Review & Release Histories of Trader Joe’s Foods, Snacks, Treats, Cookies, and Candies

I expected a tasty, sweet, traditional PB&J flavor with a light oat flavor, but this is the opposite. The filling is rather thin and unsweet and isn’t really all too noticeable. The oat shell, on the other hand, is prominent, featuring an organic-tasting oat flavor. It’s really disappointing; I expected so much more! At most, from the filling, I get an extremely light, fruity-ish taste with a complete absence of peanut butter.

The texture is soft and not at all crunchy or chewy like other oat bars. It’s simply easy to bite through, offering no feedback, resistance, and most of all, complexity. Basically, it’s boring and uninteresting.

I suppose you may like this if you’re into organic and earthy-tasting bars; otherwise, you’ll be disappointed.

While I can’t find an exact release date, mentions of this date back to July 2016. Found June 2025.

Be careful with these! Anything above room temperature, they’ll start to melt and become way too soft! I ate these at around room temperature, though I’d recommend refrigerating them to harden them up.

Biting in, I’m met with a soft chocolate ganache and an equal part soft, moist chocolate cake slice. The shell, unfortunately, is too thin and is very soft, so it isn’t even perceptible. In summary, the entire thing is soft, nearly melting in your mouth (especially the ganache part), which is nice, although I’d really like some contrast—perhaps throwing them in the fridge would have hardened the shell a bit.

The taste is all regular chocolate with a normal amount of sweetness you’d expect from a chocolate treat. The ganache and cake taste very similar, so there isn’t much nuance to be found here.

Overall, while I didn’t hype this up, I do really love ganache and how the entire thing does offer the “melt-in-your-mouth experience.” This is additionally furthered by how much I like chocolate—yeah, if you like chocolate, you’ll definitely like this!

While I can’t find a release date for these, mentions of this date back to around 2022, with talk of it coming back in later years. Found June 2025.

I don’t vibe with many danishes, especially the almond ones, because I find them too plain and boring. But this is different—so different. It genuinely feels premium—let me explain!

It’s clearly a croissant. Not just that, it’s knotted and layered wonderfully, offering a very thick, dense, Danish experience. The inner part is moist, as if it’s partly uncooked—and it works so well for the mouthfeel experience. It’s not dry in any part either, which was one of my fears. The dough and texture, put more simply, are wonderful.

The taste is light almond surrounded by powdered sugar. While it falls on the more mildly sweet side, it’s still tasty enough for those who love sweets to appreciate it—like, I could absolutely see myself eating this with a sweet drink or even an unsweet one, for that matter; this pastry is versatile and enjoyable however you want!

Despite rating this lower than you might imagine, you have to realize that I’m normally not a fan of this stuff, so if you might be, I’ll bet you’ll easily rate this substantially higher!

I can’t find a release date for this, although it’s likely been around for some time.

Oh… that’s good… oh, it’s already half gone, darn!

Dense, moist, and the taste? Wow, it’s so, so good! It’s very creamy with an authentic strawberry taste. The cake itself is mildly sweet, while the soft cream cheese frosting complements it by giving you the perfect amount of sugar to elevate the flavor. The strawberry isn’t at all punchy, artificial, or off-putting; it’s just right, offering a complexion of creaminess with a tasty fruity flavor.

Going back, this sheet cake, in my opinion, doesn’t look appetizing. It looks flat, and the cream cheese looks like bog-standard junk. I was definitely expecting something cheaper tasting and bland; however, this knocked it out of the park! The feel, taste, and everything about it feels premium and noteworthy.

Released for a limited time June 2025. Found June 2025.

I have so many thoughts about this, but basically, you need to warm this up. You have to. It just isn’t nearly as good at boring room temperature.

At room temperature, it behaves like an ordinary large-scale cinnamon roll pastry. There’s a reasonable amount of cinnamony sweetness throughout the dough, although it isn’t spread out much, causing large parts of it to feel dry and bland.

Heated up in the microwave (or baked), the cinnamon-sugar essence is able to seep into the dough, making it taste and feel much better. With the warmth, it’s able to feel like a freshly baked cinnamon roll, flavor and all, albeit much larger. Now, all that’s needed is a bit of frosting…

Released around March 2024, coming back April 2025. Found June 2025.

First off, these are relatively small-sized and are annoyingly individually wrapped in thick, difficult-to-open packaging. That aside…

These are Rice Krispie Treats but much, much more premium. For example, have you ever seen those fancy Rice Krispie bars in stores or bakeries that fetch a pretty penny? These are those!

They’re thick, chunky, and yet, soft enough to appreciate as you chew through them. The flavors are there, with mild to moderate and equally balanced chocolate and peanut butter tastes. Comparing them again to a Rice Krispie Treat, they’re less sweet and less artificial in terms of both taste and texture. They are inoffensive and a pleasant treat to eat, even if you aren’t the biggest fan of peanut butter.

Released May 2023. Found June 2025.

If you want the shortened version, these are peanut-dipped Oreos.

The reasonably thick peanut shell is smooth and pretty soft, giving it a nice mouthfeel as you bite through and are met with a contrasting crunchy chocolate sandwich cookie. The inside cookie is more or less an Oreo, so the thing I want to focus this review on is the peanut portion.

I can’t stress this enough: the peanut shell is quite generous, as if the sandwich cookie itself was dipped several times. The downside (or upside, depending on your preference) is that it does taste diluted in a way. The peanut isn’t as strong as what you may think and is instead like a store-bought, sweetened peanut butter that was diluted to a noticeable extent. This peanut flavor also tastes different—not in a bad way, just not what you may be accustomed to in regular peanut butters—it feels like a different brand, basically.

As a peanut lover myself, these are great, although, as I mentioned, the peanut flavor, while good enough, could be bolder or sweeter to really give the cookie more oomph. From my experience with these, my favorite part was the differentiating textures and how thick the peanut exterior is.

Released April 2021. Found June 2025.

Surprisingly authentic. What stood out to me was the strawberry. Well, not really a standout—the flavor is too light, in my opinion—but what it represented was perfect. The little bit of strawberry you could taste felt like the real thing. Along with the overshadowing chocolate, it’s reminiscent of a chocolate-dipped strawberry.

As I alluded to, however, the flavor of the strawberry isn’t as strong as it should be. This feels like a moderately sweet, chocolate-drizzled popcorn with notes of strawberry. It’s nice but could be so much better. You can also physically see it—the chocolate drizzle is generous, while the strawberry is denoted as small specks scattered around loosely.

Texture-wise, it’s mostly traditional popcorn with a slightly crunchier composition. At the same time, with all the drizzle, it does feel “loaded” in a sense. So, if you’re really into sweeter popcorns, give this a try!

Released February 2024. Found June 2025.

What’s similar about both of these is the smoothness and texture of the wafer. It feels less airy and has more of a hard, stiffer crunch compared to other filled wafers. It’s not off-putting or anything, just different. Additionally, while the filling is adequate, they could’ve added some more. This filling texture falls on the typical, soft-solid ganache-like side.

Lemon: A non-punchy, semi-sweet, and pleasant lemon fills the center. It’s refreshing, especially when paired with the wafer. Definitely inoffensive, a solid choice if you don’t want something strong.

Cocoa: A bold, premium, almost cocoa-tasting chocolate is in this one. It’s rich, although not bitter or unpleasant in any way. Instead, the moderate sweetness keeps it on track and an enjoyable treat. Definitely get these if you’re feeling a premium-tasting chocolate!

The Lemon flavor was released around June 2020, while mentions of the Cocoa flavor date back to a similar period. Found June 2025.

Review coming soon!

Reviews date back to around 2021, with mentions of them throughout the years. Found June 2025.

Review coming soon!

While I can’t find an exact release date, reviews date back to around 2019.

Review coming soon!

Released June 2024. They may have been discontinued at some point and released again in June 2025. Found June 2025.

These remind me of a Snickers or, at the very least, a long-distant cousin!

They’re pretty dense from the nougat and thick, solid caramel, making them a smidge difficult to easily bite right through. If I had to compare them directly to Snickers, they lack the robust peanut butter flavor, as the peanuts here are less abundant and smaller, and the candy bar itself has a similar-ish texture to your typical Snickers. Aside from that, they are also less sweet, and the caramel isn’t as strong, either. Overall, they’re tasty; however, at the same time, they’re kind of unimpressive.

I feel like if you had a machine make a generic candy bar, this would be an option. It’s decently sweet, the chocolate is regular chocolate, and the nougat, caramel, and peanuts aren’t too strong. Together, it’s a good combination, but if you want something sweeter or more standoutish, this isn’t the candy bar you should go for (or just go for a Snickers instead). In a way, it’s the long-distant cousin of a Snickers, and frankly, I’d rather just hang out with them instead.

The last thing I want to mention—yes, these are small and cute!

Released January 2025. Found June 2025.

This feels and tastes more or less like your traditional falafel. It’s mildly seasoned with the correct Middle Eastern spices, and its texture is on the drier, more crumbly side. If anything, it doesn’t taste as fresh as one you’d find at a store or restaurant, but for something that was frozen, it’s a pretty good rendition. That’s really it—accurate, to-the-point frozen falafel!

This pairs well with several sauces and, of course, in a wrap or sandwich—they were difficult to eat by themselves because of how crumbly they were and how it felt like “I need something with this or on something.”

While I’m not sure of an exact release date, reviews date back to 2013.

I’ve had this before at restaurants, and more or less, it’s very similar, albeit not as fresh-tasting.

We cooked this in an air fryer, and it came out great! For a frozen cheesy bread, it hits the mark, with a perfectly good texture of a soft-crunchy outside with a soft, doughy inside. Flavor-wise, it’s somewhat of a bitter cheese, and I also can’t figure out what cheese they’re using either. This would pair well with a touch of pepper or a sauce, although I’m not precisely sure which one. At the very least, it’s good as a side or snack!

While a release date is not clear, mentions of its debut date back to September 2020. Found June 2025.

This has… everything? Like, I can taste it all. A bit of sweetness, BBQ, spiciness, and saltiness. And, for whatever reason, it works. However, the spicy kick does take more of the front row as the others are right behind it. Texture-wise it’s like regular popcorn—soft, slightly crunchy, and it feels decently premium.

This is probably one of the most unique-tasting popcorns I’ve had, and really, I can’t express this enough, how do all these flavors just work so well together? You have to try it to experience it; that’s all that really is there to it. The only reason I rated it sort of low is because I’m more of a fan of sweet and sugary-based popcorns.

These have been discontinued and come back several times throughout the last few years. Found June 2025.

So darn buttery, wow! And not to mention, the cookie part tastes very premium, sporting a soft, very light crunch. It feels like an extremely soft biscuit combined with a delicate sugar cookie sandwiching a thin strip of brown goo. Unfortunately, that’s where the buttery goodness and goodness in general of the cookie end.

This goo, while supposed to be hazelnut, is almost entirely bland. Really, the entire cookie’s flavor comes from the cookie part: buttery, decently sweet, with a pleasant sugary coating. If anything, the hazelnut provides the lightest nudge of a soft-solid, almost gooey-ish contrasting texture, but that’s it. They really need to make the hazelnut stronger and add more. Still, in the end, it’s an absolutely premium-tasting buttery cookie.

Notably, there are a lot of other competing brands. Personally, I still find the Ferrero Nutella Biscuits to be far superior overall due to their bold Nutella flavor. However, the cookie part here of these feels better as it’s softer.

While I’m unsure of a release date, reviews date back to 2012. Found June 2025.

These taste and feel more or less like authentic s’mores. A small marshmallow sits on top of a mini graham cracker, and all of that is covered in a moderately sweet, regular milk-tasting chocolate shell.

You might think these should be sweeter than regular S’mores, but despite being in candy form, the sweetness and flavor fall directly in line with S’mores, well, because it is S’mores, literally. Nothing is added or taken away.

Overall, it’s a premade s’more that comes across slightly softer as the graham cracker isn’t as crunchy as one straight from the box. Nothing to write home about, honestly; you’d likely feel more fulfilled making your own s’more.

First released in 2023, they’ve come back around since. Found June 2025.

Yup, yup… not for me. The root beer is very bold and extremely prominent, and personally, I’m just not a fan. Yes, it’s because I’m not a big root beer fan, so if you are, I think you’ll absolutely love these.

This root beer-flavored chocolate(?) shell wraps a small, crunchy mini cookie, but who cares about the cookie because the root beer overpowers any flavor it might have? Really, it tastes like you’re eating a lightly crunchy root beer treat, nothing more, nothing less. The sweetness and flavor match root beer soda identically. At the very least, the small addition of the popping candy was okay.

Released around May 2025. Found June 2025.

Opening them up, there’s a very light cinnamon smell, and biting in, it’s just that, but sweeter. It’s a moderately sweet cookie that engages in a sugary vanilla cinnamon flavor. The shape resembles an Oreo, but the cookie part feels more premium as it’s slightly thicker, still providing a crunch while being soft enough to appreciate.

The cream in the middle provides a lot of the sweetness as well as additional cinnamon flavoring. Overall, in a way, it reminds me of Cinnamon Toast Crunch or a churro in cookie form. It’s tasty, fulfilling, and feels like a good, sweet cinnamon cookie.

Released around February 2023. Found June 2025.

I’m not exactly sure what ube tastes like, but these are good! The shell is fairly generously poured onto this reasonably thick sandwich cookie, providing a good amount of sweetness and ube flavor. Under this is a soft and crunchy sandwich cookie with even more ube paste in the center. My only gripe is that when biting in, the cookie starts to fall apart and crack.

Overall, these absolutely feel premium and generous with the toppings, and I also like how they’re not super sweet nor not sweet enough. Basically, they’re perfectly balanced, falling slightly on the sweeter side.

Released around April 2024. Found June 2025.

Extremely complicated to make. This requires several ingredients, and it’s not clear how to make it. One side panel gives directions for waffles, while the other is for pancakes, but they’re nearly identical, and the labels for ‘pancake’ and ‘waffle’ are very small. It also doesn’t have directions for using the entire mix.

As for taste, it’s plain with only just a hint of cinnamon. No buttery flavor, just bland. There are cinnamon pieces inside the mix, but they don’t seem to do much for whatever reason. The texture is that of a typical pancake. Definitely just go buy yourself some cheap, buttery pancake mix; you can’t go wrong, and you’ll save yourself the hassle.

Released around November 2023. Found January 2024.

Such an absolute, glorious mess. Dark chocolate, thick caramel, and cookie clusters all combine to form an interesting texture and multiple different flavors. The sweetness is tame and just enough, and the flavors from everything are perfectly in sync. Dark chocolate: perfect. Caramel: not too sweet or artificial. Cookie pieces: crunchy and chocolatey.

Released around February 2024. Exclusive to Trader Joe’s. Found March 2024.

One of the cheaper gingerbread house kits I’ve found, and it even looks less fake and more premium! I especially love how it comes with little edible figures, too. HOWEVER! This requires an egg white and lemon juice or white vinegar for the piping icing.

Unlike other gingerbread house kits, these are actually chewy, semi-sweet, and have a subtle ginger flavor. The icing you make is too liquidy of a consistency to decorate or build with, and frankly, it tastes odd. It’s like powdered sugar and water mixed together; it just isn’t good. The candies that come with it look nice but also lack any sweetness or flavor. Overall, this kit looks nice but is bland and impossible to construct.

I’m not sure when this was released, but reviews date back to many years ago. Found December 2023.

It’s not quite a cinnamon roll, but it’s sort of close. This has more of a “dark,” cinnamony, moderately sweet taste. The texture is similar to crunchy caramelized popcorn but feels more premium and less cheap.

Released November 2022. Found December 2023.

This has everything and an extra onion. The taste has a noticeably strong onion aftertaste, which isn’t bad if you like onions, but it definitely isn’t reminiscent of an everything-style bagel. The composition of the chips was great, though: crunchy, thick, and premium.

Released January 2021. Found December 2023.

Wait… these are just plain, slightly chewy pancakes. It’s even almost a bit bitter. Aside from being purple, there’s nothing really good about these. Not much else to say!

This may have been released sometime in 2020, according to early reviews. It apparently was discontinued at some point and then brought back in 2022. Found October 2023.

Very sweet and noticeable but light maple flavor. The flavor itself is mostly super sweet sugar, which kind of overrides the maple flavor. The texture is crumbly compared to regular fudge, and it isn’t as chewy either. It’s still relatively soft, though; it just falls apart a bit more.

Released September 2023, likely for a limited time. Found September 2023.

A semi-sweet, unoffending donut. The cinnamon and sugar are extremely light, making the donut semi-sweet at best. The texture is soft, a little moist, thick, and easy to bite through. The coating on the outside is a thick little mixture of sugar and cinnamon that gives it a very light crunch but is hardly sweet or cinnamony. I don’t really taste any apple or cider, either.

Likely first released in September 2021 for a limited time. These have been rereleased every year around the same period. Found September 2023.

The three twists have different hardness, but each one is still fairly soft, thick, and easy to bite through. The mango is the softest, while the raspberry is the hardest, and the green apple is in the middle. The flavors are very light and semi-sweet. Each flavor, while slightly different, isn’t really discernible. If you gave me a mango one, for example, I wouldn’t be able to pinpoint its flavor. Compared to Twizzlers and other licorice, these taste much more premium, are softer, less chewy, and present a more pleasant experience both in terms of eating and taste.

I’m not sure when this was released, although reviews date back to around mid-2023. Found August 2023.

Fairly sweet, chocolate-based ice cream with a bit of traditional s’mores flavor alongside it. It also has small chocolate and marshmallow chunks that add to the flavor and texture. The texture overall is standard ice cream. I do wish parts of the s’more, such as the graham cracker and marshmallow, came through more.

Released June 2023, exclusive to Trader Joe’s. Found August 2023.

Very standard and typical southwest seasoning mixed in with some regular-tasting meat and vegetables. It’s slightly spicy and mostly unoffending. Basically, this is what you’d find at some cheaper Tex-Mex restaurants that serve quesadillas; you need some sauces and stronger spices to really elevate this. The cooking was also a bit awkward and uneven, as the tortillas are thin, and most of the contents are bulked in the center.

Released around November 2021. Found August 2023.

A semi-dark chocolate wraps a fairly sweet, soft peanut butter inside. It’s not as sweet as candies like Reese’s, although it’s still sweeter. Overall, it is a mostly standard-tasting peanut butter cup with chocolate on the darker side.

Likely released sometime in 2021. Found August 2023.

As advertised, these are very small baked cookies. Each one is unique, some shaded darker from baking than others, for example, and each one is fairly crunchy, but they don’t have rough textures. Overall, they are regular-tasting, semi-sweet, crunchy small chocolate chip cookies in the shape of ovals and balls. Nothing to really write home about.

Released sometime in August 2023. Found August 2023.

Interestingly, for whatever reason, when your fingers touch the cone, it starts to become sticky. The cone itself seems to have a frozen syrup coating that’s fairly sweet. The filling tastes mostly like plain frozen whipped cream or soft serve. None of this tastes like cheesecake.

It may have been rereleased around May 2022 after being discontinued for some time. Found August 2023.

A little bitter, semi-sweet, black tea-flavored ice cream with just a hint of brown sugar. There’s a good amount of chewy, tasty boba mixed in as well. I wish it were on the milkier and sweeter-tasting side; then again, it wouldn’t be black tea then!

Released March 2022. Found August 2023.

The ice cream as a whole tastes like a creamy banana with almost a hint of graham cracker taste in every bite. Overall, it tastes a lot as advertised and isn’t overly sweet. The graham cracker pieces add a little bit of texture; although the little bits aren’t crunchy as they’re small and soggy, they are noticeable and a nice addition.

Released sometime in 2022. Found August 2023.

If you took almond milk and added a hint of blueberry and lavender, this is it. There’s nothing overbearing about the flavor; it’s simply noticeable and very pleasant. If you’re into sweet drinks, this isn’t for you.

Exclusive to Trader Joe’s. Unsure when it was released. Found April 2023.

If you had syrup, it would be perfect. This is a lot like eating a thick piece of cake that tastes a lot like a buttery pancake. It’s slightly plain, so I added some syrup, and it tasted a lot like a fluffy pancake!

Released sometime in 2019. Found April 2023.