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One of the best parts of fall is the sudden end-cap displays of All Things Pumpkin. And at Trader Joe’s, the release of seasonal fare is cause for celebration, because these treats are delicious and ephemeral; buy them when you see them because they will be sold out the next time you visit. The company’s website has a page devoted to these autumnal rollouts, called ‘We Fall For It Every Year,’ containing a whopping 138 items, ranging from pumpkin flavored Madeleines to porcelain cactus pots in the shape of sugar skulls to Portuguese Pão d' Água rolls… to pumpkins themselves. Flavors include pumpkin (a whole lot of it), maple, cider, cinnamon and butternut squash: basically, anything that fits into a cornucopia is here. But some of these foods are more successful than others—here’s our list of the five best (and two worst) of TJ’s fall foods!
THE BEST
1. Organic Frosted Pumpkin Toaster Pastries
Do you want the good news first or the bad news? The good news is, this wholesome version of a Pop-Tart is out-of-this-world delicious. The bad news? It doesn’t seem to be available this fall. This is your cue to immediately go to the store, Karen your way into meeting with a manager, and demand that it return. Breakfast this time of year isn’t worth it without these toaster pastries.
2. The O&H Bakery Pumpkin Kringle
Imported from a Danish bakery in Racine, Wisconsin, this wonderful kringle comes in a thick, white paper bag with instructions for heating. Baked since 1949, this circular delicacy takes three days to bake (by the bakery, not you!) and has 36 layers of flaky pastry with a ribbon of pumpkin inside and an icy glaze on the top. We’ve got hygge just thinking about it.
3. Autumnal Harvest Creamy Pasta Sauce
With hints of pumpkin to jazz up a typical red sauce, this creamy pasta is a winner for the cooling evenings of fall. We get it annually to layer on penne pasta with a healthy dusting of parmesan—even the happy color in the jar feels like a signal that autumn is here.
4. Fall Leaf Tortilla Chips
These multi-colored tortilla chips are in various fall leaf shapes (maple, oak, beech), and honestly we don’t understand why more places don’t cut their tortilla chips into different shapes! It’s a pleasure to dive into a leaf pile—with your mouth this time—and enjoy autumn’s arboreal cast-offs.
5. The Harvest Collection
This is just an adorable collection of nine chocolates in various fall shapes, colored orange or yellow as the chocolate dictates—in miniature, they resemble an ear of corn, a pumpkin, acorn and gourd: you get the idea. They come in a cute gift box if you want to get one for you and one for a hostess gift.
THE WORST
1. Honey Roasted Pumpkin Ravioli
It seems like a good idea, but it just didn’t come through for us. Maybe it’s because we paired with the the autumnal harvest pasta sauce and it was just too much. Or maybe it’s the fact that it rings as ‘sweet’ when we were looking for savory (it does say ‘honey roasted’ in the title, but the font is kind of backgrounded and easy to miss if you’re shopping quickly).
2. Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix
Not meaning to cast shade, but it just wasn’t a winner. We’re all about the pumpkin but this batter led to bland, tasteless pancakes. Instead, grab the Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants for a breakfast pleaser—or again, strongly petition for those pop-tarts to come back.
And where should you eat these fall-themed foods? Perhaps in a haunted house, a creepy ghost town or an Airbnb teeming with ghosts?
Or maybe you’re not up for cooking in the Spooky Szn—in which case, pull up a chair at one of these haunted bars and restaurants.