Kirkland Caramel S’Mores Clusters Review
Discount tooth aches.
Folks in my local Facebook groups were raving about Costco’s new Caramel S’mores Clusters. So, naturally, I was forced to buy some. I did it for science. I did it for the good of humanity. I did it for my adoring fans.
(Not really. I don’t care about y’all that much.)
Anyway. These clusters are too dang sweet! But, to be fair, I am generally not a fan of “very sweet sweets.” Costco’s s’mores are definitely some of the sweetest treats I’ve eaten in a while. Probably in the “sickeningly sweet” category. Exceedingly sweet.
The milk chocolate coating is so sweet, it’s more like icing. In fact, it’s oddly soft, too. It’s so soft and melty, these made a mess when I handled them. Living in balmy Florida doesn’t help. I ended up refrigerating mine, to minimize the melty-mess. They were much crisper and nicer after chilling. Probably these are great for you folks in the frigid North.
I think part of my problem is that I’ve always thought regular campfire s’mores were too sweet. I should probably be disqualified from reviewing these candies, based only on my pre-existing bias. But, it’s my blog, and no one can stop me.
Here’s the backside of a cluster, for absolutely no reason.
What sets Costco’s S’mores apart from other s’mores is the addition of the caramel. Happily, this is particularly nice caramel. In fact, the rich burnt-sugar flavor is my favorite part of these s’mores clusters. I loved how soft and gooey the caramel is inside. It’s oozy nearly to the point of being runny. But I relished this. It’s got a wonderful saltiness, too. According to the bag, the caramel is kettle cooked, and it’s made with butter, cream, brown sugar, and real vanilla. Yum.
The crunchiness of the grahams is my second favorite part. They taste like the Golden Grahams cereal flakes. I did generally feel that there were not enough grahams in proportion to everything else. More grahams, pleeeease! The graham pieces are beautifully crisp and fresh — the chocolate coating seals them from the air, so even in humid Florida, they don’t become soggy over time. You can leave these out on a plate without the grahams becoming stale.
If it were up to me, I would have reduced the number of marshmallows and increased the crunchy grahams. I also would have used a “less sweet” chocolate coating. I’m always “team dark chocolate,” but there are some milk chocolates that are less obnoxiously sweet than others. This one is extremely obnoxious. My teeth were not happy.
The marshmallows are a little firmer than typical bagged mini-marshmallows, which I enjoyed. They’re less generically spongey, and have a pleasant chewiness. This might be because they are made with tapioca syrup instead of high fructose corn syrup. The marshmallows are, however, quite sweet. And with all the other sweetness, it became cloying.
Here’s the inside of a cluster, showing how tiny the graham fragments are, compared to everything else. Admittedly, it varies from one cluster to another. Some clusters have only one small marshmallow, but some have many.
Ingredients in Costco Caramel S’mores Clusters
Here’s a list of the ingredients:
- Milk chocolate (sugar, cocoa butter, chocolate liquor, nonfat dry milk, milkfat, lactose, soy lecithin, vanillin, salt)
- Caramel (invert sugar, sweetened condensed milk, heavy cream, butter [cream, salt], brown sugar [sugar, invert sugar, cane molasses], coconut oil, glycerin, soy lecithin, salt, vanilla extract)
- Grahams (whole grain wheat, sugar, corn meal, canola oil, molasses, fructose, salt, honey, baking soda, calcium carbonate, soy lecithin, dextrose, trisodium phosphate, rosemary extract [antioxidant], natural flavor)
- Marshmallow (tapioca syrup, cane sugar, filtered water, tapioca starch, carrageenan, soy protein, natural vanilla flavor)
I don’t love the “vanillin” flavoring in the milk chocolate, but I appreciate the inclusion of genuine vanilla elsewhere. And the tapioca syrup instead of high fructose corn syrup in the marshmallows is meritorious. I’m also stoked to see rosemary extract used as a natural preservative in the grahams.
Nutrition Facts in Kirkland Caramel S’mores Clusters
Be it known to you that a serving size is just one cluster. One. You get ONE. And that one cluster has a whopping 100 calories. Beware.
If you eat ten clusters, you will have eaten 1000 calories.
Alright. I warned ya.
There are 12 grams of sugar (less than I expected, from the taste) and 4 grams of fat per cluster.
Price for Costco Kirkland Caramel S’mores Clusters
I bought these at Costco for $8.99. The bag is 1.64 pounds, with 34 clusters per bag. So, each S’mores cluster costs a mere 26 cents. This is a Kirkland Signature product, which is a Costco store brand. The item # is 161578.
Author’s note: I have no affiliation with Costco and I was not paid to write this review. I bought these dang S’mores with my own dang money.
