To tell you the truth, I don't know that I've ever had cognac prior to these little candies. I always think of that old Tim Meadows sketch on SNL, The Ladies Man, where he'd sip his Courvoisier cognac. It's a French liqueur, and it's a type of brandy. Other than that, I don't know much about it.
Obviously, these boozy bottles are being presented a little differently, but they remind me quite a bit of Trader Joe's now defunct Brandy Beans. The dark chocolate is semi-sweet, and so is the liquor by my reckoning. Pretty interesting combo in both cases.
The box says the alcohol by volume is in the ballpark of 3%. That's apparently enough to give some folks a buzz, therefore this product can't be sold to anyone under 21 years of age. I don't know for sure, but I'd go out on a limb and guess that it's not even sold at the Trader Joe's locations that don't carry alcoholic beverages.*
I only had one or two bottles at a time, and as you can see they are quite small. I certainly didn't get buzzed, but there is definitely a strong alcohol flavor to the chocolates. I'd say they're about half full of cognac, and it will spill right out if you bite the candy in half. If you don't like booze at all, you probably won't enjoy these. The beautiful wifey and I do enjoy alcoholic beverages in moderation, so we thought these were pretty good.
Here's an occasion where I'll admit dark chocolate works better than its sweeter cousins. I think the flavor of milk chocolate might get lost underneath the strong punch of the cognac. Dark chocolate balances it out fairly well.
$3.99 for nine little boozy bottles. Imported from France. The novelty factor is very high with this product, and it tastes pretty darn good, too. We would buy again. Eight out of ten stars from me for Trader Joe's Boozy Bottles. Sonia will throw out nine stars.
These were near the checkout area at Trader Joe's on our last run. "German Iced Gingerbread Soft Spiced Cookies." Awesome. Sounds delicious. And they're soft...it's like a dream come true!
Except by "soft," they mean totally not soft. Like they're the same texture as gingersnaps or run-of-the-mill crispy cookies. I mean, they're not super hard...but they're by no means "soft" and honestly, they're a little on the dry side.
It's too bad because they taste really good. The icing makes them nice and sweet. The ginger flavor is just about perfect—not too strong, not too weak. They go great with coffee. There are actually two individually wrapped "cookies" in the box which helps keep the second one fresher longer. They're quite large. Each pastry is three servings a piece. They're like the same shape as a Pop-Tart but just a bit bigger in every dimension.
I'm not sure we would have purchased them if they hadn't so boldly proclaimed themselves "soft," but in the end, that's really our only complaint. There are just so many cookies of every kind floating around at Trader Joe's and everywhere else this time of year, it takes something extraordinarily special to get top marks on this blog. Unfortunately, we can only recommend these if you don't mind crunchy cookies or if you're looking for a spiced international treat to dunk in your java.
Product of Germany. $3.49 for the six serving box. Might make a decent stocking stuffer or cheap gift. Seven out of ten stars from Sonia and me for Trader Joe's German Iced Gingerbread Cookies.
