Well don't these look just like those All Butter Apple Shortbread Cookies we looked at in 2024? Very similar packaging. Very similar cookies in many respects.
But there are also some differences. Obviously, these cookies have different stuff baked right into them. Instead of dried apple bits we have sweetened dried tart cherries and pieces of pecans in this case. I'd say these cookies have significantly more non-shortbread elements in them but I still wouldn't have minded a good bit more—especially of the cherries.
In a couple cases, we found what appeared to be an entire pecan half right inside the shortbread cookie. Most pieces were smaller than that, however, and the dried cherry bits were quite tiny. Like I said, Sonia and I both would have preferred the cookies to be stronger in the cherry department, but still a step in the right direction if we're comparing them to the apple shortbread cookies.
The shortbread itself is just kind of there. It's too dry. It's too hard. It lacks that melt-in-the-mouth quality that really good shortbread has. It's not quite as buttery as some other all butter shortbreads.
Just so you don't think I'm a hater, I'll tell you that I absolutely loved Trader Joe's All Butter Shortbread Sandwich Cookies with a Raspberry Filling. I feel like they're head and shoulders better than either of these shortbread cookies with dried fruit bits, but that's just me. Don't get me wrong, I like the idea of fruit bits in shortbread, I just think the execution is less than stellar.
$3.79 for ten shortbread cookies. Probably wouldn't buy this particular item again. Seven and a half out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. I'll be nice and give Trader Joe's All Butter Tart Cherry & Pecan Shortbread Cookies an even seven out of ten.
Beware! The age of the machines is upon us! But seriously, though, it's a little startling how far AI has come in the past couple years. Like any new technology, I think the best approach is a balanced one. While it's never a great idea to depend upon something like artificial intelligence completely, it's also silly to avoid it entirely in my opinion. People were scared of everything from credit cards to computers to the world wide web when they first came on the scene. AI is no different. It will be used for evil. It will be used for good. Let's just hope more people will use this new tech for the benefit of humanity than the detriment of it.
Know what it's really good at? Recipes. Sonia has been feeding Gemini a list of the random foodstuffs we have around the kitchen and it gives her a complete recipe using only the things we have on hand. If you ask it nicely, it'll even give you the exact measurements for any specific number of people—in our case, just two.
So when Google's AI found out we had chicken and Trader Joe's Vanilla Bean Whipped Sweet Potatoes lying around, it gave us the idea to serve the two together along with spicy honey and paprika. Man, that's a tasty combo. And pretty healthy, too. We made some for our latest video review.
This product? Not bad. It's like a typical sweet potato casserole with marshmallows, except there are no marshmallows. The vanilla bean flavor kind of takes the place of the marshmallow flavor, but of course the texture is just a homogenous airy, whipped mash. I'd say it's a tad bit fluffier than your typical sweet potato casserole.
You could eat it on its own, but I recommend eating it with Thanksgiving or Christmas Day fare. But if you're fresh out of turkey and stuffing, the chicken dish mentioned above is spicy, sweet, savory, and scrumptious.
Trader Joe's Vanilla Bean Whipped Sweet Potatoes will run you six bucks. Keep refrigerated. We'd buy it again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. I'll go one star lower with an even seven.
(But I give the Spicy Sweet Potato Chicken Bowl recipe an eight and a half).
