Costco's New Bakery Cookies Have Us Asking One Major Question

Costco is rolling out a brand-new bakery item: brown butter sugar cookies. The cyber world is already singing the praises of these new sweet treats, which are poised to draw in shoppers with their soft, chewy texture and crunchy sugar crystal topping. But the packages of the new treats only contain 21 cookies — not an even two dozen like many other goodies from Costco's bakery. Twenty-one is an odd, random number for any package of baked goods. The question blazes: Where are the other three cookies?

Shrinkflation has hit other Costco items due to rising prices and supply shortages. In 2024, Costco shoppers were furious over a major change to a popular holiday sweet treat, after discovering that the beloved Kirkland Signature Peppermint Bark had significantly shrunk in size for the season. Customers have also been dismayed by a price hike for Costco's butter croissants. Is inflation once again responsible for this new cookie product containing three fewer treats than normal?

We don't know the answer — we can only speculate. But the $7.99 price of the new cookies may justify the smaller count. Other Costco bakery treats that come in an even two dozen, like the Kirkland Signature Butter Sugar Cookies and Kirkland Signature Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies, carry a significantly higher price tag ($11.69 per package at publication time). With the brown butter sugar cookies ringing up at almost $4 less, receiving three cookies shy of two dozen might not be such a big deal.

This Costco item is so brand-new that many stores don't have the brown butter sugar cookies in stock yet. We talked to a manager at the Costco store in Beltsville, Maryland, who said the stock-keeping unit (SKU) for the cookies is in their system, but they don't have the treats onsite yet. That could change in a day or two, though, the manager said. 

The same holds true for other Costcos throughout the country. If your store doesn't carry treats yet, keep checking (and whip up a batch of these vegan brown butter cookies in the meantime while you wait). "I am in Connecticut," one Reddit user, who was lucky enough to snag a box of the cookies, wrote. "I have not seen them before yesterday and I go to Costco every [two] weeks! I was so excited!"

Many Costco fans are eagerly awaiting the day the cookies land in their local warehouses. "I will buy it. Say I'm not gonna eat them all in one day. Then eat them all in one hour," one Redditor stated. "This is going to be my kryptonite," another commented. The ingredients for the cookies include enriched flour, brown butter, eggs, water, salt, and sugar. Those who have had them already recommend warming the treats before eating for an even more splendid snacking experience.