Yep, there's a trick to getting your chocolate chip cookies to turn out like this—and we have all the delicious details
This Is the Real Reason Costco’s Food-Court Chocolate Chip Cookies Are So Amazingly Thick
Published on Jul. 22, 2025
Before you head into Costco for what will surely be a marathon shopping session (even if there are only five things on your list), a stop at the Costco food court is in order. After all, you need sustenance to brace yourself for the checkout lines, and hey, it’s always good to treat yo’self—especially if that treat is a Costco chocolate chip cookie. These gooey masterpieces replaced the food court’s churros in 2024, and members haven’t looked back.
The food court’s chocolate chip cookies are massive, not to mention super tasty and seriously thick. If you’re familiar with Tate’s notoriously thin, crispy cookies, these are … not that. They’re indulgent in the best possible way.
But what makes these Costco chocolate chip cookies so good and so insanely thick? There are a few factors at play here, so let’s get into the sweet, sweet facts below.
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Just how big are Costco’s food-court cookies?
Packing a whopping 750 calories apiece, these cookies are HUGE. I actually brought one home to weigh it on a food scale, and the cookie registered at right around 6 ounces. It’s also 7 inches wide, so yeah, this cookie is a big boy. And since the entire focus of this article is the cookie, it should be noted that its “proper” name is the Double Chocolate Chunk Cookie.
Why are they so good—and so thick?
To answer this cookie question, I went straight to a Costco baking expert, and one who has worked with Costco as a product developer on baked goods.
“Due to the high turnover, large batches are made, frozen and then baked at the store level,” says Vivian Villa, a product developer with plant-based butter company UnButter. “Freezing solidifies the fats, resulting in a thicker, chewier cookie out of the pan.”
Plus, Costco isn’t using a medium-sized cookie scoop here—no way, no how. A medium-size cookie scoop is typically 2 tablespoons of dough, and that usually yields a roughly 3-inch cookie, according to the Bakers Brigade blog’s nifty cookie-scoop chart. So it stands to reason that to create Costco’s 7-inch cookie, they’re using a much larger scoop that would be the equivalent of closer to 6 tablespoons of cookie dough. They’ve also likely played with the sugar-to-flour ratio here, because a lower proportion of sugar compared with the amount of flour results in a thicker cookie.
Villa also notes that Costco pays close attention to quality among all its offerings, including in the food court, resulting in these delicious options. “The standard for food quality at Costco is the highest in the industry, and the cookies are a perfect example of this,” she says. “The ingredients are top-notch, no different than what you’d use at home.”
Are they always served warm?
As per the food-court signage, yes, these Costco cookies are always served warm. However, I can attest to the fact that if you let them sit and eat them at room temperature, they’re just as delicious.
Can you buy these food-court cookies in the bakery section?
So there is one exception to the Costco food-court cookies always being served warm, and that’s when they’re sold in the warehouse’s bakery section in a five-pack plastic container. Not every warehouse sells the food-court version in the bakery section, so it’s really hit or miss on whether you’ll be able to find them there.
Otherwise, you can find different Kirkland Signature chocolate chip cookies in the bakery department. These are much thinner and sold in packs of 24. There’s also a major calorie difference. While the food-court cookies are 750 calories, the Kirkland Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies are 210 calories each, which seems downright modest by comparison.
Is the Costco food-court cookie worth it?
The cookies cost $2.49 each, which is a lot for a cookie. But Costco members on Reddit—and (ahem) Reader’s Digest writers and editors—seem to find the consistency of the cookie to be A-plus. “The consistency is perfect,” says the original poster on a Reddit thread. “Crunchy on the edges, a light crisp on the outside and warm and gooey on the inside. Doesn’t get any better consistency wise.”
Others have a gripe with the price, saying it should be lowered to at least $1.99. It’s worth noting that if you can find that five-pack of food-court cookies in the bakery department, it costs $10, which breaks down to $2 a cookie, so that’s definitely a better deal.
However, some members think the cookie is priced just right, comparing it with a similar version at Starbucks. “The cookie at Starbucks is $2.99 and nowhere near as thick or big,” says one Redditor. “Chocolate and butter is not cheap. For $2.50, for the size and amount of chocolate you get is pretty damn good. With the ingredients they use and the amount of it, it cannot be an item they sell at a loss.”
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Sources:
- Vivian Villa, professional shop and product developer at UnButter and former product developer for Costco baked goods; interviewed, July 2025
- Bakers Brigade: “Cookie Scoop Size Chart”
- Reddit: “Food Court cookie now available in bakery section – 5 pack for $10”
- Costco: “Kirkland Signature Gourmet Chocolate Chunk Cookies, 24-count Nutrition Information”
- Reddit: “So I just had the new Costco food court cookie….”
