Trader Joe's Gözlemes

When I first saw these, I was thinking they might be like the Turkish version of a cheese blintz. They're not too far off in terms of texture, but blintzes tend to be sweet and gözlemes, I've gathered, are savory. This version features authentic Turkish flatbread stuffed with tulum, kashkaval, and mozzarella cheeses.

It's a delicious combination. It's much more like the Turkish version of a quesadilla or a grilled cheese sandwich than a blintz. In fact, I'd say it's right in between the two. A gözleme is thicker than a quesadilla but not quite as thick as your typical grilled cheese. It's a bit oily and buttery, salty, creamy, and tangy. The three cheese combo yields something akin to melty mozzarella, texture-wise, but it's much tangier and flavorful than mozzarella alone. The flavor is something along the lines of feta, another great Mediterranean cheese.

The flatbread gets nice and crispy on the outside during preparation. It's phyllo-esque in some respects but also doughier than typical phyllo. There's a chewy element to it, but it's very pleasant. Goes great with the cheeses.

This product does indeed come from Turkey. It's apparently a popular type of street food found throughout the nation. It's often stuffed with various meats or veggies like spinach or potatoes. They typically grill the flatbread and its fillings on a griddle and serve it hot. Preparation instructions for this Trader Joe's offering state explicitly that it's to be prepared from frozen on the stovetop rather than the microwave or conventional oven. I'd go out on a limb and guess they don't want you to toss it in the air fryer either, although I'm certain someone out there has tried it. I was tempted myself but resisted the urge.

Sonia heated ours on her nonstick skillet. Instructions said to "place in dry pan" and she did...and lo and behold, it stuck to her pan. I mean, it wasn't a total nightmare. She got the product off of the pan and onto our plate pretty much entirely intact. Subsequent attempts were even more successful when the HexClad was called up for duty. The product is fairly oily on its own and probably isn't begging to be deep fried or anything like that.

We plowed through all three gözlemes within 24 hours of opening the box, so that's a testament to its scrumptiousness, I'd say. In our video review, we muse about what condiments might work with it. In the same way I like Mexican salsa with my quesadillas, I wanted a Mediterranean hot sauce with this product. I pondered whether it might work with Trader Joe's Tunisian Harissa Paste. Sonia thought it would pair well with Trader Joe's Italian Bomba Sauce. Since we had some of the bomba on hand, we were able to confirm subsequently that they do indeed go very well together. I still wanna try it with harissa.

The beautiful wifey and I would both buy this product again. $4.99 for three cheese-stuffed flatbreads, found in the frozen section. Product of Turkey. Eight and a half out of ten stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Gözlemes. I'll go with eight out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches

Never had a macaron ice cream sandwich before. As you might have guessed these are two macaron "shells" with ice cream in the middle instead of your typical buttercream or fruit jam filling. Both the cookie element and the ice cream element are chocolate-flavored. It's chocolate on chocolate on chocolate.

It's a chocoholic's dream come true. The quality is there, and the taste and texture don't disappoint. In true macaron fashion, we have a slightly stiff egg white and almond flour outer layer. It's sugary and just faintly sticky to the touch. It gives way to a softer cookie underneath, and of course, provided you allow your ice cream sandwich to thaw for the recommended five minutes, the ice cream layer is soft, velvety, and creamy.

In terms of the flavor, it seems somewhere in between your typical milk chocolate and dark chocolate. It is sweet for sure, but there's plenty of that earthy, slightly bitter cocoa taste as well. It's rich and luxurious. Very pleasant even for Sonia and me, and neither of us really gravitates toward chocolate as far as our favorite dessert flavors are concerned.

I kinda wish Trader Joe's had done the Oreo thing and used chocolate cookies with vanilla ice cream in the middle. Raspberry, blueberry, or vanilla macarons would have been A-OK with this guy. Or how about a speculoos cookie butter macaron ice cream sandwich..?

As far as I can tell, this product is domestic, while certain other macarons we've reviewed from Trader Joe's have been imported from France. In any case, this is a quality offering that chocolate fans will no doubt adore.

We'd buy it again even if it's just this chocolate flavor, and we would most definitely check out any additional varieties if TJ's ever rolls them out. $4.99 for two individually wrapped desserts, found in the frozen section...obviously. Sonia and I both give Trader Joe's Macaron Ice Cream Sandwiches eight out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Corn Tortillas

Corn, water, and lime. That's it. Those are the ingredients in Trader Joe's 100% Corn Tortillas. That's this product's biggest strength and its biggest weakness.

What do I mean by that? Well, I love seeing a short ingredients list. It means there's nothing unhealthy or weird going on. Products like that usually taste clean, fresh, and pure. This product is no different. These tortillas have a great corn flavor and a great texture...provided you eat them pretty fast.

We ate a few of these tortillas shortly after getting them home from our latest Trader Joe's run. Sonia's a pro at microwaving tortillas for a few seconds between layers of damp paper towels and serving them with her Mexican meals. We had some turkey tacos with these little maize mats, black beans, shredded cheese, lettuce, and sour cream, and they were perfectly delicious.

We stored the remainder all zipped up in our cool, dry pantry. We opened them back up exactly on the best by date printed on the bag less than a week later to eat with our salsa de queso, and there was already visible greenish mold on more than half of the remaining tortillas. Even the ones untainted by mold had a stiff, nearly inedible texture by that point. We were able to resuscitate just two of them by heating them up for a spell, and even then, they weren't half as good as the ones we ate straightaway. Hear more of our thoughts by watching our video review on YouTube.

We checked online to see if others noticed how quickly this product spoils, and yes, there are plenty of other people saying the same thing. This is a decent product, but don't wait to eat them and don't trust the "best by" that's printed on them. Plus, you can get more bang for your buck buying a 30 pack of Guerrero or La Banderita, which are both good as well, for less than a dollar more than this product.

$1.69 for 12 tortillas. Gluten free. Vegan. Kosher. Found near the other breads, pitas, and flatbreads. Would buy again but only to eat basically on the same day we purchase them. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's 100% Corn Tortillas.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Garlic Butter Nut Mix

Following in the fine tradition of Trader Joe's other great nut mixes in cans like Nuts About Elote, Nuts About Rosemary, and Trader Joe's Maple Spiced Nut Mix, here we have Trader Joe's Nuts About Garlic...er, Trader Joe's Garlic Butter Nut Mix. It's the same standard packaging. Same price: $6.99.

This one features "crunchy coated cashews." They're cashews...but they're extra crunchy and brittle. I kinda like the soft creaminess of cashews and I kinda miss it here, to be honest. The crunchy thing works for other nuts, but super dry, crunchy cashews is a bit weird to me.

There are way too many "bread chips" in this mix, too. Seems like a way to cheap-out a bit to put a bunch of crunchy, crusty wheat crisps in a premium nut mix. Sonia seemed to be more fond of them than I was, however. She calls them "Lego breads" meaning they're just about the right size for a Lego minifig. So true.

The almonds are fine. The pecans are fine, as well, but in our can at least, they're tragically underrepresented. The garlic butter essence is fairly evenly distributed across all of the elements.

The overall flavor is salty and savory like you might expect. It's buttery, sure. There's a "butter and garlic seasoning" mentioned on the ingredients, but it's not half as garlicky as I would have liked. They could ratchet that garlic flavor way up. After all, Trader Joe is shining the spotlight on garlic in the title of the product.

That said, it's a very decent flavor overall. I've got plenty of complaints and suggestions, but I'll easily plow through the can with a bit of help from the beautiful wifey. It's really not a bad taste nor a bad value. Kosher. Seven bucks for a can of nuts this size is pretty standard these days. I'd even consider buying it again. I just really wish there were more garlic. Sonia agrees.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Lemon Tiramisu

I'm all about buying things produced here in the good old United States, but if we're talking Italian food that's made by Italians and actually imported from Italy, then I'm going to at least want to try it even if it's coming from halfway around the world. On the back of the packaging, in "2-point font" as my graphic designer wife points out, Trader Joe's Lemon Tiramisu whispers "Product of Italy" as if it's ashamed about the fact.

If it were me, I'd plaster the package with "IMPORTED FROM ITALY" and put red, white, and green flags all over the place. It's not that TJ's imported stuff is always good. I mean, it frequently is just as good or better than their domestic products. It's just much harder to argue with the authenticity of a product hailing from its country of origin.

That said, I'm pretty sure Trader Joe's Italian Tiramisu is imported from Italy as well, and it paled in comparison to the tiramisu I tried at a couple fancy restaurants in Los Angeles. Also, I wasn't aware that lemon tiramisu was a thing. So, you know, all that to say I was skeptical, at best, of this product.

This dessert comes frozen and you're supposed to thaw it for eight hours in the fridge. We were a little short on time, so I checked the internet for quick thaw instructions. In the end, I just trusted my gut and did a hybrid thaw which involved two hours at room temperature and then in the refrigerator for another two hours. They came out perfect.

First bite? A delightful wave of bright lemon washes over your tongue. It's very sweet but also lemony sour. There's not much vanilla or cake flavor. It's just lemon on lemon on lemon. Flavor-wise, it reminded me of Trader Joe's delectable Lemon Curd.

Texture-wise, it's not unlike tres leches cake in that there's a soft, spongy layer that's saturated with a dense, flavorful liquid. In this case, it's almost like sponge cake soaked in a sweet-tart lemon syrup. On top, there's a layer that feels like smooth, creamy lemon custard. The two are in perfect ratio to one another. To be sure, it's not custard and sponge cake per se. It's actually mascarpone and ladyfinger cookies—just like you'd see in traditional tiramisu. But they're just bursting with sticky sweet and satisfyingly sour lemon citrus brilliance.

The servings are quite large. If we'd thought of it ahead of time, we might have only thawed one of the cups and put the other in a ziplock bag to remain frozen for another day. Don't get me wrong—I finished mine in no time flat. But on a normal day, it's quite possible each cup could serve as dessert for two people.

Trader Joe's Lemon Tiramisu tastes the way I wanted Trader Joe's Lemon Sheet Cake to taste. It's intensely lemony. It's scrumptious. The beautiful wifey agrees. We'd buy this again in a heartbeat. Take note, it looks like it's seasonal. So get it while the gettin's good. Six bucks, found in the frozen section. Nine out of ten stars a piece from Sonia and me for this superb Italian dessert.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Stuffed Poblano Peppers

Not to be confused with Trader Joe's Chiles Rellenos con Queso, which come frozen and have an egg batter coating, these stuffed chiles are also made with large poblano peppers but they come refrigerated, have no outer breading, and are stuffed not only with Monterey Jack cheese but also chicken, rice, corn, and a creamy cilantro sauce. Sonia's more familiar with that other kind of chile relleno, but she thinks this variation on the dish might hail from a different region of Mexico.

Only microwave and conventional oven instructions are given on the box, but we tried our hand at the air fryer and these stuffed peppers came out great. The package comes with two poblanos and we tossed them both into our Ninja for 12 minutes at 375°F. Google's AI Overview mentioned you could turn it up to 400° if you wanted your peppers extra crispy.

The chicken, rice, cheese, corn, and sauce medley in the middle of the pepper is excellent. There's a generous amount of white meat chicken chunks and the overall flavor is well balanced. The roasted poblano shell flaunts a nice smoky, earthy flavor that complements the inner portions of the dish.

And now it's complaint time. The texture of the pepper was the only thing we had a problem with. Parts of it were a little tough—almost leathery. In stark contrast to the soft, well-cooked chicken, the pepper itself was very difficult to cut with just a fork and it was a tad harder to chew than Sonia and I would have liked. Still, it's not a dealbreaker. We admit it might have been our chosen heating method that rendered the odd texture. Perhaps the conventional oven might have made the pepper more pleasant, or maybe we should have turned up the temp on the air fryer a tad higher.

In the end, that's our only complaint. This Mexican-inspired meal gets a thumbs up from both me and the beautiful wifey. It'll run you seven bucks for this nearly restaurant quality dish. Perfect dinner for two on a budget. We'd buy it again. Eight and a half stars from the beautiful wifey. Eight out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Earl Grey Blondie Bars

I had very low expectations going into this one. Although nothing to complain about, I think Trader Joe's Brookie, with its nearly identical packaging and presentation, is a tad overrated. And I really wanted to like the Black Sesame Mochi, but its excessively earthy undertones overshadowed the sweetness of the ice cream by my estimation.

So I was skeptical, at best, of a blondie bar flaunting black tea as its primary flavor. I mean, I have nothing against Earl Grey. I like a London Fog once in a while. I'll even drink it plain if I just need an afternoon pick-me-up and don't want to add unnecessary calories. But I simply don't think of Earl Grey tea as a dessert flavor. Not by a long shot.

Trader Joe's Earl Grey Blondie Bars proved me wrong. There is, indeed, an earthy, slightly bitter essence at the core of these blondies, but it compliments the sweet vanilla caramel cookie flavors of the dessert quite well. The Earl Grey black tea adds richness and complexity without stealing the show.

They were perfect straight out of the plastic box, but Sonia discovered they're even better dunked in a piping hot mug of Earl Grey. The tea enhances the flavors and the liquid makes the soft texture even better. We plowed through the box very quickly making sure it was fairly divided equally between the two of us.

$3.49 for eight blondie bars, found in the baked goods section. Limited time release. Kosher. Would buy again. Sonia gives this product eight and a half out of ten stars. I'll follow suit with eight and a half as well for Trader Joe's Earl Grey Blondie Bars.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.