I Tried Costco’s New Food Court Cookie That Has Shoppers Up in Arms

When your food court’s claim to fame is a hot dog that has its own Wikipedia page and a price that hasn’t increased since 1984, any changes to the limited menu are newsworthy. Especially when one of the fan-favorite items that has been around since the ‘90s—the Costco churro—was recently replaced by the warehouse giant’s new double chocolate chunk cookie.

Needing to restock my paper towels and fizzy water this week, I used that as a ruse to drive to my nearest Costco and try the buzzworthy cookie. Controversy doesn’t always make a food taste better, but as a former bakery owner I don’t need much of an excuse to scrutinize baked goods.

After wandering the aisles and grabbing the few items I needed, plus a couple things I absolutely did not, I made my way to the food court, which was crammed with people and their full shopping carts. I forked over $2.50 in cash and was handed a warm, heavy chocolate chunk cookie in a crinkly brown paper sleeve. While the first few bites were lovely, this cookie won’t be part of my monthly Costco routine.

The Cookie Controversy

The main sticking points behind the cookie complaints I’ve read are the price and the nutrition content. If you compare the new $2.49 cookie to other Costco menu items, it does seem to be on the high end. You can, after all, get a chicken bake, which is a whole meal, for $3.99. But in a world where enough people pay $3.99 for a Crumbl chocolate chip cookie that the chain has over 900 locations, the Costco cookie’s price tag doesn’t seem so outrageous.

As for its 750-calorie nutrition profile, I will grant you that this number is impressive. But I’m even more impressed by Costco’s cold brew mocha freeze, which somehow manages to contain 580 calories. The cookie is full of delicious butter and chocolate. What’s your excuse, cold brew mocha freeze?

But How Does it Taste?

The first thing to understand about the Costco cookie is that it is a warm cookie, so my brain lit up at the taste of brown butter and molten chocolate. It’s not underbaked, which is a point in its favor for those of us who like a bit of color on our cookies, and the exterior is a little crusty, yielding to a soft crumb that doesn’t scrimp on the chocolate chunks. The first couple of bites are exceptional, in the way that the first couple bites of all warm cookies are exceptional.

After that, there were diminishing returns. The cookie is super sweet and loaded down with chocolate bits. I won’t say it’s too much chocolate, but it’s enough that you need a tall glass of something to keep it from sticking in the throat. And, maybe this is just the Millennial in me, but I wanted nothing more than to liberally dust Maldon salt all over the cookie. All that sweetness is crying out for salt.

My partner and I ate half the cookie, but as it started to cool down (this happens quickly) the appeal wore off, and we ended up not finishing it. I can see why some Costco shoppers downed the cookie in five minutes trying to beat the rapid cooling, which then resulted in a stomach ache. On the other hand, some shoppers are going for a double-down moment and sandwiching two cookies with the food court soft serve, so know thyself I guess. 

I don’t have any regrets. For $2.50 I got to eat a few bites of a warm chocolate chunk cookie on a cold day. But once is enough for me, and only time will tell whether this food court upstart will have the staying power of the churro (RIP).