The Best Baking Mixes You Can Only Get at Trader Joe’s

Trader Joe’s is known for stocking its shelves with trendy, sometimes quirky, and often utterly crave-worthy snacks made just for the store — things like pickle-flavored popcorn, fried mochi squares, and apple pie cheddar cheese. There’s also the baking mixes, which are worth calling out.

Although they’re not ready to eat right out of the box, almost all are ready to bake in less than five minutes. And the lineup goes beyond the usual cake mix (think: blondies, pumpkin bread, and lemon bars). That means when a craving hits, or a friend is stopping by, or you want to drop off a treat to cheer someone up, you can easily squeeze a fresh-baked option onto your to-do list.

Of course, the burning question is this: Are they as delicious as they are fast? I decided to find out, so I rounded up the most popular baking mixes that you can only get at Trader Joe’s and fired up my oven. Here are the results.

This mix offers the option of baking it into cinnamon-sugar muffins or coffee cake with a crumb topping that uses three tablespoons of the mix blended with one tablespoon of butter and the spiced sugar packet to make the crumble. I decided to go that route, but then took the liberty of adding another tablespoon of butter, because one just didn’t seem like enough to get the crumbs to hold together. My tweak worked like a charm because it was our favorite mix of the whole bunch. The cake is very tender and moist, and the crumble topping is irresistibly crispy and cinnamon-y. In fact, if I use the mix to make muffins I’ll give them the crumble-top treatment too. The box says to refrigerate the topping while you prepare the batter, but there’s really no point. It was ready in less than a minute.

For me, a blondie is all about the brown sugar, butterscotch notes. Does this mix deliver those toffee-like qualities? No, but if you’re looking for a super-easy chocolate chip cookie, this is a great option. It tastes just like a Toll House chocolate chip pan cookie. Mix an egg and melted butter into the mix, spread in a square cake pan, and bake. Next time, I might stir in some Heath toffee bits and sprinkle the top with sea salt.

This mix is the most labor-intensive, as it requires mixing and baking the crust and filling separately, and squeezing enough lemons to get 1/2 cup of juice. Still, it’s a lot easier than making everything from scratch, and the results are just like homemade. The shortbread crust is perfectly golden on the bottom, and the filling is super tangy and lemony, with plenty of sweetness for balance. The bars did weep moisture a bit by the next day, so they’re better eaten the day they’re made. And I wish the directions specified how high up the sides of the pan to pat the crust. I didn’t go quite high enough and some of the filling baked onto the glass pan, making it harder to cut the bars.

After adding the requisite eggs, melted butter, and milk to the mix, I was very impressed to see hundreds of tiny vanilla bean flecks emerge in the batter. I imagined the cake would bake up soft, tender, and fragrant with vanilla. What I got was, well, pretty close. My family had no trouble scarfing it down; it’s delicious with both store-bought frosting and homemade cream cheese frosting. Tasted on its own, though, the crumb is a little coarser and denser than I had hoped, and seems just a tad greasy. It’s not overtly vanilla-flavored, either. However, for a boxed cake without a bunch of questionable ingredients, it’s definitely a winner.

This mix comes around only in the fall, and it must be popular because they keep bringing it back. It was, however, our least favorite. Yes, it’s quite moist and has the requisite pumpkin spice notes, but there’s a soapy aftertaste we didn’t like. I think it’s a case of too much baking soda. I tried adding a powdered sugar glaze, as the box recommended for its “Holiday Bread” variation, but it didn’t mask that aftertaste. However, if it was slathered in cream cheese frosting or butter, it probably wouldn’t have been as noticeable.

I’ll be honest: The orange and green striped box, with its giant pumpkin and rustic sketches of dry-looking baked goods, was a complete turn-off. I did not have high hopes for this. However, we were all happily surprised by how delicious this quick bread turned out to be. It delivers all the moist, pumpkin-y, autumnally spiced goodness we expected from the regular pumpkin bread mix — and then some. I added a pat of butter to my slice and was in pumpkin spice heaven. Ignore the ugly box and stock up.

I guess dreams really do come true because within two minutes you can go from craving warm, fudgy chocolate cake to actually eating it, thanks to this just-add-water mix. It’s seriously easier to make than hot chocolate — and far more satisfying. The box has two packets of mix (so you don’t have to indulge alone) and four individually wrapped sea salt caramels. Just drop two in the mug halfway through and they melt into a golden caramel pool. Although this isn’t the most complex and flavorful chocolate cake, it will definitely satisfy your ooey-gooey chocolate cravings.

Warning: Do not cut into these supremely fudgy brownies unless you have a big glass of milk at the ready. Made with melted butter instead of oil, they bake up incredibly rich, with little melted bits of chocolate chips scattered throughout. You will definitely need immediate refreshment. They’re very good, but if I had my druthers, I’d prefer them to be a little less chewy-fudgy and a little more tender, and also a little less sweet. But then again I’ve never met a brownie I didn’t like. Would I make these again? Sure thing.

Do you have a favorite Trader Joe’s baking mix? Let us know in the comments!