I had high hopes for Trader Joe’s Chocolate Cheesecake Bites ($4.99). But with cheesecake, texture is everything. It can be thick and dense New York-style or on the creamier side. Trader Joe’s comes in more toward the creamy side with a verrrrrrrrrry crumbly chocolate cookie crust. (If you have a pup who monitors you while you eat, be careful. You’ll have chocolate crumbs all over the floor). You can also see the cookie crust didn’t totally survive shipping and we got some crumbs on top.
The box recommends defrosting in the fridge for 2 hours. Mine were in the fridge for about five. I took them out the box with chopsticks so the sides wouldn’t mush and the tops wouldn’t get all fingerprint-y. Texture wise, the cheesecake part is creamy to the point where it’s almost like frosting. The chocolate flavor is rich, but i was missing that slight tang you get from cream cheese.
For me, these are gonna be good for thawing and putting out for a Super Bowl party. For when you just want something sweet and chocolatey, but you’re not thinking too hard about it. They’re fine, they’re good. I like the cookie crust despite the crumbliness. But they’re not exactly cheesecakey enough for me. Know what I mean?
First ingredient is cream cheese and the ingredient list overall is pretty reasonable. Yeah, you’ve got some emulsifiers and stabilizers in there for texture, but that’s not shocking. Would I buy Trader Joe’s Chocolate Cheesecake Bites again? I’d buy them for a Super Bowl party, but probably not again.
Check out some other We Tried’s from Trader Joe’s:
Maple Poffertjes (Mini Pancake Puffs)