Chocolate Filled Crepes

I love crepes.  I like chocolate crepes.  So, I was very excited when I saw these in the frozen food section at Trader Joe’s!!

Apparently THIS is my excited face.

We used to live in Paris, and I loooved getting crepes from the little stands on the street corners.  I especially loved the simple butter and sugar crepes…  Ahhhh, just writing about them brings back memories and makes my mouth water!  If digital cameras had been around when we lived there, I am quite certain I would have photos of us sitting at some café eating crepes, but sadly, that was back in the time of 35 mm film…  I do, however, have a couple of old Paris vacation photos.  😊

David, long hair and leather jacket, sipping coffee at a Parisian Cafe circa 1998
(You cannot tell me this look is not sexy...)

Us, touring the Paris sewers in 1989.  It looks like I am wearing a shirt I borrowed from someone who wore
 8 sizes bigger than me, no?  What was I thinking... 

All that being said, I guess you could say that I have sort of high standards where crepes are concerned.  However, I do not know how to MAKE CREPES myself, so I do not have a lot of room to judge or criticize other people’s crepes!  However, review is what I am here to do, so let’s set about reviewing these TRADER JOE’S CHOCOLATE CREPES, shall we?

Here's the box!  

First, they are frozen and so easy to prepare.  You just put them on a plate, bung them in the microwave, and voila – it is crepe time! 

My first reaction the first time we had these was, “Well, they are better than not having any crepe, that’s for sure.  But it is definitely not as good as having a “real crepe” on the streets of Paris.  The crepe part is a little bit rubbery, but it is nice that it holds all of the chocolate filling in.  you can pick it up like a sandwich, you don’t even have to use a fork if you do not want to.  In my opinion, the chocolate filling tastes a bit like melted ganache.  The size of each crepe is rather small, but that is not a negative in my book.  We have had them for snacks, dessert, and breakfasts (I prefer breakfast with a nice cup of coffee or cappuccino). 

Look!  A bit of chocolate is peeking out!  So pretty.  I served them with blueberries
 from TJ's,  a fig from our garden, and cappuccinos.  

I think these would be good if you added fresh whipped cream, or strawberries, or banana slices on top.  That would add some pizazz, but even without those additions I think these are a winner.  I give them a 4.25.

David’s opinion:  “I think these are very good.  I like the rubbery crepe quality of them, because the taste of the crepe is really quite flavorful.  I love that they managed to figure out how to make it a nice little sealed rectangular pocket so that stuff doesn’t gush out at the bottom.  I think the taste of the chocolate is quite nice – it is dark chocolate-y and there is not too much of it.  if the crepe itself didn’t taste so good I might say there wasn’t enough chocolate, but as it is I think it is a great balance.  I am going to give this a 4.25.”

These things are CHEAP!

Price:  $2.69 (which comes out to a whopping .38 cents per crepe, cheaper than a candy bar!!)

Rating:  4.25

Bonus Paris photo - lunch outdoors for my birthday - 2007

Billionaire Shortbread Truffles

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVE AND HAPPY HANUKKAH from us in sunny, warm Florida to YOU, wherever you may be!!

Our Christmas tree!  (Honestly, it is a fire hazard...  Was pretty dead when we got it.  But isn't it pretty?
Handmade shell garland and topped with a STAR FISH!  Christmas Beach Style!

We just opened a sweet treat – Trader Joe’s Billionaire Shortbread Truffles.  So while the Trader Joe’s Brie en Croute is baking in the oven (do you sense a theme here?) I thought I would go ahead and put up the review of the sweets! 

Hmmm, wonder how these will taste???

The packaging says, “A truffled twist on a much loved treat.  Individually wrapped Billionaire Shortbread Truffles.  Buttery shortbread crumbles, gilded with sticky toffee, covered in a rich dark chocolate shell.”  That sounds like a lot to live up to, no??  It is a bit confusing, saying it is a “twist on a much loved treat”…  I do not know of a much loved billionaire treat, do you?  (I know of a certain billionaire I would rather not speak of, but that is beside the point…)  I checked the Trader Joe's article and apparently they are referring to "millionaire shortbread", which is something I do not know about (see more here ).  

Anyway, let’s see what David thought of this seasonal holiday treat:

“First off, the chocolate on the outside is very fragrant and smells delicious and quite rich.  I love that – like a really dark chocolate truffle.  Then, when you bite into it, it is delightfully not gooey, so it doesn’t run out the sides.  That is a plus for me.  It is tasty.  It’s not overly sweet but it is sweet enough.  The center is yielding and the truffle is tasty.  The shortbread cookie kind of gets overwhelmed by all of the other delicious flavors, but maybe it doesn’t mind that as shortbread is kind of the “middle of the range” in cookies.  I just ate one in about 4 bites.  It was a delicious experience from beginning to end.  I am sure you could get through 4 or 5 of these in a sitting.  I would give this a 4.75.”

Take the WRAPPER off first, David...  

Editor’s note:  I think you can tell how much David enjoyed these by his repetition of the word TASTY in his review.  J  Also, David mentioned he took 4 bites to eat 1 of these.  Just to clarify, David is likely one of the few human beings on the planet that would take 4 bites to eat 1 of these truffles.  Some would chomp them down in 1 bite, others 2, a few 3.  But 4 bites?  Oh 4 bites is David territory. 

My take on this treat:  This is the first time we have ever had these.  I am not sure if TJ’s carries them every year and we have just missed them before or if they are something new.  The packaging is what caught my eye in the store – it is very clever.  It looks like a CHRISTMAS CRACKER, which we like.  If you have not done a Christmas cracker before – they are a British tradition (I think).  They are a tube-like shape with twisted ends.  You hold one end of your cracker, your neighbor holds the other end.  You both tug and POP – your cracker opens with a small crack!  Inside you find a flimsy paper hat and a really cheap tacky toy (like, not even as cool as Cracker Jack toys…).  But even though the treats on the inside are typically not “amazing”, the Christmas cracker experience is very fun!  So, the packaging for these Billionaire Shortbread Truffles looks like a Christmas cracker!!!  And the printing on it is a lovely font – the reds and maroons used are really nice.  The DESIGN of the package gets an A+!!!  When you go to open it, you see that it is rather origami-like!  You twist and pull an end to open.  It’s super cool.  However, once you open it, you see that the truffles are sealed into 2 little plastic bags.  That part was odd to me – it felt like over-packaging. 

Made in IRELAND!  

But enough about the package – let’s talk about the truffles!!  Ooohh-la-la!!  These are delicious!  I really like them.  The chocolate is realllllly good dark chocolate – I love it!  My first bite spooked me a tiny bit – the texture felt a little gritty…  I think it was some shortbread, because after that first bite, the gritty factor was not a problem at all.  I think these are a big hit!! 

These would be a really nice gift – put them in someone’s stocking!  I am sorry that I did not review them in time for your gift giving 2016, but if Trader Joe’s has them again next year get some to give (and of course some to EAT).  And if your TJ’s still has some of these left when they re-open on December 26^th, grab some!  The “best by” date isn’t until September 2017, so you have plenty of time to enjoy them if you can still snag a box.

Happy holidays.  May this season find you eating amazing food, talking and laughing with the ones you love, and doing what you can to make the world a better place. 

Panoramic view of my beach walk - see my shadow in the center?  :) 

Price:  $4.49

Rating:  5.0     THIS IS UNPRECEDENTED!!!  We have been eating more of these delicious treats, and we realized that we scored them wrong.  I AM UPPING THE SCORE (it was a 4.75) to a 5.  They deserve it!  

Day 283 - Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds

Last night I was sitting in front of the tv (watching “Survivor” if you must know…) and a friend sent me a Facebook message with a link to a reviews of ten dark chocolate covered things from Trader Joe’s.  Guess what I was munching on at the same exact moment she sent met the link??  DARK CHOCOLATE COVERED POMEGRANATE SEEDS!

I will review those today, but first here is the link to the cool review and ranking of the 10 dark chocolate products that she shared: Spoon University Ranking of Top 10 Dark Chocolate Covered Trader Joe's products here

Of the products reviewed at that link, I have reviewed:

-          Chocolate coconut almonds:  review here 

      Their review was MIXED, mine (way back on day 7 of this year long project) was full on in support of these babies.

-          Dark chocolate covered espresso beans: review here 

      Our reviews matched – we both think these are great.

-          Dark chocolate almonds: review here

      This one got a coveted 5 stars on my blog and ranked the highest in the other people’s ranking, too!  Obviously this one is a clear cut WINNER and you need some.

-          And now I will review the product that allllmost made it to the top of their list – Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds.

Pretty packaging for a delicious treat

I like these little things!  They are really a good combination of the little seed and a little bit of chocolate.  The chocolate on them is amazing and the seeds just “balances” so well with it.  It sounds very simple – a pomegranate seed and some dark chocolate.  But somehow the blend of those two tastes winds up being COMPLEX.  They are a very unique treat.

I have found them to be a really good dessert.  The last few nights when I have finished dinner I just popped open this little plastic carton and ate a few of them!  The package says a serving size is ¼ cup but to me that is WAY too many for one sitting.  Maybe I just have super willpower J, but a 10 – 12 of these little treats really satisfies me.  I can’t imagine eating a whole box in one sitting – they are just too rich to do that.

Check out the artwork!!!  This DC location has some signs with PRESIDENTS on them.  Super cool.  The ugly price tag STICKERS covering up the real TJ's sign though, not cool...  More about those below.

I think these pomegranate seeds would be really nice in Greek yogurt, too.  And that, of course, would allow you to eat them for breakfast…  When you have them for dessert may I recommend pairing with a nice red wine.  David doesn’t like pomegranate as much as I do so I have not subjected him to this product.  I am keeping them all for myself.

Artwork inside this Trader Joe's - no matter what age you are, you have to admit that FOGGY BOTTOM is a funny name for a part of town.  :)  It is also a metro stop here in DC.

A note about where I bought this snack:  this store, at on 25 St NW in Washington, DC is sadly on the bottom of my list of favorite Trader Joe’s.  We have been to 20 different locations on this adventure and this one just didn’t make the cut. This is a store close to my home yet this was the first time we visited it.  We went on a busy Saturday afternoon. The store was just, oh, how do I say it and not sound cranky, it was not FRIENDLY.  It didn’t seem VIBRANT.  There were no employees to smile at you or ask if you needed help.  When we DID need help we searched someone out, and he was good at finding us what we needed.  But it just didn’t seem like the regular “Trader Joe’s” experience.  The line was super long, which is to be expected on a Saturday afternoon.  They had almost every single register open and the line moved along very efficiently, but none of the employees seemed happy to be there like they usually do at other stores.  I did think it was cool to listen to two employees talk while they stocked some produce – they were talking in a way you would only hear in DC, about the effectiveness of internships they were doing outside of work – it was all very wonky and cool. 

Before we went in...  See - everything was all happy OUTSIDE...

And the SIGNAGE in the store is the worst I have seen in all of the stores we have visited.  There is some local DC regulation I guess that makes the store have to put official stickers on their signs.  At all of the other TJ’s we have been to the signage has been one of the most fun things to explore, but at this store the signs looked much more like a traditional grocery store, a Safeway or Von’s, than a creative TJ’s.  The writing on most signs was not great and those ugly stickers took up lots of space.  I am sure they HAVE to put the stickers, but I wonder if they could make their own signs bigger somehow to showcase the artwork instead of the industrial looking stickers.  They did have some fun DC themes going on in some departments – candy had politician’s faces on the signs and some departments had DC landmarks.  But overall, the signage was sad.  I did see that they are looking to hire a sign maker, so maybe they know they are lacking in that department and are trying to spruce it up. 

They do have a cool "chill out" area outside the store where people can sit and chill
(and eat dark chocolate covered pomegranate seeds and the like...)

On the plus side - I gave a card for my blog to a guy working in Customer Service (after I asked him about the mysterious stickers littering up their signage) and he said he had heard of my blog.  J  That is fun! 

So, though the store is not my favorite, the Dark Chocolate Covered Pomegranate Seeds ARE GREAT and deserve two thumbs up.

Price – $2.99

Rating – 4.5

Day 282 - Dark Chocolate Covered Honey Grahams with Sea Salt

David was excited to get these treats.  He thought they sounded amazing and bought them on a shopping trip when I was not with him.  Therefore, he had opened the package and eaten a great deal of them before I got around to tasting one.  He is way more into snacking than I am.

I packed some of these as “Pope Snacks” and brought them with me to the “Pope Parade” to munch on while waiting for the Pope to whiz by in his Pope Mobile in Washington DC.  (That was a WHOLE LOTTA “Pope”s in one sentence!)  We had to leave home to get to the parade area around 5:45 am and I knew snacks would be required since we would be waiting around a few hours.

Pope card game!!

Pope snacks - gotta have 'em!

So these Dark Chocolate Covered Honey Grahams with Sea Salt were taste tested while sitting on a blanket on a very crowded DC sidewalk.  For me, the chocolate part of these graham crackers was a little bit too hard.  I cannot fully blame that on the product though, since David HAD opened the package a week or two before I ate them, so maybe they were not quite as hard when they were freshly opened.  The sea salt (in my opinion) was the best part.  There was not a ton of sea salt – just a tiny bit – but when you got a hint of it with a bite it was a nice zing of “savory” in with the sweet. 

The chocolate was quite THICK.  In the center of the cracker there is an equal amount of CRACKER and CHOCOLATE – making it thicker than it needs to be.  They taste much more like CHOCOLATE than graham cracker.

Multi-tasking - snacking, reviewing, and waving a teeny tiny Vatican flag.

David says, “These are very good.  Good chocolate.  The sharp sea salt bits that you encounter are delightful as a counterpoint.  I recommend letting the chocolate M-E-L-T, not rushing it in your mouth so that the smooth chocolate can floooow all around your mouth.”

These would be good to pop in your lunch bag before heading to the office.  Or in your kid’s lunch bag for school.  They are hearty so not as melt-y as some other chocolate items might be.  I think they would be a good dessert served with a nice espresso. 

Look!  The Pope went right in front of me in his Pope Mobile!!!!

UPDATE – Before I could post this review, we popped into a Trader Joe’s to get photos.  Remember, David purchased this one when I was not with him, hence NO PHOTOS of the price tag or the packaging.  But when we looked for them last night, we could not find them.  Frightened that they had been discontinued (common at Trader Joe’s), I asked an employee, who went to check then remind me that they had been RECALLED.  I remember seeing a sign about that in the store when it happened.  DRAT!  Apparently there was milk in them and it was not listed on the ingredient list, so they recalled them.  Boo!  (But better THAT than if, say, a salmonella scare…)  I called Trader Joe’s Customer Relations Department to ask when we might expect to see them again and they had no estimated time.  But they ARE getting them back.  I mean, think about it.  A really yummy snack.  A reasonable price.  Loads of people begging for them.  And the supplier just need to delete a line on the ingredients list!  I can’t imagine it’ll take TOO LONG – this is a total guess on my part but I would think they would want htem back on the shelves before the holiday season.  Here is a link to info on the recall:  http://www.traderjoes.com/announcement/recall-undeclared-milk-in-dark-chocolate-covered-honey-grahams

Flag flying in the sunshine - Washington DC, Vatican, and USA

When I see them on shelves again I will comment here to let you know – GO GET ‘EM!

Price - $3.99

Rating – 4.25

Bonus photo for anyone who scrolled down this far - POPE-A-POTTIES.  There were LOTS of them.  :)

Day 273 - Toffee Chips

This is a lovely designed little package of treats.  It is split evenly down the middle – one side of the package is all DARK chocolate toffee chips and the other side is all MILK chocolate toffee chips.   This makes it pretty and gives you a feeling of choice (so not like having a box of all the same cookies!). 

Before we even PURCHASED them David was happy about Toffee Chips

The toffee is quite thick and really STICKS in your teeth.  That is a downside, but the upside is that it tastes really good.  I personally prefer the MILK chocolate ones over the dark, the milk chocolate just pairs really well with the toffee. 

David also prefers the milk.  He says the dark chocolate brings out “the burnt bitter aspect of the toffee that is not all that pleasant to me”. 

New Arrival!  Toffee Chips

The fact that we both prefer the milk chocolate ones presents a problem for our household, but not a divorceable one.  I mean, I think if he can put up with this pile of bubble wrap I have strewn on the dining room floor (for a project I am working on) and if I can put up with the hole in the spare bedroom ceiling that has been there for months that he is “going to repair”, those are much worse things in the grand scheme of things than one of us hogging all of the milk chocolate toffee chips… 

My pile of bubble wrap...  Hey - I have a PROJECT to do here!
(Note:  no photo of the ceiling hole.  We have a very old house, occassional holes are to be expected.  :))

David says if the whole piece of a candy were a little thinner then they wouldn’t be so “tooth break-y and sticky”.  I agree with that – make the toffee part a little thinner please Trader Joe’s.  I also think David is right that the burnt taste of the toffee works better with the milk (I sort of like the burnt taste, he doesn’t).

These would be good to put on a holiday cookie platter.  You could totally pretend you made them.  If you are super busy and need to add something to a work platter, put these in a Tupperware container (sans any TJ’s packaging of course!) and call them yours.  J  This holiday hack brought to you by Trader Joe’s 365.

Price – $3.49

Rating – 3.75

Day 199 - Dark Chocolate Almonds

I have wracked my brain.  The only, and I mean ONLY, thing I can think of that I dislike about these Dark Chocolate Almonds is that I didn’t discover them sooner.  Why I have not been eating these amazing things for the last decade is beyond me.

Go. Quickly.  Don’t even read the rest of this review.  GO TO TRADER JOE’S NOW and get these!

FIND THESE - probably in the freezer section on the un-cooled shelves above the frozen stuff.  Buy them.  Eat them.

What are you doing still reading????

Ok, if you are going to sit here and read it I will finish the review.

This is a little plastic tub of awesome.  It is filled with roasted almonds.  Covered in dark chocolate.  That are then sprinkled in turbinado sugar (whatever that is, I approve).  But wait, that is not all.  No, I saved the best part for last.  They are also sprinkled with sea salt.  The sea salt is the FIRST thing you taste, and it is the LAST thing you taste.  And in between it is not salty at all!  It is wonderful!!!! 

The almonds are crunchy and nutty.  The dark chocolate is sinful and probably should have a separate sales tax associated with it.  And the sugar and sea salt are to die for!!!!!!!!!!!!  In fact, if I wasn’t getting cremated I might just ask my family to toss a couple of these puppies into my coffin when I go (but with cremation, I am thinking of the whole chocolate-melty-messy-mess…). 

Here they are in a little bowl.  See the sugar and salt bits?

We had these for dessert after dinner.  I believe they would pair amazing with a good red wine.  They would also be fun with a piping hot espresso.  In fact, they are damn good just on their own with  nuttin’ to drink, as witnessed by my afternoon snack today. 

The label says the serving size is 13 pieces.  I can see where that might happen, but it seems a bit extreme to me.  They are pretty rich.  I am not going to mention the fat content or calories because with something this delicious, that stuff doesn’t even matter.  Just EAT, EAT, EAT!!!

Oh sure, TJ’s has other varieties of chocolate covered almonds.  They have a little bag of them that only costs .99 cents.  But these are the ones, baby.  Get this little container of them!  Skip the bag.  (I will buy another little bag and review the other ones at some point, but not until I have eaten enough of these super good ones to make myself ill.)

I am a fan.  I endorse these with 2 strong thumbs up.  Give them as gifts.  Serve them at parties.  But most importantly, indulge in them yourself.  You deserve it.

Here is a link to an old article from the TJ’s site about this product:  http://traderjoes.com/fearless-flyer/article/498

  

Price – $4.79 (as you will see in the article above, in 2012 they were $3.99.  Trust me, they should be charging like, $10 for these things, but shhhhhhhhh, don’t tell corporate…) (Oh, also, for you unfortunate people without a TJ’s near you, I see there is a black market for them on Amazon and you can get some for like $12 (including shipping) here:  http://www.amazon.com/Trader-Joes-Turbinado-Chocolate-Almonds/dp/B007T43CNM )

Rating - 5

Day 179 - Dark Chocolate Covered Espresso Beans

Let me start by saying this is one big ass tub of chocolate covered espresso beans.  I mean, it seems like too many espresso beans!  At 14 oz, it sort of seems like the sort of tub that should be holding JELLY BEANS as opposed to espresso beans.  Let’s just say, if you are assigned to bring in a cool snack for the break room at work, these would be good to share.

Here is what the big ass tub looks like!  :)

That being said, they are good beans!  The espresso beans themselves have a bit of a burnt, bitter, strong coffee taste, enrobed by a yummy dark chocolate.  It really is a terrific and simple combination. 

David says, “There is more chocolate than you might expect, and that is a good thing.  The balance of bean to chocolate means that instead of just eating them to stay awake or study for a test, you could easily consider popping them like M and M s in an afternoon.”

Cheap for so many beans!!

This big ol’ tub is not priced at the usual high price tag that you find most chocolate covered espresso beans.  No, you get this whole tub for only $4.49.  When I look at the actual beans, I think maybe these are like, the BULK chocolate covered espresso beans, and that is why they come at a cheaper price.  They are, much like humans, varied shapes and sizes.  There are the teeny tiny ones, the larger ones, and there are some conjoined beans.  They are not all pristine and homogenous.  But hey, that’s how I like stuff!! 

See - they are not perfectly shaped - but then again, neither am I...  

I wish these came in a smaller container.  I mean, it might take us two years to get through this many chocolate covered espresso beans!  Trader Joe’s DOES sell a smaller container of chocolate covered espresso beans – a very sweet little metal tin of them.  I bought that too (the things I don’t do for this blog!) and will open it and taste those soon to compare them.  From the looks of the beans through the little window on the tin, it appears that THOSE are the “Nordstrom” of chocolate covered espresso beans and the ones in this plastic tub are, say, the “Kohl’s”.  Know what I mean?? 

Price – $4.49

Rating – 4.25

Day 168 - Dark Chocolate Covered Cherries

I do not like chocolate covered cherries.  I hate the goo that is inside of them.  They always taste FAKE to me, and the goo/gish is not something I am interested in.  David, however, likes them, and we found this package of them in a special CHERRY BLOSSOM display at the U St (Washington DC) Trader Joe’s during cherry blossom season, so we HAD to buy them.  J

Isn't this a PRETTY display??  See the cherry blossom branches?  Great job U St TJ's

I wasn’t going to eat them.  I figured it was unfair for a chocolate covered cherry hater to review them, so I would just ask David to be my guest reviewer for this one.  Then I caved and tried one.  And you know?  THEY ARE GOOD!

They are more about the dark chocolate than they are the cherry.  And the CHERRY in question is a REAL cherry, none of that candied, fake red, gushy crap.  In fact, the label says this product contains no artificial colors or flavors and has no preservatives. How many chocolate covered “cherries” can you say THAT about??

And PERFECT art work on the signage, too

The dark chocolate is definitely what you taste most with these treats, but the dried cherry center is a nice compliment.  They are quite “rich” so are not a snack you would sit down and eat the whole container of (which is a good thing, right?). 

Thanks, Trader Joe’s, for helping me stop being scared of chocolate covered cherries! 

Price – $4.99

Rating - 4