Trader Joe's Very Mini Vanilla Meringues - Product Review

When I was following Weight Watchers on the points system it seemed I was always on a quest to find something I could eat a lot of while using very little points. That's not such an easy thing to do when it comes to eating junk food.

I found those meringue cookies made with egg whites and sugar that came in vanilla and chocolate flavors. One big cookie came out to be 1 or 2 points and that wasn't too bad, but because they were big you couldn't eat a lot of them, and you really didn't want to anyhow because they would get a little too sweet if you did.

Well, on a recent trip to Trader Joe's I was surprised and thrilled to find a tub of those meringue cookies in miniature! While I liked the regular meringues well enough, I still hadn't bought or made any in years, but seeing them in this tiny size peaked my interest again. I purchased a tub of these ultra mini meringue cookies for about $2.49.

Eating the Trader Joe's Very Mini Vanilla Meringues

When I tried the Trader Joe's Very Mini Vanilla Meringues cookies, I found the sweet but light taste that remembered. As I put one of the little cookies on my tongue and allowed it to melt. Once the slightly harder outer shell of the cookies was gone, the rest gave way rather quickly.

The next cookie I just popped into my mouth and enjoyed the sweet crunch of it. It was almost like popcorn, the way you could just pop them in and have a nice little crunch to enjoy.

On the label of the Trader Joe's Very Mini Vanilla Meringues container was a blurb that said ONE CALORIE IN EACH MINI MERINGUE! This meant that I could eat 50 of those bad boys and it would only cost me 1 point in Weight Watcher's terms. Although there was no fiber in the cookies so 50 meringues might come out to a little over 1 point. The label said a serving size was 100 pieces and there were about 5 servings in the tub.

Wow! Only about 10 points for the entire container! Not that you'd want to eat that much of course, and in fact you probably couldn't anyhow because I found that just eating a handful of the tiny meringue cookies started to get a little too sweet, making you quickly tire of them!

Fun Uses for Trader Joe's Very Mini Vanilla Meringue Cookies

I just so happened to be enjoying a glass of diet coke while I sampled the tiny cookies. I thought, what would happen if I put a couple of these in my soda. Turns out, they floated on the top and started foaming around the edges as they slowly melted. I tasted my soda when they were almost completely dissolved and found that they'd added a nice vanilla flavoring to my drink!

I had planned to try this again in my coffee or hot chocolate, but unfortunately the little cookies didn't last enough until the next time I had either of those.

As I looked at the size and shape of the little cookies, my thoughts went to other possibilities for their use. Pastry decoration again was one of my first ideas. They'd make a nice covering for the roof of a gingerbread house. Or they'd work nicely as a snowy ground covering, or for little mushrooms or flowers for the yard of the house.

When it melted, the tiny cookie looked like a marshmallow. This not surprising since they essentially are made up of the same ingredients. It also gave me the idea that these may work well in cookies or brownies. I wondered how they'd work for Rocky Road brownies? You could also put them in muffins and cake batter. Possibly even try them in one of those fruity Jell-O desserts.

Did I mention that these mini meringues have that wonderful vanilla scent! It reaches out and pleasantly slaps you in the face as soon as you break the seal on the container!

They are also fat free, gluten free, and sodium free, with no artificial colors and flavors, and no preservatives!

Other Nutritional Information:

Serving Size: 100 pieces (29g)

Amount per Serving

Calories 100

Calories from Fat 0

% Daily Value *

Total Fat 0g

0%

Saturated Fat 0g

0%

Sodium 45mg

1%

Total Carbohydrate 24g

13%

Dietary Fiber 3g

9%

Sugars 24g

Protein 1g

Vitamin A

0%

Vitamin C

0%

Calcium

0%

Iron

0%

Ingredients: BEET SUGAR, CONFECTIONARY SUGAR (CORN), EGG WHITES, NATURAL VANILLA FLAVOR, CREAM OF TARTAR, SALT.

MADE ON EQUIPMENT SHARED WITH WHEAT, TREE NUTS AND SOY.

The idea that you can eat a lot of these with little concern about calories appeals to me, but they're really not very healthy. Just egg whites and sugar, almost pure sugar really, still they're melt-in-your mouth crunchy, don't have any fat, and they taste really good with beverages! So I will be getting more of these!