Costco Mini Hazelnut Beignets Review
Author’s Note: As always, this is not a sponsored review. I have no affiliation with Costco. Enjoy, my fellow snarklers.
Jumbo donut holes.
“Beignet” definitely sounds more exciting than “jumbo donut hole.” And, regrettably, these seem closer to the latter.
Now, I enjoy a good donut. Or even a bad donut. So I enjoyed these. But still. Very donut-y. Suspiciously like a regular ‘ol donut, my friends.
And not the airy, tender-moistness of a Krispy Kreme donut, either. More like generically soft Duncan Donuts texture. (Sorry, Duncan Donuts. You are not my favorite.) These Costco beignets are fluffy, but less moist. I preferred mine microwaved for 10 seconds to perk them up and remind them that life is worth living.
The filling
Each orb is dusted with ultra-fine powdered sugar, and only lightly sweet on the outside. I liked this. There’s a small squirt of hazelnut-chocolate paste inside. It’s stiffer than I expected — not slippery or oozy, but concentrated and rich. While not much filling, it’s got a punch of flavor that is more than plenty for the size of the donut. Er, I mean, beignet.
Actually, I have a new name for them: doeignets. Say it out loud: dough-kneeyets. It has a ring to it. Amiright?
You know what would really blow my hair back? A package of mixed flavors. Some fruity, jammy (or even pudding-based) fillings would make this package much more of a thrilling discovery. Hazelnut is “nice,” but after scarfing down the first dozen, I wanted something else.
(For another hazelnut treat, check out my review of these creme-filled wafers.)
What’s a “beignet,” precious?
If Gollum doesn’t know what a “po-tay-to” is, it’s ok if you don’t know what a beignet is. They’re a type of deep-fried fritter, with roots in both France and Louisiana. The yeasty, sugar-dusted New Orleans’s style beignet is the version I pictured in my head. I saw a news article about them a few years ago, and my greedy stomach has longed for them ever since. Costco’s is the first rendition I’ve tried. So, I can’t reliably say that these beignets are “wrong.” But. I always imagined them slightly crisper on the outside, and much softer on the inside. I’ve had zeppoles, and I assumed beignets would be a bit closer in texture. Alas.
Ingredients in Costco Bakery Beignets with Hazelnut Filling
Here is my best attempt at typing out the ingredients from the label. This is mighty confusing, since there are a lot of unexpected ingredients listed under “topping sugar”:
- Mini Beignets (Enriched Flour [Wheat Flour, Niacin, Iron, Thiamin Mononitrate, Riboflavin, Folic Acid], Sugars [Sugar, Dextrose], Water, Palm Oil, Canola Oil, Unsalted Butter [Cream], Eggs, Egg Whites, Hazelnut [Filbert], Cocoa Powder, Skim Milk Powder, Wheat Gluten, Cocoa Butter, Yeast, Salt, Mono- and Diglycerides, Wheat Starch, Canola Lecithin, Malted Wheat Flour, Ascorbic Acid, Beta Carotene [Color], Enzymes, Sorbitan Monostearate, Citric Acid)
- Topping Sugar (Dextrose, Corn Starch, Palm Oil, Titanium Dioxide [Color], Natural and Artificial Flavors, Egg Whites, Whey, Wheat Flour, Soy Flour)
Anyway. Whew. I’ve seen better ingredients. And I’ve seen worse. I’ve mentioned before that I do not want Titanium Dioxide in my food. And I still don’t. Make it stop.
Nutrition Facts
A serving is 2 beignets and contains 210 calories. You get 11 grams of fat (4.5 grams saturated fat) and 4 grams protein. There are 23 grams total carbohydrates, of which 12 grams are sugars (11 grams “added sugar”) and 1 gram fiber. There’s just 7% your daily value cholesterol and 6% your daily value sodium per serving. You also get a whiffle of iron, at 6% your daily value. (Nutrition Facts source.)
Price and Servings
The 19 ounce package cost $10 at my local Costco. Since there are 11 servings per package (22 beignets total), each serving costs 91 cents.
This is a “Kirkland Signature” (Costco store-brand) product, and the item # is: 1970320.
Shelf Life
My package had a “sell by” date that was dated 3 days after I purchased. These nuggets DO get stale! Mine were fairly dry and stale-tasting by the 3rd day. I wouldn’t try to buy these more than a day or two in advance.
However, zapping them in the microwave for 10 seconds (per each beignet) helped dramatically. Plus, it made the filling softer and more luscious. (It also made them slightly more sticky-oily on the outside, which didn’t thrill me.)
Dramatic Conclusion
For donut-lovers, these are fun. For everyone else, they’re “fine.” Not a Costco product I would rave about, however. If I was buying breakfast pastries, I’d still pick the Costco assorted danishes that come in the 4-packs. Sorry-not-sorry.
On my extremely accurate Awesome-o-Meter, these Mini Beignets score a wishy-washy “Maybe.”
The End.
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