Trader Joe's 2023 Holiday Foods Are Here

Trader Joe's, home of the easy appetizer, released its new Fearless Flyer this week, a winter-themed grocery Tacatalog full of holiday cheer. Now that we've all had our brined turkeys and heat-and-eat stuffing, we can move on to the important stuff, like Jingle Jangle and caramel taste tests (more on those below). Here are the most exciting products in stock at Trader Joe's this month for the holiday season.

As with its offerings around Thanksgiving time, Trader Joe's has donned plenty of old classics this season. As detailed in the Fearless Flyer, these include, among others:

• Jingle Jangle: A mix of chocolate-covered treats, including popcorn and pretzels (Note: We tried this last year and loved it. It costs $9.99 for 22.7 oz. and comes in a tin nice enough for gifting.)
• Candy Cane Joe-Joe's: For the uninitiated, these are the TJ's equivalent of Oreos.
• Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Cremes: These soft filled bites come with crushed candy cane pieces on top.
• Cookie Mug Hangers: These spice cookies are shaped like gingerbread people and have a notch that allows them to "sit" on the rim of a mug.
• Gingerbread Ice Cream: This is a personal obsession of mine, as it is reminiscent of my favorite deceased Ben & Jerry's flavor, Festivus: A Flavor for The Rest of Us.
• Taste Test of Caramels: According to Trader Joe's, although this classic is returning for the 11th year, there are new flavors in the mix in 2023—there would have to be, for the taste test conceit to hold. New flavors include Caramel Mousse, Salted Torte, Gingerbread, Pear & Cinnamon, Sea Salt, Passion Fruit, Crème Brûlée, and Salted Lavender.

The holidays are a time of both savory and sweet, and the Fearless Flyer has many non-desserts to keep an eye out for, too.

• Panapoly of Organic Italian Pasta: This set includes five individual 7-oz. bags of different pastas, including Striped Farfalline, Striped Papillon, Lemon Flavored Torchietti, Striped Fischietti, and Ortolana Creste di Gallo.
• Fried Olive Bites: I tasted these last year and loved them. Not realizing they were a seasonal item, I never saw them again and thought maybe they were just a weird dream I had, but voila, they're back once more for holiday entertaining. They're the bees knees in the air fryer.
• Step Up To The Snack Bar Mix: This snack mix contains honey mustard pretzels, chili lemon corn sticks, honey roasted peanuts, and cheese crackers.
• Stepping It Up Spicy Snack Bar Mix: Containing sweet jalapeño pretzel pieces, spicy cheese corn sticks, chile almonds, and chile lemon corn nuggets, this mix is described as hot, but "not flame-thrower hot."

Among the newer offerings listed in the Trader Joe's Fearless Flyer is Cinnamon Bun Inspired Pancake and Waffle Mix, which you may pair with a cup of coffee flavored with Non-Dairy Cinnamon Bun Oat Creamer, if you'd like. Speaking of coffee, these cranberry butter cookies look like they'd go well with a cup.

Chocolate Mochi Ice Cream has finally joined other mochi ice cream flavors (Vanilla, Strawberry, Green Tea, Ube, Caramel Apple, etc.) in the freezer aisle. Also in the freezer aisle this season is Trader Joe's Pretzel Bread Pudding, a new offering that has me very intrigued. I'm also fascinated by the apparent divisiveness of these newly released Shrimp Pouches of Many Colors, a set of dumplings which, at the very least, feature a festive color scheme achieved by a combination of vegetable juice, spinach, beetroot, and pumpkin.

If the shrimp pouches end up tasting wonderful, I'll serve a platter to the next guests I have over. If not, I'll just give 'em the ol' Jingle Jangle.