The Trader Joe's Bakery Find To Add To Your Cart For An Easy Pavlova Shortcut

Who isn't a fan of a quick and simple dessert recipe — particularly if it can be made with three ingredients or less and looks impressive to boot? Trader Joe's meringue dessert shells can fit the bill on all fronts, allowing you to make a delicious pavlova in just a couple minutes. Pavlova's origin may be a complicated matter up for debate, but essentially, the dessert consists of a meringue shell, whipped cream, and fresh fruit. Trader Joe's donut-shaped meringue dessert shells take care of the first element, so all you have to do is fill them with the latter two ingredients.

For a fully homemade pavlova, you'll need at least an hour and a half just for baking the meringue — and there are a lot of mistakes you can make when baking that meringue, from poor piping skills to incorrect cooking times. So having the meringue piece taken care of makes this otherwise somewhat complicated dessert a breeze. The only semi-complex thing would be if you wanted to focus on presentation, arranging the fruit in a specific eye-catching manner.

The TJ's meringue dessert shells come in a pack of two for about three dollars, and are only around for a limited time. They're great for single serve pavlovas, though you'd have to purchase several packets if making desserts for a whole party. Beyond the convenience factor, another nice thing about them is that they're only made with a handful of ingredients: sugar, egg whites, natural flavors, and vanilla extract. 

The meringue dessert shells sound like the ultimate win for easy pavlovas, but reviews over on Reddit are mixed. Some consumers think these are delicious and go on to share their favorite filling ideas — strawberries, peaches, pineapple Dole whip, lemon curd, etc. However, there are some critics too, with people claiming the shells' texture is too different from that of a usual pavlova meringue — that is, they are hard all the way through rather than crispy on the outside and pillowy on the inside. One Reddit user sarcastically referred to them as "Trader Joe's drywall bowls," although it was unclear if they'd actually tried the bowls or just aren't a meringue fan in general.

Furthermore, several commenters confirmed just how helpful pre-made meringue shells can be, having tried making their own at home only to end up with several broken shells. On the other hand, some shoppers said that the meringue shells at their local Trader Joe's were largely broken up anyway, though that's not necessarily a universal experience. If you do end up with some broken shells, you could always use them for an Eton mess, a dessert similar to a pavlova in terms of components, but using broken meringue pieces layered between the fruit and cream.