The pros: Trader Joe’s Vanilla Ice Cream Bon Bons are a small and portion controlled dessert that might satisfy a sweet tooth.
The cons: Vanilla ice cream could be better.
The verdict: …
Chocolate
Trader Joe’s Cocoa Filled Pinwheel Cookies
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cocoa Filled Pinwheel Cookies are a beautiful and whimsical cookie with a delicious filling.
The cons: The cookie isn’t as flavorful as it could be. In fact, it’s a bit bland.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Toasted Sesame Caramels
The pros: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Toasted Sesame Caramels are new and are a very different flavor combination than what is one the shelves currently.
The cons: I’m not sure this is a knock it out of the park flavor pairing.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Ruggedly Adventuresome Cowboy Bark
The pros: Trader Joe’s Ruggedly Adventuresome Cowboy Bark is uniquely named and very rich.
The cons: This product isn’t really bark and it isn’t appropriate for cowboys. Maybe if this were chocolate covered jerky the name would be more fitting.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Pecan Pie Bar is a solid option in the baked good aisle. It’s a reasonable sized dessert if you are having company.
The cons: Like most Pecan Pies, this one does not shy away from the calories. However, one serving is quite a generous size. Would be better if this had some bourbon flavoring to it.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mini Milk Chocolate Peanut Butter Cups are addicting and a better balance of peanut butter and milk chocolate than the full sized ones they sell.
The cons: Addicting. It’s not hard to sit and eat the whole container.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Crunchy Cinnamon Squares Milk Chocolate Bar
The pros: Trader Joe’s Crunchy Cinnamon Squares Milk Chocolate Bar is new to shelves, adds to a line a fun candy bars that are well sized and under $2 each, and has good texture.
The cons: This is a very sweet bar which in the end just did not make me want to go back for more.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Truffles
The pros: Trader Joe’s Milk Chocolate Truffles have a nice shell and a soft interior that might remind you of something close to a Lindor truffle.
The cons: Wrapped this looks more like the Death Star than an Easter candy. No option for Dark Chocolate fans.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Whole Milk
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Whole Milk fills a gap in the dairy section.
The cons: It is much pricier than buying regular milk and doing it yourself.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Sunflower Seed Drops reminded me of peanut M&M’s except these are much smaller, more filling, and well, no peanuts in them but…
The cons: While they taste like peanut M&Ms, the allergy warning does mention some possible cross contamination. Don’t leave these in direct sunlight as the natural food coloring will fade extremely quickly.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar Dark Chocolate Almonds
The pros: Trader Joe’s Sea Salt and Turbinado Sugar Dark Chocolate Almonds is a nice balance of sweet, salty, and nutty.
The cons: The more you eat of these, then more addicting they are.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mini Heart Cookies
The pros: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Mini Heart Cookies are another seasonal continuation of the super successful Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate Stars. Five cookies to a serving for only 130 calories.
The cons: If you are looking for plain shortbread because that’s what the box makes it sound like, then you might be a touch disappointed. This is likely a seasonal product.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate filled with Speculoos Cookie Spread
The pros: Trader Joe’s Dark Chocolate filled with Speculoos Cookie Spread bar is an inexpensive and decent candy bar.
The cons: This could be vastly improved.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Cocoa Almond Cashew Beverage
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cocoa Almond Cashew Beverage is a fantastic substitute for those who can have nuts but are dairy free, soy free, gluten-free or vegan. It’s also darn good if you also want to change. This is ultra pasteurized so it is shelf stable.
The cons: Not as smooth as chocolate milk, but this isn’t a milk product. Price. This is more expensive that buying Trader Joe’s Almond Beverage by the half gallon.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Organic Midnight Moo
The pros: Trader Joe’s Organic Midnight Moo is chocolate syrup that is good for sundaes or making chocolate milk (whatever your definition of “milk” happens to be) or any dessert that you can think og.
The cons: This was a previously discontinued item. It would be nice to see this on the shelves on a regular basis.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle
The pros: Trader Joe’s Jingle Jangle is a nice sized tin of chocolate candies that is perfect for snacking and gifting at a reasonable price.
The cons: This is a seasonal item.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Chocolate Mousse Cake Topped with Ganache
The pros: Trader Joe’s Chocolate Mousse Cake Topped with Ganache is a decent chocolate cake that comes straight from the freezer and is ready to go.
The cons: This is a seasonal item. Getting this unwrapped caused me to get more chocolate on my fingers than I would have liked. Mine wasn’t quite as pretty as the picture either.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Peppermint Flavored Hold the Cone! Mini Ice Cream Cones
The pros: Trader Joe’s Peppermint Flavored Hold the Cone! Mini Ice Cream Cones are new and seasonal. The ice cream is minty without feeling like mouthwash. The cone is also chocolate which makes these different from the regular Hold the Cone! variety normally found on shelves of Trader Joe’s.
The cons: This is a seasonal item.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Stars
The pros: Trader Joe’s Mini Dark Chocolate Mint Stars are tasty little cookies. These almost reminded me of girl scout cookies with a few notable exceptions.
The cons: If you like these, then stock up as they are a seasonal item.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Grown Up Advent Calendar
The pros: Trader Joe’s Grown Up Advent Calendar is the adult version of the 99 cent kids variety. The key difference here is the flavorings. Unless your child has a relatively sophisticated palate, this is meant for adults.
The cons: This is $7 more expensive than the kids version.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s Cafe et The Chocolate Collection
The pros: Trader Joe’s Cafe et The Chocolate Collection is one of three seasonal chocolate collections available at Trader Joe’s. The key difference with this one is that it contains milk, dark, and white chocolate.
The cons: It’s a seasonal item, so if you see it it’s best to pick one up while they still have them in stock. I thought this was the weakest of the chocolate gift sets even though it had the largest variety. There is a lot of texture in these bars so this is best suited for the adventurous types.
The verdict:
…
Trader Joe’s An Assortment of Boozy Little Chocolate Truffles
The pros: Trader Joe’s An Assortment of Boozy Little Chocolate Truffles are relatively strong little truffles. Best of all, the serving size is a bit more realistic at 6 truffles. These are small enough to share.
The cons: This is a seasonal item.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s White Chocolate Baking Chips
The pros: Trader Joe’s White Chocolate Baking Chips will stand up to most cookie recipes and keep their shape. While I enjoy a good white chocolate bar more, these were well done baking chips.
The cons: This is a seasonal item, so if you discover you like these then understand they are not on shelves forever.
The verdict: …
Trader Joe’s and the Astounding Multi Flavor Joe Joe’s
The pros: Trader Joe’s and the Astounding Multi Flavor Joe Joe’s is a large package of chocolate covered cookies which are all well done and might be a crowd pleaser.
The cons: Some of these are sold separately. Some are not. This is seasonal, so if you love it, you’ll want to pick up an extra.
The verdict: …
