Never go shopping with me at Trader Joe’s unless you have a sweet tooth. I cannot get out of that store without more desserts than actual meals in my cart. Yet somehow, I never paid much attention to Trader Joe’s ready to eat macarons — until recently.
I first noticed their summer version of the treat, which features peach and watermelon flavors. And so, being the sweet-toothed Francophile I am, I decided to give all the Trader Joe’s macarons a try. Read on for the No. 1 box you should buy, plus what I thought of each flavor.
First Things First — What Is a Macaron?
Though the cookie is thought of as a French baked good, it has its roots in Italy. The Italian word “maccherone” means fine dough, according to All Recipes. The French macaron is usually made with almond flour, egg whites, and confectioners’ sugar, and contains fillings such as buttercream, ganache, and fruit jam. The texture is typically moist and airy, while also being a little chewy and cakey.
The macaron is not to be confused with the macaroon — a totally different type of cookie. Macaroons typically look like a flaky coconut mound.
What Types of Macarons Does Trader Joe’s Sell?
Trader Joe’s sells its original A Dozen Macarons Variés, which is packaged under the charmingly named Trader Jacques. This is no poor substitute for a French bakery, as the cookies are actually made by the store’s French partners. The flavors in this selection include two macarons each of apricot, coconut, fig, salted caramel, lemon, and pistachio.
Trader Joe’s also sells a Chocolate and Vanilla French Macarons box, which features six vanilla and six chocolate macarons. Finally, the store offers a seasonal selection, which currently has summery peach and watermelon flavors. Each carton is $5.99 for a dozen.
Though you’ll find the treats in the freezer section, it says on the package that the macarons should be refrigerated after opened, then consumed within two days. However, I broke the rules and ate them right out of the freezer. The texture was chewy and delicious. I also tried them defrosted, and they were more cake-like. Really, you can’t lose either way you eat them.
1. Best: A Dozen Macarons Variés
If I could only buy one box again, I would go for the variety box. Here’s how I ranked the flavors in order of favorites.
- Lemon
The lemon was perfect on a summer day — light and sweet, and almost like a bite-size lemon meringue pie.
- Coconut
- Fig
I love Fig Newtons and fig jam, so I was a big fan of this one. The chewy texture of a macaron perfectly complements a fig flavor.
- Apricot
It really did have a jam-like flavoring and consistency to it, but being that it’s not one of my favorite flavors in general, I was good with just eating one.
- Salted Caramel
This was neither very salty or caramel-y. I couldn’t tell at first if I was eating one of the other flavors, save for a very subtle aftertaste.
- Pistachio
Due to a pistachio allergy, this is the only flavor I didn’t try. But given how delicious everything else was, I doubt you would be disappointed.
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2. Watermelon & Peach Macarons
This combo is perfect for the summer months, but I think I would get sick of it later on in the year. Still, of the two flavors, I preferred watermelon over peach.
- Watermelon
This definitely has more of fake candy watermelon flavor than a fresh fruit one, but I like fake watermelon, so I was good with it.
- Peach
Very, very peachy — again, in a fake sort of way. Not one of my favorites. You may like it if you like Haribo Peaches.
Related: Best Store-Bought Desserts from Trader Joe’s
3. Chocolate & Vanilla French Macarons
There’s really no such thing as a bad macaron, but chocolate and vanilla were pretty basic compared to the other flavors. I would eat them if they were presented to me again, though.
- Chocolate
If you have simpler tastes, the chocolate ones were creamy, just sweet enough, and would satisfy any chocoholic like myself.
- Vanilla
The vanilla was simply that — clearly a vanilla macaron. It was good, but not exactly exciting.
Final thought: a serving size is three, but they are tiny enough that it’s way too easy to go over the limit. (See my Costco peanut butter pie taste test and you’ll notice I don’t have a lot of self control.) In fact, if I had any self control at all, I would’ve taken merely a delicate bite of each to test the flavor. Yeah, that didn’t happen. C’est la vie.
