Costco Peanut Butter Pie Review
The elusive Costco Peanut Butter Pie. I finally got one.
If you’ve been under a rock the last few months, then perhaps you have not heard about Costco’s disturbingly popular Peanut Butter Chocolate Cream Pie. This dessert weighs a gluttonous 5 pounds, and costs an eye-watering $20. Apparently, this pie produced an unexpected social media frenzy. At my local store, it was nigh impossible to snag one of these coveted desserts, although I tried several times. People were rushing to the store anytime there was a PBPS (Peanut Butter Pie Sighting), trying desperately to buy one. It became an almost mythological dessert — the stuff of legends, but not reality. Certainly not my reality, since I couldn’t get one. Hmmph! The Costco bakery even stopped making it for a month or two, and I assumed it was gone for good. Then, it suddenly reappeared, and fortune smiled on me.
Or did it?
I’m going to be completely honest: I did not expect to like this pie. I had heard so much impossible hype, contradicted by equally passionate complaints. I was certain I would only enjoy this cursed pie for the snarky review it would inspire.
Shoppers at my local Costco were eagerly buying this pie, only to take one bite and throw it all in the garbage. It was described as “disgusting,” “gross,” “a blob of fat and sugar,” or more vaguely “not good” and “just too much!” People who had it didn’t want it, and people who wanted it couldn’t have it.
The disappointment was as fierce as the joy. Folks were trying to get rid of their huge, un-eaten pies, because their families refused to consume them. Members who couldn’t get a pie threatened to cancel their Costco memberships. One local shopper witnessed another customer buying SIX pies at once, leaving none for the others in the queue. Arguments ensued. Nasty things were said. Friendships were strained. It was comical, and horrible, and strange, all at once. The myth surrounding the pie was more gargantuan than the pie itself.
Anyway. I had low expectations. But, to my surprise, this pie is actually YUMMY.
What’s it really taste like? Well, a Butterfinger comparison is apt — at least as far as the flavor. It has a distinct buttery-caramel influence behind the cocoa and peanut flavors. This adds alluring complexity to the taste profile. More sophisticated than a flat chocolate and peanut butter flavor. I had heard it described as being like a “giant Reese’s peanut butter cup,” but in my opinion, it is nothing like it — neither in flavor, nor texture.
There are three layers to this pie: the thick, cookie-crumble crust, the peanut butter cream, and the chocolate mousse.
The chocolate mousse layer is on top, and it is my least favorite. It is excessively soft and extremely light and airy.* It tastes “creamy” in a somewhat artificial way. The cocoa flavor is excellent, and I’m weird about chocolate. It’s only moderately sweet. Maybe because it’s mostly air?
Indisputably, the peanut butter layer is the star of this show. Unlike the chocolate layer, it has more of a tangy cheesecake influence. It’s denser than the chocolate layer, too. Something between cheesecake and mousse. Extremely smooth. So smooth. The peanut taste is salty and satisfying, without being overbearing.
The cookie crust is not just a crust here. Costco added so much of the crumbs to the pan, it really becomes an integral “layer” to the dessert. Mine was not solid enough (kinda powdery), but still delicious — it’s crunchy with a burnt caramel taste, like a Biscoff cookie. Admittedly, caramel is one of my favorite flavors on earth, and probably the only thing that tastes better “burnt!” I don’t know how Costco kept the bits crunchy like this with the moisture from the rest of the pie, but they did. The crust is lightly sweet, which is perfect. Definitely one of the best graham-style crusts I have experienced.
I had heard this pie was sickeningly sweet, but maybe Costco adjusted the recipe, because mine isn’t that way. But it IS overwhelmingly rich. A small amount absolutely made me feel ill.** I ate a few bites and felt I could not go on, even though this is the first thing I’ve eaten in…errr, 19 hours. Well, maybe that’s my problem.
The ingredients are terrible. I am not even going to discuss them. I am trying not to think about what I just read on the label. Don’t even look at them, just eat the pie.***
I did not intentionally take an unflattering picture of my pie slice — that’s genuinely the best I could do to serve it the first time. You’d have to be a surgeon to get this out of the pan intact. A pie surgeon. Hopefully it will firm up in the refrigerator and solidify a bit more before I cut more slices. If not, this is going to be a really, really ugly pie.****
My tastebuds won’t care.
______
Footnotes
* The chocolate mousse layer improved the longer it sat in my refrigerator. I swear. It became less “empty” and firmed up slightly, with a much more satisfying creamy texture.
** This sounds strange, but my body adjusted to this pie. After a few days, I was able to eat bigger pieces and I felt good, not sick. I think that’s not necessarily a good thing, but I am honestly not sure how mythological pies impact mortal intestines. We clearly need more research, and I am willing to volunteer.
*** I have included the ingredients below (keep scrolling). Although there are copious amounts of high fructose corn syrup and other hideous evils, I DO prefer the types of oils used in this pie (palm kernel oil and coconut oil) over worse things, such as soybean oil. Not enough to be redemptive, but still.
**** The pie crust solidified considerably within 24 hours, and it was much easier to serve intact slices. In fact, the longer it sat in my refrigerator, the more docile it became. After 4 days, I was cutting razor-sharp, well-behaved slices with zero crumbles from the crust. This dessert somehow improves in taste and texture over time, which is surreal. One sad loss is the crunchy bits — after a few days, the crumbs are moist like typical graham crusts. Still delicious, just different from how it started.
Ingredients
I said I wouldn’t discuss the ingredients, but here they are anyway:
- Whipped topping (water, palm kernel oil, high fructose corn syrup, sugar, dextrose, coconut oil, carbohydrate gum, polysorbate 60, sorbitan monosterate, polyglycerol esters of fatty acids, natural & artificial flavors, salt, sodium citrate, disodium phosphate, xanthan gum, soy lecithin, beta carotene [color])
- Liquid truffle (soybean & palm oil, sugar, cocoa powder [processed with alkali], nonfat milk, sunflower lecithin, sorbitan tristerate, vanillin, tocopherol [an antioxidant])
- Graham (enriched flour [wheat flour, niacin, iron, thiamin mononitrate, riboflavin, folic acid], graham flour, sugar, palm oil, high fructose corn syrup, molasses, salt, sodium bicarbonate)
- Peanut butter (roasted peanuts, sugar, molasses, fully hydrogenated vegetable oil [cottonseed, canola, and/or soybean], mono- and diglycerides, salt)
- Cream cheese (pasteurized cultured milk & cream, salt, guar gum, carob bean gum)
- Sugar
- Butter (cream and/or milk, salt)
- Water
- Pure vanilla extract
- Corn starch
Servings and Size
I weighed my pie on my kitchen scale, and it was just shy of 5 pounds. It cost $19.99. It should serve at least 16 people. But probably more. That’s $1.24 per serving. Or less. This pie freezes well —either whole, or by the slice. The Costco product # is 1728395.
More Reviews of Costco Desserts You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews of Costco bakery desserts I’ve recently written:
Author’s note: I was not paid or compensated to review this pie, and I have no affiliation with Costco. Anyone interested in conducting research on the impacts of mythological pies on mortal intestines may contact me to arrange delivery to my home of said pies. It is very late at night and I already regret my public display of weirdness.
