Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes

$5.49 gets you two passion fruit meringue tarts imported from France. I guess "tartelette" is the French word for "little tart," but I mean honestly, they're not all that small if we're talking single serving desserts.

Super easy. Thaw Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes for two hours in the fridge and you've got some world-class desserts ready to serve. Sonia and I shared just one of the tarts during the recording of our video review, and we were both plenty satisfied. We did share the second one later in the day. We knew they wouldn't last long even if we were attempting to exercise self-control.

Because these are simply scrumptious. The crust is buttery and dense, sweet, and bready. It's a little hard to cut through with a fork if it's not completely thawed, but once you start chewing it, it simply melts in your mouth.

The filling is at least as good, flaunting a sweet-tart tropical flavor that's unique and enjoyable. We love that passion fruit puree is the number one ingredient, and it absolutely comes through in the tangy taste. The meringue on top is smooth and eggy. It adds a bit of deliciousness to the flavor profile, but we think it's there more for presentation than anything else.

And I mean, the presentation is absolutely stellar. Considering this product has traveled all the way from France, and then from Trader Joe's all the way to our house, these tarts are very pretty. They both look and taste like they came fresh from a professional French bakery.

Sonia will go with nine out of ten stars on Trader Joe's Passion Fruit Meringue Tartelettes, found in the frozen section. Limited time only. I'll give these little tarts eight and a half stars, making these desserts a near-miss for our best-of-the-best category. We'd definitely buy these again.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta

Just look at that box. Not particularly fancy. I mean, it's a nice shot of the product. In fact, the product photo on the box is much nicer than our prepared pasta looked IRL. But there's not much in the way of fancy designs or bold colors. No cartoon characters or vintage Victorian illustrations. It's as if to say "this product is what it is."

And what is Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta? It's a single large serving of pasta that'll run you $3.79. Unfortunately, it's not as tasty as it looks. I mean, it's not terrible either. Yes, this is going to be one of those well-balanced reviews that people disdain. The kind where people used to pile in the comments section with statements like "I totally disagree with your review" and you can't even tell whether that means they hated the product or loved it.

The preparation instructions do offer a microwave option, but we went with the conventional oven in this case. It says heat from frozen at 375° for 20 minutes. The core of the dish wasn't even close to the proper serving temp after 20 minutes, so we left it in for an additional five and that did the trick.

The pasta came out a bit limp and soggy. We got an odd bite or two with stringy artichoke, but other than that the texture was fine. Sonia pointed out that the cheese felt more like a thin sauce than actual melted cheese. The mozzarella, parmesan, and Swiss yielded a pleasant, mild flavor that got the job done, but there was an abundance of citrusy lemon in the mix that overshadowed most everything else.

Visually, the spinach appeared to be well-represented, but it didn't impact the flavor as much as we'd hoped. There were only a few bites where I noticed artichoke, and the texture of the vegetable was stringy and overly chewy. Still, the vast majority of the dish was just soft pasta and a velveteen coating of cheeses.

Trader Joe's 3 Cheese Spinach & Artichoke Pasta was enough for both Sonia and me for lunch one day this past week. It says one serving, but it was more than adequate for two in our case. It could easily act as a side dish for four or more people if you've got another entree to serve. Honestly, it's a pretty decent value for $3.79 considering many microwave meals will run you upwards of $5 these days and most are less impressive than this offering.

This is the kind of thing I would have stocked up on in my college days in an effort to save money. I'd stretch each one to two meals and have a bit of salad on the side. Lunch for less than two bucks is hard to come by these days. Seven out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Six and a half out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 6.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas

Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas will run you $3.69 for 6 gluten free, vegan, and kosher tortillas. Of course, Trader Joe's Corn Tortillas are also gluten free, vegan, and kosher, and they're the way to go if you're looking for an old-school experience that's probably more authentic in terms of Mexican cuisine. Watch out for the mold on those corn tortillas, though. They don't last long once they're opened.

We found these almond flour tortillas were quite edible past their best by date. No mold. No additional stiffness, though I must point out that they're somewhat stiff to begin with. I think that's just the nature of the almond flour. There's a slight rigidness to these tortillas that you don't really have with corn tortillas or even wheat flour tortillas. It's a tad off-putting to me.

Sonia didn't seem to mind the texture much. She happily ate them with her salsa de queso. We made a few other things with them after the salsa de queso was gone. They're perfectly adequate for any kind of taco.

Flavor-wise, there might be a hint of nuttiness, but you really wouldn't guess they were made with almonds in a blind taste test. They do approximate the flavor of traditional flour tortillas pretty well. The beautiful wifey is definitely a fan of the flavor here, and when it comes to tortillas, she knows her stuff.

I just can't envision many situations that would call for almond flour tortillas. As mentioned above, if you're avoiding gluten, I'd stick to corn tortillas, but that's just me—and these are significantly more expensive. I suppose some folks might have sensitivities to both wheat gluten and corn. I'll let the beautiful wifey score this one since she's the expert. She gives Trader Joe's Almond Flour Tortillas seven and a half out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Strawberry Brioche Liège Waffles

As you might have guessed, these breakfast treats are comparable to the previous Liege waffle offerings from Trader Joe's in terms of price, size, texture, and packaging. We're looking at $4.99 for six individually-wrapped Belgian waffles. And yes, they are actually imported from Belgium.

The original Brioche Style Liege Waffles are still my favorite just because they're a tad more versatile than these or their maple-flavored counterparts. We weren't able to get our hands on the pumpkin spice variety last fall, but we'll make another attempt come September, provided they return again this year.

These Liege waffles do have tiny specks of strawberry throughout their bready Belgian brioche-style bodies. It's actually "apple strawberry pieces," whatever those are. There's also some strawberry puree in the mix. And yes, many of you know exactly what's coming: a complaint. They still don't taste enough like strawberry.

I want strawberry chunks in the next one. I want just a whisper of bread with my strawberry puree. I want big berry boldness. I want the berry flavor to knock my socks off. And that's not what this does. It just whispers "strawberry" softly...like a distant melody on the wind...being played by a middle school band...in the next town over.

Maybe I exaggerate. It'll be strawberryish enough for many folks. It's certainly strawberryish enough when paired with Trader Joe's Whipped Strawberry Cream Cheese Spread (review upcoming) although that product isn't exactly strawberry overload just on its own, either. But hey, in terms of convenience and value, we've got another winner on our hands.

Sonia and I would both purchase Trader Joe's Brioche Style Strawberry Liege Waffles again. Like their predecessors, they're perfectly edible straight out of the wrappers, but they shine even more when toasted and topped with butter and/or strawberry cream cheese. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Seven and a half out of ten stars from yours truly.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

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.

Trader Joe's Lefse Norwegian Potato Flatbread

$3.99 gets you 10 sheets of soft potato flatbread imported from Norway. It actually tastes like potato. According to traderjoes.com about 80% of the bread is potato. There's also some wheat flour, milk, salt, and yeast.

Trader Joe's Lefse Norwegian Potato Flatbread is incredibly pliable and supple. It bends and folds any way you need it to. It's a little richer and denser than traditional flatbread, but we found it to be quite versatile. We made cold cut and cheese wraps with it. We filled it with chicken salad, tuna salad, and egg salad. We even dunked it in chili and soup.

Apparently, some folks use it for dessert applications, too. It might be interesting with Nutella and peanut butter. Some folks apparently fill it with whipped cream and fruit spreads. You can roll it up or fold it. Really interesting stuff.

It has that slightly sweet, earthy potato flavor that keeps it from tasting plain or boring. It's mild enough that it works with savory foods, but there's just enough sweetness there that dessert applications honestly make sense. We found ourselves reaching for it instead of regular sandwich bread a couple times just because it's different and kind of fun to eat.

I may or may not have used this lefse with the leftover salsa de queso, in lieu of tortillas, and made some Norwegian-Mexican fusion food—which is, apparently, already a thing. It worked extremely well, but don't tell Sonia. She kinda got upset when I mentioned I liked flour tortillas just as much as corn tortillas. I don't know if she could handle the truth about potato flatbread tacos.

The beautiful wifey and I would both buy this product again, found with the other breads. Eight out of ten stars from me on Trader Joe's Lefse Norwegian Potato Flatbread. Eight and a half stars from Sonia.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Queso Fresco

Most of you who've been reading this blog or watching our YouTube channel for a while now have gathered that Sonia is a decent cook. She's very fond of throwing together interesting and eclectic concoctions and recipes she finds on the internet, and of course she knows a few Mexican dishes that have been handed down generation to generation by the Oaxacan women in her family. Although I'm still waiting on a batch of homemade caramel flan, I've enjoyed many of her southern Mexican meals, not the least of which is "her signature dish," salsa de queso.

It involves heating plain tomato sauce, El Pato hot tomato sauce, and onions in a sauce pan. Then you add cubes of queso fresco or ranchero cheese, let it simmer for a while, and then serve it with black beans and rice. Although optional, we usually eat ours with corn tortillas. You can make little vegetarian tacos with the cheese, sauce, and beans. It's surprisingly tasty and filling.

So when we saw that Trader Joe's was selling their own queso fresco, we decided to do a video review as well as share Sonia's family recipe for salsa de queso. Please note: there are other dishes from different regions of Mexico called "salsa de queso" that are quite different from this one. This is just the version that the beautiful wifey and her family have enjoyed for many years. Of course, just two generations back, all the ingredients were made from scratch, while more modern variations simply employ canned sauces, pre-made tortillas, etc.

We found Trader Joe's Queso Fresco to be quite similar to Cacique brand ranchero cheese, Sonia's old standby for salsa de queso. If anything, Trader Joe's offering remains a tad more solid and squeaky after heating, and the flavor might be just a shade more mild. It paired beautifully with the tomato sauces and onions and made the same great spicy cheesy tacos that we've come to know and love. If you're fresh out of tortillas, the cheese, sauce, and beans are perfectly edible when served as a rice bowl.

$3.79 for the 8 oz cheese wheel, found in the refrigerated section. Just for comparison, you can pick up the 10 oz Cacique ranchero at Walmart or Target for a little less money. I'd say the quality, texture, and flavor of the two products are very similar. For that reason, Sonia and I will both give Trader Joe's Queso Fresco Mexican Style Crumbling Cheese eight out of ten stars. We can't wait to hear my mother-in-law's opinion of this cheese. We'll report back once we hear from her.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Vanilla Cold Foam Creamer

With Trader Joe's Vanilla Cold Foam, $4.49 gets you 85 servings of yummy, convenient vanilla creamer. You read that right. Not eight and a half servings. Eighty-five servings. One tablespoon each.

It's like cold, creamy candy in a can. It's got a nice sweet, milky vanilla flavor, and the foam is nice and thick. It's a little syrupy and quite sugary. I mean, in theory, you're using it to sweeten and cream up your black coffee or something along those lines. One little tablespoon of this stuff is going to do your java wonders.

We had it with Trader Joe's Vanilla Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate. This cold foam provided the majority of the vanilla flavor by my reckoning. Sonia was a much bigger fan of that cold brew than I was. But we can both agree on this stuff. It's very tasty.

The ingredients are pretty good, too, using actual skim milk, cane sugar, and cream. I mean there are stabilizers and propellants in there, but the foam itself isn't made of unpronounceable chemicals. Only ten calories per serving!

Honestly, the value proposition here is kind of absurd when you stop and think about it. A little can like this doesn't look like much sitting in the fridge, but it lasts forever unless you're absolutely drowning every cup of coffee you make in foam. And unlike some store-bought creamers that disappear beneath the flavor of the coffee, this stuff actually announces itself. You taste the vanilla, you feel the creamy texture, and it gives homemade iced coffee a legit coffee shop vibe with almost zero effort.

The beautiful wifey will go with eight and a half out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Vanilla Cold Foam Creamer. I'll go with eight out of ten on this one. We'd both buy this product again. Kosher. Keep refrigerated.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Strawberry Mini Sheet Cake

We haven't tried the Yellow Mini Sheet Cake with Chocolate Buttercream yet. Nor have we managed to get our hands on the Cookies n' Cream Mini Sheet Cake. But we have reviewed the following:

Trader Joe's Chantilly Cream Vanilla Bean Mini Sheet Cake

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake

Trader Joe's Lemon Mini Sheet Cake

Trader Joe's Toasted Coconut Mini Sheet Cake

They're all more or less the same in terms of texture. Each one flaunts moist-ish cake topped with thick, luscious buttercream or cream cheese frosting. In every case—at least in my humble opinion—the frosting has outshined the cake itself by a good margin. Some flavors are slightly better than others.

My main complaint about most of these offerings is that they don't have enough of the headlined flavor, particularly the lemon one wasn't over-the-top lemony, as I'd have preferred it to be. And that was our main gripe about the coconut one, too. If I'm buying a coconut dessert, I want it to be absolutely bursting with real coconut flavor and real coconut pieces.

It seems we've found ourselves in the same situation here with Trader Joe's Strawberry Mini Sheet Cake. There's simply not enough strawberry flavor in the dessert. The cake is fine, though I'd still argue it's nothing to write home about. The frosting is pretty delicious and indulgent, but still...not enough strawberry to make it truly memorable and set this treat head and shoulders above any other grocery store's bakery fare—let alone stuff from a dedicated bakery.

If they wanted to make this one super special, they could have included larger strawberry chunks, freeze dried strawberry pieces all through the frosting, or an actual cache of strawberry jam or jelly or filling right in the cake. I see "strawberry preserves" in the ingredients, but it just doesn't come through in the final flavor as much as I'd like it to. You can even tell in the picture, there are only one or two minuscule flecks of red and pink actual strawberry in that whole piece of cake. To be sure, it tastes like strawberry, but it tastes more like wheaty cake and sweet cream cheese.

In the end, it's nothing to complain about really. It's a perfectly delicious, creamy, decadent dessert, but I'd probably reach for some traditional strawberry shortcake over this offering if given the choice. Seven out of ten stars from me on Trader Joe's Strawberry Mini Sheet Cake. Seven and a half stars from the beautiful wifey. Six bucks for the 18 oz cake, found with the baked goods.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Garlic Shrimp Chips

Imported from Denmark, Trader Joe's Shrimp Chips are light, airy, crispy, and full of shrimp and garlic flavor. Parsley, dill, and chives round out the impressive seasoning blend. They're made with tapioca flour, but they have a look and feel not unlike that of puffed rice—like rice crisps or even rice cakes.

They're a tad sweeter than I might have guessed, but the savory and salty flavors balance it out nicely. The taste is honestly quite addicting. Sonia and I polished off the entire three and a half serving bag in well under a day, but it's well within the realm of possibility that two adults could demolish the bag in a single sitting.

The nutrition info is satisfactory, considering the relatively indulgent taste and texture of this snack and the fact that you can have 30 chips per serving. These would go great with an American lager or pilsner if you're looking to pair them with a cold one. I think one of Trader Joe's Sparkling Fruit Beverages would work nicely, too, if you're going the non-alcoholic route.

The spiel on the back of the bag says you can pair them with a spicy, creamy dip. I think I'd like to try them with a sweet chili hummus or something along those lines. Sonia insists they should stay unsullied by condiments of any kind. I must admit, they're pretty amazing just straight out of the bag.

Snacktacular. It's conceivable you won't like these if you don't like the taste of shrimp or garlic...or if you're averse to the puffed tapioca texture. But Sonia and I would both absolutely buy Trader Joe's Shrimp Chips again. I hope they stick around at TJ's. Nine out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. Eight and a half out of ten stars from me.

Tapioca is naturally gluten free, so I would think this whole product would be gluten free, but it is not labeled as such. Maybe someone can enlighten us in the comments.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.