Sunday, June 14, 2015

Trader Joe's Moist Chewy Coconut Bonbons


Special note: We're kicking off Coconut Week! Seven consecutive days of reviews of Trader Joe's products that are based on coconut. No, they won't all be candy. In fact, I think you'll be surprised at the variety of items. 


Bite into one of these, and you'll immediately be reminded of a Mounds bar. In fact, the comparison is so obvious that it's inevitable.

Trader Joe's has two clear advantages over Mounds: (1) Better quality chocolate, and a domed shape that gives a higher filling:coating ratio. More coconut is always better. There is no such thing as "too much coconut." (2) You get a lot more candy for your money than with Mounds.

But Mounds have the edge in what the filling is. Specifically, it is moister, richer, more luscious, with a much nicer mouth feel. The filling in TJ's is more dry and flaky, as if it's been baked.

I'd happily eat either one. Chocolate and coconut? Yes, please--sign me up for that plan every day. But if I had to choose just one? Damn, that would be difficult. The strengths are pretty equally matched. I suppose I'd end up giving the edge to TJ's version, by about a 51/49 vote of my conflicted inner voices.

What the world needs is for somebody to scoop out the coconut middle from TJ's bonbons and replace it with injections of the stuff they put in Mounds bars. Those I would eat until my stomach burst. Then I would have surgery to be sewn shut again, and eat some more. So maybe, on second thought, it's best that nobody ever make such a hybrid.

Will I buy it again? 

Oh, yes. It's not quite a Top Ten item, but it's very, very good.

3 comments:

  1. Looked for these today (3/15/2016) at my local TJ's, but couldn't find them and the person who orders the candy said she never heard of them??? Does that mean they have been discontinued? If so, when?

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  2. Sorry, I don't know. I found them last time I looked for them, but that was a few months ago.

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  3. Couldn't find them at my store today, so I asked--discontinued. Boo!

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