Review: Costco's Rhubarb Pastry Is A Fruity New Choice For Breakfast

My family and I have been Costco members for a few months now, having watched a few seasonal products come and go. We've learned the bitter sting of a beloved dessert disappearing from cooler cases as quickly as it arrived, but that's just part of life at the warehouse. During this time, we've also fallen in love with Kirkland Signature grocery items (especially Costco's Kirkland Signature grass-fed butter). Consistently, I've found that these products are as good, and sometimes better than, some name-brand items I rely on. So when a new Kirkland Signature baked item arrived in the store, I was eager to try it.

To see if these new strawberry rhubarb pastries are worth your time, I picked up a container of them on my most recent visit to Costco. I was concerned that there might be a supply issue, given that Costco shoppers often snap up new items quickly. Thankfully, that wasn't the case, and I was greeted with many pastry boxes to choose from. Strawberry and rhubarb is one of my favorite fruity combinations, so I wondered if this pastry could capture the sweet and tart combination in the way strawberry pie or jam does.

There are plenty of popular items sold at the Costco bakery, and the newest pastry to set up shop there is the Kirkland Signature strawberry rhubarb pastry. These pastries come in a pack of nine, and you'll find them displayed on tables beside other breakfast pastries and some desserts.

The pastries themselves are somewhere between a croissant and a Danish, a golden pastry with a sugared texture and a filling of strawberry and rhubarb together. On top of the pastry, you'll find a-not-quite-lattice but more of a honeycomb golden topper over the filling. This creates something of a peekaboo effect, so you can see the filling of the pastry, even as it sits on the table. Though I enjoyed the look of the pastry, some customers are deeply uncomfortable with the top and all of its holes placed near to one another, even saying that these pastries are triggering to those with trypophobia.

Costco's strawberry rhubarb pastries are a new, late-summer addition to the Costco bakery. In the store, I found them on one of the cookie and pastry tables for $11.99. Compared to some other breakfast pastries, this is a little pricier than I expected. For instance, on the table right next to the strawberry rhubarb pastries were Costco's iconic morning buns for only $7.99 for the same size pack of nine. If you don't have a Costco membership, you can purchase these strawberry rhubarb pastries for $14.92 through Instacart's delivery service.

It's unclear how long these pastries will be around, but with the strawberry and rhubarb filling, they certainly have the feel of a limited-time offering. Like any other seasonal Costco item, it's difficult to pinpoint precisely when these pastries will no longer be available, so if you're interested in trying them, you'll certainly want to buy a pack sooner rather than later.

One of the best parts of home-baked goods is that each item is full of real ingredients. Most of the baked goods you find in grocery stores don't have this same touch, but this isn't true of Costco's baked goods. In the Costco bakery, you'll find tables packed full of pastries and desserts with more wholesome ingredients. On the ingredients listing of the strawberry rhubarb pastries, for instance, I noticed that the filling included rhubarb purée and diced strawberries, followed only by sugar and modified corn starch, and notably, the rhubarb purée was listed first, meaning there was more of it in the filling than strawberry. More than that, I got an idea of the ingredients' consistency as they were added to the filling, with the rhubarb purée being softly prepared and the diced strawberry having more texture. I knew this would surely have an impact on the final product.

Each package has nine pastries, with each one accounting for its own serving. For a strawberry rhubarb pastry, you'll get 280 calories, 10 grams of fat, 43 grams of carbohydrates, and 20 grams of sugar. Compared to other breakfast pastries, like the lemon raspberry muffins, which have 420 calories, 23 grams of fat, 50 grams of carbohydrates, and 25 grams of sugar, the strawberry rhubarb pastries are significantly lighter, especially in calories.

The very first thing I noticed about these pastries is their look, standing out quite a bit from some of the other items at the table. Of course, there's that noteworthy (and perhaps divisive) hole-riddled topping, but the muted maroon colored filling is also interesting, especially as it pairs with the golden color of the pastry.

The strawberry rhubarb pastries themselves were quite soft. Biting into one, I felt it had the texture of a pastry that had been sitting in a plastic container on a store shelf waiting to be purchased (because it was). Though definitely not croissant-like, the bite of the pastry reminded me of the butter croissants I've had from Costco before — a fan-favorite Costco bakery item baked fresh every day. It didn't necessarily taste fresh, but not terribly old either. That strawberry rhubarb filling had a consistency similar to a very thick jelly. In flavor, it was something closer to strawberry, brightened with rhubarb.

So far, my favorite Costco pastries have been the muffins. They have a feeling of freshness in flavor and texture, even if they've been sitting in their container for a few days. Other pastries haven't quite performed the same. Most of the time, I find they have a texture that's far from stale but softer than a freshly baked item. These strawberry rhubarb pastries had that quality, too.

With this in mind, they were quite similar to other Costco baked goods. You can expect that they'll be consistently well prepared and enjoyable to eat. Another key way these pastries seem similar to other Costco goods is their exclusivity. Like Costco's popular pumpkin pie, which you'll only find in the right season, some fruit items like these pastries are seasonal too. A big way these pastries are different from others, though, is the decoration. Compared to the various pastry options, the hole design had more going on than a simple Danish, croissant, or even turnover might.

Ultimately, yes, I think these pastries are worthy of that precious cart space on your next Costco run. If your family is one that usually enjoys breakfast pastries, these will fall into the rotation easily. If you're looking for a pastry to add to some of that tasty Kirkland Signature vanilla ice cream, you'll find a happy pairing in these pastries as well.

If you happen to be planning a larger gathering and need an assortment of pastries for a brunch table, then these pastries, along with some danishes and muffins, will help fill your table quite nicely. Especially with the more intentionally designed pastry, the strawberry rhubarb pastries would represent themselves well, adding a nice touch to an otherwise boring pastry table.