Trader Joe’s Has Some New Baking Mixes That We’re Super Excited About

Okay, team, I don’t know about you all, but I haven’t baked a single holiday treat yet and … I’m running out of time. It’s getting down to the wire, no? I’m not trying to be a Grinch, but it just doesn’t feel like the holiday season because of *gestures broadly* … all of this.

As is my default when I’m in “a mood,” I made a special trip to my Trader Joe’s as soon as it opened this morning — I love how empty it is at 8 a.m. — in search of some holiday cheer in food form.

Inspiration struck when I passed this festive end cap, featuring two Fearless Flyer picks from this month: Pfeffernusse Cookie Mix and Stroopwafel Cake Mix. Considering the fact that 2020 is not a year where I’m attempting much from scratch, perhaps these are the holiday baking shortcuts that will finally get me into the holiday spirit?

Pfeffer-who? According to the festive packaging, these are “German-style spice cookies made with molasses and rolled in powdered sugar.” They look like my beloved “snowball cookies,” with a gingerbread surprise inside. What really caught my eye are the easy instructions: Just add butter and egg. I can do that, TJ! Apparently, “nothing says ‘happy holidays’ like the aroma of these Classic german Christmas spice cookies wafting from your kitchen.” It’s worth a try.

This jar looks like those DIY baking mix gifts that I used to make as a kid — without any of the work! Again, just add water, butter, and eggs to these “layers of sugar, flour, brown sugar, stroopwafel pieces, and crunchy caramel bits,” and you have yourself a CAKE. I’ve never made a cake for Christmas before, but after a year like this, I feel like that’s what I deserve.

And just like that, I am no longer a Scrooge. Would you give these a try?