Let's see...apple and pumpkin spice have had their days in the sun, so now it's time for a third party candidate to take a turn. Savory squash. Heck yes. A quick glance at the ingredients lets us know we're talking about butternut squash in particular. Love it.
It's ALSO talking about pumpkin. That's right, we've got pumpkin puree in these people-pleasing pastry puffs. Don't worry, there's nothing pumpkin spice about them. Just pumpkin in its most squash-ish sense...
The breading is pretty standard for Trader Joe's appetizer fare. Those feta and onion doodads come to mind. It's pretty yummy—flaky, buttery, and crispy—especially when heated in the air fryer, and it holds the squash and cheese right where they're supposed to be. Speaking of cheese, I guess I should have said "cheeses," because we're looking at mascarpone, ricotta, feta, and parmesan. That's quite a quartet.
And the only thing Sonia and I don't like about this product is that...it's a little too sweet for something that is so boldly deemed "savory." There's brown sugar in there. And I mean, you can get away with ricotta in something like this, even though it can also be dessert-ish. But mascarpone? That's a thing you put in tiramisu or cheesecake. Along with molasses and caramelized sugar syrup, there's a moment where you forget you're eating squash and think you might be snacking on sweet potato instead.
But still, the effect isn't unpleasant in any way. I just think the product would be stronger if it were less sweet and they'd boosted the garlic and onion essences to the foreground a little more. But I'm being picky...
$5.49 for a dozen decent hors d'oeuvres, found in the frozen section. It's another nice fall flavor. Sonia would buy it again. I don't dislike it, so I wouldn't fight her on a repurchase. She'll throw out eight out of ten stars. I'll go with seven out of ten on Trader Joe's Savory Squash Pastry Bites.
Peach crisp? With raspberry, you say? I thought we were doing fall stuff this week. Ah, well, there are still a few stragglers from summer slipping through for review. This product is undoubtedly on its way out for the season, but it was still available this past weekend, so...here goes.
At first, I started poking around at the cobbler with my fork wondering where all the fruit was. It seemed mostly just bready crumble and whatnot. But once you get down to the bottom, there's not only some fruit, there are entire peach slices. Yes, there's a raspberry jelly—like a purplish glaze throughout, but I thought the entire thing was fairly peach forward. I mean, there must be an entire can of peaches in light syrup poured into this pan. Of course I don't know if they used canned peaches here. The ingredients just say "peaches," but since they're drowned in all manner of sugar and stuff, they remind me of slices that come canned in that sweet thin sauce.
Sonia thought the overall flavor was more raspberry-ish, despite the raspberries not being as obviously represented in terms of whole fruits floating around in the mixture. I guess raspberries can have a fairly pungent taste that could theoretically overpower peach in a cobbler like this. At any rate, you can taste both fruits and the whole mess is sweet, fruity, and there's plenty of crunch from the wheat and oat based crumble.
It's even better served hot. And it's better still when served hot with vanilla ice cream on top. Or so we assume. We really didn't try it a la mode because we didn't have any ice cream on hand when we tried it. Oh well, there's always next year.
It's an enjoyable dessert that hits that sweet tooth sweet spot nicely and doesn't feel too over-the-top sugary. I mean oats, berries, and peaches are downright healthy, right? It's practically diet food...as long as you don't glance at the added sugars.
$5.49 for the four serving box, found with the baked goods. We might buy Trader Joe's Peach Raspberry Crisp again. We'll both go with eight out of ten stars on this one.
And NOW it's time for the pumpkin spice parade to proceed. Sheet cake with cream cheese icing and some pumpkin puree, cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger doesn't sound too outlandish to me. Sounds like a downright delicious fall flavor, in fact.
And it is. Remember that vanilla bean sheet cake? Of course you do. There's also a lemon one we haven't tried yet. Anyway, it was pretty tasty thanks to the generous amounts of sweet vanilla icing on top. We've got just about that same amount of cream cheese-based frosting here and a very similar soft, moist texture.
The pumpkin spices are nicely blended, not too strong and not too subtle. The pumpkin puree gives the cake a distinctly squash-ish vibe underneath the indulgent dessert flavors. It works the same way pumpkin pie works, but you know, more bready than that, like a classic pumpkin roll except flat instead of cylindrical and swirly. The cream cheese frosting is sweet and tangy, buttery and velvety. There's a generous amount of it on the cake. I thought Sonia would say there's too much, but she raved about it. She and I agree that the overall effect is satisfying, scrumptious, and distinctly autumnal.
$5.49 for the six serving dessert, found with the other baked goods. We would buy Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Mini Sheet Cake again. Eight out of ten stars from me. Perfect ten from Sonia?? I didn't see that coming. Wow.
I'm not sure if it's always been this way since I've only lived in this region for five years or so, but seasons here in the Upper Midwest seem to change from summer to winter in fairly short order, practically skipping over the fall season. Things go from too hot to too cold virtually overnight some time in mid-October. Leaves start changing on some of the trees while it's still warm enough for swimming. Others wait until there's snow on the ground.
For this Pennsylvania boy, it's a bit disorienting. I'm used to autumns that creep up on you week over week, month over month. Usually by this time in mid-September, there's a crispness to the air that signals that it's time for warm cinnamony apple flavors and pumpkin spice desserts. Don't get me wrong, I like it here. The climate is just a little different than what I'm used to. And don't even get me started on the weather in Los Angeles. If there are only three seasons here in the Midwest, there's only one and a half in Southern California.
Even though my sleeveless tank top tells me that it's way too early for this apple shortbread treat, it is indeed that time again—time for the first new fall food review of 2024. If you're new here, please note that most of the "new" autumn products at Trader Joe's are actually seasonal items returning from previous years and the vast majority of them have already been reviewed on this blog. You can find them by thumbing through the Blog Archive in the right side bar or by using the Search This Blog bar near the top of the page.
First thoughts? The box is a lot smaller than I thought it would be. It was $3.49 for less than five ounces. These better be some darn good cookies...
...and they're just okay. In our humble opinions, these cookies don't hold a candle to last year's all butter shortbread cookies with raspberry filling. These cookies are harder, crunchier by comparison—not nearly as buttery. Instead of a gelatinous, syrupy fruit filling, they have actual pieces of dried apple baked into them. While I like the idea of flavoring these morsels with real apple bits, there's just not enough apple flavor to make these cookies super memorable.
I can't imagine anybody disliking these cookies to the point of not being able to finish the box, but there have been many more interesting shortbread confections at Trader Joe's throughout the years. We probably would not buy Trader Joe's All Butter Apple Shortbread Cookies again. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia. Six out of ten stars from me.
Alrighty then. We've got a quick coffee review for today. Chocolate hazelnut sounds pretty scrumptious, but when it's java, I'm always skeptical.
Sonia made this ground coffee in her Keurig. She has a reusable metal K-Cup that you can put ground coffee into if you're not using one of the pre-made pods. See video below.
The beautiful wifey says she distinctly tastes chocolate in the brew. I feel like I taste something nutty behind the "full-bodied" light roast coffee beans, but I wouldn't say I detect chocolate in any significant way.
We were both okay with drinking it black, but I didn't enjoy it more than any non-flavored coffee I've ever had. Sonia liked it fine plain but she appreciated it far more with vanilla syrup and half-and-half added.
Seven bucks for the 12 oz bag. Sonia would buy it again. I'll let her do the honors today. She gives Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Ground Coffee eight out of ten stars.
It's time to watch my lovely wife bake stuff again! Join us as we mix, heat, eat, and review Trader Joe's Celebration Cake Baking Mix. What are we celebrating, you ask? Another day of life and living...or something like that. And our 15th anniversary isn't too far off, so we'll just go with that.
Sonia doesn't have a big upright mixer so she had to beat the butter for the frosting mix by hand. It took a while. Don't worry, I edited it so there's not like one ten minute long shot of poor Sonia pressing butter down in her bowl over and over and over.
This baking mix requires milk, oil, a couple sticks of butter, and two eggs. The whole process takes about a half hour and the finished product is nice to look at and pretty yummy, too, although we wish there were more sprinkles in the batter.
I really liked those chimichurri chicken empanadas, so I figured I'd give these a try. Word on the street is that these are already discontinued, so...this review is largely moot. But there's always a possibility they'll be reinstated at some point in the future.
Conventional oven, microwave, and grill heating options are specified on the box. I was tempted to wing it with the air fryer but then I wondered if the little wooden sticks would burst into flames or something. I mean, logically, if they don't catch fire at 400° in the oven, they'd be fine in the air fryer at the same temp, but there's all that air whooshing around so...I just played it safe and used the regular oven. It took about 15 minutes to go from frozen solid to fully heated.
In terms of appearance and texture, these reminded me a lot of the jerk chicken skewers, which reminded me a lot of wild-caught gophers on sticks. Yum. Not appetizing if you ask me. Sonia and I both found the chicken to be a little chewy and fatty, which we're not fans of. There was even a bit of gristle here and there. I would have preferred breast meat over thigh, but I know some folks like that dark meat.
Flavor-wise, these had a nice spice blend. It's obviously a chimichurri type flavor, similar to the chimichurri sauce we looked at a couple years back but with less cilantro and parsley. In the end, I think I prefer the taste of the jerk seasoning since it had a slight bit more of a kick, and those other skewers actually came with a mango chutney dipping sauce.
$7.49 for six seasoned chicken thigh skewers. Don't think we'd purchase this product again though we had no problem finishing the box in a single sitting. Six out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's Grilled Chimichurri Chicken Thigh Skewers.
Considering the fact that I love salmon and it's kinda been "my thing" for the past 15 years or so to scour Trader Joe's for new items that need reviewed, you'd think I would have stumbled upon this happy frozen fish dish earlier. It's been around for at least three and a half years and I'm only now discovering it.
Looks like iterations from the past were more like rectangular slabs of salmon, like the ones you might use for grilling. This specimen is more like a big long fish stick. Weird. Impractical. But it's still salmon so it's still ostensibly delicious.
There are three discs of lemon butter frozen on the fish when you get it. The instructions aren't super clear, but I guess you're supposed to put them on the side while you cook the fish skin side up and then drop them on the non-skin side once you flip the fish in the pan. There are anecdotes of heating this fish in the air fryer all over the web, but I wasn't brave enough to try that method this time around.
The stove top method worked great. It took a little longer to get the internal temp of the salmon to 145° than the instructions indicated, but that's no surprise. I added a bit of salt and pepper in addition to the pats of lemon herb butter.
The verdict? Near perfection. Lemon and garlic tang cooked into rich, fatty salmon. In fact, the single serving pack has 80% of your daily saturated fat, and it tastes like it too. Sonia and I shared the dish and supplemented with salad and snacks before and after.
We would definitely buy Trader Joe's Atlantic Salmon with Lemon Herb Butter again. $5.99 for 7 oz of yummy farm-raised Norwegian salmon served with a gourmet condiment. Salmon is pretty pricey, so six bucks is more than reasonable, especially considering the exceptional flavor and convenience. Eight out of ten stars from Sonia and me.
Far from an aficionado, I do tend to gravitate towards gin over whiskey, rum, or vodka. This product is widely available at TJ's locations that carry hard liquor, so it was inevitable that I'd eventually try and review it, despite it not being a top-shelf gin product.
The only thing that could be considered truly offensive about this beverage is its harsh alcohol flavor that tends to overshadow any botanicals or spices that might be lurking in the depths of the tall, thin bottle. That's to be expected when you're looking at a $15 product with 40% alcohol by volume. (Price may vary from time to time and place to place).
When I first started sampling different liquors, I would always describe gin as "tasting like a forest." That foresty flavor I'd later find out was, in fact, juniper. There's a faint bit of it here in Trader Joe's Art of the Still Organic Gin, but it's not as juniper-forward as more expensive gins tend to be.
I taste something akin to clove at the finish of this drink. I couldn't say if that's what it actually is, but there's a whisper of something along those lines in this gin. It serves well as a mixer, with even something as simple as tonic water covering up many of this product's imperfections with its subtle sweetness.
If you're looking for something that's sippable in its own right and a bit higher quality overall, I'd recommend House of Suntory Roku Gin, also widely available at Trader Joe's stores, retailing for about ten bucks more per bottle than this offering.
