desserts | Trader Joe’s Rants & Raves (mostly raves, a few rants)

Trader Joe’s DARK CHOCOLATE BARK with puffed quinoa and dried raspberries. Perfect For Valentines Day!

This is a perfect treat to give your Valentine!

Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Trader Joe’s has come out with another variety of their CHOCOLATE BARK. I liked the original one with pretzels and sea salt (sweet and salty)

The new one comes in a pink bag. DARK CHOCOLATE BARK plus Puffed Quinoa and Freeze Dried Raspberries.

From Trader Joe’s: “The Bark you’ll find within each bag starts as a thin(ish) slab of rich Dark Chocolate studded with pieces of pleasantly tart freeze-Dried Raspberries and Puffed Quinoa.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/dark-chocolate-bark-078299

So I got some to review. At first I thought it was a bit sweet, however as frequently happens when I am tasting something from Trader Joe’s, I could not stop eating more. I kept saying to myself, “just one more bite.” Then I realize I had already devoured 3 or 4 pieces. Be warned, this chocolate may be slightly addictive.

This new variation on the dark chocolate slab is good. Quite tasty. In the bag quite a few largish pieces of the bark which you can break up into smaller bites. The chocolate combo is pretty yummy,, just a little bit on the sweet side however the tart dried raspberries in this does counterbalance it all out. There is a nice crunchy texture you get from the puffed quinoa in these, kind of like chocolate with Rice Krispies. Here its tiny puffed quinoa bits. The dried raspberries give a nice backnote of fruit in each bite.

I would buy this again. $5.49 bag (10 oz)

Trader Joe’s “Hold The Cone” MINI ICE CREAM CONES

“8 Mini Ice Cream Cones filled with rich vanilla ice cream and a chocolate coating”

Who hasn’t heard of these yet? Well, just in case you haven’t, these little mini ice cream cones dipped in chocolate that Trader Joe’s came out with are Da Bomb. These are SO GOOD! Not to mention so popular. They seem to fly off the shelves. As you can see in the photo I took when I went to buy them there was an almost empty shelf but luckily there still were a few boxes left so I could get one to try out for review. I got the vanilla but I’m sure all are as good.

They are small mini cones, kind of a perfect size when you are in the mood for a little ice cream snack. One is maybe about 5 or 6 bites. You could easily eat two or three! Even if you did eat three, according to the box that would be 260 calories, not too crazy bad.

The chocolate covering is not super thin, nor too thick, it’s just thick enough (ok its not Dove Bar thick) so you do get some very good chocolate with the first few bites, and the chocolate is good. The combo is so tasty matched with the all three elements: ice cream, chocolate coating plus the tasty cone it is in.

One thing I especially liked about these is that you get some ice cream all the way down to the very bottom of the cone which really makes these good till the last bite. Another huge improvement? They now are seeming to pour a little chocolate in the very bottom of the cone. This acts as a “stopper” and helps the ice cream not melt out through the bottom.

These MINI CONES really became popular fast. They may be Trader Joe’s most popular dessert item now. They’ve come out with and added a number of flavors besides the original (Vanilla) one so now you will see a few flavors like Strawberry, Mint and Chocolate…

If you haven’t tried these yet – and you can find them – be sure to check them out. You can not go wrong with these yummy treats.

$3.99 box, of 8 mini cones (8 oz)