Trader Joe’s: Trader Jacques’ A Dozen Macarons Variés
My daughters and I love macarons. From their crispy outer crusts to their soft and chewy centers, these French treats that look like little sandwich cookies come in a variety of flavors to satisfy almost any taste preference, and they are a delightful dessert.
Macarons can be challenging to make at home, though. They are composed of the outer shells and the filling, and friends who have attempted to make them have described the efforts they went to trying to bake the shells so they turn out just right: perfectly round and with a ruffled edge or “foot.”
So instead of making macarons myself, I buy them from grocery stores or bakeries.
Aldi occasionally sells macarons as a limited-time Aldi Find (Special Buy), and I like to buy a box or two to stash in my freezer. They’re a solid choice and reliably good whenever I buy them.
However, Aldi’s cousin, Trader Joe’s, carries assorted macarons in its freezer case year round.
At Trader Joe’s, you can buy a box of macarons with a variety of flavors (some of them more exotic), or you can play it safe with a box that contains just chocolate and vanilla macarons. The chocolate and vanilla ones are great, but this post deals specifically with the variety box.
Trader Joe’s Trader Jacques’ A Dozen Macarons Variés cost $4.99 at the time of publication for a 4.2-oz. box containing 12 assorted flavors of macarons. That comes out to about 42 cents per macaron.
They are a product of France, and the box has two macarons in each of the following flavors: fig, lemon, apricot, coconut, pistachio, and salted caramel.
They should be kept frozen, and when you are ready to eat them, defrost them for about 30 minutes before serving. Once thawed, they should be stored in the refrigerator and eaten within two days.
Sugar, almonds, and egg whites are the primary ingredients. Depending on the flavor, they also contain figs, coconut puree, apricot puree, lemon paste, caramel, or pistachio paste.
They also have a few more processed ingredients such as glucose syrup, carrageenan, soy lecithin, xanthan gum, and natural flavors.
If you’re watching out for allergens, these contain almond, pistachio, coconut, egg, milk, wheat, and soy. They may also contain traces of peanuts and other tree nuts.
One serving consists of three macarons, which will net you 110 calories, 4 grams of total fat (5% DV), 0.5 grams of saturated fat (3% DV), 10 mg of sodium (0% DV), 15 grams of total carbohydrates (5% DV), 15 grams of total sugars, and 13 grams of added sugars (26% DV).
As for how these macarons taste, they are fabulous. In fact, just the day before I tried these Trader Joe’s macarons, I bought some macarons from a local bakery at $3 a piece (they were large, but pricey). I liked the Trader Joe’s macarons far better than the local bakery macarons both in terms of texture and taste (and the TJ’s ones are less expensive than the ones at the bakery I visited).
The TJ’s macarons were full of distinct flavor, and I could definitely tell which flavor I was eating. The lemon flavor was a person favorite of mine, and my daughters named lemon, apricot, and pistachio as their favorites. There really isn’t a bad flavor in the box, unless you aren’t a fan of fig, which was my least favorite.
The Trader Joe’s macarons were spot on with texture as well. The shells were crisp on the outside and soft on the inside, and the middle with the filling was soft and chewy. Perfection!
The Verdict:
Trader Joe’s sells assorted macarons in fig, lemon, apricot, coconut, pistachio, and salted caramel flavors. These are real winners, imported from France and perfect in terms of flavor and classic macaron texture. Highly recommended.