Day 215- British Crumpets

Crumpets, for those Americans who have not had them, are AMAZING.  They are a breakfast bread, like an English muffin, but so much better (in my opinion).  They are less hard, and somehow tastier.  The HOLES in them are the very best part!  All bread products should have holes!  Holes are perfect for filling with good butter (try Kerrygold, reviewed on day 49 of this blog).  Holes are good for filling with Sunflower Seed Butter (look at day 96 of this blog)!  Holes are good for filling with jelly or jam (if you like those things, I do not).  And holes are good for filling with Dulche de Leche (check out day 182 of this blog).

Here is what they look like in the package, before you start loading them up with stuff.....

Crumpets are a nice base to build on if you have time to make a real breakfast.  Try this configuration:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Cheddar cheese

d.      Thinly sliced avocado

e.      Fried egg (with salt and pepper)

See??  Doesn’t that sound great? 

This isn't the recipe above, but doesn't it look great?  Crumpet, butter, cheese, garden tomato, egg, and a side of mustard.

Or how about:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Wasabi Mayo (reviewed on day 187 of this blog)

d.      Pieces of a nice lettuce

e.      Fresh slices of garden tomato

See???  Another good combo!  It’s easy!

Here is one more:

a.        Crumpet

b.      Butter

c.       Fleur de Sel Caramel Sauce (5 star review on day 132 of this blog)

d.      Thin slices of banana

e.      Pieces of sliced almonds

DELICIOUS!

May I present - crumpet, butter, and Dulce de Leche!

 The package of Trader Joe’s crumpets holds 6 pieces and it is basically split into two groups of 3.  So you can open the package and only have 3 exposed to air and starting to go bad, the other 3 can stay sealed.  I like that packaging. 

TADA - just crumpet and butter.  See the big HOLES I was talking about???  They rock.

The worst part about Trader Joe’s Crumpets is that sometimes they are out of the original ones and all they have left are cinnamon flavored.  Maybe it is just me, but if I am going to have a bread for breakfast, I want it to be plain, then I will add whatever flavor I am in the mood for ON TOP of said bread, thank you very much!

Price – $2.99

Rating – 4.5

Day 206 - Butter Croissants

As mentioned in an earlier review on this blog, we have never found the “perfect bread” for us at TJ’s.  By that I mean bread as in LOAF of bread.  We do have a couple of bread products that we like – mostly the plain crumpets (which I THOUGHT I had reviewed earlier in the year but I just checked and they have not been reviewed – shame on me!).

Recently we made our RETURN TO TRADER JOE’S after being away a long time in a non-TJ’s city.   One of the new (to us) items we picked up was this package of butter croissants.   

Look at the letter "C" in "croissants" - "c" what they did there?

I cut one in half this morning and had it for breakfast.  One half number one I slathered Dulce de Leche (which got a glowing review on day 182, the half way point of the year for this blog).  On half number two I put butter, which sadly was hard from being in the fridge as opposed to soft and spread-y because I forgot to take it out of the fridge when we got back to town.  My bad. 

Dang it, I forgot to let the butter warm up overnight...  But I DO get to each a fresh peach from our tree!  HAPPY SUMMER!

Half number one was decidedly tastier than half number two.  I attribute this to the yum factor of the Dulce de Leche.  The main issue I had with the croissant was the lack of flakiness.  It tasted more BREAD and less CROISSANT.  Does that make sense?  It didn’t taste bad, per se, but the texture was not croissant-y enough for me.

David also had a croissant for breakfast (there are three in a package).  He cut his in half and toasted it in the oven and reported that his, though not FLAKY, was apparently MORE flaky than mine.  He used butter and jam on his and said it was a tasty breakfast.

Overall, I prefer a more flaky croissant.  I guess I like my croissants like I like my men, nice and flaky J.  I think because these are not freshly baked it is difficult for TJ’s to get the flake factor just right.  At .90 cents per croissant they are a fine price, but I would prefer to pay a little bit more and get a fresher one somewhere else.

Look - the sign specifically says "Rich and FLAKY!" - hmmmm...  

Price – $2.69

Rating – 3.25

Day 132 - Fleur De Sel Caramel Sauce

This.  Sauce.  Is.  Amazing.

Seriously, this is good stuff.  You need to get a jar, and then you once you lick every bit of caramel out of THAT jar, you will get another, and another, and another…

This is the jar!!!  Get it!  At our Trader Joe's it is in the baking section.

I try to make sure we keep one of these in our fridge.  Cuz you never know when you are going to need to dip an apple slice in caramel…  Or have some vanilla ice cream that could use some sprucing up with a drizzle of warm caramel sauce.  Or some blueberries that want a topping.  Or a slice of apple pie that could use some pizzazz…  Or, oh, oh, oh, I just remembered this lusciousness I invented – a crumpet with oozing butter, thin banana slices, and warm caramel sauce…  OH MAN am I getting hungry!

Just look at it!!!  Isn't it lovely?  It is even more DELICIOUS than it is pretty

The only “bad” thing I can even think of to say about this product is that it is hard to get out of the jar.  We keep it in the fridge after we open it, and it seems weird to me to heat the whole jar up in the microwave if we are only going to use some of it, only to have to cool the rest of it down in the fridge again.  So I try and scoop the right amount out and put it in a little dish to heat up, but it is tough to scoop out.  It is a two spoon affair.

But I cannot hold that against this caramel sauce.  Dinging it for that little issue would be cruel. 

Get this.  Eat it.  Love it.

Price – $3.49 (a bargain for this much goodness packed into a jar)

Rating - 5

Day 54 - Whole Wheat British Muffins

If I am going to buy a “breakfast bread” at Trader Joe’s, I normally go for the plain crumpets.  Apparently other people do, too, because sometimes they are out of stock.  So one night when there were no crumpets, we went for these Whole Wheat British Muffins. 

Whole Wheat British Muffins

While they were not BAD, they were not GREAT.  The first thing you are confronted with is the fact that the muffins are not pre-split.  I guess I am spoiled by other brands, but when I pull an English (or in this case British) muffin out of the bag, I expect it to be split.  The second minor issue is the size – they are a wee bit too small to POP UP from our toaster, so when they are done you have to fish them out with a wooden skewer.  The third not so big issue is the lack of nooks and crannies for your butter to settle down into.  There are really no “holes” so the butter just sits on top.

And the fourth issue, which is the TASTE issue so most important, is that they are a bit GRAINY.  I guess it is a texture thing more than taste, but they are just too GRAINY for me.

I hope they have my crumpets in stock next time I shop, because I much prefer those.

Price – $1.69

Rating – 2.75