Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Mix Review – It’s Pumpkin season at Trader Joe’s and there is hardly a product in the store that doesn’t have pumpkin and/or pumpkin spice flavoring added to it right now based on my web traffic, people must be buying this stuff like crazy!
The weather has started to turn to cooler days and nights this time of year. Kids are back in school and what better to do on a cold rainy weekend, than bake cookies?
Trader Joe’s makes it super simple for you. Just buy this canister of premixed ingredients. Add butter and an egg and mix well in a stand mixer (if you have one), then put them on a sheet pan and pop them in the oven. Easy peasy. We just used a hand mixer to mix it up and honestly, you could just use a large spoon, although it would be a lot of work.
We learned a few things while we made this batch of cookies:
Make sure the ingredients are warmed up. Especially the butter. It needs to be almost melted or at least very soft before you start.
This dough will look like it’s not wet enough. It will look very dry. Resist the urge to put more liquids in it. It needs to be dry.
We tried to use an ice cream scoop to form the balls for the cookies, but it didn’t work. Just use your hands. It’s messy but worth it.
Don’t mash the balls of dough flat, they will flatten as they bake.
Don’t cook directly on a baking sheet unless it’s some fancy nonstick baking pan. We used parchment paper and it worked just fine. You could use a silpat too.
Baking the cookies for 16 minutes was not enough, we ended up baking for more like 18-20 minutes
We had waaaay more than 24 cookies. More like 36. Ours were about 3″ across so maybe we didn’t make them the same size as Trader Joe’s test kitchen did, but they were a good size for us.
Baking them filled the kitchen with a wonderful aroma of pumpkin spice and chocolate baking in the oven. The kids were hovering around us as we pulled them. They need a little extra time on the counter because they are quite dense and take a while to cool off. But it was worth it!
I think the thing that surprised me the most we the intensity of the ginger flavor. It seems to be the dominant flavor, more so than the pumpkin spice mix and the chocolate.
I could hardly see or taste any chocolate. I saw some of the chunks in the mix before we started but if you look at the Trader Joe’s website, the cookies look like they are loaded with chocolate chunks. Don’t believe them. There is some chocolate in them but not to the degree that they show on the packaging.
Final Verdict on Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Chocolate Chunk Oatmeal Cookie Mix
Having said all that. This is an easy win with the family. Quick and easy to make and the kids started wolfing them down as soon as they were cool enough. They really like the flavors and the textures and the kit made a lot of cookies.
I will give this 8 bells just because I thought there should be more chocolate. $3.99 for all this goodness!
INGREDIENTS:
SUGAR, SEMISWEET CHOCOLATE CHUNKS (SUGAR, UNSWEETENED CHOCOLATE, COCOA BUTTER, SOY LECITHIN [EMULSIFIER], NATURAL FLAVOR), OATS, UNBLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR (WHEAT FLOUR, NIACIN, REDUCED IRON, THIAMINE MONONITRATE, RIBOFLAVIN, FOLIC ACID), DRIED PUMPKIN, BROWN SUGAR, BAKING POWDER (SODIUM ACID PYROPHOSPHATE, SODIUM BICARBONATE, CORNSTARCH, MONOCALCIUM PHOSPHATE), NATURAL FLAVOR, CINNAMON, GROUND GINGER, SALT, NUTMEG, ALLSPICE, CLOVES, ANNATTO POWDER (MALTODEXTRIN, ANNATTO EXTRACT [FOR COLOR]).
CONTAINS SOY, WHEAT. MAY CONTAIN MILK.
NUTRITION FACTS:
24 servings per container | Serving size 1 prepared cookie (34g) | Amount per serving: Calories 140
Total Fat 6g (8% DV), Saturated Fat 3.5g (18% DV), Trans Fat 0g, Cholesterol 20mg (7% DV), Sodium 140mg (6% DV), Total Carbohydrate 21g (8% DV), Dietary Fiber 1g (4% DV), Total Sugars 13g—Includes 9g Added Sugars (18% DV), Protein 2g, Vitamin D (0% DV), Calcium (2% DV), Iron (4% DV), Potassium (0% 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.
I’m glad I did not buy these. I was looking at the Chocolate chunks on the picture and thinking how yummy they would be with the pumpkin spice flavor. Oh well. Crisis averted. Thank you.
This is hardly a piece “of goodness”. These were not good flavor with pumpkin. THEY SUCKED ASS! Like I’ve never had a worse cookie. Get the pumpkin bread from Trader Joe’s. That is the real food of fall. I will never buy this piece of crap again. Thanks for review hope you like mine. (Honestly the ginger is the death of me).
I’ve heard everything from sucked ass to they were the best thing ever. I think it’s the amount of ginger in them which was quite high. Some people love ginger and other can’t stand it. (ask me about Cilantro one day). Our family really liked them so I could taste the ginger but it wasn’t off putting.
[…] to spoon it onto your pumpkin loaf batter. Here is a TikTok of me making this recipe along with a Trader Joe’s cookie mix on a rainy fall day […]
I loved them! But I can see why some are turned off. I taste strong molasses and ginger, like a gingerbread cookie and pumpkin cookie had a baby lol. And I think the chocolate ratio is just right. Perfect for dunking in coffee…I’m going to bake them at a lower temp, cut them and then bake again = biscotti. And of course a drizzle of melted chocolate over the top can’t hurt!
I thought the chocolate chips were generous. But really they taste a little weird. I made them for a party but frankly do not think I will take them.
I am surprised you say there was no chocolate. Mine recently was overflowing with chocolate chunks. Maybe it depends on the package you buy? I also didn’t taste any ginger, it was a strong pumpkin flavor. So either they reworked their recipe or it is dependent on the packaging. I bought these in 2021 also and had a similar experience to my 2022 experience, so who knows.
I also ended up with 24 cookies barely. They were so tiny. *shrugs*
If there is anything we know about Trader Joe’s products is that they can lack consistency. I was just talking to someone about the Stuffing flavored potato chips and how they have changed over the years. I guess this is the price for cheaper food.
I usually love all things Trader Joes. However these cookies are not only the worst product I’ve bought at Trader Joe’s but the worst cookie I’ve ever eaten. My husband will even eat my burnt cookies, lol, and he wouldn’t eat these, so that says it all. 10 🤮 FOR ME.
I loved them, especially the ginger flavor. Plenty of chocolate for me, since I wasn’t looking for a chocolate cooked, I was looking for a pumpkin cookie. can’t wait to make them again.!
DO NOT BUY THESE!
These are absolutely DISGUSTING! My family took one bite and spit them into the trash can!
Also, the instructions call for 2 Tbsp of water and the dough needed more to come together. So gross.