A few times already in the past month, I have been fortunately scheduled off on days with forecasted inclement weather. Meaning that I sat around in my fuzzy sweats and a blanket, ready to hibernate in the event of snowpocalypse. Which has not yet happened. Snow is one of those finicky things that can never please everyone - we complain when it pummels us and makes life generally inconvenient (And cold!) and we also complain when it doesn't come (and conveniently cancel whatever thing we didn't want to go to in the first place :P). Isn't that life? I was actually waiting for a snow occasion to eat this pastry but figured at this rate, it might never come.
Not a usual pick for me - this was graciously given by a friend. A snowflake pastry. I wonder if such things are still magical in January when diets and lifestyle changes are still in vogue. (All it takes is February, Super Bowl, and commercialized Valentine's Day to snap us back into our normal "kale whaaaat?" eating habits. :P) Also, I don't really consider this a pastry. It looks nothing like anything I've ever seen baked on any pastry episode of the Great British Bake-Off. Baking Show. Whatever. It looks like a pull apart, shareable sweet bread, which for some reason I associate with Scandinavian countries practicing hygge and communal conviviality.
The added sugar, I assume, is from the almond and cocoa filling. I didn't think this pastry was too bad actually (but also it wasn't mind-blowingly spectacular either). This may or may not be contributed to the fact that it was late at night, I was craving something sweet, and there is a certain joy that you get from sharing food with people and not from the food itself.
1) I suspect that this bread, like most bread, tastes much better when warm. At room temperature, it was kind of dry.
2) The bread itself didn't taste overly rich to me but carried a little sweetness.
3) I really couldn't taste the almond paste. I tasted mostly chocolate and powdered sugar. I probably could not have guessed that there was almond in here to begin with. Then again, I have not had almond paste or marzipan or anything like that too often to be able to recognize it.
4) The bread does have a pseudo snowflake shape. I guess I didn't pay much attention to it as we pulled it apart.
5) If you're looking for novelty snowflake-shaped items, I'd probably pick the snowflake pasta over this.
TL;DR: Trader Joe's Snowflake Pastry. Sweet shareable carbs. Do yourself a favor, warm it up, and actually share it. 6 out of 10. Mantou Joe repurchase? Thanks but no thanks.
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