Costco Butter Sugar Palmier Review
Author’s Note: Not a paid review. These are my own flakey opinions. I have no affiliation with Costco.
Not the droids I was looking for.
My first experience with Palmier pastry was St Michel French Butter Cookies. I was in love with the crunchy lightness, and gently caramelized flavor. The strong butter taste knocked my socks off. When I saw the Costco Bakery was selling their own Butter Sugar Palmier, I was thrilled.
But. These are a completely different “thing.” Costco’s version is more soft than crunchy. And they don’t have as much caramelized taste. There’s less butter aroma, although they are made with butter. Less flavor, overall.
That’s not to say I don’t like these. They’re tasty. Just not the treat I was expecting.
Traditionally, Palmier are a French pastry made from puff pastry dough. They’re named after palm tree leaves, although mine sort of looked like hearts, too. Most of the recipes I looked at online had sugar sprinkled between the pastry layers, whereas Costco’s version mainly has sugar on the outside.
Costco’s Palmier do have a beautiful crispness along the outer edges, but it gets softer and softer as the layers move inwards. It’s a bit like a stiffer croissant. While the inner dough layers don’t taste sweetened at all, the outside rim has a sort of sticky brown syrupy coating.
The tops have a generous sprinkle of very coarse sugar grains. I liked this sugar garnish — it’s crunchy without being “hard,” kind of like pretzel salt. The texture contrast is delightful.
These Palmier are big enough, you could easily serve them for breakfast, in lieu of a croissant or breakfast pastry. Five billion times better than buttered toast! If you’re the kind of person who eschews “too sweet” breakfast items, this will be perfect for you.
Despite the huge size, they’re not very filling. Perfect for a lighter treat. With the “barely there” sweetness, these probably won’t satisfy as a full dessert. Unless you pair it with something else, like maybe a scoop of ice cream.
Being a person of science, I measured these Palmier for you. At the longest point, mine measured 5 inches. On my kitchen scaled, they weighed about 3 ounces each. You’re welcome.
Serving the Palmier
I stored mine in my refrigerator. But they taste best at room temperature, so I let mine sit on a plate for 10-15 minutes to warm up to room temperature. The pastry crisps slightly from the air.
BUT, if you want truly stunning results, I recommend re-heating these. I baked mine in my countertop toaster oven at 350 degrees for just 2 minutes, and it made a world of difference. The pastry gets much crisper and more flavorful, and the caramelized edges get more…you know… caramelly. They’re still soft inside, however.
Ingredients in Costco Bakery Butter Sugar Palmiers
Here is the short and sweet ingredient list:
- Pastry (Enriched Flour [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Butter [Cream], Sugar, Water, Salt, Ascorbic Acid, Enzyme)
- Coarse Sugar
I have nothing to complain about. It’s a miracle. Write this day down in your diary.
Price and Servings
The 26 ounce box cost $8.99 at my local Costco. The package contains 9 large Palmier, which means each one costs about $1. Not a bad price, especially for the huge size and real butter.
This is a “Kirkland Signature” (Costco store-brand) product, and the item # is: 1957049.
Shelf Life
The “sell by” date on my package allowed just 1 day to consume. This made my stomach laugh. I stored mine in the refrigerator and at them over about 7 days. Mine didn’t seem to change much over that period of time.
Dramatic Conclusion
I liked these Palmier, but I don’t know if I liked them enough to buy them again. There’s nothing wrong with them, they just weren’t the droids I was looking for. You know.
On my extremely accurate, highly scientific “Awesome-o-Meter,” these score a “Maybe.”
The End.
More Reviews You Might Like (or Hate)
Check out these other reviews I’ve written. Or don’t. We can still be friends.
