We Have One Burning Question About These New Costco Cookies

Costco has a delicious new cookie that just hit bakery shelves. Fans of the membership-based big box store are already raving about the flavor and texture of the new brown butter sugar cookies on social media, but a packaging peculiarity has consumers (and us) all wondering the same thing: Why are they sold in packs of 21?

Baked goods like cookies are often sold by the dozen or half dozen — including other varieties of Costco's fresh baked cookies — so the brown butter sugar cookies coming 21 to a package, instead of 18 or 24, raises some eyebrows. One possibility is that Costco is actually selling them by weight, as the 21-pack of cookies weighs 30 ounces, according to the label.

Another possibility is that Costco is packaging them by serving size, but no serving size information is available on the packaging. Still, even a hypothetical serving size of three cookies would fit a more traditional 18 or 24-count package. Unfortunately for customers, a third potential explanation exists: shrinkflation.

Shrinkflation refers to reducing the amount of any given product for sale, while still selling it at the previous price — or higher. Since there is no previous version of Costco's new brown butter sugar cookies to compare to, it's difficult to say that shrinkflation is the culprit for their unusual 21-count, strictly speaking.

But Costco has been accused of shrinkflation before, when in 2024 customers fumed about a 50% price hike on its famous peppermint bark, which also came in smaller packages than ever before. Earlier that year, fans also noted that Costco's enormous muffins were not as big as they used to be, prompting more shrinkflation allegations.

If shrinkflation-like thinking is to blame for the unusual cookie count, eggs are a likely culprit. Eggs have been exorbitantly expensive for years, driven by an ongoing bird flu crisis, but supply is so restricted now that grocery stores, including Costco, have instituted egg purchase limits, and popular budget restaurants like Waffle House now have egg surcharges. It's possible that the high price of eggs, an important ingredient for flavor and texture in cookies, might have cost consumers three extra brown butter sugar cookies per container. Given how delicious they reportedly are, it's eggs-asperating to say the least.