Costco Bakery Rugula (Kirkland) Review
Author’s note: Not a paid review. These are my own silly little opinions. I have no affiliation with Costco. I wasn’t compensated in any way to write this review. Mmmkay.
Where are the walnuts?
Not sure if this is the bakery version of “Where’s Waldo?” or what. I had a tough time finding the walnuts in these Costco Rugula. The label says: “Raspberry / Walnut + Chocolate Rugula w/ Cream Cheese.”
I even peeled them open, and inspected their gooey little guts, like some kind of underpaid pastry surgeon. I sort of (maybe) saw a few fleeting, tiny bits that MIGHT be walnut, but only enough to make me feel wistful. Not really what I’d consider a nut-filled pastry. Alas.
Anyway. If you don’t care that much about walnuts, then you’ll probably like these. I did. I’m surprised it’s taken me 2.5 years of Costco membership to try these, but here I am. These are pretty tasty little nuggets.
I’m especially impressed that this rugelach is made with butter. The pastry is flaky and tender-crisp with a mouth-watering richness. The filling is “fine.” There’s not tons of it, and — although pleasant — it’s not amazingly flavorful on its own. Really, the actual bread-pastry is the star of this show. The filling is just a fun little sidekick.
The rugelach bottoms are toasty-crispy-browned, and the tops are generously crusted with big, crunchy sugar grains. There’s a thin smear of tangy cream cheese inside, with an even thinner smear of the raspberry or chocolate syrup over that. And an even thinner presence of walnuts. Ahem.
Size-wise, each rugula is about 2-2.5 inches long, and around 1.5 inches wide. I ate 2-4 of them at a time. And I have no idea if that’s how it’s supposed to be. But that’s what I did. They are great with a morning cup of coffee, or as a light dessert after dinner.
The rugula filling
The chocolate filling has a deep, dark taste — verging on bitter, but in a good way. There’s a hint of cinnamon flavor, too. This jam-like filling has a glossy, syrupy consistency, rather than actual chocolate-bar-chocolate. I was sad to see high fructose corn syrup as the primary ingredient in this filling. Boo.
The raspberry has a vaguely fruity taste, but no notable fruit pieces. In fact, raspberries are the 6th ingredient in the raspberry filling. Sadly, not the major player I anticipated. I was uber disappointed to see artificial colors, flavors, and red dye (and blue dye! sheeesh!) in these treats. More about the ingredients later.
What is Rugula?
Rugula or rugelach, is a traditional Polish-Jewish pastry. Typically, they feature rich dough with a flavored sweet filling — although savory versions do exist. Translated “little twists,” Yona Levi at Aish calls these rolled pastries “the Jewish Croissant.” Popular filling varieties include: cinnamon, poppyseed, apricot, and of course, chocolate or raspberry — like these Costco versions. Rugelach is enjoyed year-round, but particularly popular around Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. Apparently, rugelach even has its own National Day (April 29th)! Woot.
Ingredients in Costco Rugula
Here are the ingredients, from the label:
- Enriched Flour (Bleached Wheat and Malted Barley Flour, Niacin, Reduced Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate [Vitamin B1], Riboflavin [Vitamin B2], Folic Acid)
- Cream Cheese (Pasteurized Milk and Cream, Salt, Stabilizers [Xanthan/Carob Bean/Guar Gum])
- Butter
- Chocolate Filling (High Fructose Corn Syrup, Sugar, Water, Cocoa Powder [Alkalized], Modified Corn Starch, Natural Chocolate Flavor, Potassium Sorbate [as a preservative], Salt)
- Raspberry Filling (Sugar, Water, High Fructose Corn Syrup, Flour, Soybean and/or Cottonseed Oil, Red Raspberries, Walnuts, Pectin, Nonfat Milk Solids, Leavening [Baking Soda, Sodium Aluminum Phosphate, Aluminum Sulphate, Sodium Acid Pyrophosphate, Monocalcium Phosphate], Dry Egg Yolk, Propylene Glycol, Mono- and Diesters of Fatty Acids, Corn Syrup, Dry Egg Whites, Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides, Modified Food Starch, Red Raspberry Seeds, Wheat Starch, Soy Dioxide, Citric Acid, Cellulose Gel & Gum, Alpha Tocopherols [as a preservative], Artificial Color, Natural and Artificial Flavors, Xanthan Gum, Red 40, Blue 1, Sodium Citrate, Sodium Sulphate)
- Semi-Sweet Chocolate Drops (Sugar, Chocolate Liquor, Cocoa Butter, Dextrose, Soy Lecithin, Vanillin)
- Sugar
- Corn Syrup
- Corn Starch
- Cinnamon
Do I love these ingredients? No. I was soooo excited to see butter as the third ingredient. But it went downhill pretty quickly from there. I’m especially disappointed to see artificial colors, artificial flavors, red & blue dyes, high fructose corn syrup, AND preservatives. Gah.
Price and Servings for Costco Rugula
The 25 ounce package cost $12 at my local Costco, which is somewhat more expensive than similarly-sized bakery items.
There are around 2-dozen rugula in the box (I counted about 28). If you eat 4 pieces as a serving, there would be approximately 6-7 servings per package. Per serving, this is about $2, which is (again) somewhat more expensive than many other Costco Bakery items. But not a terrible price, either.
This is a Kirkland Signature (Costco store-brand) bakery item, and the product# is: 43634.
Shelf Life
My package had a sell-by date roughly 3 days after purchase. As per usual, I stored these in my refrigerator and ate them over about 7 days.
They taste best at room temperature (because the butter in the dough gets stiff when refrigerated), so I took mine out and let them sit on a plate for about 30 minutes before eating. They stayed reasonably fresh-tasting for about a week — maybe slightly drier as time went on. Not bad.
Dramatic Conclusion
Before I saw the ingredients, I was fairly certain I would be purchasing these rugula again. At this point, I am on the fence. I enjoyed the taste and pastry texture, and I LOVE the prominent use of butter in the ingredients. I hate the awful junk ingredients. The filling was weak. A walnut-lover’s nightmare. The value is not an eye-popper.
So. Maybe I will buy it again. Maybe I won’t. We’ll see.
The End.
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