Who doesn’t love a warm cookie, freshly plucked from the oven? Terrorists, probably. But other than that, nobody. For all of our political divisions, a warm cookie fresh from the oven is a pure delight, no matter your views on the authenticity of the moon landing.
These days, you have two choices for getting your paws on a warm-from-the-oven cookie: you can either bake your own (the traditional method — not hard, but not super convenient), or you can heat up a pre-baked cookie in the oven.
Some cafes have taken to reheating cookies on demand in the countertop kiln they use to speed-heat your breakfast sandwich. It’s not a perfect solution, but it’s fine. When Starbucks first started doing this over a decade ago, the novelty wore off fairly quickly. They were fine, but I wasn’t going to wait an extra three minutes in line while the keto bros reheated their egg bites.
God Bless America(n Costco)
On a spring trip to the States, I took the bus to the local Costco where I learned their menu offerings are not the same as we have in Canada. While Americans miss out on the life-shortening bliss of a cardboard container full of sloppy, curd-filled Costco poutine (yes, we have that at Canadian Costco), the Americans get things like mocha smoothies and, bewilderingly, warm chocolate chip cookies. I didn’t order one at the time, and kicked myself after the fact for missing my chance.
And yet, within months, they showed up on Canadian Costco food court menus. This time, I didn’t think twice. Those Costco geniuses — praise be to the enduring buck fifty hot dog and pop — have brought Canadian customers in need of a post-shopping pick-me-up a warm treat that will bring a smile to your face, and a chocolate stain to your Kirkland Signature t-shirt.
Yes, but what does it taste like?
I’ve now had these more times than I’d care to admit, and I have a few thoughts on the experience.
First off, these have only ever been served to me HOT, not warm. This may sound appealing, but it creates problems. They are sloppy, messy, and fall apart easily when you try to pull them from their little paper wrapper. If you’ve made chocolate chip cookies at home, you know you have to let them sit for at least five minutes to cool down enough to solidify, and so that the molten, piping-hot chocolate doesn’t scorch your tongue. If you’re too eager and bite into your Costco cookie right away, your mouth is going to regret it.
Second, the serving temperature also changes the taste perception of the cookie as you eat it. The same food can taste wildly different at different temperatures, which is why you serve beer like Budweiser ice cold and not at room temperature, and why cold pizza and warm pizza are two entirely different experiences. Some flavours are more prominent when hot, and recede when cool — and the opposite is also true. In this case, the hot cookie mostly tastes like melted chocolate, sugar, and mush, while the other elements that make a cookie satisfying — the salt, the more complex texture — are absent. As it cools, I could start to pick up a bit more complexity, but then what’s the point of having a warm cookie?
And lastly, the value is wonky relative to other things on the menu. For the price of a single cookie, you could have a romantic hot-dog-and-pop lunch for two. The $3.49 price isn’t wildly out of line for a cookie at a coffee shop, but this is the Costco food court, and prices at the Costco food court aren’t the same as in the real world.
The Details
Price: $3.49 for one cookie at Costco in Canada.
Value for Money: Not great, compared to other menu options.
Availability: All the Costcos in Alberta I’ve checked seem to have them. Not sure if these are available at all Canadian Costcos yet.
Nutrition: 750 kcal per cookie, according to multiple sources on the internet.
Verdict: An interesting addition to the Costco menu, but with some caveats. Eating an entire cookie is a lot, and eating it warm without making a sticky, greasy mess is borderline impossible. Best for splitting with someone post-shop, then take turns hitting the washroom to scrub your hands while the other watches the cart full of toilet paper and potato salad.