The New Costco Item People Are Going Crazy Over
Costco has a reputation for selling all manner of bulk items, from 30-roll packs of toilet paper to ginormous jars full of olives to 18-packs of canned tomato sauce. Sometimes, though, it's not the just the package size that's bigger and better, it's the actual product itself that's supersized. Want a 4-foot tall wine glass that holds 25 bottles of merlot? Costco has you covered. How about a 5-pound lobster claw that doesn't look like it could possibly have come from nature? They've got those, too. 7-pound tubs of chocolate-hazelnut Nutella goodness? You know they've done it. But the latest and greatest supersized offering from the warehouse store is enough to make your inner Homer Simpson say, "Mmm... donuts."
In June 2019, Costco introduced the completely magnificent, extremely pink, candy-adorned Handmade Jumbo Iced Donut that instantly made a splash on social media. This glorious confection is jumbo indeed, reportedly weighing in at nearly 2 pounds — it's basically a cake in donut form, but as one very smart (and possibly very hungry) Twitter user pointed out, it's also perfect for the ol' "I only had one donut" excuse. Hey, it's true... 2 pounds or not, it is still technically one single donut.
Based on the ingredient list, we can confirm that it's made with "donut premix," cluing us in that the texture should be decidedly more donut-like than cake-like, no matter how cake-like the whole shebang looks. It also comes complete with "strawberry flavored fondant mix," which means that the pink frosting will be berry-flavored, and on top of that, you've got more sweetness in the form of mini M&M's and rainbow sprinkles — because, really, no self-respecting pink donut goes without a generous helping of rainbow sprinkles.
While reports of the larger-than-life donut have been dominating news feeds across the country, you'll be disappointed to learn that you won't be able to pop into your local Costco to pick one up. That's because — prepare yourself for the bad news here — this pink-frosted dream is only being offered at select warehouse stores in Australia. To make matters worse for those of us who can't get our hands on one, it's being sold for just $15.99 AUD (about $11 USD), which is a total steal considering its heft. According to FOXBusiness, Costco said that they had "no further information" as to whether the donut would be offered at U.S. stores in the future, but that it had been "selling well," which hopefully translates to "if enough of these bad boys sell in Australia, we'll be launching them worldwide."
This isn't the first time that Homer Simpson-inspired donuts have made a splash Down Under — in 2018, Krispy Kreme Australia launched the limited edition Simpson's D'ohnut (get it?), and although this treat was standard-sized, it featured strawberry-flavored white chocolate truffle icing and was topped with rainbow sprinkles, similar to the treatment the Costco behemoth gets.
Outside-the-box donuts tend to create a bit of a stir on the web, and if the reaction to Costco's giant donut is any indication, it doesn't look like this trend is going to stop anytime soon. Looking back, it seems like the crazier the better is the right approach to donuts, with creations like the sushi donut and the Flamin' Hot Cheetos grilled cheese donut causing our collective mouths to water and our brows to furrow, all at the same time. Sure, they're not your typical deep-fried dough donuts, but you have to admit that turning everyday foods into donuts makes them way more interesting, and even if it's not something we thought we wanted, it's something we suddenly need to taste — if only to tell our social media followers that we did. While "donuts" covered in raw fish might not be for everyone, we can all agree that a regular pink doughnut on steroids is something we all need in our lives. Come on, Costco, bring this baby stateside already.
In the meantime, we'll just have to console ourselves with another one of the store's famous desserts that is available in the U.S.: The Kirkland Signature All-American Chocolate Cake. If your interest was piqued by a 2-pound donut, you'll be thrilled to know that this multi-tiered monster weighs in at a jaw-dropping 7 pounds, and it's only going to set you back $16.99.