Trader Joe's Opening - Oops The Shelves Are EMPTY! And Make Your Own Chocolate Covered Joe Joe's

Living close to Nevada and California we have

loved and coveted Trader Joe's for years and years

and when we were traveling there we were sure to bring

a suitcase to bring home goodies.

So you can imagine how excited we were when they

finally announced that they were opening one in

Salt Lake City.  About the same time my sister Jean

in Texas said they were finally getting one too.

I knew what I wanted this time of year

Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint Joe Joe's!

My friend and I were planning on going up the opening

day, but I had too much to do with my granddaughter's

baptism and another granddaughter's third birthday so

I skipped out.

Somebody blew it big time!  My other friends
Wally and his daughters went up
the day after it opened and this is what they found:

I really thought he was joking - 

These pictures are real!

It was on the news.

The cupboards are bare!

Have you ever seen anything 

like this?

It really was quite unbelievable!

We went to Salt Lake (a 45 minute drive)

with some trepidation on Monday morning (two days later)

and fortunately they

had restocked the shelves.  The lines were long and crazy

and when we asked about the 

Dark Chocolate Covered Peppermint

Joe Joe's 

and they said they were 

gone for the season!!!!

What?!!!

A whole year?!!

They did have their Candy Cane Joe Joe's.

These are the regular chocolate sandwich cookies

not dipped in chocolate (as pictured above).

Of course we grabbed a few boxes 

of those (who knew

when you would see them again either!)

They said as soon as they came out they were gone 

off the shelves.

Wally had given us a box of the 

chocolate covered ones and honestly the plain cookies

 just don't compare.

An enterprising cook like me isn't going to let that stop me

from having this delicious holiday treat.

We can make our own!

Mine are on the left, theirs are on the right.

(I thought my candy canes had a little more color.)

Make Your Own Chocolate Covered Joe Joe's

1 box Candy Cane Joe Joe's 

or any sandwich cookie you like

such as mint Oreos or regular Oreos etc.

3 C. dark chocolate coating

or any flavor you like

(or you can use 3 C. semi-sweet chocolate chips plus 2 tsp. oil

which is a little trickier because you have to cool

it enough and keep stirring it so it won't develop streaks.)

3 drops peppermint oil

crushed candy canes

Melt the chocolate coating in a microwave safe bowl

for one minute, then stir and melt an additional 30 seconds

and stir.  Melt an 15 seconds if necessary. (Do the same for

chocolate chips, adding the oil.)

I had bought that handy dipping tool last year

for things like this that you can't hold onto or

you don't want to flip over.  This is the first time I used it.

It worked great for dipping cookies.  

I used a spoon to cover the cookie and even lifted the

cookie onto the dipping fork with the spoon.

Then I tapped the cookie quite a few times to shake off

a lot of the chocolate, then scraped the fork on the side of the

bowl.  Sprinkle with crushed candy cane right away.

I held the cookie on the fork over a small plate and sprinkled

the candy cane onto the cookie.  That way any excess

candy stays on the plate.

The cookie will slide right off the fork.  (I have read that you can use

a regular fork, but I have never tried it.) Let it slide onto 

parchment paper and let cool until the chocolate is solid.

If you need to you can push it off with a knife.  If the chocolate

gets too hard pop it in the microwave for about 7-10 seconds.  Stir

again. 

 (I made some with real chocolate and some with dark chocolate

coating and for easiness, the coating worked great and tasted

good too.)

This made about 30 chocolate covered cookies.

When these are gone, I can dip another batch!

I also dipped some as pops.  They were really easy as the 

candy sticks went right into the soft candy cane filling.  This makes

a really pretty presentation.  

I am definitely going to have more fun with this

dipping Oreos in Spring colors or white chocolate

or maybe some regular Joe Joe's.  Imagine

the possibilities.

After munching on one last night I turned over the box.

Since the writing is small, let me tell you what it says....

And like all holiday traditions, they disappear as fast as they appear

 and won't return until next year!

(They must have meant disappear off the shelves!!!)

In Trader Joe's defense, they said they had never seen

anything like this store opening!!!!

I will be posting this with

Foodie Fridays

Weekend Wrap Up

Sweets For a Saturday

Pink Saturday

Seasonal Sunday

On The Menu Monday