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Homemade Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s are my personal response to “seasonal” items at the grocery store.
As a person with common sense, I get the premise behind only selling certain items seasonally. Most people aren’t going to want baked goods packed with peppermint (or pumpkin, or maple, or any other seasonal flavor) in the middle of June, and only selling these goods for a short period of time when the demand for them is the highest just makes good business sense.
Just think about everyone’s demand for pumpkin recipes beginning each year on September 1st and how many Pumpkin Spice Lattes Starbucks sells during the fall: an average of 20 million each year.
And yet, as a consumer…sometimes I do want maple recipes after Thanksgiving. Occasionally I find myself thinking about pumpkin during the summer. Every now and then I catch my mind wandering to peppermint in the middle of February.
But according to retailers, my cravings are “out of season” and thus, impossible to satiate.
To that I say, “No more.”
My love of Trader Joe’s knows no bounds, and their line of seasonal items is, undoubtedly, one of the best around. I know many a person who goes crazy over their seasonal offerings, and one in particular drives people to near insanity: Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s. Essentially TJ’s version of a mint Oreo, Candy Cane Joe-Joe’s are made up of crisp dark chocolate cookies filled with a peppermint crème filling, enhanced with bits of peppermint candies.
These little cookies are nearly impossible to keep on the shelves; the sell out almost immediately, and are only “in season” for a short time. That means unless you want to make a name for yourself by stalking your local Trader Joe’s, you are likely to miss the boat and fail to get your hands on a box of these peppermint-flavored treats.
This is my latest recipe for Food Fanatic but, as always, you can get the recipe right here!
About Stephie
Stephie is the creator of Stephie Cooks, a food blog that focuses on creating memories around the food we share, with family recipes at the site’s heart. Stephie lives in Central Illinois with her husband, daughter, and a menagerie of cats and dogs. When she’s not in the kitchen or at her computer writing, you can usually find her curled up with a book or working on one of her many grandma-esque hobbies. Learn more >
I adore TJ’s dark chocolate covered peppermint Joe-Joe’s. Any idea how to create that extra thick and tasty chocolate glaze?
Honestly, I am not the best with chocolate, so I am not entirely sure. A chocolate ganache would definitely get thick and rich, but may not set completely. I would just try some melted dark chocolate and dip them in that.