Has Costco changed its butter? Is this affecting clients’ recipes?

A lot of bakers who want to save money may have utilized their Costco membership to buy all the essential ingredients for holiday baking, such as sugar, flour, butter, and eggs. However, some members have noticed that their baked goods are not turning out as they usually do, and they believe that Costco’s recent changes to their butter could be the cause.

A baker who goes by the name theloafandcrumb shared on TikTok about the challenges she faced while making Swiss meringue buttercream due to some issues with the butter. The baker believes that the butter may have more water and less fat, causing consistency issues in sweet treats.

More water and less fat could be the problem

Several bakers on Reddit have also raised concerns about the quality of Costco butter and its impact on baking. Many have shared their experiences using the butter and how it affects their baking. The original post on r/Costco, detailed how, in recent years, the baker had been having issues when using the Kirkland brand butter that was fixed when another brand was used in its place.

Some have speculated that Costco has adjusted their butter recipe and that there is more water and less fat, which could create problems for bakers.

“We use butter in our pie crust recipe, but the crust was not holding up,” explained the poster. They added that the dough was too crumbly. However, after using a different butter with the same recipe, it worked perfectly. Other users on the site asked if anyone else had issues with the butter during the holidays, as they hesitated to use the Kirkland brand for now. A user by the name of suzepie, a self-proclaimed “pie pro,” reported issues and asked whether or not it had been confirmed that the butter contained more water, which could destabilize the chemistry needed to get a perfect pie crust.

Costco has not responded to the allegations of changes to the butter.