Review: Trader Joe's - Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies

Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies feature small round cookie sandwiches made with ground hazelnuts with a "creamy" chocolate hazelnut filling.

A 10-ounce box cost me $3.99.

Okay so the first thing I thought when I saw these stacked into a small tower of boxes was "Nutella cookies!" If you think the same, you, like me, will be disappointed. These are not the Nutella cookies of your imagination (that's right, I'm a mind reader... or a Jedi... or both!).

The chocolate hazelnut filling only lightly exhibits the flavors of chocolate and hazelnut. The filling is mostly just sweet with a Tootsie-Roll-like consistency... (and a little bit of that Tootsie Roll flavor too, now that I think about it) I was more expecting something closer to an Oreo creme in texture. It actually sticks to your teeth a little like a Tootsie Roll too. The filling isn't as thick as pictured on the box either.

The cookie portion makes me think of shortbread crossed with a sugar cookie. It's fairly crumbly with a touch of buttery richness. Like the filling, it doesn't quite deliver on the hazelnut front. Don't get me wrong: it's actually a pretty good cookie. It's just that there's not much there to make me think "hazelnut cookie." The powdered sugar is more for aesthetics than anything. They don't bring anything to the show other than the look, which is fine on the runway but this is an eating contest.

Overall, Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies fails to deliver on the promise of chocolate and hazelnut. I think they over-reached on this one. I actually like eating them, but they're disappointing because of the words on the box that read "Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies."

Nutritional Info - Trader Joe's Chocolate Hazelnut Cookies
Serving Size - 2 cookies (32g)
Calories - 180 (from Fat - 90)
Fat - 10g (Saturated Fat - 5g)
Sodium - 70mg
Carbs - 19g (Sugar - 9g)
Protein - 2g