Costco Cherry Cheese Danish Review • Snarkle-Sauce on Wry

A slice of Costco Danish Braid Cherry Cheese flavor on a kitchen table.

Author’s Note: As always, this is not a paid review. I have no affiliation with Costco.

You know better than this, Costco.

Man, I was so excited about Costco’s new Cherry and Cheese Danish. And it somehow ended up being both better and worse than I expected. Hmmph!

A whole Costco Cherry Cheese Danish Braid pastry, sitting on white parchment paper.

Let’s start with the good. This pastry is so much more home-made looking than I expected. It has a natural, rustic appearance, like an artisanal bakery. The dough is elegantly braided, and topped with a combination of crunchy streusel chunks and delicate icing. If you take the whole thing out of the package, no one would guess this came from a big box retailer.

Icing on top of a Costco Cherry Cheese Danish Braid.

Sing the praises of the excellent pastry.

The pastry texture is fabulous. Mind-blowing, even. Yes, it’s actually made with butter! It’s crisp, tender, and flakey. With a quality butter aroma. It’s a substantial dough, with a yeasty vibe.

I’ve generally been a fan of Costco pastry, but this is the best I’ve had. (And yessss, it’s much better than the pastry of Aldi’s Cherry Strudel. Although, strudels and danish are not the same thing.)

Fingers holding a piece of pastry from a Costco Cherry Cheese Danish Braid.

The cherry filling hath betrayed me.

But. The cherry filling. What happened, Costco?

I’ve had great experiences with cherry-stuff from the Costco Bakery thus far. Above average. I loooove the round cherry danishes, and I enjoyed the cherry-topped cheesecake — the fruit was tangy and wholesome. Plump and perky natural texture, with a deep flavor.

But THIS is entirely different. This is not the same filling. This is, by comparison, an abomination. I feel betrayed.

Cherry filling inside a Costco Danish Braid pastry.

The texture is gummy and gelatinous, instead of smooth and luscious. And there are only a few, tiny cherry fragments. Mostly just the sugary red goop. The flavor tastes artificial, like a jolly rancher. (It reminded me of the obnoxious fake flavor of this Racine Danish Kringle.) Disappointingly, there are even artificial colors, including Yellow #5 & Yellow #6.

I don’t think I would be as disappointed if it were not for all my other “very good” experiences with Costco cherry-filling-products. I expected better. I guess I’m offended, knowing that Costco KNOWS BETTER and can do better. They just didn’t. Hmmph!

Fingers holding a piece of Costco Bakery Cherry and Cheese Danish Braid pastry.

Cheese filling is A-Ok, tho.

Anyway. Now that I’ve got that off my chest. The cheese filling is enjoyable. It’s deeply tangy, and only lightly sweet (the way I like it!), with a fluffy-yet-rich texture. It’s not good enough to make up for the cherry disappointment. But I liked it. Yes.

A knife sitting next to a sliced Costco Cherry Cheese Danish Braid pastry.

Serving the danish braid.

When slicing the danish, it helps to use a very large, very sharp knife. The slices are quite long. I measured mine at 5 inches at the widest point. It cuts better when chilled. There’s cherry filling on one side of the braid, and cheese filling on the other. Theoretically, you could divide this danish down the center and serve EITHER cherry OR cheese to your guests.

I liked this danish best at room temperature. I stored mine in the refrigerator, but let each slice warm up to room temp on a plate before serving. The pastry actually gets reasonably crisp just from sitting out; I didn’t need to toast mine or re-bake it.

(For a lighter, less sweet breakfast pastry, check out my review of Costco’s Butter Sugar Palmier.)

Ingredients in Costco Danish Braid

Here are the ingredients. I’m delighted to see Butter and Cream Cheese among the first four ingredients. Plus real Vanilla Extract towards the end. I’m disappointed by the prominent High Fructose Corn Syrup (ingredient #7), Sodium Metabisulfite (a sulfite), FD&C Yellow #5 & #6, Artificial Flavor, Potassium Sorbate, and Sodium Phosphate.

Ingredients in Costco Bakery Cherry and Cheese Danish Braid:
1927582
INGREDIENTS: ALL BUTTER CHERRY-CHEESE
BRAIDED DANISH [ENRICHED WHEAT FLOUR(WHEAT
FLOUR, VITAMINS{B3,B1, B2, B9], IRON), BUTTER
(CREAM), WATER, CREAM CHEESE(MILK INGREDIENTS
SALT, CAROB BEAN GUM, BACTERIAL CULTURE, SORB-
IC ACID), CHERRIES(MAY CONTAIN PITS], SUGAR,
HIGH FRUCTOSE CORN SYRUP, MODIFIED CORN STA-
RCH, YEAST, LIQUID WHOLE EGG, BUTTERMILK POWD-
ER, LIQUID EGG WHITE, NAT. FLAVOR, SALT, WHOLE
MILK POWDER, WHEAT GLUTEN, LACTIC ACID, CELLU-
LOSE GUM, CELLULOSE GEL, LEMONJUICE CONCENT-
RATE, SODIUM METABISULPHITE, LEMON OIL, CITR-
IC ACID, SODIUM ACID SULFATE, VEGETABLE JUICE
'COLOR), FD&C YELLOW #5, FD&C, YELLOW #6, ASCO-
RBIC ACID, ENZYMES], ICING SUGAR, WATER,SORBI-
TOL, CORN SYRUP, PECTIN, POTASSIUM SORBATE(PR-
ESERVATIVE), LOCUST BEAN GUM, SALT, MONO-&DIG-
LYCERIDES, CITRIC ACID, AGAR, BETA CAROTENE
(COLOR)],STREUSEL[BLEACHED ENRICHED FLOUR
WHEAT FLOUR, MALTED BARLEY FLOUR, VIT. {B3,B1
B2, B9], IRON), SUGAR, BUTTER(CREAM AND/OR MILK
SALT), VANILLA EXTRACT], GLAZE[WATER,SUGAR,
CORN SYRUP, PECTIN, CITRIC ACID, CARRAGEENAN,
XANTHAN GUM, ART. FLAVOR, POTASSIUM SORBATE
(PRESERVATIVE),SODIUM CITRATE, SODIUM METAB-
(SULFITE,SO DIUM PHOSPHATE, PAPRIKA(COLOR)].
ALLERGEN INFORMATION: CONTAINS: WHEAT, EGG,
MILK, SOY.
PRODUCED ON EQUIPMENT THAT ALSO PROCESSES
PEANUTS, TREE NUTS AND SEASME.
CONSUMERS WITH FOOD ALLERGIES, PLEASE READ
INGREDIENT STATEMENT CAREFULLY.

Price and Servings

The 1 pound, 6 ounce danish cost $7.99 at my local Costco. I’d hazard there are 8 long, thin slices in this package. Which means each serving would cost about $1.

This is a “Kirkland Signature” (Costco store-brand) product, and the item # is: 1927582.

My package weight was almost exactly the printed label weight of 22 ounces. I think the days of Costco slipping us some “extra” in our bakery packages is over. Alas.

A hand holding a box of Costco Bakery Cherry & Cheese Danish Braid pastry.

Shelf Life

The “sell by” date on my package allowed approximately 2 days to consume. I kept mine in the refrigerator and ate it over approximately 6 days. It definitely tastes best the first day or two, but it’s still good almost a week later.

Dramatic Conclusion

A hand-drawn diagram of an "Awesome-o-Meter" with scores from "Never Again" to "Speechless." The arrow is currently pointing to "Maybe."

The cherry filling makes me mad. Because this danish deserved better. The butter pastry is fabulous, but I can’t get past the icky stuff, like dyes, preservatives, HFCS, and artificial flavors. So, on my highly scientific “Awesome-o-Meter,” this treat scores a reluctant “Maybe.” It could have been “Speechless,” with just a little more effort from the Costco wizards.

The End.

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