We Got a Sneak Peek of Some of the Aldi German Week Groceries and Found Our New Favorite Fall Snack

How do we know that fall is fast approaching? Cooler nights and mornings, colorful leaves here and there—and Aldi's German Week. The fan-favorite grocery store is a German company, so they know their German groceries. Fans flock to the stores every Wednesday (when the new products drop), but in mid-September, there's even more reason to rush to Aldi because that's when the authentic German products arrive on shelves. Starting tomorrow, fans can find 32 different German groceries at Aldi — pretzels , pasta , pickles and some foods that don't start with the letter p.

Parade readers like nothing more than an Aldi product drop , so the folks at Aldi were kind enough to send over four German week groceries a few days early so we could give them a try. Read on for the details so you can be ready for your shopping spree tomorrow.

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4 Aldi German Week Groceries You Need to Try

When the box of goodies arrived on my doorstep, I couldn't wait to open it up. I asked my husband, Matt, and Gus, our 10-year-old son, to do the taste test with me, which they were more than happy to do. Here's what we thought of the German Week Aldi Finds.

1. Hazelnut Biscuits

These cookies were an instant hit at my house. Both Matt and Gus were pleasantly surprised by how the nutty flavor came through. "Wow you can really taste the hazelnuts," said Gus. The crunchy cookie is actually two cookies and a filling. There's a thicker cookie on the bottom topped with a generous amount of chocolate hazelnut filling. The top cookie is smaller than the bottom cookie and shaped like a flower, so you can see the filling all the way around. It's the perfect sweet afternoon treat with coffee or tea. They'd also be an easy dessert for a casual dinner party.

Because the cookies are packaged in a bag, not all of them stayed pristine. I'm thinking a plastic holder inside a box might have kept these little cuties looking their best, but the visuals were still solid and any imperfections didn't keep us from eating a lot of these.

2. German-Style Pickles

These were a little bit divisive. I didn't mind these, but Matt isn't a sweet pickle fan, so he wasn't wild about them. To be fair, they're not sweet sweet like a bread and butter pickle (which I also enjoy, btw), but if you're in the mood for a garlicky, herby dill pickle this isn't it. The large gherkins are brined in a mixture of water, vinegar, sugar, salt, mustard seed, dill, onions, red peppers and black pepper.

I thought they had a nice balance of sweet and savory and could see them working well in tuna salad or chicken salad, where a little sweetness is welcome. I also thought they'd be a nice addition to a charcuterie board, where they'd pair well with the savory meats.

3. Peanut Puffs

When Matt popped one of these into his mouth he thought they were cheese puffs, so he was understandably not a fan at first. Once he understood they were peanut puffs, he was able to recover and decided they were pretty tasty. I've had a similar snack from Trader Joe's, which is based on Bamba, an Israeli peanut puff. It's been a while since I've had those, but if memory serves, the TJ's version is a bit sweet. That's not the case here. These crunchy corn snacks are deeply savory with a good peanut flavor. They're a fun way to mix up your snacks and if you wanted to make them lean sweeter, you could add a handful of chocolate chips to make a chocolate-pb snack mix.

4. Sugar Roasted Almonds

Let's get one thing out of the way first: These triangular tubes are really cute. Even before you open them up, they feel like a party, thanks in large part to the adorable almond wearing a Tyrolean hat. I mean, come on!

The nuts seem to be inspired by the ones that you can get at street fairs in the fall and winter, and while all three of us enjoyed the crunchy candy shell, we felt like the sweetness overpowered the almond inside. We were craving more nutty flavor and also a bit of salt and/or spice (could go in a cinnamon direction or a spicy direction). But as I looked at my German Week haul I had an idea: What if you mixed the Sugar Roasted Almonds with the Peanut Puffs?

I did just that and all three of us agreed that the salty puffs and the sweet almonds balanced each out perfectly. "That's great," said Gus as he took a handful of the snack mix. "No criticism." And if you know 10-year-olds, you know that most of them won't hold back to spare your feelings.

I'm excited to nibble on this new snack combo this fall and am setting my alarm so I can get to Aldi bright and early tomorrow morning to check out all of the other great German Week Finds. Wish me luck!

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