese to shine. Maybe some cheese is blue because it’s sad that, while some people love it, some people can’t handle the funk.
Alright, it’s because of the mold, but it’s harder to garner pity that way. But, this version of gorgonzola has a sweet finish that just might bring it into a mold hater’s good graces.
10. Felted Wool Holiday Trivet
We know you’re itching to break out that dutch oven at the dinner party, and now your tabletops don’t have to fear.
This trivet will provide protection between that new wood finish and your cooking vessel’s hot bottom. It can’t help deflect the reality that you call yourself a grown-up but definitely just chuckled at “hot bottom.”
11. Cinnamon Swizzle Sticks
We don’t know why we know what “swizzle” means, but we figure we learned it from a Snoop Dogg song. Actually, the fun name and comfortable concept of this sugary cinnamon stick has Snoop and Martha tag team written all over it.
12. Chicken Shawarma Bowl
We do still need to eat between the Thanksgiving turkey and the Christmas ham, and we’re happy to find some hearty flavors to break up the holiday season(ings).
13. Artichoke Bread Pudding
Classic bread pudding is fantastic, but we’re all for a savory version. Think that sounds weird? What do you think stuffing is?
This savory bread pudding is basically artichoke dip that’s already got the bread built in, so we’ll take 50. Get ready for it to be the next kimbap.
14. Raspberry Croissant Carré
We just learned that carré means square. Our high school French has failed us. Or was it the other way around?
15. Gran Capitan Hard Cheese with Black Olive Paste
Not for the faint of heart, this complex is the dream cheese of umami-lovers everywhere. Nutty cheese. Briny black olive paste. The name Gran Capitan coming from someone who revolutionized military strategy.
One of those things may be irrelevant to your decision to put it on your cheeseboard, but it is a point in the must-eat category.
16. Empanadas De Ropa Vieja
For those of us that don’t have the time, know-how, or patience to actually make ropa vieja, TJ’s provides the option of still eating the shredded beef in tomato sauce so tasty we almost forget we don’t have a Cuban grandma who loves us enough to make us home-cooked meals.
17. Chicken Sausage and Cheddar Cheese Breakfast Bake
What came first? Trick question, they’re here together.
18. Shareable Shortbread French Butter Cookie
Is it dinner plate-sized or is it sharable? Come on, TJ’s, have some faith in our stomach capacities when it comes to cookies.
19. Meatless Breakfast Sausage Patties
Cold winter mornings are the perfect time for hearty breakfasts. Whether you’re actually vegan or just prefer a plant-based option, these are a great heat-and-eat option for those who think breakfast is the best meal of the day. AKA, the smart people.
20. Boozy Macarons
As if macarons weren’t fancy enough, TJ’s added booze.
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