I think the classic Brookie from Trader Joe's was just an instance of getting my hopes up too high before trying a product. I thought the Peanut Butter Brookie was a step in the right direction, and I like this one even more still. But this might just be a case of not having my hopes up particularly high.
Sonia and I are both wary of peppermint desserts. The peppermint can easily overpower the other flavors and ruin a perfectly good treat. Also, the presence of candy canes or candy cane pieces can dampen my enjoyment of a product. Biting right into hard candy isn't an undertaking I'm actively seeking out these days.
Fortunately, the peppermint in this product adds to it rather than detracting from it. It's a sort of sparkly peppermint dust scattered across the top of the brookie—no big rock-hard candy canes. It's peppermint forward, but there's plenty of chocolate brownie and sweet bready cookie in the mix along with it.
The cookie and brownie are nice and soft. We found nuking the dessert for 8-10 seconds made it even softer. Heating it woke up the flavors even more and made it seem creamier, gooier, and even more indulgent.
We like the serving size. We like the texture and flavor. We like the value. This product would stack up pretty well against any traditional grocery store holiday dessert fare. Sonia and I are both pleasantly surprised with Trader Joe's Peppermint Brookie.
$4.99 for eight brookie squares. Kosher. Found with the baked goods. We would buy it again. You'll most likely have a few days from when you purchase it until the "best by" date. Eight and a half out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. I'll throw out seven and a half stars for Trader Joe's Peppermint Brookie.
The obvious product to compare these happy frozen dessert treats with is Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Ice Cream Sandwiches. We enjoyed those quite a bit. Judging by appearances, they're coming from the same third party supplier up in the Great White North straight to your friendly neighborhood TJ's grocery store.
Like the maple leafs, Trader Joe's Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches come in a fun shape, although the beautiful wifey points out that the leaves were slightly more intricate and aesthetically pleasing. As you might have guessed, the cookie part of these sandwiches is indeed gingerbread flavored. The ice cream, on the other hand, is vanilla bean. I guess they were going for a balance of gingerbread spices with creaminess. It's not like Trader Joe's can't do gingerbread ice cream.
The overall effect is nice. The vanilla sweetness is offset by mildly-spiced ginger cookies. There is a hint of grittiness in the cookies. They're not 100% smooth. However, like their predecessors, they are nice and soft. I think crispy, crunchy cookies might have killed the mood with this product.
$3.99 for four ice cream sandwiches. Product of Canada. Kosher. Would buy again. In the end, we liked these for sure but maybe just a tad less than we liked the maple leaf sandwiches. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Gingerbread Ice Cream Sandwiches. Sonia will throw out eight and a half—just a half star less than what we gave to the leaf sandwiches from each of us.
