Here Little Cookie

Surprising new foodstuff dethrones cookie butter on Trader Joe's top 25 products of 2013

Here Little Cookie

Surprising new foodstuff dethrones cookie butter on Trader Joe's top 25 products of 2013

Triple ginger snaps was Trader Joe's No. 1 best-selling product of 2013.Amazon.com
Cookie butter fell to No. 2 in 2013.Photo courtesy of Club Trader Joe's
Joe Joe's cookies took the No. 3 spot on Trader Joe's top products of 2013.Photo by Teresa Gubbins

Uh-oh, we feel a shortage coming on. Gourmet foodie emporium Trader Joe's has released its list of top products for 2013, and it's bad news for Speculoos cookie butter. The gingerbread spread has been toppled by an even more ginger-y interloper: triple ginger snaps.

Overtaking cookie butter is no small feat. The super-hot spread topped Trader Joe's top products for 2012 and became such a smash that TJ's suffered a national shortage. In its valiant struggle to keep Speculoos on the shelves, the chain was forced to limit sales to one bottle per customer. The national nightmare finally waned in August, when the supply was replenished.

But this spicy, feisty ginger snap seems up to the task. It contains a triplet of gingers: crystallized ginger, fresh ginger and ground ginger. Other ingredients include wheat flour (hey, it's healthy), brown sugar, butter, molasses and egg. The butter and molasses provide a flavorful platform for the bits of crystallized ginger, which sets off explosions of bright flavor and moist gummy-bear chew.

Triple ginger snaps are not a new product; they took the No. 3 spot on last year's list. And as an FYI, Whole Foods Markets sell a nearly identical cookie in its bulk bins. But that shouldn't stop anyone from storming Trader Joe's and creating a run on the cookie so that we have something fun to write about for all of 2014.

Here's the full list (an * indicates that the product was limited-edition and probably can't be had right now, boo):

1. Triple Ginger Snaps. Not one, not two, but three gingers.
2. Speculoos Cookie Butter. Made of cookies. Like a gingerbread spread. No nutritional value whatsoever.
3. Joe Joe’s Cookies (all varieties). TJ's version of Oreo's, with the limited-edition holiday-season peppermint being an annual highlight.
4. Reduced Guilt Chunky Guacamole. Does anyone really feel guilty about regular guacamole?
5. Charles Shaw Wine (all varieties). Cheap good wine remains a Trader Joe's trademark.
6. Pumpkin Coffee.* New pumpkin item proving that anything pumpkin sells, even god-awful pumpkin-flavored coffee.
7. Mac ‘n Cheese. Returning favorite moves up from last year's position at No. 16.
8. Pumpkin Butter. * Last year's No. 12. And if we haven't mentioned this previously, pumpkin = popular.
9. Almond Butter (all varieties). New to the list, almond butter has become more popular with the rise of (and phobia over) peanut allergies.
10. Pumpkin Pecan Instant Oatmeal.* Oatmeal with pumpkin and pecans. TJ's is going to turn into a big pumpkin.
11. Chili Lime Chicken Burgers. Burgers made not of beef are hot.
12. Fennel Bulbs.* How refreshing to see fresh produce on this list.
13. Cranberry Goat Cheese Log.* Tangy cheese from Wisconsin, hand-rolled in candied cranberries.
14. Harvest Blend Herbal Tea.* Limited-edition tea is a no-brainer because it has cinnamon, ginger — you know, the pumpkin pie spices. Pumpkin again, oy.
15. Pound Plus Chocolate Bar (milk and dark). Longtime TJ's product is a lot of good chocolate for a low price and a boon for bakers.
16. Almond Cocoa Spread. An almond cousin to Nutella, the chocolate-hazelnut spread that's gotten hot in the past couple of years.
17. Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix.* Returning favorite (No. 14 last year) has one, ahem, ingredient we won't bother mentioning again.
18. Rosemary Marcona Almonds. Nuts are one of TJ's stock-in-trades. "Marcona" almonds means they're fried until extra-crunchy. Add rosemary and voila.
19. Corn & Chili Pepper Salsa. This salsa-without-tomatoes was No. 20 on last year's list. Inching up!
20. Dark Chocolate Covered Caramels. Awww, sank from No. 8 last year.
21. Chocolate Orange Sticks. Candied orange gel enrobed in chocolate. Bit of a surprise to see on this list.
22. Pesto Gouda. Introduced as a St. Patrick's Day item because it's green duh, this got bumped up to year-round availability.
23. Mandarin Orange Chicken. Once found at the top of the list (sniff!), this frozen dinner-in-a-bag is a longtime bestseller.
24. Spinach & Kale Greek Yogurt Dip. Returning champ is a kale-y twist on spinach artichoke dip, with yogurt standing in for sour cream.
25. This Cranberry Walks Into a Bar … * Cross between a Pop Tart and a Fig Newton, this limited-edition breakfast bar has a thin pastry shell and lots of fruit.

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Chef Crime

Dallas chef Kent Rathbun issues reward for his trusty stolen smoker

Chef Kent Rathbun's missing smoker Kent Rathbun

A revered smoker trailer belonging to Dallas chef Kent Rathbun was stolen, and Rathbun is determined to get it back.

Rathbun is the Beard Award-nominated chef and restaurateur whose resume includes The Mansion on Turtle Creek, Abacus, Jasper's, and his current company Kent Rathbun Catering.

The stolen smoker was kept inside a gated parking lot at Rathbun's catering kitchen, located near Irving Boulevard and Mockingbird Lane, in an industrial area west of I-35.

Rathbun says it was stolen somewhere between July 17 and July 21. The police have been notified and there's an effort underway to locate security footage.

"I was out of town — we didn't have a lot of catering at the time," Rathbun says. "One of our chefs found the gate open — it looked like it had been damaged. But it wasn't until I went to pick up the trailer on Monday July 21 that we realized it was gone."

The smoker has a colorful backstory: Rathbun got it as a gift from Baxter Brinkmann, CEO and president of The Brinkmann Corporation, manufacturer of outdoor living products including gas and charcoal grills, smokers, and solar/low-voltage landscape lighting.

"He gave me this rig as a bithday present on the day of my first Taste of NFL at Abacus," Rathbun says. "The first year that we did the Taste of NFL [the annual tailgate party to support the North Texas Food Bank], I asked Brinker if he would supply smokers and grills for all the celebrity chefs coming in from around the country. I just needed a little grill but he offered the use of this 18-foot-long outfitted smoker."

"He came to the party, and we were standing by it, appreciating how well it worked when somebody walked up and said 'happy birthday, chef'," Rathbun says. "Baxter said, 'It's your birthday? I want you to have the smoker. And as long as you keep my name on it, I will repair it, fix it, my team will take care of it.' He was like the team captain."

That was in 2001 and over the years, the rig has received more than its share of custom upgrades, including metal laser-cut ID tags with "Chef Kent Rathbun" affixed to every door.

"It is so personalized that I can walk up to that trailer and will be able to recognize it, no matter what modifications may be made," Rathbun says.

That's also why he feels certain the theft is not an inside job, as some have suggested. "Anyone on our team knows what a distinctive smoker it is," he says.

While not a secret, the location of his catering company is not open to the public and not generally well known. Someone driving by the location could have spotted the trailer in the parking lot, but it's on an industrial side street that does not draw a lot of random motorists. The trailer would have also required a truck to pull it.

"The thing is 18 feet long, it's giant," he says. "It's not a toy, it's a tool, and we need it to stay in business."

Rathbun posted a plea on social media offering a $1,000 reward — "and probably a good amount of barbecue," he says — to anyone who can provide information as to its whereabouts and was met with a wave of support, including offers to chip in $500 and even $1000 to the reward pool which is now at $8,500. (You can call Rathbun at 214-704-0907 with tips.)

"Whether I get the trailer back or not, I've been overwhelmed by how many people have stepped up and offered their support," he says.

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