Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend

Every once in a while, there comes along something we never knew we were missing from our lives. When my friend AMOOSE became the first of my friends to get an iPhone, I thought to myself, "why on earth would you need an Apple phone? That's so dumb." Shortsighted, I'll admit. I jumped on the bandwagon eventually. Who knew that this would go from something we were missing to something we would want and onto something that we need? It's not really a need, if we're honest. I can go on breathing without a smartphone, although it's hard to say that about other people. But has it been revolutionary? Certainly. The smartphone has permanently altered our lives, for better or for worse.

As for this seasoning? I'll let you be the judge of that for yourself. As for me? LIFE-CHANGING.

I may never buy another everything bagel again. But never say never. It's one of my favs. I'm sure I'll cave at some point. I had such confidence in this seasoning the moment I laid eyes on it that I bought two (that packaging has some minimalist Scandinavian flavor!). Because what will I do when I run out and no longer live within a 5 minute radius of a Trader Joe's? What normal people must do of course - hoard. :P

In case you live in some part of the world where you've never had an everything bagel, it's a plain bagel seasoned with sesame seeds, salt flakes, garlic, onion, and poppy seeds, usually sprinkled on the outer crust. This particular mix also has black sesame seeds, which adds a nice color. The poppy seeds don't really add much flavor in my opinion - it's outshone by the sesame, salt, and garlic/onion. But who cares. I'm sure it serves some kind of function. Sentimentality at the very least. 

I gushed excitedly to the cashier that I was going to use these to flavor my homemade bagels. He told me that he admired the effort because most people would never do that, all the while with this skeptical glance. To be fair, I had full intentions of making them, that is until I saw that the recipe called for 7 cups of bread flour. 7 CUPS. Which I didn't have in my cupboard. And that recipe takes like two days. That and A is still on his self-imposed diet. It would be too cruel to produce such volume of carb-loaded deliciousness and deny him the pleasure of consuming it. 

One day my friends, one day I will make those bagels. In the meantime, I've been testing this seasoning on a number of things. Homemade crackers. Avocado toast. Who knew that I was missing everything avocado toast? 

My favorite application, however, has been the "bold" suggestion on the packaging on cream cheese. It's not that bold - except it is bold, in a way. The everything flavor with that bit of garlic, onion, salt, and sesame shines best against classic plain cream cheese. Why hasn't somebody capitalized on selling Everything Cream Cheese?? I've always thought to myself what a shame to flavor a bagel with such deliciousness only to lose half of it in the bag. Or on the napkin. Or on the floor. Can you imagine slaving over the stove to make some special dish for Sunday night dinner, only to have half of it end up on the floor? Ridiculous. So yes, sprinkling it on cream cheese is not only delicious but efficient. It's about as efficient as licking the plate. Which I haven't stooped to doing yet but I can't deny that I won't. :P 

As much as I love this savory seasoning, for now I think this works best with breads. I plan to try it like an American furikake with rice a la onigiri. But unlike that chile lime, I'm not sure it would work so well with mango. But if you try it find it delicious, let me know. 

$1.99 like every other standard TJ's seasoning. I only wish it came in bulk. COSTCO ARE YOU LISTENING??

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Everything but the Bagel Sesame Seasoning Blend. Genius. Everything seasoning sticks to your cream cheese and not to the floor. Unless you will it to do so.  10 out of 10. 

edit - I came back and gave it a perfect score. :) 

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