Trader Joe's Cinnamon Raisin Bagels

I loves me a good cinnamon-raisin bagel.

What is in this bag is not a good cinnamon-raisin bagel, but a disappointingly mediocre one. (Or six disappointingly mediocre ones, if you're counting.) Sure, there's a limit to how good a mass-produced bagel can be, but my feeling is that Trader Joe's isn't even trying to bump up against that ceiling. The flavors are dull, and the texture is too soft and thoroughly unbagelly.

I suppose they'll do in a pinch, when every bakery in town is closed for a holiday or something, and yet you desperately need a cinnamon-raisin bagel. But if you have just about any other choice, take it.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Gluten Free Crispy Crunchy Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

This is the third in the "gluten-free, crispy-crunchy cookie" product line, following the Ginger Chunk and Chocolate Chip versions. My feeling about them is about the same as for those varieties: They're OK, and perhaps a godsend if you really need to avoid gluten, but not as good as standard cookies. On my personal preference scale, they're roughly tied with the chocolate chip, not as nice as the ginger chunk.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Golden Berry Blend

This makes for pretty good snacking material--as long as I don't think about the list of ingredients. Because if I do, I'm reminded that of the four fruits represented here, all except the raisins have been sweetened with added sugar. This is a fact that is not disclosed or even hinted at on the front of the package.

I love golden raisins, but I think I'd rather have them alone than mixed in with a bunch of sugared-up other dried fruits.


Will I buy it again? 

No.

Trader Joe's Druid Circles Oatmeal Raisin Cookies

I admit it--I'm a sucker for Trader Joe's peculiar product names. My mindset these days, what with a daily blog to put out and all, is to buy anything at TJ's that even remotely interests me, and a quirky, out-of-left-field product name is one easy way to spark such interest. I saw somebody mention TJ's "Druid Circles" cookies on Twitter, and instantly knew that I had to find out what they were. I did, after all, just last year finally see the mother of all druid circles.* (See photos on my other blog, here.)

I had trouble finding these at the store. I wandered up and down the cookie aisle several times before finally surrendering and asking at the information desk. The guy there escorted me to the display of fresh-baked goods, which is in a different part of the store from the boxed cookies. He said that the fresh-baked varieties come in new every day, unlike the boxed ones. Well, alrighty then!

There's no difficulty telling that these differ fundamentally from boxed cookies--far more moist and chewy. How do they taste? Pretty good.

However. Over the past year I have been spoiled by having found a local neighborhood bakery--Geraldine's--that makes the most fabulous oatmeal-raisin cookies it has ever been my pleasure to devour. TJ's just has no prayer of competing with them, no matter what they do. It is probably unfair to expect them to.

So I guess I would say that the Druids have here produced one of the best mass-marketed oatmeal-raisin cookies I've had, but I won't be buying them again, because a mile up the road I can get something far, far better.

Sorry, Trader Joe's.

Will I buy it again? 

No.



*Yes, I know that the old theory about Druids building Stonehenge was discredited long ago. But it's not really any fun talking about neolithics, is it? Would you buy cookies called "Neolithic Circle Cookies"? No, of course you wouldn't. They sound gross. Druids are infinitely more fun than neolithics.