I may never forgive Trader Joe’s for discontinuing Pumpkin Pie Spice Cookie Butter, but color me curious about this one. ?
Trader Joe’s Carrot Cake Spread
An admitted carrot cake whore, I’m very intrigued by this concept but cautious about its execution.
When I heard Trader Joe’s was releasing a Carrot Cake Spread, I thought for sure it would be a smooth and creamy butter like one of their cookie butters, or at least a whipped frosting-like concoction with proper carrot cake spices.
Trader Joe’s Carrot Cake Spread, however, is structured curiously like a jam or marmalade.
The description on the jar reads “Carrot cake in a jar without the flour and eggs!” As if! Sure I could do without those two ingredients in a spread, but what about the cream cheese frosting?
And WHY THE HELL did you get rid of the best pumpkin spice product OF ALL TIME! ?
Here are some of the ingredients it does contain: sugar, dried carrots, apple juice concentrate, crushed pineapple, golden raisins, orange peel, lemon juice, spices, and vanilla extract.
The package also suggests some applications:
Try on top of scones or toast, add to muffins or cakes, pair with pork tenderloin, or try a spoonful out of the jar.
While I never knew quite how intrigued I was about a carrot cake pork, I began with the least effort… a spoon.
Lol this is incredibly “not carrot cake.”
Trader Joe’s “Carrot Cake Spread” is basically just a fruity raisin jam with strong notes of orange peel. Despite the carrots, the apple juice, the pineapple, lemon, and vanilla bean extract, it’s the orange peel and golden raisins that are the two biggest flavors. For all those ingredients, it’s amazing how much this reminds me of orange marmalade. It’s just chunkier.
The ingredients list spices, but they do very little to ever make me think of carrot cake.
Since the absence of cream cheese frosting is most glaring, I tried adding some cream cheese and “carrot cake spread” atop a graham cracker.
This was a pretty tasty snack and I housed the graham cracker, but again – not carrot cake at all. The spread itself combines well with the cream cheese though. Now, it was the lack of spices that was most glaring.
So I tried it on a Pumpkin Spice English muffin, since some pumpkin pie spices are used in carrot cake.
I also added some butter, because that’s how you eat an English muffin properly.
I enjoyed this too, but – to no one’s surprise – this did not taste like a Carrot Cake English muffin.
If you prepared an English muffin just like this and served it to a kid, they would say something like: “Mom, what flavor is this weird ass jelly? It’s not half bad.”
(Your kid is a monster and uses words like “ass” on the regular).
At this point I couldn’t stop thinking about carrot cake pork tenderloin, so I put it on some pork tenderloin.
I actually liked this the best and will be eating a lot more pork tenderloin with the remainder. But I’ve always enjoyed the combination of pork and fruit, so I’m not surprised I liked this so much. Kinda like lamb & mint jelly; I can’t explain why it works, but it just does.
In summary, Trader Joe’s Carrot Cake is a great pork condiment and a horrible carrot cake.
Burning Questions:
- Does this have cream cheese in it? You clearly didn’t read the review.
- I don’t like your reviews. That’s fine.
- Do they sell this at Trader Joe’s? Oh for Christ’s sake…
Place of Purchase: Trader Joe’s
Rating: 4.5 out of 10
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