Trader Joe’s HONEYCRISP APPLE GRANOLA, review (Fall Item)


LIMITED FALL ITEM

Does it taste really like apples? Yes actually it does, thanks to little bits of dried honeycrisp apples all throughout the granola. This granola not the clumpy kind; it is loose like cereal, not with the large clumps as some other granola’s that Trader Joe’s has such as the almond butter granola. Personally I am a fan of big “clumpy” granola with chunks that I can take out and sometimes just snack on. However I liked this too as it’s got that great apple fruity taste. I mean the taste of this granola is really a winner from those apple bits.

Ingredients include rolled oats, cane sugar, dried Honeycrisp apple, honey, molasses, and a subtle hint of fall spices (cinnamon, ginger, cardamom, clove….) Very, very subtle, more like a backnote to the apple taste of this granola, not the overwhelming kind.

This Apple Granola one of their “Limited” fall items, meaning we will see it for a few months. So if you want to try this grab it while you can, and maybe stock up on a few bags if you tried it and liked it. I probably will. Both my wife and I really liked this very tasty granola.

$3.99 for a 12 oz bag.

I would buy it again.

“Our latest fall-forward, seasonal cereal shines the spotlight on an autumnal all-star: the heavenly Honeycrisp apple! Heralded for its crunch and concentration of flavor, it’s a natural companion to snacks and cereals of all sorts—snacks and cereals such as the sweet, seasonally-spiced clusters inside each bag of Trader Joe’s Honeycrisp Apple Granola!” – TJ’s

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/honeycrisp-apple-granola-076757

Trader Joe’s Simply Amazing SOFT DRIED APRICOTS


Yes that’s actually their name. “Simply Amazing Soft Dried Apricots” and here’s Trader Joe’s description on their site:

“Large, Dried Apricots—of the juicy, Suphany variety—ripen in the sun to a blush-orange hue, while also developing a rich, honey-like sweetness. Once harvested, they’re carefully dried in the summer sun by our trusted Turkish apricot supplier (and by Mother Nature, of course). What really makes these Dried Apricots Simply Amazing is the final step, which involves a gentle steaming. This unique method yields unbelievably soft apricots with a tender, chewy, almost velvety texture.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/simply-amazing-soft-dried-apricots-078443

Here’ my honest review of these dried apricots. They actually live up to the name., these apricots in fact are Simply Amazing. Probably the best dried apricots I’ve ever eaten. These are just so amazingly tasty. And SOFT!!!

If you love dried fruits but sometimes find them way too dried, and feel with some of them like you could just as well be chewing on shoe leather (I’m thinking of you, Trader Joe’s All Natural Dried Mango. Trying to eat those can wear out your jaw…) Then you might try these. These are so soft and moist from the steaming method used to make them. They are soft and squishy. Each one of these is either a whole (or half?) of a Turkish Suphany apricot. They have three ingredients; apricots, water and (yes) sulfur dioxide “to maintain color”. I can live with that if they taste this good. I’ve been eating them mostly cut up into little pieces and added to my morning yogurt/breakfast mix. Also right out of the bag. They do match great with cheeses too.

These are “limited” by growing season, so they will sell them until they run out and get more hopefully next year. They are one pound for $4.79 (they have no pits). It probably takes a basket of fruit to make the bag.

Trader Joe’s ITALIAN APERITIVO MEDLEY cracker snack mix


NEW ITEM (AUG 2025) LIMITED TIME

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/italian-aperitivo-medley-snack-mix-079821

Here’s what Trader Joe’s says about this new snack mix, ITALIAN APERITIVO MEDLEY:

“This is a Snack Mix that is gastronomically designed by our supplier in Bari, Italy to satisfy your cravings for a savory crunch. The diverse combination of textures, shapes, and flavors includes rosemary Focacce (squares), traditional Taralli (loops), and black olive Trecce (nuggets). The presence of extra virgin olive oil and white wine in the recipes promotes flavor profiles that are more complex than your average crackers—but similarly pleasing to enjoy with your favorite TJ’s cheese.”

My review? All I have to say is that once I opened up the bag, I couldn’t stop eating them. The bag went pretty quickly. They are that good! Addictive?

This cracker medley is just SO savory and delicious.

All of these five or six different, crunchy crackers / snacks are tasty. I especially love the twisted and small nubbin ones (trecce), both of which are flavored with rosemary or black olives. The round circles are little Italian biscuits I know as “tarralucci” (or here, “taralli) often served with wine or drinks. The square “focacce” one are perfect as a cracker base for cheese or what have you.

These say, Limited Time! Knowing that these are not going to be around all the time, I am going to load up on as many bags of these fantastically tasty crackers/snacks, as I can carry on my next visit to TJ’s. Especially as they are a very reasonable $2.29. And the ingredient list is quite normal, natural, not filled with additives or chemicals. We like that.

I give these crackers a huge Thumbs Up. You should grab a package (or two) while you can and check them out.

Product of Italy

Trader Joe’s HEALTHY SNACK IDEAS


Do you need a few ideas for Healthy Snack options for shopping at Trader Joe’s?

Here are just a few ideas….

Fruits and Veggies: A great snack could be say, fresh apples sliced up.

One favorite snack for me is some sliced APPLE with some PEANUT BUTTER. A classic combination providing fiber, healthy fats, and protein. Besides apples I like bananas and peanut butter. As well as cut up sticks of vegetables (carrot, celery or jicama sticks) All these things are great snacks on their own but get some protein from nut butters. Besides peanut butter, there are other nut butters too, such as almond butter. My favorite peanut butter at Trader Joe’s? Crunchy salted with the blue label. The one with honey one us also good.

Now I would just buy an apples and cut them up. However Trader Joe’s does sell some “pre-cut” fruits and veggies for convenience. Personally I never buy these type of items. It’s not a big deal to cut up an apple for me. The moment you cut any fruit or veggie up it starts to oxidize and deteriorate. And you pay a lot more for someone to do that work.

Nuts or Trail Mix; these are great snacks (in moderation) Trail Mix: Trader Joe’s offers a variety of mixes with nuts, seeds, and dried fruits. Raw, Unsalted, Untoasted Nuts: A simple and healthy snack. Dark Chocolate-Covered Almonds: A delicious way to get antioxidants and healthy fats. Finally the fantastic TRAIL MIX CRACKERS

Cut up some Vegetable Sticks such as carrots or celery and pair them with some HUMMUS or some other lower fat dip. How about that new Roasted Tomato LABNEH?

For chips, I think the PLANTAIN CHIPS are kind of better than potato or other chips

Protein Snacks: Any Cheese or cheese sticks, string cheese, hard cooked peeled eggs, chomps turkey sticks….

Other Healthy Options:

  • Organic Popcorn with Extra Virgin Olive Oil: A whole-grain, antioxidant-rich snack. 

Grainless Granola: A crunchy blend of nuts, seeds, and dried coconut. Puffins Cereal (Peanut Butter flavor): A fun and healthy way to enjoy cereal. Low-Fat Greek Yogurt: Pair with berries and a touch of honey for a healthy and protein-packed snack. Piquant Popcorn: A top snack for weight loss. Norwegian Crisp Bread: A versatile base for avocado and other toppings. Bamba Peanut Snacks: A high-volume, low-calorie option.  Plantain Chips: A healthier alternative to potato chips. Lentil and Chickpea Crisps: A flavorful and healthy snack. Oven-Baked Cheese Bites: A high-protein option. Trek Mix Handfuls: A portable and nonperishable snack. Hummus: A creamy blend of chickpeas, tahini, and olive oil. They have some hummus snacks that come with crackers for easy snacking.

With just a little prep work and some baggies, you can make snack packages. Good luck!

NEW ITEM! Trader Joe’s Sweet & Spicy RICE CRACKER MIX (GF)


NEW ITEM!

GLUTEN FREE

SWEET AND SPICY RICE CRACKER MIX

These are a good new addition to all of the many wonderful snacks that Trader Joe’s sells. If you like things that are a little Spicy you may love these new rice crackers. These are a little similar to those rice cracker snacks called Rice Cracker Medley. These however have a bit of spice added to them along with the sweet.

These are made from RICE so naturally Gluten Free. Theses don’t have a laundry list of chemical names in the ingredients either, it looks pretty simple.

As a fan in general of “spicy”, albeit not crazy spicy, I found these Just Right in the heat department as the spiciness is counterbalanced by the slight sweetness of the crackers. There are about four or five different shapes. I found they are a really good match with a little cheese.

We found these to be ever so slightly addictive! The two of us could not keep our hand off the package.

Product of Thailand

$2.49 bag (8 oz) I would buy these again

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 delicious SCALLOPED CRACKER TRIO, reviewed


SCALLOPED CRACKER TRIO

These would be great on your next cheese plate or charcuterie board. Or any time you want a good cracker!

My wife got these for us to try out. In short, we found these really tasty and quite good.

The box has 3 packs of crackers. Size wise perhaps a tiny bit bigger than your typical Ritz cracker? They have enough room for whatever you are putting on them. They are a bit delicate. I would spread things on these gently so you don’t break them. Or for example let things like butter or cream cheese or spreads come to room temp.

There are 3 kinds of crackers with different flavors. They are wrapped in plastic. I would love if they still used used wax paper for wrapping crackers like the old days (Ritz). Wax paper is really easy to re-wrap once you open a pack but no biggie really, a Twisty will suffice.

SCALLOPED CRACKER TRIO REVIEWED

Flavor one – Rosemary. These had a very nice smell of rosemary, delicate though, not overpowering, which added a nice back note to whatever you put on it. We LOVED these!

Another package holds crackers with a reddish tinge, which is of course the RED CHILI cracker. A tad spicy but not very spicy. We didn’t think these would classify as “hot” to most people (except for one cracker in the pack which seemed to have more spice on it than others). We thought these were just a wee bit spicy, again not overpowering, just adding a tiny and tasty heat which went well with everything we tried it with. Great for dips I think.

The last flavor was a Garlic cracker. While fine, we both thought these were the least special flavor of the 3 kinds. Again fine, but these just didn’t stand out like the other two.

Overall, I would say the trio of crackers was nice. Very tasty. Of course we tried all of them crackers with a variety of cheeses and anything we could fine in the fridge and we liked every combination of crackers plus cheeses we tried.

I would say you these are well worth adding to your your list of the choices at of so many delicious crackers Trader Joe’s carries. Lets face it TJ’s has so many temptations in the cracker department, so many of them excellent! Talking about you OLIVE FLATS!

Scalloped Crackers Trio – $3.99 (16.4 oz)

Six crackers have 120 calories (and boy are six easy for me to eat, and thats before they get the cheese on them!)

Trader Joe’s WHEAT CRISP CRACKERS Review


“Trader Joe’s Wheat Crisp Crackers will tantalize your taste buds with an addictive crunchy wheat flavor. They will hold up to your favorite cheese, dips, or peanut butter. But most folks don’t wait for the topping, they’re great for snacking right from the box.”

RAVE

I am a huge fan of WHEAT THINS, a well known cracker made by NABISCO which has been around forever. Well make that since 1947. Since I was a little kid we almost always had Nabisco Wheat Thins in the house as they were Dad’s Numero Uno favorite cracker. They became one of my favorites too. So when I saw these I said to myself, these look like Wheat Thins! I have to try them.

Trader Joe’s WHEAT CRISP CRACKERS to me seem to be TJ’s version of the classic cracker. All I can say is these new crackers taste really good to me. They have a lovely wheat-y taste from whole wheat, which is listed as the second ingredient.

Even if you never had the original, these are well worth trying. These are just good all around crackers. Since I grew up eating the original and just love them I could not resist wanting to try TJ’s version of them. Walking back home from the store, I stopped and decided I had to try them RIGHT NOW. I put my stuff I was carrying on a park bench and opened up the box. I could not wait to taste these.

So are what I think of as Trader Joe’s version of Wheat Thins good? A big yes! I found them really good. I meanI pretty much could not stop eating them right out the box on the street. After about a half dozen, I had to stop myself and put the box away.

When I got home, I’d say things got even better of course when I tested them out with something on top of them.

For instance, how about cheese? These were especially terrific with cheese. They were of course yummy with TJ’s excellent, and very properly British, English Coastal Cheddar which I recently gave a big thumbs up. The crackers were good even with just plain old cottage cheese, as well as good with peanut butter, and honestly whatever else I found that I could put on them.

These are as the name say thin. Crunchy, with a nice whole wheat flavor. Small, one bite sized. Just made to be devoured. Well baked. The edges are a bit darker then the middle. Perfectly baked.The ingredient list doesn’t look terrible either.

All I can tell you is that first box I bought went fast. Way too fast. Even pacing myself, I saw it was almost empty after a few days. So I need to go now and get another box!

I am probably going to want to have these around all the time now. A dangerous but yummy temptation. As 15 crackers have only 120 calories probably better than other crackers.

These are a great Anytime Snack. I would buy them again. $2.49 (9 oz)

Trader Joe’s DARK CHOCOLATE BARK with almond, pretzels and sea salt


“Combing the rich flavors of dark chocolate with the resounding crunch of resounding crunch of roasted almonds and pretzel pieces, then finishing with a sprinkle of sea salt. This is a satisfying snackable bark, one that is well worth every bite”

(thats old price)

“The Bark you’ll find within each bag starts as a thin(ish) slab of rich Dark Chocolate, studded with crunchy roasted Almond & Pretzel pieces. Our supplier then sprinkles said slab with Sea Salt, breaks it into snackable pieces, and packages it up for your enjoyment. The end result? A sweet, chocolatey treat that’s well worth every bite.”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/dark-chocolate-bark-with-almond-pretzel-sea-salt-073946

OK, enough of Trader Joe’s advertising and what they think. What did I think? Well here’s my review: If you were intrigued by how good that sounded, all I can say, is this is as good as it sounds.

I really liked this. The chocolate bark is a little bit thick and slightly crunchy, a mix of sweet and a tiny bit savory (sea salt). I think they use a decent chocolate, mixed with pieces of roasted almonds and bits of pretzels mixed into the bark that all in all, makes for a very satisfying snack or treat. Very yummy.

I would buy it again.

$3.99 a bag (10 oz).

PS – they recently came out with a variation of this chocolate bark, with quinoa and raspberries. Will try that too!

Seen at Trader Joe’s: Cheery Lemon Animal Crackers


SEEN IN NEW ITEMS yesterday

CHEERY LEMON ANIMAL CRACKERS – “Covered in a yogurt candy coating with non-pareils”

https://www.traderjoes.com/home/products/pdp/cheery-lemon-animal-crackers-077828

I didn’t try these but they looked to me like something kids might go for, and they are just 99 cents for a small package.

Trader Joe’s says : “creamy, yogurt coating, with authentic citrus aroma & lemony zing…. 13 unique & gladsome Animals, including: bears, elephants, cats, donkeys, goats, tigers, lions, horses, cows, rhinos, camels, bison, and hippos.” Colors come from natural sources like: vegetable juice, beta-carotene, and turmeric.

Not many things anymore you can find at TJ’s for just 99 cents !

Previous Older Entries