Trader joes peanut butter chocolate chip cookies

My kids are always grabbing random stuff off the shelves when we go to Trader Joe’s. Most of the time it’s something sweet and this was no exception. On a recent foray to my local Trader Joe’s I had a kid in two when I went shopping. Now they are teenagers and nothing seems to have changed since they were little kids. Other than looking at their phones the whole time I am wander through the store, trying to make it in and out as fast as possible, they are loading up my cart with cookies and ice cream.

Well this landed in my cart and I didn’t even notice it until we checked out. Oh well, I’m sure they will be gone within minutes of getting home. I know I was a teenager with a bottomless stomach, but I really don’t know how they do it. We got home and decided to try these out as a “snack”.

Now the taste was spot on. The chocolate chips melted in my mouth right away and there were plenty of them. Just like a Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, these are definitely a cross hybrid thing. I’m sure nobody has ever thought to put chocolate chips in a peanut butter cookie before.

My kids liked them enough, but they mentioned other cookies they liked better. For some reason, one of my kids likes the chocolate biscotti better. If there weren’t any other cookies, I would probably buy these. They weren’t awful, but not good enough for them to beg me to buy them. Sorry, Trader Joe’s, I think my kids are getting spoiled by things like Chocolate Hummus. You need to step up your game. Add Humus to these cookies and you probably have a winner!

Taste test: This package contained 10 cookies, arranged in two rows of five, and they did not look good. They were misshapen, varying not just from the round shape pictured, but also in thickness within each cookie, and the cookies were kind of mushed together against each other, despite being held in a protective plastic tray.

The cookies had some fault lines on top, plus some widely scattered chocolate chips showing through. I bit in to find that the cookies were indeed soft as expected, not crunchy, but there was a surprisingly crumbly feel, sending as many crumbs flying as you would get with a crunchy cookie. The feel was roughly similar to raw cookie dough. The taste was pretty good, especially when paired with some cold milk, as the cookies provided good helpings of peanut butter and chocolate. I didn't notice any peanuts, which the back of the package said would be there. OK overall, but not at all the kind of soft cookie that I expected.

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Smell test: Not that much like peanut butter or chocolate. Really, they smelled like peanut butter cookies, which seems to be its own thing entirely.

From the package: “Trader Joe's Soft Baked Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip Cookies are a scrumptious symphony of peanut butter and chocolate chips. Soft, chewy, and big just enough, the first ingredient in these first class cookies is peanut butter. As if that weren't enough, we added semi-sweet chocolate chips and dry roasted peanuts to complete this euphoric cookie-eating experience. Peanut lovers, rejoice!”

Because many of these cookie varieties aren't particularly memorable. A few are, but I highly doubt we'll agree on which two or three of those Trader Joe's baked goods we want to take to our desert island and survive on for the rest of our life.

Funfact: the cookie on the packaging is actual size. See pic above.

This particular offering isn't bad, but it's definitely not one of my desert island choices. And, I mean, I LOVE peanut butter. 

You can taste the peanut butter for sure. These are basically typical, everyday peanut butter cookies that happen to be full of chocolate chips. They're a little softer than your average peanut butter cookie, I guess, and perhaps a tad thicker, both of which are pleasant variations on the classic cookie. Still, I would have preferred them to be even softer, chewier. They're kind of crumbly and dry as they are. 

The flavor is fine. There is peanut butter and there is chocolate, but they never really come together in that special way that Reese's seem to. The bread part of the cookie seems oddly dominant, and there's a bit of an aftertaste.

Sonia seemed to like them more than I did, which was unexpected. She'll give these three and a half stars. I give 'em three.