Costco Bakery Cookies Ranked From Worst To Best
Costco bakery cookies are delicious, fresh-tasting, and, of course, reasonably priced. It's no wonder these economical treats are indeed the epitome of supermarket cookie perfection. No one is denying that. And yet, some Costco bakery cookies are simply tastier, and more deserving of being sold in a full-out 24-pack (instead of being confined to a measly 8-count in a variety box) than their other cookie companions. The question is, which Costco bakery cookies deserve bulk solo superstardom, and which need to remain variety cookie backup? I set out to find out.
I ranked every bakery cookie flavor currently available at Costco, including the original golden trio (the oatmeal raisin, white chocolate macadamia nut, and of course, chocolate chunk cookies) that come in the Costco bakery 24 cookie variety pack, as well as Costco's all-new white cranberry chocolate cookies, to determine which is most worthy of being sold in a 24-count box. I judged (and will talk about the ranking process more in-depth later) these tasty little morsels based on their freshness, taste, the amount and ratio of their ingredients, as well as their overall consistency. By consistency, I mean I examined multiple cookies under each flavor umbrella to see if they consistently tasted delicious with plentiful ingredients across the board, or if the number of ingredients and the quality of each given flavor varied from cookie to cookie. Ranked worst to first, here are the Costco bakery cookies that need a 24-pack breakout.
White chocolate cranberry
"Careful, they're dangerous," were the words used by one Reddit user to describe Costco's recently debuted white chocolate cranberry cookies. Stepping onto the Costco bakery scene just this month, these allegedly menacingly tasty mini cookies were sold hot onto the market in a 24-pack, but are they worthy of this honor? No, not really.
Yes, from the moment I opened the cookie container, I was hit with the enticing smell of sweet vanilla (I believe the dough is sugar-cookie-based), and yes, on the first bite, I found myself digging into a soft, chewy, and fresh-tasting mini-cookie delight. But after I got further into my first cookie from this box, I found that while I was treated to bright, tangy cranberry flavor there was barely any white chocolate to balance out the cranberry's acidity and make this cookie worthy of its name. But, wait, the plot thickens.
When I reached for another little cookie, I found the turns had indeed been tabled — my second cookie had more delicious, high-quality white chocolate chips, seemingly at the cost of a lack of cranberries. So I found the white chocolate cranberry cookies, while fresh-tasting and generally delicious, need to get their little lives together. Because the amount of each core ingredient (white chocolate and cranberries) varies so heavily from cookie to cookie, Costco's newest bakery cookies are also the brand's worst bakery cookie flavor and the least deserving of being sold in a 24-pack.
White chocolate macadamia nut
A cookie with a cult following, fans don't want to settle for the insulting mere eight white chocolate macadamia nut cookies that come in Costco's variety cookie pack, and they've long demanded that Costco sell a 24-count of its white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (which you can buy at any Costco Business Center). However, while I get the appeal of these baked goods, should they be sold in a 24-count? I say this flavor is on thin ice.
Costco's white chocolate macadamia nut cookies are indeed soft and fresh-tasting. Each baked good is infused with plenty of nuts, which add a crunchy dimension to each treat, and heaps of high-quality white chocolate that melted in my mouth. However, this cookie still has a few fatal flaws that make me stop short of making the drive to a Costco Business Center.
While there was a lot of chocolate in each of the macadamia nut cookies I tried, there were varying amounts of nuts, and the chocolate-to-nut ratio in every one of these treats was way off. The white chocolate chips were generally focused toward the middle of the cookie, so they didn't combine with the macadamia nuts nearly enough to unleash this flavor's true potential. While this cookie flavor's ingredients are more consistent than the white chocolate cranberry cookies, the white chocolate chip macadamia nut cookies' ingredient imbalance has earned it this limbo spot in the ranking.
Oatmeal raisin
There is one argument that always divides the greater cookie community straight down the middle. It's started wars, turned friends against friends, lovers to enemies –- yes, we are talking about the great chocolate chip and oatmeal raisin cookie divide. However, I don't care whether you are a tried and true oatmeal raisin cookie hater, Costco's oatmeal raisin cookies (which are also sold in a 24-pack at Costco Business Centers) are objectively too good not to bestow the Costco bakery cookie red ribbon.
First of all, these were by far the moistest, chewiest cookies I tried from Costco, and the texture of the oatmeal in this treat provided a delicious mouthfeel. The raisins offered a consistent, tart burst of flavor throughout each cookie. While I found that the number of raisins varied slightly from cookie to cookie, the raisins in each treat were overall consistent. But, although these oatmeal-infused treats' chewy, flaky texture and sweet-meets-tang taste were divine, their raisins-to-oatmeal ratio was still lacking.
The raisins took a few bites to reach, and while there were more of them and they were more consistently spaced throughout the cookies than the ingredients in the white chocolate macadamia nut, I needed the ingredients to be there from cookie start to cookie finish if the oatmeal raisin cookies had any chance of beating my No. 1 pick. However, I still advocate that Costco offers a 24-pack of this flavor at its regular stores.
Chocolate chunk
One Costco bakery cookie flavor is a baked good that's thought to be better than anything that Crumbl Cookies has ever produced and is so beloved it's sold in both a 24-count pack and in mini form in a 60-count tub — and rightfully so. I present to you my No. 1 pick for the best bakery cookie flavor at Costco, chocolate chunk.
This cookie flavor is perfect. Smelling strongly of the high-quality, tasty chocolate within before I even ate it, from the moment I bit into this sweet I was treated to an explosion of huge semi-sweet chocolate chunks inside delicious cookie dough, cooked to browned perfection. The inclusion of chocolate chunks instead of chips in this cookie was an excellent strategy on Costco's part because the sheer size of each chunk ensures eaters are never without a taste of chocolate. The cookie's texture was chewy throughout with delectably crisp edges, making this baked good the perfect marriage of chewy meets crispy one would expect from a chocolate chip cookie. And my first chocolate chunk cookie wasn't a tasty fluke — every cookie of this flavor I tried from the variety pack was equally chocolate-filled and chewy-meets-crispy in texture.
So, for its masterful blend of ingredients, great taste, and impeccable consistency, go ahead and skip the variety pack, and grab a 24-pack of nothing but chocolate chunk. The bulk retailer's take on this classic cookie flavor is my pick for the best bakery cookie at Costco.
Methodology
To properly rank and judge each of these cookies, I ensured I ate my way through at least two of each flavor. Through this tactic, I was able to identify if a given flavor's cookie quality varied as well as judge its freshness, taste, the amount and ratio of ingredients, as well as the cookie's overall consistency — to see whether the number of ingredients and the quality of each given flavor varied from cookie to cookie.