As Christmas nears, Trader Joe’s has risen to the occasion, accommodating everyone’s holiday needs.
The arrival of winter and the Christmas season brings with it the addition of many enticing, winter-themed sweets and treats in stores all across the globe, and Trader Joe’s is no exception.
Embellished with garlands, ornaments, flower arrangements of red, white, and green, and various other festive decorations, Trader Joe’s has quickly stocked its stores full of all things Christmas: peppermint-flavored everything, winter classics like eggnog and gingerbread, and chocolates shaped like snowmen.
But are any of these holiday treats worth the purchase?
Mini Gingerbread People
A staple Christmas dessert, gingerbread continues to impress.
These mini man-shaped cookies are quite the exceptional little before or after-meal treat. Their stubby little figures pack a multitude of flavors — sweet, spicy, nutty — as well as a nice, crunchy texture.
Though gingerbread is not something I particularly enjoy, these lie on the positive end of the gingerbread spectrum. Their frosted backs make them sweet at first, but the actual gingerbread quickly adds in its signature flavors, with a perfect balance of spice — enough that you can taste it, but not so much that it overwhelms your palate.
It’s incredibly easy to eat a lot of these at once, but don’t worry, the box is packed full of these tiny cookies.
Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe’s
With a decadent dark chocolate coating, the perfect sprinkle of finely crushed candy cane crumbles, and a chocolate peppermint sandwich cookie in the middle, these Joe Joe’s will leave you speechless and wanting more.
Although there are ten per box, just one Joe Joe is more than enough to leave you satisfied and full, though possibly still craving the taste of another. They’re minty and they maintain the perfect amount of sweetness without going overboard.
The hard shell of chocolate covering the cookie provides a satisfying crispness, while the Joe Joe and peppermint pieces offer a crunchy and crumbly texture. These are the perfect winter dessert, fresh, chocolatey, and extremely delicious.
Panettone
This Italian treat is the perfect single serving of sweet, rich goodness. As a dessert traditionally prepared for Christmas or New Year’s, panettone certainly exudes the warmth of the holiday season and evokes nostalgia.
Coming in mini and regular sizes, this bread-like confection has candied oranges, other candied fruits, and syrup-soaked raisins sprinkled throughout.
Its texture is wonderfully soft and the tiniest bit chewy. Most of the panettone’s taste comes from its dough, so if you aren’t a fan of sweet breads, this is not the dessert for you, though the dried fruit embedded in it also adds beautiful little bursts of tart flavor.
Panettone is usually rather expensive, but this one was relatively well-priced. I definitely recommend it if you are looking for a fluffy and delicious dessert this Christmas.
Jingle Jangle
Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle — a box full of holiday fan-favorites — is the perfect snack for a Christmas movie night or to share at a party with family and friends.
Though each treat in the box is on the small side, their size does not take away from their taste, with each item packing a much larger variety and amount of flavor than I was initially expecting.
The crunchy dark chocolate pretzels have the perfect ratio of sweet to salty, and, in my opinion, taste better than the milk chocolate-covered pretzels, which have a bit more chocolate than the former, and are preferable for those who enjoy sweeter treats.
In contrast, the chocolate-covered caramel popcorn was not too sweet, but it had a slightly bitter taste.
In the dark chocolate mini peanut butter cups, the dark chocolate overpowers the peanut butter to the point where the saltiness of the peanut butter disappears after only a few seconds of chewing.
On the other hand, the milk chocolate covered peanut butter cups are delectable. They’re sweet, salty, and taste like milk chocolate and peanut butter all at the same time, neither flavor canceling out the other. These both had a smooth, creamy texture and a nice initial crack.
The subtly sweet dark chocolate covered Joe Joe’s have a very similar taste to a plain Joe Joe, save for the extra chocolate, with a texture slightly different from the original, as it is a bit more crumbly and a little softer than your typical Joe Joe.
I really enjoyed getting to try all of these desserts, and in this mix, my personal favorites were the milk chocolate mini peanut butter cups and dark chocolate-covered pretzels.
Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle is an ideal blend of sweet and salty and a great treat that is more than worth the money.
A Trio of Chocolate Boules
These boules — French for ornaments — are an adorably festive confection you should keep in mind when selecting stocking stuffers for chocolate lovers.
Despite lacking in holiday flavors, these Italian desserts pack plenty of Christmas spirit, with ornament-like wrapping, shiny, hard shells, and a delectable creamy center.
The milk chocolate caramel boules are delicious chocolates, although the filling tastes a bit more like a butterscotch or vanilla caramel. These had the perfect balance between a sweeter type of chocolate and a darker, more bitter chocolate.
The white chocolate and hazelnut combination is overwhelmingly sweet, and despite that, they still have a rich chocolatey taste, though they lack a strong presence of hazelnut.
The dark chocolate boules have a rich taste and an almost nutty infusion of flavor. These are perfect for lovers of all chocolate. They are not too concentrated, with a deep cocoa flavor, and have enough that they retain that beautiful bittersweet dark chocolate taste.
While these chocolates certainly were delicious, as a whole they all felt a bit too monotonous. I would have preferred if they had a bit more holiday cheer other than just their wrapping, or if there was more of a variety of flavors.
Concluding Thoughts
In general, Trader Joe’s tends to have one of the best snack selections of any stores here in Oregon. To me, they definitely lived up to their reputation with their new and returning holiday sweets, though the treats reviewed in this article are just a few of the many, many delicacies stocking the shelves at your local Trader Joe’s.
It’s definitely worth making a trip to buy any one of these delicious seasonal desserts.
