Trader Joe's Maple Pecan Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate

Trader Joe’s Maple Pecan Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate is one of those products that makes you do a quick double take at the price tag, then immediately start doing mental math to justify it. Ten bucks gets you eight servings, which works out to $1.25 per cup. On paper, that sounds a little bougie for something you’re still making at home. In practice, it’s still laughably cheaper than wandering into Starbucks and leaving with a $7 drink that has a paragraph-long name and enough sugar to power a small go-kart.

Flavor-wise, this stuff is interesting in a good way. The maple is front and center, but it’s not screaming “PANCAKE SYRUP” at you. Instead, it tastes like maple syrup that went to therapy and learned restraint. There’s almost no sweetness built in, which I actually appreciated. It lets the coffee stay coffee. If you want sweetness, you’re in full control. We tried it with date syrup, and that combo absolutely worked—nutty, rounded sweetness without turning the drink into a dessert masquerading as caffeine.

The pecan flavor is there, but don’t expect it to kick the door down. It’s subtle, more of a background note than a headliner. Think “someone walked by with pecans” rather than “pecan pie just entered the room.” Maple is clearly the star, with pecan playing a polite supporting role.

As for mixing, you’ve got options: milk or water. We tried both, and the winner was water first, then a splash of half and half. It keeps the coffee tasting clean while still giving you a little creamy luxury at the end. Straight milk was fine, but it dulled some of the nuance.

One important note: this is much better than Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Spice Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate, which always felt like it was trying too hard. This one knows who it is.

Final verdict: Sonia would buy it again and I wouldn't stop her. It’s shelf-stable until opened, needs refrigeration afterward, and it’s kosher. Basically, it’s a solid, slightly fancy cold brew that won’t judge you for wearing sweatpants while drinking it. Seven out of ten stars from me. Eight out of ten from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Maple Pecan Cold Brew Coffee Concentrate.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Maple Butter Tarts

I have a habit of finding snacks at Trader Joe’s that I didn’t know I needed until they’re suddenly gone, and their Teeny Tiny Maple Butter Tarts fit squarely into that category. These little guys are imported from Canada, which already feels correct, because if anyone knows what to do with maple syrup, it’s our neighbors to the north.

Flavor-wise, these tarts absolutely deliver. The filling is sweet, rich, and unapologetically maple-forward. If you’ve ever had pecan pie and thought, “I love this, but what if we ditched the nuts and focused entirely on the gooey part?”—congratulations, this is basically that. The maple flavor is warm and buttery without tipping into artificial or cloying, which is impressive considering how small these things are.

The crust deserves its own shout-out. It’s flaky, buttery, and legitimately delicious, not just a structural necessity to keep the filling from escaping. Even better, there’s a generous amount of maple filling inside each tart, so you’re not biting into a hollow pastry with a sad smear of sweetness. The crust and filling feel well-balanced, which is not always a given with miniature desserts.

Preparation couldn’t be easier. Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Maple Butter Tarts come frozen, and I tossed a few into the air fryer for about seven minutes. That’s it. No thawing, no fuss, no “rotate halfway through while chanting under a full moon.” They came out hot, crisp, and smelling like a Canadian bakery had briefly moved into our kitchen.

At $4.49 for a dozen, the value is solid. You get twelve bite-sized tarts for the price of one fancy coffee drink, and they feel a little more special than your average freezer dessert. Are they health food? Absolutely not. But the beautiful wifey and I could very realistically eat the entire box in one sitting without much resistance, which tells you everything you need to know.

Would we buy Trader Joe's Teeny Tiny Maple Butter Tarts again? Without hesitation. They're listed as "limited time" on TJ's website, so get 'em while you still can. Final score: eight out of ten stars from both Sonia and me.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Everything But the Pizza Whipped Cream Cheese Spread

Trader Joe’s Everything But the Pizza Whipped Cream Cheese Spread is one of those products where the name does a lot of heavy lifting. It promises pizza vibes without actually being pizza, which is… ambitious. After spending some quality time with it, the best way to describe it is this: it’s basically sun-dried tomato–flavored cream cheese, with a supporting cast of garlic and Italian herbs trying their best to sell the illusion.

To get this out of the way: it doesn’t really belong on pizza. If you’re thinking of slathering it over a slice, maybe pause and reconsider your life choices. That said, where it unexpectedly shines is as a pizza crust dunking sauce. Once you’ve eaten all the sauce and cheese and you’re left holding a sad, naked crust, this spread swoops in and saves the day. Suddenly, the crust feels intentional.

Trader Joe's Everything But the Pizza Cream Cheese also works surprisingly well as a chip dip. The whipped texture makes it easy to scoop, and the tangy tomato flavor pairs nicely with plain chips. It’s bold enough to be interesting without being so intense that you regret your decisions halfway through the bag.

Bagel-wise, it’s kosher, spreads easily, and does the job. Is it a classic bagel flavor? No. But if you like savory spreads and are open to a Mediterranean-adjacent breakfast moment, it’s perfectly respectable.

As a sandwich spread, it’s actually pretty decent. We liked it on sourdough with chicken and arugula, where the acidity of the tomato flavor cut through the richness and kept things from feeling heavy. It adds moisture and personality without completely hijacking the sandwich. It's also weirdly good when mixed in with a bowl of piping hot chili. 

At $2.79 for 8 ounces, it’s a fair deal for a whipped cream cheese that feels a little more “specialty” than plain. Is it my favorite Trader Joe’s cream cheese flavor? No. Will I buy it every time? Also no. But it’s interesting, different, and worth trying at least once—if only to confirm that “everything but the pizza” is, in fact, a very Joesian idea. 

Seven and a half stars from the beautiful wifey. Seven out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Everything But the Pizza Whipped Cream Cheese Spread. Check out our video review embedded below where we try it with everything from pizza to chicken wings to Trader Joe's Ridge Cut Horseradish & Chives Potato Chips.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Beef & Sweet Potato Recipe Stuffies Dog Treats

Nobody really pays any attention to these dog treat reviews. Even the video reviews get very little traction and I'm not sure why because our dogs are freaking adorable. So why keep doing them, you ask? Well, our dogs need treats and we shop at Trader Joe's, and putting our thoughts about their products online is just kind of a thing we do...like for the past 15 and a half years...to the tune of 2,600 products, give or take. But I digress...

Trader Joe’s has a knack for surprising us with quality products, and their Beef and Sweet Potato Recipe Stuffies Dog Treats have quickly earned a permanent spot in our treat drawer. As the proud humans of two very small, senior dogs—Alfred and Sadie—we’re a little picky about what makes the cut. These treats check all the right boxes.

First and foremost, we really appreciate that beef is the number one ingredient. When it comes to dog treats, especially for older pups, ingredient quality matters. Seeing a recognizable, protein-forward ingredient right at the top of the list gives us peace of mind that we’re not just feeding filler. The addition of sweet potato is a nice bonus too, adding flavor and a wholesome touch without overcomplicating things.

Another huge win for us is the soft texture. Alfred and Sadie are both small dogs with aging teeth, so crunchy or overly hard treats are a no-go. These Stuffies are soft and pliable, making them easy to break apart into smaller pieces. This is perfect for portion control and for making sure neither dog struggles to enjoy their reward. We often break one treat into two or even three bites, and the dogs never seem to mind.

Practical details matter too, and Trader Joe’s didn’t overlook them. The resealable bag is genuinely helpful. It keeps the treats fresh, prevents that dreaded stale smell, and makes it easy to grab a quick snack without transferring everything to a separate container. It’s a small thing, but it makes daily use much more convenient.

Most importantly, though, the dogs absolutely go nuts for these treats. The moment the bag comes out, both Alfred and Sadie are suddenly very alert and very motivated. If we’re being honest, Alfie might love them just a wee bit more than Sadie, but it’s close—and she certainly isn’t complaining. Tails wag, eyes light up, and treat time instantly becomes the highlight of the moment.

All in all, Trader Joe’s Beef and Sweet Potato Recipe Stuffies feel like a thoughtfully made treat that balances quality ingredients, senior-dog-friendly texture, and real-world convenience. Most importantly, Alfred and Sadie would wholeheartedly recommend them—and that’s the opinion that matters most. 🐾

See also our review of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Maple Bacon Stuffies.

$4.79 for the 14 oz resealable bag. We'd buy this again. Alfred will go with four out of four paw prints for Trader Joe's Beef and Sweet Potato Recipe Stuffies Dog Treats. Sadie will go with three and a half. Sonia and I will add on a bonus paw print for the convenience factor.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Spicy Cheddar Cheese & Jalapeño Biscuit Bites

Trader Joe's Spicy Cheddar Cheese and Jalapeño Biscuit Bites will run you five bucks for 18 little disc-shaped appetizers. Conventional oven and air fryer instructions are given on the box. Most of you can probably guess which route we took.

Five minutes in the Ninja yielded hot, buttery mini-biscuits, somewhat crispy on the outside yet soft on the inside. They had a nice balance of breadiness, cheesiness, and spiciness. Surprisingly, they actually tasted like good, buttery biscuits and not just nondescript dough.

We dipped ours in ranch dressing and it worked out great. Sonia also tried adding spicy honey to hers. It worked for the same reason a typical buttermilk biscuit works with honey—except in this case both the sauce and the bread were spicy.

These were a pleasant surprise for both Sonia and me. They'd make pretty decent hors d'oeuvres for a Superbowl party. They're listed as "limited time" on traderjoes.com so I'm thinking they'll disappear soon. Hopefully they'll be back for the holiday season 2026.

Would buy again. $4.99, found in the frozen section. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Cheddar Cheese & Jalapeño Biscuit Bites. I'll follow suit.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Korean Japchae Fried Rice

Sonia and I are both quite fond of Korean barbecue, but we've never tried things like jumeokbap, kimbap, hotteok, and japchae outside of Trader Joe's. Fortunately, we've had good experiences with almost all of them. Let's hope that lucky streak keeps up.

Enter: Trader Joe's Korean Japchae Fried Rice. It's a product of South Korea. It's a fried rice medley with japchae sweet potato glass noodles mixed in. There's a great balance of flavors like the constituent veggies: shiitake mushroom, carrot, onion, green and red bell pepper, cabbage, spinach, and green onion along with spices like garlic, black pepper, and salt.

We heated ours on the skillet for about 12-13 minutes. We served it with lightly seasoned salmon. Sonia only added a bit of onion salt and black pepper to the fish so the flavors of the japchae fried rice could shine most brightly.

It's a nice umami flavor. It goes great with salmon, but we're certain it would go well with fried egg, tofu, or even bulgogi beef. We both think it's even better than the above-mentioned japchae noodle stir fry.

$3.99 for two big servings imported from the other side of the world. Found in the frozen section. Would definitely buy again. I'll give Trader Joe's Korean Japchae Fried Rice eight out of ten stars. The beautiful wifey will go with eight and a half.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding

Just "chocolate pudding"? C'mon, marketing team. Once upon a time, Trader Joe's called fairly run-of-the-mill chocolate bars Extraordinary Bark of the Finest Collection. I think there's a happy medium in there somewhere. You could be Joesian without going overboard. Use of the word "choco-riffic" is underappreciated by my estimation. You could probably get away with calling this "mousse" or something a little more exotic than pudding. But I digress...

Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding may not have a fancy name, but it's quite thick, rich, and slightly darker than most milk chocolate-flavored puddings. It's not "dark chocolate," per se, but it's darker than your average chocolate pudding. I'd say it's a bit denser, too. It's not unlike the very popular but now defunct Trader Joe's Belgian Chocolate Pudding, although this one is apparently a domestic product.

For three bucks, you get four little single serving cups, perfect for school lunches or brown bagging it at work. Unlike some other leading brands, there aren't any hydrogenated oils or weird ingredients in this chocolate pudding. Sugar content is slightly less than what you'll find in comparable products from other companies.

Not a bad product. I think most folks will like this even more than I did since I prefer milk chocolate to dark chocolate and generally like treats like this to be quite sweet. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Chocolate Pudding eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven and a half.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread

I noticed at least one or two members of the Turkish diaspora gave their seal of approval to Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread. It is indeed imported from the nation of Turkey, so we have no reason to doubt its authenticity. Sonia and I picked up a package and have kept it in the freezer for the past couple weeks, looking forward to finally giving it a try.

Hot take: it's GOOD. Imagine the lovechild of a bagel and a pretzel with oodles of sesame seeds baked into the outer layer. And magically, the vast majority of the seeds stay attached even after heating, handling, and eating the simit bread.

It's got such a nutty, seedy taste. Similar to a bagel, the bread is slightly firm and crusty on the outside and it's soft and doughy on the inside. There's definitely a wheaty, yeasty element to the flavor profile, but it's mostly those yummy sesame seeds. As I said in our video review, "if you like sesame seeds, you really can't go wrong with this product."

We tried the simit with cream cheese, Trader Joe's Grecian Style Eggplant, hummus, olives, feta, and honey—not all at once, of course. Each and every thing we tried it with worked remarkably well. I even dipped a piece in ranch dressing, and it was pretty tasty. While this particular shape wouldn't necessarily lend itself to sandwich bread, flavor and texture-wise, it would serve that purpose perfectly.

This is case in point for why we shop at Trader Joe's—to travel the culinary world without leaving the state. I mean, Sonia and I have every intention of actually traveling the world in the future (we've got eight nations collectively under our belt already) and we might put Turkey near the top of the list just to try some true simit street food. Well done, Trader Joe's and whoever your third party Turkish supplier is. Thank you for introducing us to simit. We will buy it again.

$3.49 for four big round hoops of simit, brought to you from halfway around the world. Nine and a half stars from Sonia. I gave it eight and a half on the video review, but after trying it with feta, I might have gone with a nine. Either way, Trader Joe's Simit Turkish Sesame Bread winds up in the best of the best category here on WG@TJ's.

Bottom line: 9.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Filipino Style Chicken Adobo

Other than ube-infused desserts and the egg rolls known as lumpia, I'm not well-versed when it comes to Filipino cuisine. Sonia and I were both excited to try this chicken adobo. Even though it sounds like the name of a Mexican dish, this meal is indeed "Filipino-style." It does appear to be a domestic product rather than an import...just in case you were wondering.

$4.29 gets you a single serving of dark meat chicken in a thin brown sauce with a side of rice. Only microwave heating instructions are given on the box. Five or six minutes on high did the trick.

Most bites of chicken were decent quality, although we did get a bite or two of gristle and fat. The sauce is described as "savory, sweet, and tangy" on the packaging. We found it to be very salty, vinegary, and surprisingly soupy.

The green onions were a nice touch, adding to both the flavor and visual appeal of the dish. The nutrition info isn't too threatening, except possibly in the sodium department. Decent amount of chicken. Decent amount of protein.

We're both glad we tried it, and although neither the beautiful wifey nor I would go out of our way to purchase Trader Joe's Chicken Adobo again, we want to try some other version of the dish to compare.

Please let us know in the comments if you're familiar with authentic chicken adobo. How does TJ's offering stack up to the real deal? We're just coming at this product with no expectations and scoring it against the myriad of other microwavable chicken meals we've had. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Chicken Adobo seven out of ten stars. I'll go with six out of ten.

Bottom line: 6.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's All Butter Tart Cherry & Pecan Shortbread Cookies

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.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Vanilla Bean Whipped Sweet Potatoes

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).

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Herbed Dinner Rolls

Check the ingredients on these dinner rolls. Though not necessarily in this order, we do indeed have parsley, sage, rosemary, and thyme. The Scarborough Fair Effect is in full force with these herbaceous bread bites, and we're rollin' with it. Get it? Rollin'? Cause these are rolls... <sigh> nevermind.

I appreciate all these herbs a little more now that I'm older. Once upon a thyme, they might have scared me off. And while they're quite distinct in the taste of these savory sides, they're not overpowering. They make the bread unique, flavorful, and festive.

To prepare, you simply throw Trader Joe's Herbed Dinner Rolls in the oven for five minutes at 400°F. They come out piping hot and feeling nearly fresh-baked. They're soft and easy to pull apart. They come in two "loaves" consisting of four pull-apart sections each. We ate some with our Christmas Dinner and we used them to make sandwiches with leftovers, cold cuts, and cheese throughout the following week.

We dunked them in tomato soup and they paired quite well. We spread garlic butter on some pieces and were fine snacking on them that way. They're surprisingly versatile and tasty.

$3.49 for the eight serving package, found with the baked goods. Product of Canada. We didn't even eat the whole thing before the "best by" date but it held up remarkably well. Would buy again for next year's holiday season. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey and me for Trader Joe's Herbed Dinner Rolls.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Vegetable Ravioli

I wasn't expecting a whole lot from this ravioli. The best thing about the last ravioli we looked at was the copious quantity of soft ricotta cheese inside the pasta. This pasta has some cheese, too, but we're looking at mild mozzarella here rather than indulgent ricotta.

Turns out the veggie and cheese blend is surprisingly tasty. There's a rich, savory, earthy flavor to it. It's just a veggie puree for the most part. Much to Sonia's disappointment, there are no big veggie chunks. The vegetables included are apparently zucchini, eggplant, and onion. There's some garlic in there, too. What an outstanding combination of natural flavors. I'm fine with the smooth veg and cheese filling texture alongside the very standard Trader Joe's ravioli style pasta.

Sonia tried hers with some Alfredo sauce. She admitted it was better with avocado oil and grated parmesan, the same way we served the above-mentioned Pasta Festiva. Oil and parm allow the intrinsic veggie flavors to shine a lot more than any traditional pasta sauce.

All in all, this is a very tasty product. Again, my expectations were somewhat low, but I'd say this is among the best pre-packaged ravioli we've purchased from Trader Joe's to date—and we've probably had in the ballpark of a dozen different varieties from them over the years. We'd definitely buy this again.

$3.99 for the 8.8 oz package. We felt like there were a few more pieces of pasta in this item than the other ravioli products from Trader Joe's. Maybe we just weren't that hungry, but this package more than satisfied Sonia and me for lunch one day. We're eager to pick it up again. I'll go with eight out of ten stars and the beautiful wifey will spring for seven and a half.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Whipped Light Cream

Betwixtmas. Dead Week. It's that special time between Christmas and New Year's when nobody knows what day it is or what they're supposed to be doing or why they feel so perpetually full and distended. Good time for a review of what's essentially chocolate pudding that sprays out of a can. But it's LIGHT chocolate pudding in a can. You know, to get you prepped for all those resolutions you'll be starting next week.

And that's what it tastes like: chocolate pudding. It's kind of in between what I'd consider full calorie chocolate pudding and "diet" chocolate pudding. It has sugar in it but not like a ton of sugar. It's sweet and chocolatey but not particularly rich.

We tried it on strawberry pancakes. We tried it on gingerbread ice cream sandwiches. We tried it on top of a mug of steaming hot chocolate with marshmallows. It's a thumbs up in every case.

It comes out fluffy and airy. The pic above is when we made our gingerbread man look like Marge Simpson. Yes, you can get it to stack pretty high, particularly when you make a little spiral motion as you dispense the cream out of the can. Hooray for the structural integrity of light whipped cream.

It's a nice tannish brown color. Looks and smells chocolatey. It took us a while to finish the whole can even though we were eating it pretty regularly with desserts and I was secretly sneaking shots of it directly into my mouth throughout the whole past month. 

$4.49 for the can. Kosher. Keep refrigerated. I wasn't sure if the price is a good value or not. Sonia says it is because not only is the cost comparable to other canned whipped creams, but most of the main ingredients are decent like cream, skim milk, and sugar rather than hydrogenated oils and HFCS. We took a look at the product during our video review of the strawberry pancake mix. I have the video cued up to the part where we briefly analyze and score this product, so go ahead and take a looksee.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Real Mistletoe

There haven't been many Christmas Day posts on this blog throughout its 15 year history, but once again we'll follow the precedent set by our Grump Tree write-up from a few years back and post about another living plant product from the Pacific Coast. I won't even call it a review, because I know very little about mistletoe, and what do I have to compare it to other than crummy wads of green plastic with little fake berries and twine?

I don't even think I've spontaneously kissed anyone under the mistletoe in my entire life. I mean, I grabbed Sonia the other day when she was standing within ten feet of the doorway where I've hung this happy little sprig and gave her a peck on the lips because I knew she'd appreciate the affection and attention. But I hardly need a wad of toxic evergreen leaves to smooch my wife of 16 years.

This is indeed "fresh" mistletoe. The little spiel on the back of the packaging says it's from "the Pacific Northwest" although it's not any more specific than that. It's real poisonous mistletoe. So don't eat it. Don't let your pets or toddlers eat it, either. I handled it with my bare hands and then ate some chips without thinking and I'm still here. So it's probably not all that potent.

It comes wrapped in a reddish bow and a golden twist tie. Yes. The sprigs are bound together with a twist tie like you use to bind up the top of a trash bag. But as twist ties go, this one is among the prettiest I've ever seen with its shiny gold hue. Our mistletoe didn't have any berries on it as far as I can tell. It's solid green except for the ribbon...and the gilded garbage bag tie.

For $2.99, you get actual mistletoe. No plastic stuff here. The box is pretty, with classic Joesian artwork on the cover. It's got a see-through window so you can make sure your mistletoe isn't rotted or anything. I think we'll stick it back in the box at the end of the season and see if it's preserved well enough to last until next year. We'll report back.

Sonia and I will go with eight out of ten stars a piece for Trader Joe's Real Mistletoe, found near the other seasonal greenery, flowers, and plants. Would buy again...probably? Anyway, merry Christmas to all! Thanks for reading!

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Giotto's Panettone Classico

We actually reviewed this product 12 years ago. I wrote a terza rima poem about it under the incorrect assumption that the product was pronounced pan-uh-TONE. It's actually pan-uh-TONE-ay. Or something like that...

Anyway, Sonia's score was tragically low for some reason. And yet she kept buying this product year after year. So we decided to do a video about it and amend Sonia's score and throw up some new info and photos.

I can't tell if the product is a victim of shrinkflation or if they just use slightly different ingredients now. But this version has 30 fewer calories than the version from 12 years ago, while the net weight has remained the same at 3.52 ounces—or did they just decide not to update the front of the packaging? I think we paid two bucks even for the one in 2013. This one cost $2.29. Not too bad considering how much everything else has gone up.

It's still imported from Italy. It's still remarkably soft and fresh-tasting bread considering it's shipped halfway around the world, wrapped in cellophane and a box. The "best by" on ours is in April 2026 and we bought it a couple weeks ago. It's still got a ribbon on the top of the package so you can hang it on your tree like an ornament.

Some might say it's just Italian fruitcake, but we think it's a fun, festive, and exotic product. This time around, Sonia and I are both giving Trader Giotto's Panettone Classico eight out of ten stars. Would buy again.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pecan Pie

I was pretty young the first time I tried pecan pie. It was around Christmas time. A neighbor and friend of the family that made some tasty nut rolls tried her hand at pecan pie instead that year. Somewhere buried in my foggy memories of Yuletide yore—somewhere in between playing with the dog outside in the snow, sledding down the steepest hill in the town, and helping my dad set up his model train and Christmas village—somewhere in there lies my recollection of that first taste of pecan pie. I remember liking it a lot, but I really can't recall the specifics other than some sweetness and lots of pecans.

From then on, I rarely had pecan pie any time other than Thanksgiving. It was always pumpkin pie for Christmas dinner. But in recent years, Sonia and I have been sampling whatever pecan pie products Trader Joe's offers. Last year, we tried the delightful Teeny Tiny Pecan Pies. They were absolutely scrumptious, convenient, and fun. In years past, we sampled the Chocolate Pudding Pecan Pie. Many of you guys know I'm not fond of slathering all the food​ in chocolate as Trader Joe's is wont to do, but that was a very interesting and unique dessert.

We even had pecan pie filling in a jar...and some other mini pies from more than a decade ago. Can't say this large pecan pie is the best of the bunch, unfortunately. It's not bad. It's just...not as good as those aforementioned pecan pie products. The crust is very...blah. Just quite...unmemorable. There's too much filling and it's just like an off-yellow gelatin. It's sweet but not very interesting.

On the plus side, there are lots of pecan halves. I don't know if even more pecans could have redeemed this dessert, but it might have helped. I think I just wanted a richer filling mix. The crust could have been a bit more buttery, flaky, and flavorful, too.

It's ten bucks and serves five people. I'm pretty sure we got more than five servings out of it. Well, let's just say you'll get eight. I'd go ahead and recommend two boxes of the teeny tiny pies if you're trying to serve eight people. The teeny tinies are five and a half bucks each. So, for just a dollar more, you'd still have pecan pie for eight people and I think those diminutive doodads are head and shoulders better than this pecan pie.

We'll be nice and give this offering seven out of ten stars. It's found with the baked goods if you're still interested in giving it a whirl. We'd gravitate toward any of those other pecan pie products before purchasing this one again. Bring back that Chocolate Pecan Pudding Pie, please! In the meantime, there's always the Teeny Tiny Pecan Pies.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.