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Have you started your holiday shopping yet? I bought exactly two gifts so far (one for each nephew), which means I’ve earned a well-deserved break. One of my favorite ways to relax is to browse the aisles at Trader Joe’s. (I am a groceries editor, after all.)
I even braved my local store the Sunday after Thanksgiving. Honestly, the long line moved quickly. While I was there, I spotted a few new items that were tailor-made for the very specific period that is post-Thanksgiving, pre-New Year’s Day. As it turns out, I missed several others.
Related: Classic Pound Cake
You see, fresh off their turkey feast, Tara Miller and Matt Sloan, Trader Joe’s employees and cohosts of the Inside Trader Joe’s podcast, dropped a new episode with 16 of the new and seasonal products they’re most excited about. You’ll notice cranberry and trios are two very distinct themes in the list. Plus, plenty of frozen finds, sweets, and a revamped salad kit shoppers have been requesting for years. Let’s take a look.
1. Organic Peeled & Cooked Chestnuts
Skip the whole roasting on an open fire step, and go straight to adding these mild nuts with a buttery, sweet flavor to stuffings, salads, and rice. Or break out your new immersion blender (a great gift for home cooks) and make yourself some chestnut soup.
2. Almost a Kilo of Belgian Chocolate Bars
From the Belgian chocolate makers of those iconic Pound Plus Bars comes a new trio of bars — dark chocolate and sea salt, milk chocolate and crunchy corn (which Matt calls “the sleeper hit”), and dark chocolate and crunchy caramel — that combined weigh “almost twice that much,” Tara says. It’s “the chocolate product that I am most excited to have on the shelves.”
3. Cinnamon Spiced Coffee
First launched in 2024, this popular Mexican medium roast ground coffee beans is flavored with cinnamon. Matt calls it a “perfect pairing” with one of the chocolate bars above and a “great pre-singing” drink for carolers.
4. Italian Tomato Pasta Sauce Trio
Matt recommends gifting this trio of pasta sauces, made with tomatoes grown in Puglia, Italy, to “the person who has everything but doesn’t have enough gravy for Sunday night dinner.” I’d happily crack open a jar of the classic Puttanesca, sweet Datterino Cherry Tomato and Roasted Garlic Sauce, or vegetal Italian Tomato and Roasted Vegetable Pasta Sauce any day of the week.
5. Truffle Risotto
“You have to like truffle,” says Matt of this ready-made risotto hanging out in the freezer section. Look for the “dark blue, almost purple bag,” he adds. It takes a few minutes on the stovetop, which is a bit shorter than the from-scratch stuff.
6. Trio of Flavored Honey
This gift box of lemon-, lavender-, and ginger-flavored honeys is “not going to be around for very long,” Tara says. Sold in adorable (and reusable!) 8-ounce glass jars, the set is one to grab if you see it.
7. 3 Spreads for Cheeses & Toast
Another trio! As the name so clearly suggests, these mini jars were made for cheeseboards and morning toast — but why stop there? Add Strawberry & Black Pepper, Rhubarb & Vanilla Bean, or Mango & Yuzu fruit spreads to your cocktails, salad dressings, ice cream, oatmeal …
8. Mini Filet Mignon En Croute
Beef Wellington, but make it two bites (okay, maybe three). This “very satisfying meal-worthy appetizer,” as Matt describes it, packs tender beef tenderloin and mushroom duxelles into a flaky puff pastry. Ideally, the very same one TJ’s also stocks seasonally in the freezer cases.
9. Cranberry Chèvre
Warning, the next three items have two very delicious things in common: cranberries and cheese. They’re also returning favorites, starting with this classic goat cheese log that’s covered in cranberries on the outside and studded with more inside.
10. White Stilton with Cranberries
Next up, a young and crumbly Stilton that’s subtle in flavor compared with aged blue cheeses, and like the chèvre, is “just loaded with dried cranberries throughout,” Matt says.
11. Holiday Cheer Unexpected Cheddar Cheese Spread
And finally, a festive twist on the classic unexpected cheddar spread, which Matt calls a “holiday cheese ball fondue spread.” Flavored with cranberries, Riesling, and cinnamon, this tub is the equivalent of a sequin dress on New Year’s Eve. Tara and Matt suggest swirling it into pasta or adding “a giant dollop” to a baked potato.
12. Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches
Speaking of festive twists, these ice cream sandwiches swap out the classic chocolate chip cookies for a spiced gingerbread. “These have ginger and cinnamon and molasses and brown sugar,” says Tara, who likes the contrast between the warming spices and “very cold” vanilla ice cream.
13. Trader Joe’s Cranberry Pecan Muffins
These new muffins popped up in stores in early November, and are here for a limited time, according to Tara. She says they are “rich, cakey, crumbly, [and] delicious” — “almost like a version of coffee cake,” adds Matt, who credits it in part to the addition of sour cream.
14. Cranberry Orange Spinach Salad
The wait is over. After “a lot of customer requests to bring back a spinach salad kit,” says Tara, this refreshed staple is here to stay — all year round. It’s got spinach, sweetened dried cranberries, crumbled blue cheese, honey roasted pecans, a tangy orange citrus dressing, and a place on your shopping list.
15. Sleigh Ride Cookies
I don’t celebrate Christmas, but if I did I’d definitely put a plate of these aptly named Sleigh Ride Cookies out for Santa (I just might in hopes he stops by my home this year). The sugar cookies are mixed with crushed candy cane pieces and broken up Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s for extra crunch and merriment. Don’t forget the class of milk.
16. Kouign Amann
Is this the frozen French pastry that will finally best the famous chocolate croissants? If these caramelized, buttery, and extra flaky pastries come anywhere close to tasting as good, I’ll be stashing a box in my freezer for the foreseeable future.
Which of these Trader Joe’s holiday items are you adding to your cart first? Tell us about it in the comments below.
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