Trader Joe's Toffee Chips

I can tell you the first time I had toffee. I was a child--probably somewhere between 6 and 8 years old. I had been out trick-or-treating for Halloween, and I got a Heath bar in my bag. I bit into it. I did not like it. And I decided that toffee was an icky thing that I did not ever want again. Any future Heath bars collected in this manner were either thrown away or traded to siblings and friends for better candy.

I stuck to my guns for decades, refusing toffee on the rare occasions that it came my way. Because I knew that I didn't like it. Because I had tried it. One bite, one time. When I was 6 (or whatever).

But do you know how much I care about my readers? When I saw "Toffee Chips" pop up on the Trader Joe's "new products" web site the other day, I knew that my journalistic (blogaristic?) duties required me to set aside 40-odd years of prejudice and give it a fair trial for the sake of all of you. Accordingly, on my weekly TJ's run yesterday, I put it in my basket and brought it home. Nina would be over for dinner, and we could try it together.

Before opening the box, I told her how I already knew that I was not going to like it. She surprised me by saying that it was inconceivable to her that I would not like toffee--that, in fact, if I didn't like it, then everything she knew about my food preferences (which is a lot) was wrong.

So who would be right: Nina, or 6-year-old Bob?

Nina, of course. I did like these chocolate-covered toffee pieces. Half the box is covered (Trader Joe's likes to say "enrobed"; watch for that word on their packaging and in the Fearless Flyer, and it starts to become funny how they overuse it) in milk chocolate, the other half in dark chocolate. I had just one of each last night. My initial preference ran slightly to the milk chocolate side, but that may change with further tasting.

But man oh man, are these things ever rich! The butter quotient is off the charts. That, combined with the sugar rush they inflict, was so high that I, though usually quite tolerant of large quantities of fats and sweets, had to stop after two.

I'll come back for more, however. Because in the space of just a few minutes, I went from being a person who does not like toffee to one who does--thanks to Trader Joe's.

Will I buy it again? 

Probably not. They're tasty, but just too rich for my blood, as they say in the poker world.

By the way, Nina didn't feel that she had anything she wanted to contribute to this post, but I think it's OK to tell you that she loved them--so much that they fall into the category of things she'll never buy because she would devour them all and then regret it.