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 Watermelon Freeze Dried Candies

Next up in our prestigious SUMMER IN NOVEMBER series: watermelon candy. What's more summery than sugary candy? Sugary watermelon candy, that's what. Even Hailey Bieber thinks so. Kinda rando, sure. But hey, when have we not been random here?

This candy is amazing. I guess "amaze-balls" is pretty appropriate here. I mean, the candy is mostly spherical. Texture-wise, it's like astronaut ice cream sorta. I mean, all freeze-dried stuff is like that to some degree. This stuff is crispity, crunchity, and sweet as all get-out. It's also tart. Like, VERY tart. It's some of the best sour watermelon candy I've ever had.

It might be some of the best candy I've had, period. The flavor is so intense, it's difficult to eat more than two or three at a time. There's not a lot of sustenance there. It's mostly just sugar with natural flavors and natural colors.

In fact the first two ingredients are "sugar" and "corn syrup," but NOT high fructose corn syrup, thank goodness. If you're looking for a legit source of protein or a tide-me-over till dinner type snack, look elsewhere. If you want one of the best and most unique sweet and sour candies you've ever had, then this product is a MUST TRY.

There are a bunch of different colors in the bag, but there's only one flavor. That's our biggest complaint. We want more flavors of this stuff. Apple, grape, cherry, lemon...we'd try 'em all.

It's a pretty good buy at four bucks for the resealable bag. The candy is so light and airy, the net weight is only 1.5 oz. But trust me, that's 1.5 oz that's absolutely bursting with flavor. Sonia and I both love this stuff and would absolutely buy it again. Nine and a half stars from the beautiful wifey for Trader Joe's Watermelon Freeze Dried Candies. I'll throw out nine out of ten.

Bottom line: 9.25 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 Harvest Chocolate Collection

So this is basically just the Chocolatissimo Harvest Collection, but now it has Trader Joe's brand name on it. Straight outta Belgium, we've got nine fun fall-themed candies with different combinations of chocolate and fillings. Let's take a look at each one.

Yellow & Brown Corncob - This one's a milk chocolate shell with crispy hazelnut praline filling. Good. The middle is like Nutella but with tiny crunchy bits. One of the better ones.

White Apple - I'm a fan of white chocolate, but I thought this specimen was weird. The filling is milk chocolate we think, but for me, the odd flavor of the shell kinda ruined it. Sonia thinks the whole thing tasted more like milk chocolate than white, but she was okay with it overall.

Orange Pumpkin - Milk chocolate shell with a creamy hazelnut praline filling. Pretty good.

Dark Walnut - This one looks like a real nut. I think the filling here is almond praline. It's a nice dark chocolate shell. It's not too bitter and it mixes well with the filling.

Brown Leaf - Milk chocolate shell and a gooey caramel center. The filling is very smooth and runny—almost wants to be a liquid. It's nice and salty, too. I think this one was our favorite.

The Black and White Walnut - It's two races of flavor living side by side in harmony. Both white and milk chocolate shells, both white and milk chocolate fillings. Decent. Sonia thinks she tastes the white chocolate more in this case than in the white chocolate shelled apple. Crispy filling.

Dark Brown Pumpkin - If you like dark chocolate, you'll like this one. Both shell and filling are smooth dark chocolate.

Dark Apple - It's just milk chocolate filling inside a dark chocolate coating. Not bad.

Green and Orange Corncob - Almond praline filling inside chocolate—not sure if it's milk chocolate or dyed white chocolate. This one's okay.

$5.49 for nine imported chocolate candies. Might buy again if I needed a fun contribution for a fall get-together or party. The quality of the chocolates isn't the best I've ever seen, but they have a cute fall theme and you never know what filling you'll find inside your candy. Seven and a half stars from Sonia for Trader Joe's Harvest Chocolate Collection. Seven out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 7.25 out of 10.

Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini

I certainly don't think this is the finest representation of pumpkin spice that I've ever sampled, but as far as coffee plus pumpkin spice goes, it's definitely up there in my book. The competition hasn't exactly been stellar by my estimation, but that's just me. People love their pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin coffee, and pumpkin cold brew. Am I missing something? Even Sonia seems less than impressed by many of Trader Joe's pumpkin spice + coffee offerings.

But let's look at this pumpkin spice espresso martini in particular. Sonia and I both enjoyed this beverage a little more than we enjoyed the original Trader Joe's Espresso Martini. It seemed sweeter to both of us—just a tad more dessert-esque than its predecessor. The pumpkin spice flavor was pretty decent, neither overpowering nor underrepresented.

We both thought the actual coffee flavor was less pronounced than the original espresso martini since pumpkin spice is the main event in Trader Joe's Pumpkin Spice Espresso Martini. In my humble opinion, that's a good thing. Sonia would have been fine with more coffee flavor, but she's also a big fan of pumpkin spice, so she was okay with it as well. There was no actual pumpkin or squash flavor as far as I could tell. It's a pumpkin spice product rather than an actual pumpkin product.

Like Trader Joe's regular Espresso Martini, we both wished this one had some kind of cream or milk flavor. Of course, we could have added our own cold foam or creamer or whatever, but the beverage seems to lack creaminess just straight from the bottle. It lacked the foamy, frothy fluff on top that some espresso martinis seem to have, no matter how much or how hard we agitated the bottle before pouring.

$9.99 for the 375mL bottle. 20% alcohol by volume, made with vodka, espresso, vanilla, and pumpkin spice. My guess is that it's only sold in Trader Joe's locations that sell hard alcohol, and it will be done for the season soon if it's not already. We would maybe buy again in the future at fall time. Both of us will score this one a little higher than the plain espresso martini. Seven and a half stars from Sonia. Seven out of ten stars from me.

Bottom line: 7.25 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.