Trader Joe's Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Mix

In the land of Trader Joe's, new products come out often enough where it gets difficult to keep track of what is coming in and what is going out. And while I do keep tabs on the baking aisle and what vacated the shelves to make room for this new product, I suspect for most people the excitement of a new kid on the block makes us forget what preceded its place. Almond flour?? Gluten free?? Vegan?? Low carb?? These are the emerging values of our age. 

I understand there's a camp of dedicated bakers who are out to create vegan recipes that are delicious and can hold their own in a world of baked goods laced with butter, sugar, and white flour. I'm not a vegan baker, but I'm certainly intrigued by it. Is it possible to make "better for you" baked goods that taste good too? I admire the creativity involved, but I don't really venture into vegan baking because it's expensive (also A has little interest in vegan baked goods). I mean, baking itself isn't exactly a "cheap" hobby but vegan baking ingredients like almond flour, coconut flour, coconut sugar, and vegan butter are even more expensive. Frankly, it's not really a financially sustainable option for some people, especially if you live in a food desert. But then again, if you can afford to shop at Trader Joe's and have access to a TJ's in your community, that's probably not you. Regardless, if you want to venture into gluten free, paleo, vegan baking and the like, it requires a bit of an investment. So it's nice that Trader Joe's is giving us all an opportunity to try it out to see if it's worth it.

Trader Joe's makes some of my favorite baking mixes ever. The quality of ingredients with the general user-friendliness is unbeatable. This new baking mix is great new for people with gluten sensitivity or intolerance! But not great if you have a nut allergy. I guess if you're gluten intolerant and allergic to nuts and coconut, maybe you're not meant to eat chocolate chip cookies.....?

The big deal about this mix is that all the ingredients are natural and very good. Coconut sugar and coconut flour are low glycemic, so I guess this mix would be considered paleo or keto friendly. Seems like these treats are considerably better for you.

The directions are mostly user-friendly. For testing's sake, I prepared it the vegan way with vegetable oil (if you want to stick to the "good ingredient" theme, I'd use coconut or avocado oil) and oat milk. One complaint - "1 ounce ball" is not a great way to explain how big to make the cookie dough balls. Like how many people use a scale to measure out 1 ounce? Anyway, I made my cookies between the size of a walnut and a ping pong ball, and it came out to exactly 12 cookies. I also baked mine for 12 minutes until they were the a light golden brown.

1) If you've never had almond meal/coconut sugar-based cookies, the taste takes some getting used to. It does not have the same level of sweetness as cane sugar.

2) These cookies came out soft, chewy but also a bit cakey. Mine didn't spread much but note that they do flatten out a little bit upon cooling.

3) The taste grew on me. It's not as sweet as a normal chocolate chip cookie, but it does have a bit of nuttiness from the almond meal, which gives it that depth of flavor. It's also sweet enough to go with coffee. But it's not the same deep, richness from a normal chocolate chip cookie. There's a slight hint of coconut, but I wouldn't say that it's coconut flavored. If I had never had a chocolate chip cookie before, I would think "oh pretty good," but they lack that indulgent "OMG TO DIE FOR" quality that some other cookies have. Yes, these cookies taste a little bit healthy but not in a bad way.

4) $4.99 for a box that makes about 12 cookies. Assuming you have a well-stocked pantry at home that includes vanilla extract ($9.99 at TJ's y'all), oil, and milk, for $5 you can try out gluten free/vegan baking.

5) This product isn't for everyone - but if you're on a paleo or keto/vegan diet and craving some chocolate chip cookies, then yes this might be worth it.

6) One serving is one cookie, and who only eats one tiny cookie? :P

TL;DR: Trader Joe's Almond Flour Chocolate Chip Cookie Baking Mix. If you like healthy-ish-tasting things and/or have special dietary needs, this might be a godsend. 7 out of 10 on an average person scale. 8 out of 10 on an "I can never have chocolate chip cookies because I can't have gluten" scale. Mantou Joe repurchase? Actually, maybe.