Trader Joe’s has put out quite a few baking mixes over the years, mixes with all natural ingredients and a very low price tag that makes them pretty appealing, even for “scratch” bakers. I’ve had mixed results from a few mixes, and very good results from others, and that is enough to keep me curious when I see that they’ve added a new product to their lineup.
Trader Joe’s Blondie Bar Baking Mix is a mix for blondies – bar cookies that have a flavor similar to a chocolate chip cookie and a chewy texture that is more like that of a brownie. The ingredient list reads like something you’d make at home: flour, sugar, brown sugar, baking soda, salt, molasses, oil and chocolate chips. Of course, you add in your own butter and egg to the mix to moisten it before baking. The finished blondies look a lot like the bars you’d make from scratch, although they just a bit cakier than I usually make my blondies. They have a nice brown sugar cookie flavor and plenty of chocolate chips. The only changes that I would make would be to add a splash of vanilla in with the rest of the ingredients to round out the flavors a bit. It doesn’t seem like there are too many mixes for blondies out there, so I like the fact that this mix offers something a little different. It’s also nice that the box includes suggestions for a few other mix-ins to change this mix up and make it easy to put twists on it if it becomes a regular feature in your baking.
Stephanie P.
September 13, 2012I never buy baking mixes even though some–especially at TJ’s–look great, and I’m glad their ingredient list appears preservative free.
I’m curious, when you see the ingredients are items most bakers already have on hand, is the price really worth it to save a mere few minutes of weighing and mixing yourself?
For instance, if you weren’t using mixes to give honest reviews on your blog, would you make them yourself?
Sometimes I would think it’s worth it, especially being sick with degenerative disease and often being too tired to bake, but I just can’t seem to put the box in the cart!
Rick
September 22, 2012Let me tell you these are the real deal. I am not really into boxed items but I tasted these when they were on demo, exceptional. I think they are equal to blondies made from scratch. Perfection. 🙂
Anonymous
October 28, 2012the best sweets ever! they are so scrumptious and are better than the homemade type!
tjbaker
November 28, 2012I made the blondies recently because I am somewhat of a fan of Trader Joe’s items, but to be honest, I really wasn’t a huge fan of this particular mix. I found the chocolate way too sweet and the overall consistency of the brownie to be too crunchy or dense or something. I just didn’t like it. Sorry! I really wanted to like it because I’d never had blondies before and was looking forward to adding a new item to my baking repetoire, but I won’t be buying this particular mix again. I would recommend adding nuts to cut the chocolate, that might help balance the flavors a bit.
ALEX
December 19, 2012I love my trader joes because they always have samples in the back of the store! One day it was these blondies bars… but instead of the WHOLE STICK of butter and egg, the lady baking them substituted a can of Northern Beans (white beans you can find there… or anywhere) for those ingredients. What you do is rinse the beans (in the can) keep the beans in the can, fill it with water and puree that mixture in a blender, add to the blondies mix (with nothing else… unless you want to add some vanilla, nuts, etc. like mentioned above) and bake… it takes away the cholestrol and fat that the butter would add and adds protein! You can barely tell a difference (I fed it to my boyfriend and friends’ kids who LOVED them and couldn’t tell a difference).. GREAT idea for making this recipe a little more “healthy” — you can also substitute this for most other recipes, too!
Sharon Lyons
April 18, 2014This came out exactly like the box.. I posted it on my page.. peeps were impressed but I laughed to myself because I know I did nothing extra. Great product .. the taste as satisfying as well 🙂
donna
September 18, 2014There is something else in them as I had an allergic reaction to them and i’m not allergic to anything listed. i tasted peanutbutter.
jessica Norem
October 11, 2016This is truly my FAVORITE mix but I’ve tried to find a recipe with THESE ingredients, impossible….can anyone help me out…I would LOVE the copycat version to make at home.
Speattle
October 6, 2017I just mixed up a box of this for the first time. After it was in the oven, I tasted a bit of what was left in the bowl, and thought to myself that indeed, some extra vanilla would have been a good idea. Ah well…next time!
I did add a half cup of flaked coconut to my pan of bars.
looking forward to taste testing these tonight after dinner.