Trader Joe's Donut Bites

Donuts. There is a food item that has such powerful food memories attached to them. Done right they can instantly make you smile. In fact, donuts instantly make me think of certain pop culture icons: Homer Simpson and Fred the Baker from the Dunkin Donuts commercials instantly come to mind. It's those cultural icons to which we have to thank for phrases like "Mmmmm....Donuts" and "Time to make the donuts."

Taste

Now, when I brought these home, I was instantly shocked looking at my receipt. These are marked seasonal.

However, I don't think I've ever been so glad to know that we are getting the shelf space back for something that is yummy.

The bar was high on this one and this product disappoints.

I rarely say donuts are disappointing. My husband and I often joke that certain foods even when they are bad they're still kinda good. Pizza comes to mind. Usually, donuts do too.

The directions were simple and straightforward. Into the toaster oven, they went. The timing was just fine.

But once I got to the part where I ate these, that is where the disappointment started.

While they were heated through, the dough was bland and tasteless and the raspberry filling was pretty basic. Nothing special was noted.

But what I'm struggling with on this one, and it is kinda unforgivable is the taste of the raw dough. If you look at the last picture you'll see it right at the top where the jelly meets the dough.

Also, the finished product bore no similarity to the picture on the box. There was no packet of sugar.

I improvised and added some melted butter and rolled it in sugar to make it look like the picture.

It added a much-needed textural contrast and covered up some of the sins of this product.

Overall

For $2.99 you can do better. My suggestion? Get some pizza dough, cut small pieces and fry it in oil at 350F for about 5 minutes until golden brown and delicious. Roll it in sugar or fill it with a jam or jelly of your choice. You'll get something less expensive and far tastier. Best of all you'll get a chance to clean out the jams or jellies that might be sitting in your refrigerator.

Would I buy this again? This is a big no. I heated up 6, I'm still debating if I even want to eat the other 6 sitting in the box. But I am 100% sure that there are other things more worthy of the calories.