MoMo & Coco

Best New Trader Joe’s Desserts (NYC)

Introduction

Hard to believe that it’s been three years since 2020 and the pandemic that suspended time. We didn’t really emerge from hibernation until fall 2020, and then more truly in summer 2021, and during the intervening months, our only dessert solace in NYC was the small handful of dessert deliveries or desserts from Trader Joe’s.  Fast forward three years, and we think it’s time to do a quick update on the latest desserts to hit TJ’s that are worth including in your weekly grocery basket. Of course, the other TJ desserts that we reviewed up until mid-2023 are still available, or brought back seasonally (see here). Here’s a toast to easy desserts that can be had in the comfort of your home, and a giant cheerio to the remnant memories of the pandemic era. 

Root Beer Ice Cream

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun: $3.49
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: We don’t typically drink soft drinks/sodas, but if there was one type that we would make an exception for, that would be root beer. And instead of a ridiculously diabetic milkshake-ish float that seems to be an unfortunate predeliction of American spots that offer it, TJ has frozen rootbeer as a shell around vanilla ice cream. The result is a highly addictive, rather cool dessert.

Australian-style Tim Tams

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $2.49
  • ☑ Short and sweet story:  Bed Bath and Beyond used to be our secret spot for whenever we had a Tim Tam craving, and when our stash from Australia had ran out. Since that store closed however, we have been incredibly thankful for TJ’s version. Although slightly sweeter than we prefer, it is still an excellent chocolate coated biscuit.

Hotteok

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $4.49
  • ☑ Short and sweet story:  Since relocating to NYC, we haven’t travelled over to Asia for several years now, and boy, do we feel that yearning. Korea is definitely one of the spots that we need to revisit, and we have particularly fond memories of the street food there as well as the incredible array of cute coffee and dessert spots. In the meantime, we love TJ’s hotteok, a flat pancake that you pop in the oven for a few minutes, and then gingerly bite into it to reveal a centre of molten cinnamon-infused brown sugar syrup. As sweet as some of the Kdrama storylines we have become addicted to. 🙂

Brigadeiros

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $3.79
  • ☑ Short and sweet story: We almost bypassed this when we first spotted it in the freezer section. Don’t make the same mistake. Aside from the root beer ice cream and hotteok above, TJ’s bridgadeiros come within our top three new TJ desserts. They are essentially chocolate fudge balls rolled in chocolate sprinkles, and are very very hard to just stop at one bite. 🙂

Danish Kringle

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $9.99
  • ☑ Short and sweet story:  The Kringle is essentially a giant doughtnut-shaped pastry, with a flat profile and an ultra-sweet iced glaze. The pumpkin caramel version of 2023 is crazy saccharine, but we have had other flavours in the past that were less so. Whereas the other desserts on this list are more for personal consumption, this is definitely one for a dinner party. 

Gingerbread loaf

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $4.99
  • ☑ Short and sweet story:  TJ’s Pancake Bread is one of our favourite bakery items. For another loaf-form cake, check out the newly released Gngerbread Loaf. We are usually sceptical when it comes to “vegan” food, but this lightly-spiced ginger afternoon tea cake is well worth the stomach space.

Apple cinnamon buns

  • ☑ Cost of sugar fun:  $4.49
  • ☑ Short and sweet story:  TJs has some pretty awesome bakery items — there’s the Pancake Bread, Brookie and Babka, in particular. The apple-scented cinnamon buns are not bad either, a twist on the ever-popular cardamom bun that hit peak craze in NYC last year. They lack the chewy pull of the typical cardamom bun though, and are more of a softer brioche pastry. 

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