Nothing says Christmas in September like Trader Joe’s Organic Hot Cocoa Frosted Toaster Pastries! No really, they have pine boughs and mittens on the front cover. Look at the upper left corner of the front of the box. I picked these up in shorts and flip flops when it was about 80 degrees outside in early September. The pumpkin spice infused products have started to take over Trader Joe’s and it’s only a matter of time before I get to smell that wretched Xmas spice fake brooms again. Sometimes, I think our whole country has lost it’s mind around this stuff, but Trader Joe’s is like Costco, it’s all about the treasure hunt. What can I find this time that I’ve never seen before. How much can I chat with the checkers about the latest cool products. This exactly happened to me when my checker pulled this out of my basket. “Did you try these yet? They are so awesome!” she said, jabbing her finger at my newly acquired box of hot cocoa (we can’t call it chocolate?) toaster pastries…
But, I digress. I like chocolate as I’m sure most Trader Joe’s aficionados do. Toaster Pastries (aka Pop-Tarts) are a popular item in my house. The kids love to eat them after school. They love chocolate. They are organic. Organic sugar isn’t bad for you is it? I gave up trying to keep the sugar out of my snack drawer at home a long time ago. If I’m going to have sugary stuff in the house, it has to include some chocolate.
These are easy to make. You know the drill, stick them in the toaster for a short time to heat them up and eat when cool enough to handle. They have a great chocolate flavor. They don’t mention dark chocolate on label, just cocoa powder which had have a lot of chocolate flavor. There is cocoa powder in the pastry part as well as the filling. The filling is a deep, dark chocolaty fudge type filling. Lots of flavor here and almost like a chocolate bar. Heated up the flavor gets enhanced quite a bit. I really, really liked this!
INGREDIENTS: UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR* (WHEAT FLOUR*, NIACIN, IRON, THIAMIN MONONITRATE, FOLIC ACID), CANE SUGAR*, INVERT CANE SYRUP*, PALM OIL*, WHOLE WHEAT FLOUR*, COCOA POWDER*, COCOA POWDER* (PROCESSED WITH ALKALI), DEXTROSE*, CORN STARCH*, NATURAL FLAVORS, RICE STARCH*, TAPIOCA STARCH*, LEAVENING (BAKING SODA, CREAM OF TARTAR), VITAL WHEAT GLUTEN*, SEA SALT, MOLASSES*, WHEY PROTEIN CONCENTRATE* (MILK), ALGIN, SODIUM CITRATE, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE.
*ORGANIC
CONTAINS WHEAT, MILK.
NUTRITION FACTS: Servings per container 3 | Serving size 2 pastries (104g) | Amount per serving: Calories 400, Total Fat 9g (12% DV), Saturated Fat 4g (20% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 0mg (0% DV), Sodium 300mg (13% DV), Total Carbohydrate 75g (27% DV), Dietary Fiber 6g (21% DV), Total Sugars 37g—Includes 34g Added Sugars (68% DV), Protein 6g, Vitamin D 0mcg (0% DV), Calcium 20mg (2% DV), Iron 2.7mg (15% DV), Potassium 250mg (6% DV).
