Seasonal Treats at Trader Joe's

By Janine Kahn Sat., Dec. 20 2008 at 2:20 PM

Categories: East Bay

By Meredith Brody

We weren't consciously aware of longing for Trader Joe's Almond Snowman Cookies over the past year, so when our heart leapt up when we saw them on the shelves again we were slightly embarrassed.

Last year we'd passed them by, thinking $4.99 a box was, well, too much, but eventually broke down and bought one.

And then promptly went nuts and purchased every box in sight until they disappeared (within a few days after Christmas, alas).

This year we bought four boxes - in their cheery, red-green-teal blue-chartreuse-and-white-sriped box, with nifty snowmen careening across the cover - right away. (Three of the boxes' contents have since mysteriously vanished.)

Last year the box was wrapped with a transparent red ribbon, which has been replaced this year by a sturdy cardboard band. But the buttery snowmen, dusted with big crunchy sugar crustals and the occasional bit of toasted almond, are as subtle and exciting as we remember.

The shelves around the snowmen were stocked with other seasonal treats, many marked NEW, such as Mexican Hot Chocolate Cookies, Cranberry Macadamia Nut Cookies, Dark Chocolate Grahams, Pfeffernusse, Dark Chocolate Stars, Edel-Marzipan Stollen, and Orange Cardamom Star Cookies, nicely packaged in a big red star-shaped box.

We don't know how we missed out on that last one, combining as it does two of our favorite flavors. But we plan to pick up at least one box when we go back to Trader Joe's and buy as many boxes of the Almond Snowman Cookies as we dare.

Because they'll soon be disappearing from the heavily holiday-laden TJ's shelves. (We know from TJ sadness: where are the almond and cinnamon crisps of yesteryear? Et ou sont les Almond Snowmen d'antan?) After all, there's a sticker on the box reading BEST BY: APR1208.

If they stick around that long. Snowmen have a habit of melting away.