Trader Joe's Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese

The pros:  Trader Joe's Bacon Wrapped Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese make for a great appetizer choice in the freezer aisle. Great combination of flavors ready in about 10 minutes.

The cons:  For using Medjool dates, these must be the smallest dates I've ever seen. If you buy a container of dates at Trader Joe's you'll immediately notice the size difference. In this box you have appetizers for 2 people. I added some pictures at the end of this post to drive home that point.

The verdict:  For $5.99 this is an ok deal if you are looking to share these with one other person. Otherwise, if you are cooking for a crowd you may wish to make something similar to this. Here is my recipe using prosciutto in place of bacon: Dates Stuffed with Goat Cheese and Wrapped in Prosciutto. Could you use bacon in place of the prosciutto? Yes. Both are good, it's a matter of time and convenience. My recipe has exactly 3 ingredients to it, this is a matter of popping these in the oven for about 10 minutes. Mine will set you back that in prep time, but you won't need to buy more than one box. Both are good in their own way. Both are a nice balance of sweet, salty, and savory. If you can crisp the outside well then you'll get a balance of textures between the crispy and smooth melted cheese interior.

Here is the visual rundown of what you get if your purchase this item:

The box of Trader Joe's Uncured Bacon Wrapped Dates:

The nutritional information:

The ingredients:

How to prepare:

How Trader Joe's describes the product:

Out of the package you get:

Before going into the toaster oven you get:

After being cooked you get:

Would I buy this again? For me this is a maybe, not because of taste, but because it's not hard to make ones that are so much bigger and more filling than these. Should you try them? Yes. If you've never had this combination of flavors, then this is a great introduction. These almost tasted candied right out of the toaster oven. Really yummy. The Lilliputian size of these dates doesn't go unnoticed on me, nor should you. Here is a quick size comparison of unstuffed dates on the left, and this appetizer on the right:

Where did I get that huge date on the left side of the picture?

Want to see more items I've reviewed from Trader Joe's? Click on Thoughts & Reviews of Trader Joe’s for a searchable list.