Trader Joe's Very Chocolatey Oat Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert with Fudge Brownies

Every Good Boy Deserves Fudge. E-G-B-D-F. Anybody else? It's a mnemonic device to remember the lines on the treble clef. Or, alternatively, Every Good Boy Does Fine. I was terrible at piano even after nine years of lessons. I'm much more of a bass guitar guy. Sorry for the rabbit trail. I could go on for pages and pages, but we have a product to review here.

Trader Joe's Very Chocolatey Oat Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert with Fudge Brownies. That's a mouthful and a half for a product title. If nothing else, it's accurate. I mean, the fudge brownies aren't, like, whole brownies or anything. They're not even really chunks. More like bits...or bites. But there's a bunch of 'em, and they're pretty tasty.

Here we have rich, fudgy chocolate oat milk ice cream on top of rich, fudgy chocolate morsels. I have to be in the mood for "chocolate overload" to really enjoy a product like this one. Fortunately, I had one of my infrequent cravings just the other day. It was cold and gloomy, and I needed a pick-me-up. This did the trick in terms of picking me up...but not so much in terms of warming me up.

Well, duh. It is frozen dessert after all.

The oatiness doesn't really detract from the flavor. It's a pretty decent frozen dessert for being vegan. I will say there's something "loamy" about the look and texture. Can I use that word here? It's generally reserved for describing dirt. "This soil is loamy," said the farmer. It means a certain percentage is clay, silt, and sand. Not that it felt sandy in my mouth or anything like that. Clay-ish, perhaps.

Truth be told, I'm not really up to speed on all these newfangled dairy-free options from other brands these days. I've had a few. I think I'm more partial to rice-based ice cream than oat, but I wouldn't complain if you stuck a bowl of this frozen treat in front of me.

Sonia liked it but didn't love it. She'd generally prefer a vanilla-based frozen treat and thinks oat lends itself to less rich flavor combos rather than double chocolate like we have here.

$3.99 for the pint. Don't think I'd pick it up again, but I might if I were lactose intolerant or vegan. Three and a half stars from Sonia. Three from me for Trader Joe's Very Chocolatey Oat Non-Dairy Frozen Dessert.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Glazed Maple Donuts

Well, shoot. That's a tough act to follow: a teary-eyed farewell post with 12 years worth of memories and reviews and goodbyes and whatnot. I might lose half my audience if I don't bring my A-game here these next few posts. What could possibly do this blog justice after that?

I honestly don't know. But these maple glazed donuts are gonna give it the old college try, that's for sure. And I gotta say: I'm a fan.

In terms of cakiness and density, these are not unlike the Apple Cider Donuts from a few years back. These maple dealies look a little more cruller-ish in terms of their twisty, braided appearance. They're soft, sweet, and made fresh daily—something I didn't realize before this purchase. I guess they get delivered? I don't think there's a bakery in that back room at the Trader Joe's store...but I could be wrong.

The glaze is mapley, but honestly, it might not be quiiiite mapley enough for this guy. I was thinking they'd be absolutely dripping with real, rich maple syrup from Canada or Vermont or somewhere like that. I mean, they are maplicious. Don't get me wrong. There's maple in that glaze for sure. But it's almost like they mixed the regular sugar glaze from a plain glazed donut with a maple glaze, yielding a donut that is exactly half as mapley as I'd like it to be.

Fun fact: maple syrup appears in the ingredients list under the "contains less than 2% of the following" section. Version 2.0 should contain at least 4% maple syrup. I guess I could always add my own syrup...

The friendly Trader Joe's clerk gave me the following pro-tip, and I'll pass it along to you: microwave each donut for 15 seconds before consuming. These are fine at room temperature, but they're waaay better warmed up.

Sonia digs 'em a lot, too, although she agrees the maple flavor could be a little stronger. She says they'd go well with coffee. Indeed they would, my love. Indeed they would. $4.49 for six pastries. Four stars from Sonia, four from me on Trader Joe's Glazed Maple Donuts.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Farewell from Pittsburgh

With either a little more foresight, or more lax Pennsylvania liquor laws, I could have been writing all this while enjoying a glass or three of Two Buck Chuck. Alas, it wasn't meant to be that poetic. 

There's not an easy way to say this, but here goes: this is the last post that I, Russ Shelly, am writing for this wonderful blog. In a few weeks time, it'd mark 12 years since I first contacted an old college friend, Nathan Rodgers, about this "What's Good at Trader Joe's?" project I saw him trying to kick start up and asked if I could be of any help. He said sure, I wrote up five times as many words as you'd ever want to read about soy chorizo, and now, somehow, I find myself at trail's end, after so many years, reviews, and empty jars of cookie butter. Life comes fast. 

Why am I leaving, as Nathan and his lovely wife Sonia navigate the next chapter? I'll be honest. Overall, everything about this blog, and everything going into it - the searching for new product info, the hunt for it on shelves, the anticipation of giving something a try, the pleasure (or sometimes not) of trying something new, then trying to come up with ways to spin and inform and entertain - it's been a lot more fun than not, but to keep it that way, for me personally, I need to step off the ride. Quit while I'm ahead. For a while,  it just hasn't been the fun it has for me, and I feel that's begun to show in my reviews and my work here. That's not fair to you, Nathan, the overall quality of the blog, or even really to myself. It's not anger or animosity or anything negative. There's nothing wrong. It's just time. 

Looking back, there's so much to be proud of. More than anything, there's all the collaborative stuff that brings me joy. Like...the articles we created with The Daily Meal, back in our early years, that helped really launch the blog to what it is.  Making the front page of Yahoo will do that. Here's just one out of many. There's the times we tried a short-lived podcast with Marvo from The Impulsive Buy.  I LOVED the time I got to to do "Career Day" at my daughter's classroom - and instead of talking about my boring day job of medical insurance verifications and authorizations, I talked the TJ's blog and gave them cookies! There's where this post's picture is from, by the way. Within just our team, I loved making the April Fool's posts we did several years ago - I mean, c'mon now, this is still golden.  And, finally, lastly, and just me personally, though I certainly don't recall everything I've ever written, I do remember classics like the 5 Cheese Frusta or the Nduja. 

Most of all, I'm just proud and happy to have had a chance to share two of my passions - good food and writing - with anyone who cared to stop by for a few minutes. It's been an awesome experience, humbling at times, but nearly always enjoyable. 

There's no "next steps" in mind for me  - I'm likely to just fade more into the rhythm and routine of daily life with my lovely bride Sandy, who's been a tremendous help and a good sport over the years,. We've got our kiddos and their whims and activities and our jobs and this big ol' house we're trying to fix up. There may be another day coming when, much like back in late 2010, the inspiration or muse hits, and I'm off an running again on some sort of new writing project. If that's the case, I hope we somehow cross paths again. Maybe we'll just have to settle for bumping into each other in the local TJ's aisle - you can see what I look like up above and I'm usually looking for the bomba sauce, so that's a good clue. I'll still be there.   

In closing, thank you to everyone who's been a part of this journey, whether it be for years or days. Specials thanks, of course, to Nathan for giving me a chance, for continuing to be fair at all times and sticking with me. God bless you and Sonia, and I'll be keeping my eyes on what's coming next with this blog. We made a good team. Speaking of good teams - sincere thanks to my lovely bride Sandy, for the countless times she's delved into Instagram or gone and hunted down or prepared  "something to review" or offered her opinion only for me to poke fun at her a little on here.  Huge thanks to the many, many, many good people at the McCandless TJ's, our usual stomping grounds, for their support and interest and friendship - don't worry, we're not going anywhere! And lastly, to you, the reader, for whom we did all these things, even eating turkey muffins - it's been fun. 

If I may say one last thing it's my sincere hope that each one of us, myself included, continue to find our own mango waffles. Peace be with you all.   

Bottom line: my entire experience with What's Good at Trader Joe's?: 10/10 Golden Spoons