I'm a professional baker. I tried 9 desserts from Costco, and there are 6 I'd buy again. (2024)

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I was thrilled to see the popular peanut-butter chocolate pie in stock.

Costco debuted its peanut-butter chocolate pie in March 2023, and it quickly started trending.

An employee told me the chain rotates its pie offerings often, but I was able to find the peanut-butter chocolate pie on my second visit to my local Costco.

The pie is about 5 pounds and retails for $20.

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I would buy this pie again and again.

This pie was everything a peanut butter and chocolate lover could dream of.

The graham-cracker crust was an ideal texture for a pie base. It wasn't too hard that it was difficult to cut through with a fork, but it still held together after each bite.

The pie has a thick layer of peanut-butter cream filling and a chocolate mousse on top. It was so fluffy and creamy — the play of textures was incredible.

A peanut-butter chocolate pie might sound too rich or too sweet, but that wasn't the case here. This giant pie was worth every penny.

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I grabbed a classic cheesecake in the bakery cooler.

My local Costco had a pretty big display of giant cheesecakes, and they sometimes come in a range of seasonal flavors. This time, I chose the plane variety.

The cheesecakes are usually 4 ½ pounds and sell for $17.

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The cheesecake had great flavor and texture.

Costco's cheesecake starts with a graham-cracker crust with an ideal texture — not too hard but not too soft that it crumbles.

On top of the crust is the cheesecake layer, which was easy to cut through but not too dense. The texture was wonderfully fluffy with subtle notes of vanilla flavor.

The whole cheesecake is also topped with a sour-cream topper. This thin layer added a very tangy touch to the cheesecake that was unique without being overwhelming

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Kirkland Signature's strawberries-and-cream cake looked amazing.

Costco added this strawberries-and-cream bar cake to its summertime lineup in June.

The cake was definitely eye-catching with its multiple layers and little pink and white striped decorative chocolates on top. It looked fresh and delightful.

It cost $18.

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In my opinion, this cake was not worth the money.

This bar cake is comprised of layers of white sponge cake, strawberry jam, and whipped cream.

The cake layers tasted decent and paired well with the whipped cream, creating a great balance of textures.

The filling ruined this one for me, though, as I found its flavor to be pretty surprising. It was somehow too sweet and also too sour, and I didn't care for the aftertaste it left in my mouth.

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The chain's sour-cream butter pound cake seemed like a great deal.

Costco's Kirkland Signature pound cakes looked absolutely delicious wrapped up in a cardboard bakery box.

These sour-cream butter cakes are about 2 pounds each and retail for $8.

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It's a great cake for any season.

The combination of butter and sour cream gave the pound cake great flavor.

It had a soft, yellow crumb with a darker exterior, as pound cakes typically do. It was very good, but I wished it was just a bit more moist, especially since it had sour cream.

Despite that, I still enjoyed it. This cake is the ideal treat to enjoy in various ways, whether you try a slice plain or layer it with strawberries and whipped cream for an easy shortcake.

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I had to pick up Costco's signature white cake with vanilla-cheesecake mousse.

You can order custom cakes at Costco, but the stores also usually sell 10-inch rounds that can be picked up without planning ahead.

Many of the cakes are left plain with no decoration, and others have simple balloon or rose decorations to spruce them up. If you ask, staff can write on it for you or add extra sprinkles.

I picked up a white cake with vanilla-cheesecake mousse for $13.

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Costco's classic cakes are always delicious.

The cake was fluffy, the center was creamy, and overall, it was a wonderfully balanced cake. It had a nice, light flavor without being too sweet.

A homemade birthday cake will always be my favorite, but Costco's cakes are a solid option if you need to buy one from the store.

I especially recommend this cake if you need to bring a dessert to a crowd that can appeal to a variety of people.

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Costco's tuxedo chocolate-mousse cake looked like an absolute showstopper.

If there's one cake that draws the most attention on the shelves at the Costco bakery, it's probably the chocolate-mousse bar cake.

The gorgeous cake has several contrasting layers and sells for $17.

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This is definitely the ideal cake for chocolate lovers.

If you're not a chocolate lover, this cake may be too overpowering. But if you love all things chocolate, get ready to dig in.

This dessert delivers a punch of chocolate in the first bite with its chocolate cake, creamy chocolate mousse, and white-chocolate mousse. It also has chunks of brownie throughout that make it that much more interesting.

To top it all off, the cake is finished with a luscious, rich chocolate ganache that helps create the perfect bite.

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I was excited about the seasonal s'mores cookies.

This was one of the items I was most excited to try, and they seemed to debut at Costco earlier this year.

According to the in-store sign, these s'mores cookies are made with a graham-flour base and contain marshmallows and chunks of chocolate.

A container of 24 cookies costs $10.

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The cookies didn't bring the flavor I was hoping for.

Overall, I thought these cookies were pretty lackluster.

I loved the idea of a s'mores cookie that harnessed a graham-cracker-inspired base, but these missed the mark for me.

The cookies were soft with great texture, but I wished they had more flavor.

On their own, I don't think the cookies were worth the cost. But they might be great as a base for making actual s'mores — I'd try layering them with toasted marshmallow and chocolate next time.

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Kirkland Signature's six-pack of mini lemon cakes looked promising.

I was excited to find a large display of miniature lemon cakes during one of my visits.

Costco is known for its muffins, and these mini cakes are shaped similarly.

Six come in a package for $9.

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These mini lemon cakes delivered on bold flavor.

Lemon lovers will probably want to run to Costco for these mini cakes.

Each giant cupcake had a light lemon flavor with notes of vanilla. I liked their sprinkle of streusel topping and dollop of zingy lemon curd. The creamy lemon frosting on top also really packed a punch.

These cakes are definitely boldly flavored, but they're an ideal treat if you truly love lemon.

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Costco sells a variety pack of cookies with three different flavors.

Costco's cookie variety pack contains oatmeal-raisin, chocolate-chunk, and white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookies.

The convenient package comes with 24 cookies for $9.

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The cookies were fine, but I wouldn't buy them for myself.

This variety pack has options for every type of cookie lover. Each cookie was incredibly soft and chewy, and the flavors were decent. The oatmeal-raisin and white-chocolate macadamia-nut cookies especially stood out to me.

This pack is a great choice if you need to take something to an event, feed a sports team, or serve snacks at a meeting.

That said, these aren't worth it to me to just keep at home. If I'm going to pay $9 and have a ton of cookies on hand, they better be amazing. These were just pretty good, in my opinion.