This is the fifth of ten consecutive days of reviews of the things Nina and I tried at our all-Trader-Joe's Thanksgiving meal.
I had serious misgivings about buying this, given our unpleasant experience with the Trader Joe's cherry pie. But Thanksgiving dinner isn't complete without pie, so an all-Trader Joe's Thanksgiving means a Trader Joe's pie.
Fortunately, this is nothing like the cherry pie. (Except, y'know, that they're both pies.) As the most noticeable difference, look at how thick it is in that second photo above! I've never seen so much apple crammed into a pie before--either commercial or homemade.
Second, it tastes good. Now, that requires a little caveat; it depends entirely on expectations. Had I made this myself, I'd be proud just for not having screwed it up in some major way. If my mother had made it, I'd say she was off her game. If it had come from a small, neighborhood bakery, where everything is made by hand, I'd be disappointed and pick a different source for my next one. But for a mass-produced commercial product, it's surprisingly good.
Will I buy it again?
Probably not--even though it's about as good as you can expect from such a product. But I have two fine bakeries within a mile of my house, so when I want a really nice pie, that's where I'm going to turn instead of any grocery-store item. Put another way, this was a reasonably successful experiment, but I don't think it's the way one should buy pies.
Nina's View
I pretty much concur with Bob's assessment. This item would, however, be
greatly improved by ten minutes in a nice hot oven. That would relieve the crust
of its pasty, flabby quality and put a little bit of a tan on it and impart some
flakiness.
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