One of the telltale signs that we’re moving into the fall season is the release of the Trader Joe’s fall lineup of foods. And we noticed that the pumkingeddon has begun. Fall is here, folks!
Today, we’re quite excited to dig into our first fall TJ’s review of 2022, the Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants. Just look at these things! Look at ’em! This is what true beauty looks like. Well, they say beauty is in the eye of the beholder, and in this case, the beholder is a group of folks who reviews frozen food. So maybe not everyone thinks this is what true beauty looks like. But we certainly do.
As you can see in the image above, there are two croissants in a box, and they come individually wrapped. We weren’t in the mood to save one for later, though, so we just baked both of ours at once.
These magical croissants do not come pre-baked, which means the microwave is not an option for cooking them. But we’re not sad about that at all — it would be sacrilege to nuke one of these! (If you want to read the full oven baking instructions for these croissants, check out the package scans at the bottom of this review.)
These are essentially square pieces of croissant with a mighty dollop of pumpkin spice filling in the center. According to the images on the box, the croissant should expand upward around the filling, while the filling sinks into the middle. That didn’t exactly happen with our batch — instead, the croissant expanded upward, pushing the filling up with it. To be fair, the filling did flatten out and sink a little bit as these cooled, but as you can see in the image below, they didn’t quite sink to the extreme that you’ll see on the box.
That’s no biggie, really. It’s an aesthetic quirk that has no bearing on the actual flavor of the pastries, and it’s the flavor that we’re here for. And TJ’s absolutely nails it. The filling is subtly sweet with cinnamon and nutmeg undertones to give it that special fall spice. It’s not quite as sweet as you’d expect from, say, a pumpkin pie, but it’s close, and it has a nice creamy consistency.
And the portion is generous — this isn’t your thinly spread dab of filling; it’s enough to really let you indulge in the pumpkin spice explosion.
Then there’s the croissant, which is thick, crispy, and buttery. This is a combo fit for a king, folks, and we’re absolutely in pumpkin heaven as we clean the crumbs off our plate.
Each one of these croissants contains 290 calories and 340 mg of sodium. That’s not super bad, to be honest, though we can definitely see a person scarfing down both of these in a sitting. If you go that route, these numbers double — 580 calories and 680 mg of sodium — which you might justify to yourself by insisting that you need an indulgent treat to celebrate the onset of autumn. Hey, tell yourself whatever you want! We’re not judging! In fact, we may have told ourselves this very thing…
The Trader Joe’s Pumpkin Cheesecake Croissants are a wonderful pastry treat that pairs well with a mug of black coffee. This feels like what would happen if a slice of pumpkin pie decided to dress itself up for a fancy ball — these are indulgent luxury pastries that ring in the fall season with style, grace, and maybe even a bit of panache.
To learn more about the nutrition content, ingredients, or cooking instructions in these Trader Joe’s croissants, check out our package scans below.
