This represents the transition into fall months, and best of all into TJ’s seasonal pumpkin treats. Illustration by Eloise Beauvais.
TJ’s Seasonal Pumpkin Treats Food Review
Every September comes with the same excitement: Uggs, crunchy leaves, baking cookies, or watching “Gilmore Girls” while curled up in your favorite blanket with a warm cup of hot chocolate. However, my favorite thing about fall is the pumpkins: Pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin patches, pumpkin pie, and most of all, seasonal pumpkin treats at Trader Joe’s (TJ’s).
As the TJ’s lover I am, I took it upon myself to taste some of their new pumpkin fall treats, along with the help of my favorite juniors: Ailinh Van, Peyton Miles, and Hailie and Emily Robertson. I’ll be rating each treat on a scale of 1-10 based on the intensity of the pumpkin taste, and then I will provide an overall rating of the treat.
Pumpkin Maple Bacon Stuffies Dog Treats:
After some quick googling to see if dog treats were edible for humans, we decided to give these dog treats a try. They were quite small and broke in half nicely. They had a very strong aroma, filling the room with an unpleasant smell. Contrary to the advertising, there was absolutely no pumpkin taste, but we could detect a bit of maple and “chunky bacon taste,” as H. Robertson added. Unfortunately, they were extremely chewy and hard to swallow which resulted in the majority of us spitting them out. We were left with bits stuck in our teeth and a disgusting aftertaste. It’s a great treat if you want to puke!
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 1, Overall: 2
Pumpkin Ginger Scones with crystallized ginger:
These seasonal pumpkin ginger scones were bought from the freezer section of TJ’s. They were easy to bake, but the taste was underwhelming. The scones were too moist and chewy to truly be classified as a scone. I do wish there were more ginger bits, as I only tasted ginger in one or two bites. The pumpkin flavoring was insipid, but nevertheless these scones were a tasty bite sized treat that we all thoroughly enjoyed.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 2, Overall: 7.5
Pumpkin Ice Cream:
This was quite possibly the creamiest ice cream I’ve ever had, but I was quickly disappointed by the overpowering sweetness of this cold treat. The pumpkin was very prominent and had a nice aftertaste. I was pleasantly reminded of a Burgerville milkshake when tasting this, though I’d still skip buying this on my next trip to TJ’s.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 7, Overall: 6
Pumpkin-flavored Joe-Joe’s:
I was very excited to eat these; JoJo’s were one of my favorite childhood cookies. In this Joe-Joe rendition, the cookie to frosting ratio was amazing. The cookie itself didn’t crumble but was still nice and crunchy. It was the best pumpkin taste so far and I felt like I was eating fall as the warm spices melted in my mouth. The five of us almost finished the entire box in one sitting— this was our favorite treat by far.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 10, Overall: 8
Pumpkin Sticky Toffee Cakes:
Taking a bite of this dessert felt like eating a stick of butter. The recommended serving size was an entire cake, but the five of us could barely finish half of one. The cake itself was moist, but far too heavy to be a casual fall treat. I did love the toffee glaze, it was thick and sugary, and would have been amazing if the cake wasn’t so sweet. There was also no pumpkin taste at all; I was disappointed again with the false advertising of this product.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 1, Overall: 4
Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants:
Another treat from the freezer section of TJ’s, this treat looked extremely appetizing on the box, but not so much in real life. Part of the filling spilled over while baking, and the crust was flavorless and soggy from the pumpkin spill. The overall texture of this treat was disgusting; it tasted like expired yogurt. We had a sour aftertaste stuck in the back of our throats for minutes after finishing this taste testing. The pumpkin cheesecake filling gave us a vague pumpkin taste, but if the box hadn’t been labeled as a pumpkin treat and I’d tasted it blindly, I wouldn’t have been able to identify the filling as pumpkin.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 5, Overall: 2
Pumpkin Spice Batons:
If you don’t know, a baton is a bamboo shaped cylinder of wafer with a sweet filling inside. In this case, the filling is a pumpkin-flavored cream. I was let down yet again. This supposedly pumpkin-flavored cream tasted like sweet vanilla. There was absolutely no pumpkin found in this treat. “The wafer completely cancels out the pumpkin flavor,” Van commented. Though the wafer itself was light and crunchy, I wouldn’t categorize this as a fall treat.
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 3, Overall: 8.5
Pumpkin Spiced Teeny Tiny Pretzels:
Upon first taste, the pretzels were quite salty, but soon the salt was overpowered by the frosting. Yet again, no pumpkin taste. “This tastes like white chocolate chai,” Miles remarked. These pretzels were so cute and mini, they were the perfect snack to enjoy with a cup of tea on a cold fall day!
Ratings: Pumpkin taste: 4, Overall: 7
My top pick would definitely have to be the Pumpkin-flavored Joe-Joe’s. They are a TJ’s classic and I loved the fall twist on them. Each of these foods were unique and I’m glad I got to taste test them all. Consider heading over to Trader Joe’s this season to try some of they uhhhh goth these fall treats!
