The pros:Â O and H Danish Bakery Raspberry Kringle is the newest flavor to hit the shelves at Trader Joe's, but represents a substantial savings over ordering it online.
The cons: The kringle flavors at Trader Joe's are only seasonal, but fortunately, all the flavors I've tried so far have frozen very well.
The verdict: Â ...
The pros:Â Trader Joe's Chipotle Black Bean Dip is a smokey and thick dip.
The cons: The smoke flavor is very strong with this one.
The verdict: Â ...
The pros:Â Trader Joe's Balsamic Rosemary Beef Steak Tips are new to the refrigerated aisle.
The cons: These are good, but don't quite reach the level of great.
The verdict: Â ...
I'm so lucky that I teach. There are some items that would be difficult to review on a regular basis. Cookies and dessert items are the hardest to review. If I were by myself there are a number of boxes that I would have gladly polished off on my own.
But my pants would not be as appreciative. So, a few kids in a website design group that I run as always gifted the extra cookies. They absolutely help with these reviews. Let's face it, as an adult we don't have the same tastes buds that we did as kids.
I've tried some of the candy from my youth. For the most part, a lot of them are now way too sweet to be enjoyed to the same capacity.
These borrow from a lot of successful other cookies. This seems to have the cookie to cream ratio of a very overstuffed double stuff Oreo. The cookie reminded me of a thick maple leaf shaped golden Oreo or Trader Joe's Vanilla Joe Joe's. Perhaps you can even think of them as a much larger and more intensely flavored Vienna Fingers.
The filling is plentiful, soft, and full of maple flavor. But it's a good balance to the cookie. The cookie is thick and has the maple leaf shape. It even has pretty deep ridges so it is in no way unclear that this is a maple leaf.
The maple shines beyond shape. The maple really shines and I tend to think that maple is a way under utilized flavor at Trader Joe's. I would not mind a maple filled end cap to see how many ways they can incorporate the flavors. But those are my dreams of Trader Joe's.
Each cookie is one serving. Each cookie is several bites. While the cookie is pretty plain, the maple in all its sweet, complex, and slightly smokey flavor come through. I'm not sure how I overlooked this item. I think I may have assumed that this was a seasonal product, but it isn't.
Fun detail to note, these are made in Canada. Perhaps they are a not so subtle nod to their national symbol.
For $3.49, these are perfect for those with a sweet tooth, anyone who loves maple flavor, or just the junk food junkies. And, they are kid approved too.
This is available at Trader Joe's or on Amazon.com through third-party sellers.
Would I buy this again? If calories did not count, then yes, I would buy Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Cookies. I could easily devour the whole box, so I might need to avoid letting these leafs fall in my cart.
The ingredients:
How Trader Joe's describe this:
Out of the package you get:
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The pros: Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Hummus is a unique flavor pairing which on a surface level seems like it should be a good pairing. This is priced well at $1.99.
The cons: The pairing here ended up tasting odd.
The verdict:
With summer just about here, it's time for me to start thinking about some better snacks. I recently have been working my way through the hummus section. They sadly discontinued my favorite the Sriracha Hummus. The horseradish hummus was super vinegary tasting. So, I've been in search of a solid and delicious replacement.
This wasn't it. Not even close.
On the surface level, this sounds like it should go provided it had some intense tomato and basil flavors. But at the end of the day, it reminded me of a kitchen experiment gone wrong. If you were to take a hummus that is just ok and mix it with some tomato and basil sauce I'm pretty sure this is what you might get.
In a matter of one bite, my face had made the "eeew...gross" face. This dip made it through a few passes of chips and carrots, but otherwise, it is heading for the trash can. It's not worth the drive back to return a product that only costs $1.99.
The texture was just ok, but the flavor I couldn't pair it well with anything. My recommendation is to pass this one by as there are other snacks that are far better tasting than this.
Here is the visual run down of what you get if you buy this product:
The container of Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Hummus:
The nutritional information:
The ingredients:
Out of the package you get:
Would I buy this again? No, I would not buy Trader Joe's Tomato Basil Hummus again. There are better ones to reach for. This could have been a good combination, but it just was all wrong. Perhaps if this had sundried tomatoes there would be more hope for this one.
Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe's for a searchable list.
Did you try it? Let me know what you think in the comments section!
