5 Best Breakfast Pastries At Trader Joe's

The Trader Joe's bakery aisle has a way of luring customers in, like cartoon characters floating toward the enticing aroma of a freshly baked apple pie cooling on a windowsill. The grocery chain is already known for its unique snacks and limited-time offerings that work shoppers up into a frenzy. And its bakery options are no different: Whether savory or sweet, Trader Joe's breakfast pastries give us a reason to be excited for the morning. Over the years, it has rolled out hundreds of gooey, sugary confections that have inspired serious fan devotion.

Some pastries are seasonal favorites that make a brief appearance before disappearing until next year. Others have earned permanent spots in shoppers' freezers and pantries. Then there are the cult favorites. Pastries that have sparked social media buzz, sold out, or have shoppers scrambling to the store as soon as shelves are stocked. With the store's bevy of muffins, croissants, danishes, strudels, and sweet breakfast treats, it's hard to narrow down the best. However, customers have taken to social media to post their approval of five top-tier Trader Joe's breakfast pastries: chocolate croissants, pumpkin caramel kringle, apple cider donuts, chocolate chip pain au lait, and kouign amann. Look for these on your next shopping trip and try to resist the urge to eat them all in one sitting.

These flaky chocolate breakfast delights snagged the top spot on our list of best breakfast foods at Trader Joe's. Made with semisweet Belgian chocolate and creamy butter, the chocolate croissants have been a favorite of shoppers for years. "I cannot stress enough how amazing the chocolate croissants are," a Reddit user posted. "Better than both Starbucks and Panera! It was a bit of a pain waiting for them to rise, but so worth it." Found in the frozen section, you need to let the croissants proof (rise) overnight before brushing them with an egg wash and baking them. That little extra effort means enjoying a freshly baked pastry with your morning coffee. And if they taste as good as ones you'd find at a French bakery, it's because a French chef — Jean-Yves Charon, founder and pastry chef of Richmond, California-based Galaxy Desserts, which manufactures the croissants — devised the recipe. A frozen four-pack costs $5.99.

While it's only a seasonal item, the store's pumpkin kringle has gone viral, with many shoppers obsessed with the European pastry. A laminated dough shaped into an oval ring, kringles are usually filled with nuts, fruit, and jams and then topped with icing. The grocery chain offers a variety of seasonal kringles, but the autumnal pumpkin flavor seems to reign supreme. "Devoured a quarter of the pumpkin kringle as soon as I got home," wrote one shopper on Reddit. Made by O&H Danish Bakery in Racine, Wisconsin, the breakfast pastry has a sweet, buttery, flaky base, topped with spiced pumpkin cream, then drizzled with sweet caramel and pecan icing. It's pre-baked, so no need to do any work, but reviewers suggest briefly warming the fall treat, including in the air fryer. The 24-ounce pumpkin caramel kringle is in stores only until the end of November. Grab one for $9.99 before they're gone.

Stores may be exploding with pumpkin breakfast items right now, but that's not the only fall-friendly flavor worth picking up. Another seasonal breakfast — or anytime — treat is back on the market: Trader Joe's apple cider donuts are a must-have to pair with your morning coffee or this slow-cooker apple cider recipe. The hand-rolled donuts are sweetened with apple cider, sugar, and loads of cinnamon. And shoppers are crazy for them. "The yelp I yelped when I saw these in the store last weekend," wrote one Reddit commenter.  "I actually held them over my head like the 'Lion King.' They are the first harbinger of fall on its way, and I am ready for it." Others call the donuts a little dry, and some suggest warming them and dipping them in milk or coffee. "Air fryer 300 degrees [Fahrenheit] for three minutes. Makes them taste like a churro," recommended another Reddit user. A family-owned bakery in western Massachusetts makes the fluffy apple cider donuts, which cost $4.99 for a package of six.

Translating to "milk bread," pain au lait is a soft, fluffy French bread that's shaped into mini baguettes. After discontinuing its plain version, Trader Joe's released its pain au lait chocolate chip rolls to the satisfaction of many customers. "They are amazing!" said one TikTok reviewer. "Trader Joe's, you have outdone yourself by doing this. ... I put it in the air fryer for two minutes. ... A 10 out of 10, recommend to a friend." The chocolate chip pain au lait brioche-like rolls are loaded with chocolate chips and made with milk and eggs. These sweet pastries are the closest you can get to feeling like you're dining at a fancy French patisserie. And who doesn't want chocolate for breakfast? After you've warmed it up a little, pair the rolls with your morning coffee, tea, or hot chocolate. A package of eight costs $3.99.

With origins dating back to the 1860s in the Brittany region of France, kouign amann (pronounced QUEEN ah-MAHN) is an incredibly flaky breakfast pastry made with laminated viennoiserie (croissant) dough. The name comes from the Breton words for cake and butter, and the treat is packed with just that: butter and sugar baked until the sugar caramelizes and the butter expands into its layers. Kouign amann is extremely time-consuming to make from scratch, and can be tricky, so Trader Joe's makes it easy on the rest of us with the pastry the chain describes as "something like a miniature, folded-up croissant cake." Like some of the store's other frozen pastries, these also need to rise overnight before baking. "I had to control myself not to eat more than one," wrote one Reddit commenter. "They were super crispy, buttery and flaky." Available in the frozen section for a limited time, a four-pack costs $5.49.