Trader Joe's Hazelnut & Cocoa Filled Crepes

Let me start off by saying Sonia and I have both been to Paris independently of one another, and while there, we both sampled some crepes from street vendors. We both remember them being shockingly inexpensive, warm, and delicious. They were one of the few things I perceived to be both uniquely French and also within my price range.

They weren't long and thin like these crepes. They were made with a similar-looking dough and folded into roughly triangular shapes and shuffled into a paper sleeve to be carried off and eaten on the go. I don't remember for sure since it was many years ago, but the crepes were filled with generous amounts of a chocolate spread of some kind—it very well may have been Nutella. It was creamy and full of cocoa flavor. The dough they used was amazing. It was buttery, slightly crispy in places, and it just melted in your mouth.

These are a far cry from those Parisian street crepes. The dough is the most intrusive element. Sonia and I both find it to be chewy—totally lacking that melt-in-the-mouth quality. To be fair, these crepes are pre-packaged and stored at room temperature for a number of weeks and then heated (or not) in the microwave. I guess you can also serve them unheated. I'm tempted to see how they turn out in the air fryer but I fear that they might dry out.

The hazelnut filling is chocolatey enough and tastes decent, but there just isn't enough of it. I remember creamy chocolate oozing out the sides of that delectable street food. That's not the case here. There's way more breading than the hazelnut cocoa filling.

There were some frozen crepes from Trader Joe's quite a few years back. We liked those significantly more than these room temperature dealies. Not sure why they disappeared, but that's pretty much par for the course with TJ's, unfortunately.

At $3.99 for six individually-wrapped servings, the cost isn't much steeper than those very inexpensive crepes from France all those years ago, but the quality isn't even in the same ballpark. Kosher. Would not buy again. Six out of ten stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Hazelnut & Cocoa Filled Crepes.

Bottom line: 6 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix

How in the world do we keep coming up with things to say about pumpkin spice breads, pies, cookies, and cakes year after year, fall after fall, product after product? I have no idea. How many different combinations of breading, pumpkin, and pumpkin spice can Trader Joe's offer? It seems like the possibilities are limitless.

And here we are with another baking mix that can make cakes, loaves, or muffins. We opted for muffins. Why? Well, first of all, I found a fun music track of that "Do You Know the Muffin Man" song in YouTube's audio library which I used in the background for our video review. It's a children's song, I know. But Sonia and I are still kids at heart after all.

Second, we opted for muffins to complete our 2025 pumpkin spice trilogy, consisting of Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix, Pumpkin Loaf, and Pumpkin Spice Snickerdoodle Cookies. We've already eaten plenty of pumpkin spice cakes and loaves recently, but it's been years since we've had Pumpkin Spice Muffins.

Anyway, they're good. I like them a little better than the above-mentioned pumpkin loaf and a little less than the pumpkin snickerdoodles. They're less sweet than either of those other two, but still contain some sugar and pumpkin spices to keep things interesting. They've got real dried pumpkin flakes and plenty of carb-o-riffic goodness.

We made one dozen plain and another dozen with walnuts. I think Sonia and I both prefer the walnut version. Pecans would definitely work, too. The flavor isn't overwhelmingly spicy or sugary or indulgent. It's just a nice lightly sweet pumpkin bread vibe. You can add cream cheese or icing on the top along with Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie Spice if you want to make them extra sexy.

$3.49 for the mix which made 24 muffins. Kosher. Just add eggs, oil, and water. They used to have a gluten free version for a buck more, but I'm not sure if that one is still available. We'd buy this one again. Eight out of ten stars from the beautiful wifey. I'll give Trader Joe's Pumpkin Bread & Muffin Mix seven and a half out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 7.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie

Can you believe that at two totally separate times in my life, I found myself at a table of friends only to discover that I was the ONLY person at the table who'd ever even TRIED pumpkin pie? I'm not kidding. Both times were in the United States, although, to be fair, not every person at the table in both instances were Americans by birth. But at least two other people at the table in both instances were Americans by birth...and they'd never even tried pumpkin pie!

I got blank stares and comments like "I don't like vegetables in my dessert" or "It just sounds gross to me." I mean what the WHAT? I get it if you had a few bites when you were a kid and noped out because it was too spicy or it didn't have enough whipped cream but I just don't get how'd you'd get to be an adult and never even tasted pumpkin pie. One of these instances was in college and the other was as a young adult in a major US city. I don't know if that makes a difference. I think chances of this type of travesty ever occurring in smaller towns out in the countryside would be far lower than either of the instances I named, but still...this happened to me TWICE. Not once, but twice was I made to feel like a freak because I had regularly consumed pumpkin pie around Thanksgiving time. Weird, right?

Anyway, I love me some pumpkin pie. And even I could count on one hand the number of times I've had a homemade pumpkin pie. Neither of my parents were skilled at baking and neither ever tried their hand at making pumpkin pie. We had some decent bakeries in my hometown that sold products that were pretty darn close to homemade. So we'd just buy those...or the stuff they made at the big grocery stores.

So I'm primarily comparing this product to other store-bought specimens—nothing gourmet, nothing baked up fresh by grandma—just your average, run-of-the-mill grocery market fare. And to me, Trader Joe's offering stacks up pretty well. I'm surprised by the amount of negative comments I've seen online about this product.

Some folks simply say they prefer other big grocery store chain pumpkin pies. Others say it has a cheesecake vibe that's off-putting somehow. More still say it tastes fake. I, personally, don't know what pumpkin pies these folks are eating and comparing TJ's offering to, but I think this is one of the best store-bought pumpkin pies I've ever had. If you've got a store-bought pumpkin pie in mind that you think is hand-down better than Trader Joe's, please let me know in the comments, and I will go out of my way to try it for Thanksgiving or Christmas—if not this year, then some year soon.

Sonia likes this pumpkin pie, too. She didn't grow up eating the dessert quite as regularly as I did, but she's had her share, especially in recent years, and she's a fan of this one. She thinks the density that others find unpleasant is the very reason she likes this one so much. We both agree it's quite yummy, especially with a lot of whipped cream.

$6.99 for a nine inch pumpkin pie, found in the baked goods section. Kosher. Would buy again. The beautiful wifey and I will both go with eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Pumpkin Pie.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Freeze Dried Strawberry Pieces

More freeze dried fruit! More exciting astronaut snacks! More SUMMER IN NOVEMBER action! Do any of you guys remember Trader Joe's Astronaut Thanksgiving? It was never gonna take off even if they had really called it that. But astronaut fruit candy is significantly more promising. Those Freeze Dried Watermelon Spheres blew our minds.

These? They're darn good, too. I think we might have been even more impressed had we tried them before we tried the watermelon candy. It's two great fruit snack concepts being combined: freeze dried fruit, which we've seen many times from TJ's—and candy covered fruit, another slick move straight out of Joe's pseudo-healthy snackin' handbook.

We've got a nice thick layer of "yogurt flavored coating" on the outside of these treats with real freeze dried strawberries on the inside. It makes the outer portions soft and creamy while the insides are crispy and crunchy. Sonia and I both feel that the freeze dried strawberries themselves are what makes this candy unique, so we think it might have been stronger if there were less of the coating and more of the strawberry.

But still, this is a tasty fruit-based snack with a unique texture. The pieces are the perfect size for snacking and they're more satisfying than you might expect. The sweetness level is just about right. I wish they'd stay away from the palm kernel oil and other seed oils, but other than that, the ingredients aren't too threatening.

$4.99 for the 7 oz resealable bag. Kosher. Found with the bagged nuts, fruits, and trail mixes. We'd probably buy again. Eight out of ten stars from both Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Freeze Dried Strawberry Pieces Covered in Strawberry Yogurt Candy Coating.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Strawberries & Crème Pancake & Waffle Mix

Let me start off by pointing out that this product is $1.99 for seven servings of pancake mix. Two bucks for a bunch of very tasty breakfast treats. That's a great value. I mean, I guess you can get some of the plain old cheap stuff at Walmart for a comparable price. But these are in a different class than plain generic pancakes, offering sweetened dried strawberries and white chocolate chips right in the batter.

Sure, you have to provide eggs, milk, and oil, but that's pretty much par for the course as far as pancake and waffle mixes go. You can always substitute ingredients and customize as you like, but you're generally going to have to add a few things to make traditional flapjacks. Still a great deal, IMO.

And these taste great, too. Not every bite has strawberry pieces and white chocolate chips, but the ones that do are extra special. Even the ones without have a faint strawberry essence and some sweetness. They go great with butter and syrup as you might expect, but these are also great with whipped cream, ice cream, or whatever you can think of. I went for a makeshift PB&J and tried them with peanut butter. So good! We tried them with Trader Joe's Chocolate Whipped Cream and found it made a nice chocolate-strawberry flavor combo.

Strawberries and creme is such a perfect flavor for SUMMER IN NOVEMBER. These are still available at TJ's as of the time of composing this review, although they're listed as "limited time." Either way, I would think and hope that they'd be back next year.

Found with the other baking mixes. Kosher. Would buy again. Sonia will go with eight and a half out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Strawberries & Crème Pancake & Waffle Mix. I'll go with eight out of ten stars myself.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tropical Smoothie Blend

I've always been a fan of smoothies. They're a great way to get tons of fruit in your diet without even consciously feeling like you're "trying to eat healthy." If you add yogurt or fro-yo, you're getting probiotics up in the mix, too. Vitamins, minerals, fiber, hydration, antioxidants...and they taste sweet and creamy. If you make 'em right, they're almost like milkshakes.

Trader Joe's Tropical Smoothie blend is around currently in November for some strange reason, along with a good handful of other decidedly summery products. That's why starting today, WG@TJ's will be doing SUMMER IN NOVEMBER for the next seven days! Yay. You've heard of Christmas in July? Well this is kinda like that except not.

Anyhoo, this tropical smoothie comes pre-mixed, flaunting the flavors of pineapple, mango, coconut cream, banana, and passionfruit. It's sweetened with agave syrup and there's nothing in the ingredients that shouldn't be there—no HFCS, no artificial colors, no seed oils. Just tropical fruity goodness.

Simply mix one cup of the smoothie blend with some water, milk, or yogurt, and you're in business. We used some plain yogurt and a bit of water with ours. Of course, you can use non-dairy milks or yogurts if you're lactose intolerant or vegan.

The mix is fairly mango and pineapple forward with that creamy coconut milk type flavor underneath. It's sweet but not cloyingly sugary. It actually tastes like it's made of real fruit...because it is. Of course the passionfruit is there, but it's well understated compared to the other tropical fruit flavors. Banana adds some thickness to the texture, and maybe a bit of sweetness and starchiness.

I downed my whole glass in a matter of a couple minutes while recording our video review. I'm eager to finish the bag. This gets a thumbs up from both me and the beautiful wifey.

$3.99 for three servings of a very palatable and healthy smoothie mix. Kosher. Would buy again. Our specimen had a stamp noting that it was a product of both Costa Rica and Peru. Sonia and I will both give Trader Joe's Tropical Smoothie Blend the same score: eight and a half out of ten stars.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Spicy Honey Sauce

So there's this viral protein bowl thing Sonia told me about the other day. Apparently, it's all the rage on TikTok and all the TikTok ripoffs like YouTube Shorts and Facebook Reels and the young fitness gurus love it for its high nutritional value and low carbs and flavor. It involves lean ground beef, avocado, sweet potato, cottage cheese, and hot honey.

When she first listed the ingredients, I was kinda like: "You just named five things that don't go together in any way whatsoever." And she was just like: "They all say it's good and I wanna try it." You know me, I'll try just about anything once. So she made it and we tried it and it's just amazingly good.

She heated the beef on the stove top and spiced it up with some taco seasoning. The sweet potatoes received some garlic powder, paprika, sea salt and olive oil before roasting at 400° for about a half hour. Then you stick it all in a bowl with roughly equal quadrants of the above-mentioned beef and sweet potato, cottage cheese, and avocado. You'll have a beautiful white, brown, green, and orange mosaic of flavors. And then it all gets topped with Mike's Hot Honey, Bees Knees, or Trader Joe's Spicy Honey Sauce...or Trader Joe's Organic Spicy Honey Sauce.

Of course you can make a vegetarian version by omitting the beef...or a vegan version by omitting the beef and cottage cheese. Or you could sub tofu for the animal products. Whatever floats your boat.

It's creamy, salty, savory, sweet, and a little spicy. If anything, I wish it were a tad spicier. And by that, I mean I wish this spicy honey were spicier. It's got a little kick, for sure, but I could go a notch or two higher on the spice-o-meter.

The organic spicy honey is three bucks. This product is five bucks. Yes, you read that right. The organic product is cheaper than the non-organic product. Go figure. I guess it's because there's more sauce in this 12 oz bottle as opposed to only 8 in the other one. This product is definitely currently available—generally speaking, of course. Not sure about the organic version.

Sonia and I would buy again. Kosher. It was on an end cap at our TJ's last time we went, but it'll probably wind up with the other condiments. Do not refrigerate, even after opening. It is real honey, after all. Sonia gives Trader Joe's Spicy Honey Sauce eight and a half stars. I'll throw out eight out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Maple Brown Butter Almonds

These almonds remind me a lot of Trader Joe's Cinnamon Sugar Almonds in terms of texture, the quality of the nuts, and the thickness of the candy coating. If anything, the overall flavor is just a tad richer here, boasting sweet maple and rich brown butter. It's quite satisfying.

I'd heard nothing but good things online about this snack, and no wonder. They're really much more tasty than you might assume by just glancing at the packaging. The buttery maple candy flavor brings just the right amount of pizzazz to the snack, turning ordinary whole almonds into something that could quell even the strongest of sweet tooths.

The sea salt on these nuts combines with the rich butteriness in a way that reminds me of Trader Joe's Salted Maple Ice Cream. Yes, the flavor is that indulgent. It's not a far cry from what you'd get if you took Trader Joe's Butter with Brown Sugar and Maple Syrup and sautéed almonds in it.

They're delicious on their own, but they'd work great for baking applications also. As is, I think they're a little too big to serve as an ice cream or yogurt topping, but you could always chop them up in a food processor and toss them in with your favorite creamy dessert.

$3.99 for the 8 oz resealable bag. Kosher. Would buy again. I give Trader Joe's Maple Brown Butter Almonds eight and a half out of ten stars. Sonia gives them nine out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Chocolate Mousse Pumpkins

Not much needs to be said about these happy morsels. They're better than most pre-packaged vending machine snack cakes, but not like worlds better. People rave about them online like they've never had chocolate candy or chocolate cake before. Available only during the fall season, these pumpkins have been around year after year for quite a while—at least a decade, if not longer.

If you miss them this autumn season, have no fear. The exact same product reappears for the holiday season in the form of chocolate mousse presents. And then again around Easter as Chocolate Mousse Eggs. And then again later in the spring as Chocolate Mousse Flowers. There's also a larger cake version around Valentine's Day called For The Love of Chocolate Mousse Cake.

The BEST product in this line by far, however, are the Raspberry Mousse Cakes, available in the spring and summer. That raspberry buttercream gets me every time. I, personally, think they're head and shoulders better than all these chocolate mousse cakes.

That's not to say these are bad. They're perfectly tasty, noshable, and fun. I think they're better when the ambient temperature is warm. I've eaten them plenty of times when it's super cold outside, and I feel like you really want them to be soft, moist, and supple. I haven't tried microwaving them for a couple seconds yet, although I'm tempted.

I've heard some people actually freeze them and eat them cold and solid. I can't see how that would work, but I guess I'd try it at least once. They're usually best when you eat them immediately after purchase. Don't wait until the best by date. Don't refrigerate them. Just pop 'em in your mouth in the car on the ride home and wash 'em down with some chocolate milk.

$3.99 for six little pumpkin shaped chocolate mousse cakes. Found with the baked goods. Kosher. Would probably buy again. We've been all over the place when scoring these things. I feel like they're worthy of seven and a half stars today. Sonia agrees.

Bottom line: 7.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Honey Crisp Apple Cinnamon Greek Yogurt

I assumed that both Sonia and I would enjoy this product—that we'd like it but not love it, that I'd be a little more critical of it than she would be, and that she'd do most of the raving and I'd do most of the ranting. Well, I was right about the first part.

We both give this product a thumbs up in the end, but I'm the one doing it a bit more enthusiastically. Yes, yes, it has a lot of added sugar. It has exactly double the added sugar of the product we looked at last week: Icelandic Style Skyr Yogurt. The thing is: this product tastes like dessert to me while the skyr tastes like something I'd eat just because it's healthy. This offering still has the beneficial live yogurt cultures AND I would actually eat this product voluntarily on a regular basis. I might even eat it in place of something more indulgent, like ice cream.

To me, it's that good. It has enough sweetness—both from 10 grams of added sugar as well as the natural sweetness of Honeycrisp apples—to counterbalance the intrinsic tartness of Greek yogurt. It's "sweet and sour" in a way I never thought would work but somehow does. There's a fair amount of cinnamon and generous quantities of apple bits throughout it in my opinion, though the beautiful wifey thought it could use more of both.

The texture is thick like any other Greek yogurt. You can see and feel the Honeycrisp apple in the product, and to a lesser degree, you can feel the faint grit of the cinnamon. It's a very nice mouthfeel overall.

At 99¢ for the 5.3 oz cup, it's definitely among the least expensive yogurt products I've come across in a while. Kosher. I'd definitely buy it again and Sonia would possibly consider a repurchase. Eight and half stars from me for Trader Joe's Honey Crisp Apple Cinnamon Greek Yogurt. The beautiful wifey gives it seven and a half stars.

Bottom line: 8 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkins Sugar Cookie Dough

These are pretty commonplace sugar cookies in most regards. The pumpkins are cute, but they're just there for decoration. No pumpkin or pumpkin spices here. And honestly, the pumpkins aren't even all that distinct once you bake the cookies. They're like a faded shade of orange on a golden-brown background.

Flavor-wise, there's nothing wrong with these cookies. They taste like every other sugar cookie I've ever had. Particularly when they're fresh out of the oven, they're pretty scrumptious, both taste and texture-wise. They're nice and soft, warm, and the sweetness just melts in your mouth.

Unfortunately, after an hour or so, these cookies lose almost all of their charm. They get oddly hard and crunchy. They still taste fine, thankfully, but they're not the type of snack or dessert that I'm craving with any regularity. If you have a big family, it wouldn't be any problem at all to finish them within a few minutes. If you're just an individual or a couple, you might struggle to finish the dozen.

Check out the video review embedded below to see me (Nathan) refer to myself as a "culinary idiot," use a tape measure to space the cookies exactly three inches apart, and find out what the only class I ever flunked in school was. Madcap antics ensue when Sonia accidentally hits the time lapse button to record most of the video. It's five minutes of fun you don't want to miss.

$3.99 for 12 sugar cookies, each one about 2.5 inches in diameter, found in the refrigerated section. Kosher. Bake at 350° for 12 minutes (ours took closer to 15). 

Nothing particularly wrong with this product, but nothing particularly memorable either. Probably wouldn't buy again. Seven out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Pumpkins Sugar Cookie Dough. The beautiful wifey will go with seven and a half.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Icelandic Style Skyr Yogurt

Never had Icelandic yogurt before. "Skyr" sure sounds like an Icelandic word, though. I bet Björk eats a lot of skyr.

It's very thick. It's on par with Greek yogurt in terms of thickness. It's not an unpleasant texture by any means, but I almost want to compare it to the texture of paste. Not that I've ever eaten paste. I mean, some kids did, but I wasn't one of those kids. I was pretty weird as a kid, but not like paste-eater weird.

Sonia wanted to say the texture was slightly "gritty." I think that's primarily from the berry base, which might contain some faint whispers of raspberry seeds or something along those lines. I don't know that I'd call it gritty. It was pretty smooth to me. Thick. Tacky. But not particularly coarse.

The flavor is unusually subtle. In both cases, there's just a faint fruit flavor behind the tangy yogurt essences. It's slightly sweet—and I mean very slightly sweet. It's almost like what you'd get if you mixed plain Greek yogurt with a spoonful or two of berry flavored yogurt. Color-wise, the product is an extremely faint shade of pink, just a hair on the reddish side of plain yogurt white. Both flavors look remarkably similar.

On the plus side, calories and fat are very low. Protein, on the other hand, is very high. Each cup boasts 15 or 16 grams, about a third of your recommended daily allowance. This skyr yogurt is quite filling.

$1.19 for each 5.3 oz cup—40 cents to one dollar cheaper than leading brands of Greek yogurt in the same size container. Kosher. Found in the refrigerated yogurt and cheese section. Trader Joe's also sells a vanilla skyr flavor, but we weren't able to get our hands on that one this go around. Despite its health benefits, Sonia and I both think we'd stick to more familiar, more palatable yogurts before buying Trader Joe's Icelandic Style Raspberry and Cherry Skyr Lowfat Yogurts again. Still, we're very glad to have tried this interesting product. Seven out of ten stars from both of us.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Tangerine Vanilla Sparkling Water

My parents always had Perrier water on hand for some reason. It only came in glass bottles back then as far as I know. They let me try it as a youngster, and I actually loved it. It was hard to go back to traditional flat water after getting used to Perrier. I remember my old babysitter-slash-adopted grandmother Minnie used to call it "Pierre water." Bless her heart.

For years, I was a soda freak. I drank more Dr. Pepper than water as a teenager. Then I switched to diet sodas as a young adult. In my thirties, I started drinking these flavored sparkling waters in a can. I'm a pretty big fan of all the sparkling waters: Bubly, La Croix, Polar, Waterloo, you name it—and my favorite right now is Topo Chico. So good.

We've reviewed a bunch of these flavors of Trader Joe's sparkling water. See: Green Apple, Winter Sangria, and Cranberry Clementine. And of course, we looked at their old school lemon and lime mineral waters back in the day. This one's not bad, but I do have to say it's my least favorite of Trader Joe's flavors so far.

The tangerine taste isn't nearly potent enough. It's there, but it's very faint. You can taste vanilla, but it's such a strange vanilla. As much as I love vanilla flavor, it doesn't really lend itself to water. It needs a bit of creaminess or sweetness to work. Citrus flavors like tangerine make excellent additives to water, sparkling or otherwise, but this one simply doesn't have enough of it.

$3.49 for 8 cans. Kosher. Zero calories. I'd buy any of the other flavors I've tried again before this one. Still, I'm sure some folks will enjoy it just fine. Sonia and I will both go with seven out of ten on Trader Joe's Tangerine Vanilla Sparkling Water.

Bottom line: 7 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Whole Wheat Lavash Flatbread

Nate's Notes: Penned by former contributor Russ, this review was originally posted March 29, 2011. This product disappeared for some time circa 2016 and then reappeared recently. The packaging is slightly different, they've added "Whole Wheat" to the title, and unsurprisingly the price has increased. It's still a great product and Sonia and I don't have much to add or subtract from the original article, so we've simply updated the pictures and bumped the post for our 2025 audience. Take note the original publishing was 329 and it's being re-posted on 923. Spooky.

Am I wrong, but there's something to be said for good, cheap carbs, right?

Probably the most famous cheap carb is the beloved Ramen noodle package. Well, "beloved" might be a stretch, but it's a pretty universal experience for college kids to subsist on them for long stretches of time. I certainly was one of them. My sophomore year, I sincerely doubt I went a day without a meal that involved either Ramen or leftover pizza from the dinner shift at Papa John's. It certainly helped that they were 10 for a buck at the local grocery shop. Some nights I'd eat two packages, other nights I'd mix in some frozen veggies and maybe make a piece of chicken. But man, all the Ramen ... I don't know how I didn't die from malnutrition. Once I was really, truly, ineffably sick of them, my grandmother came to the rescue and sent me a Ramen noodle cookbook. I had no idea about all the different possible uses for Ramen ... all the different stir-fries and noodle-based dishes, and even things like salads and pizza (using the noodles as a crust). That kept me going on them throughout the rest of my college years until I could finally routinely afford better starchy goods, like shells and cheese.

flatbread pizza with chicken, spinach, onions, and apizza gouda

Anyways, I love me some carbs. I could never be a legit vegetarian because I like meat waaay too much, and Dr. Atkins and I would never be dietary BFFs because he'd be slapping bagels out of my hands way too often. And the more ways I can use a single form of carb (like the Ramen noodles) the better.

That's why I like Trader Joe's Lavash so much. It's a pretty simple product, it's just a legal-document sized ( 9.5 x 13) rectangle of rather plain baked dough. But, like the package says, this is some fairly versatile stuff, and there's a lot of it. The first time Sandy and I broke it out, we used it as a crust for a thin crust basil pesto pizza. It was good enough that we've used it a couple more times as a crust since then. When baked, it gets really crispy and crackery when the sides and corners get browned and curled up. I'd definitely recommend if using it for a pizza, let it bake for a little while longer than you'd figure otherwise as the middle can get a little sogged down with sauce, etc, but rebounds nicely if given the proper oven lovin' time. 

But that's not the only good use of the lavash. I've made a breakfast wrap or two with it, and it held up with the eggs and cheese well. Sandy's taken it to work a couple times and used it like a tortilla with some rice and beans, and reported satisfactory results. The great thing is, there's six of them in a package ($2.19 for 6 in 2011—$2.99 for 4 in 2025) so there's plenty of it with which to experiment. I'd imagine they'd be pretty good cut and baked to munch on like a pita chip, or maybe even buttered, sugared, and cinnamoned, then cut into strips and baked for a dessert. Or maybe make some garlic breadsticks out of them in a similar fashion ... the possibilities may be endless.

The form of the lavash is pretty pliable, too. We tend to keep bread in the fridge to extend the shelf life some. I just wolfed down the last two-week old half-sheet remnant a few minutes ago, and it was as soft, floury, and flexible as the first time we used it. I could literally bend it any which way, and it wasn't stiffened enough to crack or break. Yet, it easily rips in a straight-enough line if you ask it to. I have to say, I'm pretty impressed overall.

Sandy gives it a 4.5 overall. "Mmm ... carbs ... it's good and it works. Not much else to be said," she says. Considering that I find myself craving a lavash-crust pizza once or twice a week, I'm inclined to be in the same ballpark. Part of me wishes it had a bit more flavor, like some sesame or poppy seeds mixed in (that's pretty common in Middle Eastern countries, from where this was inspired), but its plainness lends itself better to the overall versatility to use it to make it part of something of your own creation. Sounds like a 4.5 to me as well.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10 Golden Spoons.

Trader Joe's Apple Pie Spread

It's never been easier to turn an ordinary piece of toast into a delicious indulgent dessert. If you're like me, you like to consume an inordinate amount of calories around breakfast time because then you have the whole day to burn them off. That's what I tell myself, at least.

Following in the footsteps of other awesome autumn apple spreads from Trader Joe's like Trader Joe's Apple Cider Jam and Trader Joe's Apple Cider Fruit Spread, this spread is thick, sweet, and caramel-esque. It's got real apple bits and plenty of applicious flavor. It's surprisingly buttery. And I don't just mean creamy, texture-wise. I mean you can taste real butter in the syrupy spread.

There's brown sugar and cinnamon up in the mix. It's surprisingly rich and versatile. Everything from sourdough to ice cream is fair game. Traderjoes.com says you can even stir it into coffee. I better not tell Sonia about that or the whole jar will be gone by tomorrow.

My only complaints? It's messy. Have napkins and wet wipes on standby. I wish the apple bits were a tad bigger—more like apple chunks. Did I mention apple is the number one ingredient?

$3.99 for the 10 oz jar. It's kosher and shelf stable for a year if left unopened. Refrigerate after opening. In the video review, we gave it a unanimous 8.5 out of 10 score. However, we gave one of its predecessors nine stars, and it's at least as good as that one, so we'll upgrade the score here on the blog. Trader Joe's Apple Pie Spread is pantheon-worthy all the way.

Bottom line: 9 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Ice Cream Sandwiches

Pumpkins, apples, sweet potatoes, and butternut squash all get harvested in the autumn. So it's logical that they're considered fall foods. Maple syrup is harvested around March. So...why we eat maple stuff at this time of year, I'm not really sure. Maybe it's the whole leaf association..? We think maple, we think trees, we think leaves, we think fall..? Gemini says it's because it pairs well with "squash, cinnamon, pumpkin, and baked goods." Fair enough.

All I know is that if TJ's rolls out a seasonal product, we race to grab it and review it regardless of when it's harvested, because no doubt these puppies will be gone in a matter of weeks, if not sooner. Pretty sure this is the very first year for this particular product. Think I would've remembered it if it had been around previously.

We've got ourselves a product of Canada here. That does not shock me for any reason. It's about four bucks for four little ice cream sandwiches, and they're pretty darn good. They're nice and mapley, but not overly so—containing real maple syrup in both the ice cream and the cookies. They're creamy, milky, and buttery too.

There's a brown sugar sweetness that accompanies the maple flavor. It works. The breading is soft and lightly sweet and does nothing to interfere with the great maplicious flavor of the treats. There's very little if anything in the way of miscellaneous fall spices. It's just maple, maple, and more maple with a hint of brown sugar.

Complaints? The sandwiches are quite small for the price. I wish they were a tad bigger. Could be worse, I suppose. Some grocery prices are getting ridiculous these days. Some folks might want even more maple taste, but I liked the flavor just fine as is.

Sonia and I would both buy these little kosher leaf-shaped desserts again. I'll go with eight and a half stars out of ten for Trader Joe's Maple Leaf Ice Cream Sandwiches. The beautiful wifey will throw out nine out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.75 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Sweet Ripe Plantains

Long ago, I hung out with some folks from São Paulo, Brazil pretty frequently. They loved telling us about how life was different in Brazil and exposing us to their cuisine and culture. We went to a few different Brazilian restaurants together, and the most common type of platter we'd encounter was a simple dish with a grilled meat of some kind, rice, either beans or a small salad, and finally fried plantains. In contrast to, say your typical Mexican food for example, there were very few sauces, salsas, and cheeses. Everything tasted remarkably clean and fresh.

Around the same time, I discovered Cuban cuisine. Lo and behold, nearly every Cuban dish I tried came with a side of extremely similar fried plantains. Apparently, they're quite common in most cuisines in the Caribbean, Central and South America, and even Africa. With such a huge portion of the world enjoying a specific side dish with such regularity, it's a wonder it never really caught on in the US.

In the same way you might serve sweet potatoes with turkey and stuffing, Sonia made a delicious platter of sautéed chicken seasoned with Trader Joe's Cuban Style Citrusy Garlic Blend, white rice, black beans, and these sweet ripe plantains. From frozen, she simply fried them in a little olive oil for a few minutes on each side. They were quite tasty—among the best plantains I've ever had.

The texture was soft and a little starchy, very similar to a raw banana. The flavor was surprisingly sweet, with no added sugars. The only ingredients in this offering are plantains and palm oil. They complemented our savory sides and gave the whole dish a wonderful natural sweetness.

$2.49 for the 6 serving bag, found in the frozen section. Kosher. Product of Honduras. Sonia and I would both buy again. I'll throw out a solid eight out of ten stars for Trader Joe's Sweet Ripe Plantains. The beautiful wifey will go with nine out of ten.

Bottom line: 8.5 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna

I guess tuna canned in oil has more flavor and moisture than tuna canned in water, but it also has more calories and fat. It's more messy too, and when you eat as much tuna as we do, that's at least a minor consideration.

That said, if I'm going to buy tuna in oil, I prefer that it be olive oil. It's funny how every brand that packs their tuna in olive oil proudly specifies that it's "canned in olive oil" right on the packaging and in their advertising, while companies that use other oils like sunflower seed or soybean never specify what type of oil it is, but say simply, "packed in oil."

Anyhoo, this product is canned in the good old USA...with fish caught by pole and line in good old Indonesia. An interesting business model to say the least, but who am I to question Big Joe? International tuna tastes just as good as domestic tuna.

And it's your typical yellowfin here, flaunting a softer texture than albacore tuna and a slightly more pungent flavor. Fun fact: yellowfin is the only species of tuna that you'll regularly find as sushi, steaks, and canned. It's considered more versatile than its cheaper cousin skipjack but far more affordable than its fancy family member bluefin.

Would I buy Trader Joe's Solid Light Yellowfin Tuna in Olive Oil again? Sure. But I'd probably gravitate towards their Albacore Tuna by virtue of its cheaper price tag and packed-in-water status on the majority of my Trader Joe's runs.

$2.49 for the 5 oz can. Kosher. Dolphin safe. Found with the other tinned fish products. I give Trader Joe's Yellowfin Tuna seven out of ten stars. Sonia will go with seven and a half.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.