It’s kind of weird to be craving frozen treats in the middle of a below-zero cold spell, but here we are. And, as it turns out, Trader Joe’s is perfectly willing to satisfy this odd-duck craving, with the Trader Joe’s Vegan Mint & Chip Bon Bons.
Now, the word “Vegan” is in the title of this product, but that doesn’t mean that non-vegans need not apply. This is still an incredible dessert for anyone who likes things a little chilly. There are eight bon bons in a box, and they come in a very stylish inner package that has a marbled pattern on it.
Seriously, we felt kind of bad tearing into this, because that just looks so gosh-dang fancy. Well, it looks fancy to someone who throws around phrases like “gosh-dang,” anyway…
But we did eventually get over our hesitation. There were some frozen treats waiting for us, after all, and once we broke the spell of gazing longingly at that stylish package, we took a deep breath and gave this elegant thing a rip.
These bon bons are delightfully round, with flat bottoms so they don’t go rolling around on their own.
And we have to say: If we didn’t already know these were vegan-friendly, we never would have guessed. The ice cream substitute is made from coconut milk, but it’s so minty that you’ll never be able to tell. The flavor is intense, and we didn’t really notice any texture issues that would break the illusion. This is an impressive non-dairy ice cream, and we’d actually be interested in eating a batch of it on its own.
We should point out that Trader Joe’s does make a killer mint chip ice cream, but the one we tried isn’t vegan-friendly. We’re not aware of a vegan-friendly carton of this stuff, but that doesn’t mean it doesn’t exist (and if it does exist, please let us know about it in the comments section!)
The minty coconut ice cream, of course, comes packed inside a hard chocolate shell. That shell isn’t very thick, but the chocolate is so rich in flavor that the thinness really doesn’t matter. The instant this stuff hits your mouth and starts to melt, you’ll be sent off to a fantasy world of chocolatey flavor. This is pretty much the perfect chocolate shell.
According to the box, a single bon bon contains 70 calories and 5 mg of sodium, meaning the full box contains 580 calories and 40 mg of sodium. And the package considers all eight to be a serving. So if you want to go completely wild and eat the whole box in a sitting, you have permission from Trader Joe’s. Then again, that’s kind of a lot of calories, and these are rich enough that we think two or three makes for a better serving size.
The Trader Joe’s Vegan Mint & Chip Bon Bons are a fantastic vegan-friendly dessert that doesn’t taste like a vegan-friendly dessert. These bon bons are exceptionally craveable, and we hope to pick up some more of these soon. We’re not sure how long these will be in season, but we definitely want to get at least one more box before they disappear.
To learn more about the nutrition content or ingredients in this frozen dessert, check out our package scan below.
