The Trader Joe's Brookie That Has Shoppers Conflicted

When it comes to treats and snacks, Trader Joe's has a lot of choices. Sure, the grocery chain has healthy staples like 10-minute farro and bags of French green beans, but one of the best parts of shopping at TJ's is the in-house selection of ice cream, cookies, and other baked goodies, like its brookies. These part-brownie, part-cookie bites have been around for a few years. However, a newer iteration that pairs the brownie with a peanut butter cookie layer appears slightly more controversial. According to the internet, people either love them and can't live without them or think they're too undercooked, overcooked, or salty.

The perspective of whether or not brookies are good probably all lies in which cookie camp you identify with — soft and chewy or crisp and crunchy. However, you must take into consideration that cookies and brownies have different baking requirements, so baking them together requires a little bit of time and temperature compromise to ensure the brownie isn't undercooked and the cookie overcooked. While there's a little more leeway when making chocolate chip cookies, peanut butter cookie dough is somewhat less forgiving.

The first time many people laid eyes on a brookie was possibly in a 2014 episode of "Shark Tank," when Jovon English and her partners were looking for investors in their business Milk + Brookies. Some eagle-eyed product creator at Trader Joe's must be a fan of the Sharks because the TJ's version showed up in 2019.

Buoyed by the success of the originals, the company rolled out the peanut butter version in 2023. The reaction, however, has been decidedly mixed. Many people seem to think they're either over or undercooked and possibly oversalted. One Redditor created an entire thread in r/traderjoes asking, "Brookie – gooey or undercooked?" However, a commenter in the thread complained, "Every time I've tried the regular Brookie and the Peanut Butter Brookie they're over-cooked, dry, and crumbly." On Instagram, someone noted, "I like the original brookie way better. There was too much coarse salt on the top for my liking and the peanut part tastes dry." Another said, "I wanted to love them because peanut butter cookies are my favorite and I love the original brookie. Sadly these just didn't do it for me. Too salty." 

Others, however, can't get enough of the peanut butter brookies. One Instagrammer was keen to share that they "Warmed it up with vanilla ice cream on top 10/10." Meanwhile, another wrote, "They're phenomenal. Going back to buy more and stock up the freezer."

One of the main complaints about the peanut butter brookies — that they're either overcooked or undercooked — likely lies in the differences between brownies and peanut butter cookies. While brownies are typically baked for anywhere from 30 to 40 minutes, depending on the temperature, peanut butter cookies are only baked for around eight to 10 minutes.

Trader Joe's notes on its website that, "To make each Peanut Butter Brookie, our supplier starts with a layer of rich, fudgy brownie batter, then tops it with a layer of sweet peanut butter cookie batter, complete with crunchy bits of chopped peanuts." It's possible that the brownie layer is being parbaked a bit first before being topped with the peanut butter cookie dough and put back in the oven. That way, the baker sort of meets the two in the middle, so neither is overbaked.

However, if you've ever baked peanut butter cookies, you probably already know that even a minute or two too long in the oven can turn your cookies from chewy to crispy, which might explain how people can complain about the brookies being both undercooked and overcooked — both can be true. Or, more likely, some customers prefer crispier cookies while others prefer chewier treats, which is a culinary debate even bigger than Trader Joe's.