Trader Joe’s Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Mix Review – As the weather turns cooler and we get closer to the holidays, we do a fair amount of cookie baking here at Club Trader Joe’s. We bake quite a few chocolate chip cookies and will make a ton of sugar cookies for the holidays. But I am always looking out for interesting cookie mixes and Trader Joe’s usually has some interesting ones around this time of the year. This mix has a twist, it’s Gluten Free and can be Vegan if you want it to be.
We recently reviewed the Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie mix and it was OK, not the best. The consensus was it was too gingery. But otherwise, they turned out great. The kids loved them that’s for sure. I have to tell you, I didn’t have much hope for this Trader Joe’s Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking mix. How could a vegan, gluten free chocolate chip cookie mix be any good? Well, I was pretty surprised by the results.
Nobody in my household is gluten free or vegan, but many Trader Joe’s customers are. The ultimate test then is for someone, like us, that doesn’t eat gluten free all the time to make these and if they pass the teenager test then, I think they are good for anyone!
Since this mix is gluten free, you wonder what would hold the cookies together, and in this case, it’s almond flour and tapioca starch that bind them together. You just need to add some butter (for the non vegan approach) or some neutral oil like canola. Then some vanilla extract and milk.
First, you put the butter (or oil) and vanilla extract in a bowl and mix them together briefly. Then dump the cookie mix in and stir until it comes together. The only tricky part is how much milk do you put in (you can probably substitute almond milk here for you vegans). It says on the instructions, up to 3 tablespoons until the dough comes together. After two tablespoons it was holding together in a nice ball so I didn’t add any more.
Forming the cookies I thought to use an ice cream scoop but the instructions say only 1-inch balls. I sprayed a cookie sheet with oil (you can use parchment here too) and made 1 inch sized balls with a spoon and my hands. This is a small batch of cookies for $4.99. I’m guessing because almond flour is pretty expensive. We came out with exactly 12 cookies on the baking sheet.
I stuck them in the oven for the 10 minutes they instructed but they didn’t quite look done enough, so I baked them another 2 minutes and they looked done at that point.
I pulled the cookie sheet out and let it cool off for a few minutes and then gently lifted the cookies off the sheet and put them on a cooling rack. They are rather fragile and moist when they are still hot, let them cool a bit before handling. The kids started to gather around wanting them before they were cool but I couldn’t hold them back and they devoured most of them while they were still warm. I guess they passed the teenager test!
My opinion is that you can barely tell that these aren’t good cookies. They were very moist and soft, just the way I like my cookies. If you like crispy chocolate chip cookies, these are not for you. The only downside is that you don’t have those nice chunks of chocolate chips you get from homemade cookies, but the flavor and texture were great!
I am going to give these 9 Bells! Easy to make, and tasty but one point off for such a small package of mix.
INGREDIENTS:
ALMOND FLOUR, COCONUT SUGAR, SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHIPS (CANE SUGAR, COCOA MASS, COCOA BUTTER), TAPIOCA STARCH, COCONUT FLOUR, BAKING SODA, SEA SALT.
CONTAINS ALMONDS, COCONUT.
NUTRITION FACTS:
about 12 servings per container | Serving size 1/12 package dry mix (22g) | Amount per serving: Calories 110, Total Fat 7g (9% DV), Saturated Fat 1.5g (8% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg (0% DV), Sodium 90mg (4% DV), Total Carbohydrate 12g (4% DV), Dietary Fiber 1g (4% DV), Total Sugars 6g—Includes 6g Added Sugars (12% DV), Protein 2g, Vitamin D (0% DV), Calcium (4% DV), Iron (8% DV), Potassium (2% DV).
The % Daily Value (DV) tells you how much a nutrient in a serving of food contributes to a daily diet. 2,000 calories a day is used for general nutrition advice.
