If you’re a fan of savory pastries, this review is a must-read. The La Boulangerie Smoked Ham & Cheese Pockets from Costco feature a flaky, buttery croissant filled with Swiss cheese and savory ham. Ready in just minutes and priced lower than similar offerings from coffee shops or bakeries. The real question is, do they taste good enough to compete with Starbucks?
Location in Store
I found these in the freezer section of Costco, near the Eat-In Spinach, Feta & Sun-Dried Tomato Wraps and the Au Pain Dore Croissants. The item number is 1874841.
Taste
The outside of the pocket is very crispy, I cut one in half and could tell right away that the pockets are crispy and very flaky. The texture of the pockets is like a croissant, they’re chewy in the middle but crisp and flaky on the outside.
The pastry is very buttery tasting but they’re a bit on the dry-side. I may have overbaked mine a bit. t’s like eating a very buttery croissant but they’re slightly on the dry side.
The Swiss cheese flavor is barely noticeable, you mainly just tase the ham and a buttery plain croissant. There’s a decent amount of ham in each pocket and the quality of the ham seems fine.
Cost
The 720-gram box has eight individually wrapped pockets and costs $19.99 Canadian. That’s about two dollars and fifty cents per pocket, which isn’t cheap! I think you’re definitely paying for convenience.
Convenience
There are three ways listed on the box to heat these, air fryer, oven or microwave. I used my oven because I find my air fryer less convenient and was concerned these would taste soggy after being microwaved. The best before date is about ten months from when I purchased them and they need to be kept frozen.
These work well as a snack, breakfast, lunch or even a light dinner! They’re individually packaged so you can easily pop one in your purse or backpack to take with you. The pockets are already fully-cooked so you’re just heating them.
Nutrition
Calories
One pocket contains 320 calories, 17 grams of fat, 28 grams of carbohydrates, one gram of fibre, five grams of sugar, 14 grams of protein and 490 milligrams of sodium. That’s less sodium and calories than I expected. They’re not really big though.
Ingredients
The ingredients list has pretty much everything you’d expect to see like wheat flour, ham, swiss cheese, sugar, flavored butter and yeast. The pockets contain, wheat, milk and pork but are soy-free. Generally, I find foods like this are pretty processed and unhealthy compared to if you were to make the same pocket from scratch at home.
Scoring
Taste: 7/10
Cost: 6/10
Convenience: 10/10
Nutrition: 4/10
Overall
Give it a try!
I wish these croissants took up less space in the freezer! That’s the main thing stopping me from buying them again. They’re delicious. If you’re hosting a brunch or coffee/tea gathering, they’d be a great addition.
What did you think of these Costco La Boulangerie Smoked Ham & Swiss Cheese Pockets?
Please note that this review was not paid for or sponsored by any third party. This product was purchased by Costcuisine for the purpose of producing this review. The opinions in this review are strictly those of Costcuisine. Costcuisine is not affiliated with Costco or any of its suppliers. In the event that Costcuisine receives compensation for a post from the manufacturer of a product or some other third party, the arrangement will be clearly disclosed (including where the manufacturer of a product provides Costcuisine with a free sample of the product).
Whenever I buy frozen products in a box, I put them in a zip lock freezer bag. I cut out the cooking instructions from the box and include it in freezer bag. Easy to store and takes up less space!
i heat them in the microwave. slightly dampen the paper towel helps a lot with the dryness. also the longer they sit in the freezer the more they dry out. Yikes!! still, these are pretty tasty and are on my personal Buy Again list.