{"id":4959,"date":"2024-11-27T01:14:58","date_gmt":"2024-11-27T01:14:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/snarklesauce.com\/blog\/?p=4959"},"modified":"2025-07-27T23:48:10","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T03:48:10","slug":"costco-bakery-rugula-kirkland-review","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/snarklesauce.com\/blog\/2024\/11\/27\/costco-bakery-rugula-kirkland-review\/","title":{"rendered":"Costco Bakery Rugula (Kirkland) Review"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Author\u2019s note: Not a paid review. These are my own silly little opinions. I have no affiliation with Costco<\/a>. I wasn\u2019t compensated in any way to write this review. Mmmkay.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Where are the walnuts?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

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.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Anyway. If you don’t care that much<\/em> 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I’m especially<\/em> 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 \u2014 although pleasant \u2014 it’s not amazingly<\/em> flavorful on its own. Really, the actual bread-pastry is the star of this show. The filling is just a fun little sidekick.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

(I also loved the butter pastry of this Cherry and Cheese Danish Braid from Costco<\/a>.)<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"The<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/em> Ahem.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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The rugula filling<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

The chocolate filling has a deep, dark taste \u2014 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Fingers<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em> 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.<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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What is Rugula?<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Rugula or rugelach<\/a>, is a traditional Polish-Jewish pastry. Typically, they feature rich dough with a flavored sweet filling \u2014 although savory versions do exist. Translated “little twists,” Yona Levi at Aish calls these rolled pastries “the Jewish Croissant<\/a>.” Popular filling varieties include: cinnamon, poppyseed, apricot, and of course, chocolate or raspberry \u2014 like these Costco versions. Rugelach is enjoyed year-round<\/a>, but particularly popular around Hanukkah, Rosh Hashanah, and Yom Kippur. Apparently, rugelach even has its own National Day<\/a> (April 29th)! Woot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"Ingredients<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Ingredients in Costco Rugula<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Here are the ingredients, from the label:<\/p>\n\n\n\n