Trader Joes Dark Chocolate Speculoos Cookie Butter Cups

I spotted these beauties last week near the checkout. They called my name and begged me to take them home. That trick grocery stores do where they tempt you with sweets and other attractive things at the checkout totally worked! But in my defense, how could I not try these, especially after that ice cream?

Look at the beautiful gold foil!  Dark chocolate! Speculoos! Patent-pending box! Perhaps that last one isn't nearly as exciting. I'm still trying to figure out what is so revolutionary about that box. 

 The initial cookie butter "shock" caught my taste buds off guard. Perhaps I've been conditioned to expect peanut butter whenever I see a chocolate like this. It was kind of disorienting, so I ate a second one.

It wasn't bad, just not as good as I was expecting it to be. It does have a unique flavor, but I wouldn't say it's love at first taste. My friends who generously volunteered to try these shared similar sentiments. I likened this pairing to a blind date or the early stages of an arranged marriage. The pairing is just not quite 100% complementary. Maybe the two of them just don't know each other well. The first impression is a bit...strange? Unexpected? They need more time together, more dates, maybe even a DTR (determine the relationship). Is this supposed to be a harmonious duo? Or is it supposed to be sickeningly sweet? I personally was hoping for it to be the next Trader Joe's dark chocolate peanut butter cups (which are SO good I ate them like vitamins at one point. One a day keeps the chocolate monster in me away), but it wasn't like that. The cookie butter overwhelmed the chocolate. The chocolate could have been darker to offset the sweetness of the cookie butter.  

I had very high expectations for this product. It was good but not amazing. Mild letdowns happen. I'll take that. 

TL;DR: Speculoos meets dark chocolate cup. 7.5 out of 10.