Trader Joe’s Winter/Holiday Item Recap (2020 Season)

Well, now that the holidays are over and we are all detoxing from holiday goodie overload, it’s time to do a recap of the 2020 Trader Joe’s holiday items I tried for the season. This post includes items purchased in November (yep, holiday items arrive early) through December of 2020. Some are brand new items, and some were old favorites!

Beverages

Nothing says Christmas is coming than a nice sparkly beverage, am I right? Whether you’re sipping alone or with friends at a get-together, there’s always a great variety of holiday-inspired beverages to choose from at Trader Joe’s.

Winter Wassail Punch: A festive punch that packs a lot of flavor with a blend of apple, black currant, and lemon, along with “holiday spices” and orange peel. It was a bit much on its own for me, but mixed with sparkling wine/champagne, it made a great holiday cocktail. A little goes a long way!

Sparkling Cranberry Juice: This was delicious on its own – perfect for a mocktail if you’re trying to avoid alcohol but feel a little special with something bubbly (although, I’m sure it would make a great mixer with some vodka).

Sugar Plum Sparkling Beverage: A sparkling beverage with a blend of white grape and plum concentrates. It wasn’t my favorite of the bunch in terms of flavor, but not bad either.

Honeycrisp Apple Juice: Definitely a favorite with a great apple flavor! Great as a cocktail mixer or on its own.

Sparkling Cranberry Ginger: My favorite of the bunch – great cranberry flavor with a punch of ginger! It is a very pretty shade of pink as well. I found it refreshing from the ginger when on its own, and also great as a mixer with vodka. The perfect holiday beverage!

Sweets

Sweets are synonymous with the holidays, and Trader Joe’s sure knows how to overwhelm you with way too many sugary delights!

Jingle Jangle Mix

New to me this year, though not new to Trader Joe’s, was the Jingle Jangle mix. Coming in at $9.99 for the tin, it was money well spent. This tin is filled with milk and dark chocolate covered pretzels (my favorite of the variety), mini milk and dark chocolate peanut butter cups, dark chocolate covered caramel popcorn, chocolate covered cookie bites, and little red M&M-like candies. If you aren’t a choccy lover, this would make a great gift for one who is!

Peppermint Chocolate Chunk Cookie Mix

I had been eyeing this cookie mix ever since someone posted a shot of it on Instagram when their store accidentally stocked the shelves early in the fall! It is a great cookie mix that is very peppermint-forward, and filled with plenty of chocolate chips.

Pro Tip: These are best when eaten warm (they tend to get pretty firm quickly, so I would warm them up slightly before eating).

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Peppermint Hold the Cone

These little ice cream cones are a repeat favorite for me. They come out with different Hold the Cone flavors throughout the year, but I always enjoy the peppermint ice cream and chocolate cones! They are very small, so it’s easy to have one as your evening dessert treat and not feel too guilty.

Dark Chocolate Minty Mallows

Another repeat favorite (especially for my husband) are these Minty Mallows – simply, peppermint marshmallows covered in dark chocolate. A nice treat for marshmallow lovers. I bet these would make good smores too!

Candy Cane Chocolate Almonds

Next up were these Candy Cane Chocolate Covered Almonds, which consist of roasted almonds dipped in dark chocolate, then white chocolate with candy cane bits. These were pretty good, but ultimately, not one of my favorite items.

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Candy Cane Joe Joe’s Chocolate Bar

A new item to Trader Joe’s this year were these Candy Cane Joe Joe’s Dark Chocolate Bars. At $1.99 each, I couldn’t help but grab a few! The thing I love most about these bars are the cookie bits, and the dark chocolate they used is very tasty.

Butter Toffee Pretzels

Say hello to one of my new favorite items! These are new to me this year, and I am so glad I picked up that first bag when I was in the checkout line. The sweetness of the butter toffee combined with the salty pretzels makes an excellent combination. I often found my husband standing in the pantry snacking on these, afraid to take the whole bag with him out of fear of eating a whole bag.

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Hot Cocoa Snowman

Hot cocoa bombs were all the rage this year, so I was excited to see these cute snowmen at Trader Joe’s this year! My store ran out before I could get one but my good friends were able to snag one for me at another area store. These would make great stocking stuffers, especially for kids, and are super affordable at $1.99 each.

Overall verdict: I found it to be much too sweet for me. It is basically chocolate stuffed with chocolate chips and marshmallows, but it does melt very easily once in your hot liquid.

Stroopwafel

Have you ever had a stroopwafel? They are divine! A stroopwafel is a Dutch treat consisting of caramel sandwiched between two thin waffle cookies. This was my first year trying the Trader Joe’s brand and they did not disappoint. I highly recommend these to any stroopwafel fan!

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Mini Gingerbread Cookies

This box of Mini Gingerbread People was one of the last items I snagged towards the end of the season, and boy am I glad I did! I’ll be adding this to my list of seasonal favorites going forward. The cookies were perfectly gingery and had a nice crunch to them, and the white fudge icing wasn’t overpowering. I probably ate five of them straight out of the box when I got home. They are addicting – beware!

English Toffee Bites

Another great idea for stocking stuffers are these mini bags of English Toffee Bites – super cheap at 99 cents a piece! Inside, you’ll find a handful of toffees covered in chocolate and chopped nuts. A must for your favorite-toffee lover (or yourself).

Candy Cane Joe Joe’s Ice Cream

Last but not least, I couldn’t resist a pint of the Candy Cane Joe Joe’s ice cream – one of my all-time favorite seasonal items. I just love the refreshing taste of peppermint ice cream, and the swirl of the cookie bites and fudge is a great compliment. I wish they would make this year-round!

The Savories

And now we’ve come to the savories. Some of these items I got for holiday meals (like Thanksgiving), and some were just new items that were released in November and December and I wanted to make mention of them even though they aren’t holiday-related.

Cornish Game Hens

Enter Thanksgiving. We’re not huge fans of turkey, and cooking a turkey this year was just not on our minds. Instead, we opted for these little hens at $4.99 a piece, which my husband cooked in the smoker. They were amazing! You can find these in the frozen aisle at the stores (a tip I wish I would have known before I searched high and low for these in the meat section).

Cranberry Sauce/Turkey Meatballs

I’ve had the frozen turkey meatballs before, but I decided to give them a little holiday kick this year! I warmed the meatballs up in some leftover Sriracha BBQ sauce (also found at Trader Joe’s), and then added a jar of the cranberry sauce to make them more festive. It was a really tasty idea! I’ve still got a jar left over and plan on recreating this appetizer soon.

Folios Cheese Wraps

These cheese wraps are such a convenient item to have for low carb eaters. I used them to wrap up turkey, cream cheese, and a little green onion for a quick lunch. One cheese wrap with two slices of turkey was plenty to fill me up, and the parmesan cheese is a little rich so I think one folio per meal is enough. Price point is a little high on these (I think it was around $5.00 for one pack), but again, super convenient.

Cauliflower Tot Casserole

While it’s not the most beautiful thing you’ve ever seen, my husband and I both thought the Cauliflower Tot Casserole was pretty tasty! It had a good flavor with the bechamel sauce, and the consistency was similar to the cauliflower gnocchi. I added a little more cheese to the top and let it brown in the oven a bit for something more appealing to the eyes.

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Greek Chickpeas

These are a new item at Trader Joe’s! I usually get the Balella bean salad from the refrigerated section to add to my salads, which also has chickpeas in it. So, that’s exactly what I did with these! Bonus is that this product is canned, so you can buy a couple at a time and will last much longer than the refrigerated bean salad. Definitely a repeat buy for me.

Hot Italian Sausage

These were new to my store – not sure how long they’ve been gracing the shelves of other Trader Joe’s. We fried these up to make sausage sliders with the TJ’s sweet Aloha rolls, grilled onions, mustard, and melted cheese. Delish!

Bulgogi Fried Rice

Another new item that was very popular with Trader Joe’s fans was this Korean-Inspired Bulgogi Beef Fried Rice with Kimchi. Overall, I thought it had great flavor but it could definitely use some extra spice (maybe some Sriracha or a few dashes of cayenne while you’re heating it up).

My husband cooked up a fried egg and served it on top of his bowl of rice, and I also added an extra helping of TJ’s kimchi on the side (you can never have too much kimchi!)

Shrimp Tikka Masala

On a whim, I decided to give the Shrimp Tikka Masala a try for a weekday lunch. I’ve had a lot of the Trader Joe’s Indian dishes but sadly, this Shrimp Tikka Masala did not live up to my expectations. I found it to be a little watery and lacking a bit on flavor. Also, the portion size was just so tiny! My favorite remains the Vegan Tikka Masala frozen meal.

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Sweet & Spicy Mustard

Finally, the last new savory item I bought during the November/December winter season at Trader Joe’s was this Organic Sweet & Spicy Mustard sauce. I haven’t actually had the chance to try it yet, but I wanted to mention it as it is a new product for TJ’s.

For the Pups

Being a dog mom, I’m always on the lookout for new treats for my pups!

Better Than Leftovers Treats

These treats are fantastic! Now, I can’t say they taste good but my dogs love them. The best part about them is that they are soft treats, so they are easy to break apart to divide between my pups. Also, it’s easy on their old teeth. They do smell really good too so there is some partial enjoyment for “mom.”

That’s it for my winter/holiday recap of 2020! What were some of your favorite holiday treats?

>>Read More: Trader Joe’s Winter Haul 2019

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