13 Creative Ways To Use Costco Bakery Items

Costco Wholesale is known for its budget-friendly rotisserie chickens, massive food court hot dogs, and bulk products. While stocking up on baking staples or frozen appetizers at the members-only warehouse can save money and make things easier, what can you do when you don't get through everything that you've purchased?

If you've loaded up on a ton of Costco bakery favorites and aren't sure how to use them, try these creative ways to get the most out of a bulk bakery purchase. From repurposing breads in new dishes to mixing in sweet treats to more dessert concoctions, we've gathered together creative ways to use up those leftovers. Most don't require any special tools or know-how, so you can start dreaming up new favorites as soon as you get home with your Costco purchase. You might just find that these inventive ways to use up leftovers are better than the actual bakery item itself!

You can turn any bakery item into sweet and delectable French toast just by soaking it in an egg and milk mixture, sprinkling some tasty cinnamon over the top, and grilling it up on a griddle. The key is to use slices of bread or other baked goods that are uniform in thickness so that they cook evenly. But you can use breads, pastries, muffins, or cake to create something truly unique and delicious.

To upgrade French toast, use something you might not expect like the Kirkland Signature lemon blueberry loaf. This adds sweet and tart flavor, plus a generous drizzle of icing on top. For something with extras that aren't so sweet, try making French toast out of slices of the Kirkland Signature cranberry walnut round.

One of the best things about this hack is that it works even better with older baked goods, so any leftover bread that you have from your bulk Costco purchase can be used even a few days later to make this amazing breakfast.

Simply cube any kind of bread and toast them up to get homemade croutons. You can add seasonings to make them more flavorful or let the unique taste shine through. Crusty breads, like French bread, work well because they are already quite crunchy, which is enhanced as they dry out. Croutons are perfect to use up stale bread that is too dry to make a tasty sandwich but not yet destined for the compost or trash.

The Kirkland Signature rustic Italian loaf makes tasty croutons just as it is, but sprinkle a little bit of Italian seasoning over the top before toasting them to add even more flavor. Stale croissants also work well and because the Kirkland Signature package of 12 massive croissants is so large, there's a good chance that you'll have enough left over to cut into cubes for croutons.

The air fryer makes this process of making croutons even easier and faster. Because it moves hot air all around the cubed bread as it cooks, you get a uniformly crispy crouton that you can use as a salad or soup garnish. Just be sure to cut them into the same sized cubes so that they cook evenly without burning.

Have leftover cake from one of Costco's giant sheet cakes that you don't want to throw away? Turn this sweet treat into the base layer for ice cream cake. If you want to use the same hack in a smaller dessert, use leftover sweet muffins for an ice cream cake. This adds extra texture and taste to your dessert by combining two classic favorites.

You can scoop some of Costco's great vanilla ice cream over top and put extra layers of toppings, like whipped cream, sprinkles, or fruit. Your imagination is the limit when it comes to creating a delicious dessert out of leftover ingredients. You can keep things classic with caramel or chocolate syrup if you want a combination of traditional dessert favorites. If you prefer something a bit more unusual, pair salty flavors like pretzels or sea salt with your sweet desserts.

Once you assemble all of your layers, pop the cake bake in the freezer for a while to make sure it's very solid. Put it on a plate or use a clear serving dish that is deep enough to show off all of the layers. This will make it look extra special, even though it is actually just leftover desserts all put together.

If you end up with leftover birthday cake and don't want to eat the same old thing again, you can use even smaller pieces to make cake pops that are even tastier and cuter than the original baked goods. Mash up the leftover cake, mix it with frosting until it makes a dough, and form them into balls. Put a popsicle stick or other handle into the middle and put them in the freezer to harden. Once the pops are hardened, usually about 30 minutes, you can coat and decorate them or eat them as-is.

Cake isn't the only thing that you can use for a cake pop. Muffins, moist bread, and even some pastries can be crumbled up and mixed as well. You may need to adjust how much frosting you use, but as long as you can roll them into balls, the mixture is pretty customizable.

Coat with melted chocolate or candies for a shell. This helps keep the cake pop together, not to mention looks adorable. Turn them into themed treats like those you'd see at a coffee shop. This is the perfect way to transform baked goods into something new that is worth of its own party.

Tired of a plain old Danish to start your day? You can reimagine breakfast pastries as part of a yogurt and fruit parfait. Costco has giant Kirkland Signature pastries that come in assorted flavors, including cherry, almond, and cream cheese. You'll need to purchase 12 Danishes, which means you'll likely have leftovers unless you're serving them for a crowd. Whether you're looking for creative ways to use up extra pastries or just want to turn this basic breakfast into something special, parfaits are a perfect solution.

Transforming them into a parfait is a good way to boost your breakfast with extra nutrition. Add a dollop of protein-rich yogurt and sprinkle blueberries and strawberries over the entire bowl. You can also top it with granola or nuts for a bit of crunch. Because parfaits are so customizable, you can let each person build their own with their favorite combination of ingredients.

You can use the pastry as the base layer for your dish, building a breakfast-style pizza with a sweet and flaky crust. This can be a bit trickier to eat and you may need a knife and fork to do it justice. These also do well when you cut up the pastry into smaller pieces and sprinkle it throughout the parfait, which can be easier to scoop. If you're using a sweet pastry, you may not need to add anything extra. But if you want a sweeter flavor, drizzle a little bit of honey or jam on top.

You can turn simple bread into a tasty dessert by soaking it in custard. You'll be rewarded with a decadent bread pudding, a relative to French toast, that's easy to make and delicious. It's the perfect way to use up leftover bread that is starting to get dry, since it's actually better with stale bread. You can use any type of bread, but heftier options like sourdough and baguettes work especially well. This bread is able to soak up the custard better without falling apart and the end result is a casserole-style dish with plenty of rich flavor and texture.

For great bread pudding, let it soak in the custard mixture overnight. Cube the bread like you would to make croutons and put it in a casserole dish with the custard and any other ingredients. In the morning, simply pop it in the oven and wait for your kitchen to start smelling heavenly. You'll get a super creamy dish with custard infused into every bite.

Add raisins, nuts, and dried fruit to make the bread pudding even more memorable. You can make a savory bread pudding with ham and cheese or a seasonal-inspired option like pumpkin bread pudding in the fall. 

You can give your dishes a hint of sweetness when you use leftover muffins or cake to make breadcrumbs. Depending on how much you need, they can add a little something extra or a bold sweet flavor to your food. You can mix them in with traditional breadcrumbs or go all the way by incorporating crumbled cake into your dish. Just be wary of including fillings or frostings, since that can change the texture as well.

If you want to try this hack with a little bit of sweetness rather than going all the way to cake, brioche is the perfect place to start. Costco has a large brioche loaf that you can use for sandwiches as well as breadcrumbs, cutting down on food waste as well. If you can't get through all 32 of the King's Hawaiian sweet rolls from Costco, they are also the perfect candidate for tasty breadcrumbs.

Breadcrumbs should be dry, which is why stale muffins, cakes, and bread works so well. You can put them through a food processor to get super fine crumbs or just mash them with a fork for something with a bit more texture. You can use your homemade breadcrumbs to amp up your mac and cheese, bind juicy meatballs, or even add texture to ice cream.

Turn leftover cookie crumbles into pie crust to add an unexpected flavor to your dessert. Mix the crumbles with melted butter until it's the right consistency to press into the bottom of the pie dish. You can bake it for a few minutes to help it stay together or put it in the fridge to cool. Either way, the result is simple, delicious, and ready to top with your favorite pie filling.

Cheesecake crusts often get the cookie treatment and many flavors pair well with different types of baked desserts. Graham crackers and sugar cookies are classic choices but don't be afraid to use Oreos, chocolate chip cookies, oatmeal raisin, or another type that you have leftover. Just be aware of how the mix-ins might impact the texture. You might need to pulse the cookies in a food processor to break them up before mixing with melted butter and pressing them into a crust.

This hack works well with ice box pies as well, such as a traditional mango float cake from the Philippines or a creamy peanut butter pie. No-bake desserts are perfect candidates for a crust upgrade, since you don't need to worry about how your crust will fare when you put it in the oven.

If you want to set up an ice cream bar, Costco is the perfect place to stock up on the best ingredients to use, including baked goods that add taste and texture to your dessert. Take a basic vanilla ice cream and upgrade it with mix-ins worthy of your favorite ice cream shop. 

Cut leftover cake and cookies into small pieces and set them out in bowls alongside your ice cream. People can fold in larger pieces or use them to top a bowl of ice cream. The great thing about providing a DIY station is that everyone can create the exact dessert that they want by combining all of their favorite flavors. Get creative when stocking up on baked goods. Anything that would be served a la mode, including fruit pies, custard desserts, and brownies, can be turned upside down and used as an ice cream topping.

You can do the same with milkshakes by blending in smaller pieces of cake, cookies, or brownies. If you put the toppings into the blender, you'll end up with smaller pieces throughout your shake, but that is the perfect way to incorporate the flavor.

If you have an ice cream maker, you can use just about anything to blend into the cream for flavoring. Popular Costco bakery items like cinnamon rolls can transform into cinnamon sugar ice cream. Birthday cake incorporated into the cream mixture as it churns becomes sweet birthday cake ice cream. You don't have to stick with traditional flavors, however. Grab unexpected ingredients from the bakery department, such as the Kirkland Signature rosemary parmesan loaf, to make ice cream with herby flavor. 

Use an ice cream maker to whip up a batch quickly without any hand churning or work. But you can make homemade ice cream without a machine as well, which can turn the entire thing into a fun interactive experience.

Take inspiration from the dessert by adding sprinkles, whipped cream, and other toppings to the final bowl. You can recreate the flavors in an unexpected way, plus use up any leftover baked goods that you have.

English trifle, which is a popular dessert around the winter holidays in the U.K., layers super absorbent cake, such as sponge fingers or pound cake, with custard, whipped cream, and fruit. The cake is sometimes soaked in sweet liqueur, such as sherry, and you can also incorporate Jell-O for extra sweetness. These ingredients also help to make stale, dry cake more palatable, putting the trifle in the hall of fame as a great way to use up leftover desserts.

You may be used to sponge cake in a trifle, but you can substitute brownies instead for a new twist on a classic dessert. Since trifles have a long history of using up what's left, this hack honors longstanding tradition. Add in any extras that you have laying around your kitchen, such as fruit, to make this dessert. 

"The Great British Baking Show" resident expert Mary Berry even swears by using canned custard to make this dessert come together faster. Layer it all in a glass bowl and you'll get an elegant-looking dessert that's also quite frugal to put together. Create one large show-stopping trifle in a deep glass dish or build individual portions in smaller glass cups.

There are a lot of hacks to transform baked goods into tasty desserts, but what if you want something to fill you up at mealtime? This is where a Kirkland Signature almond pastry saves the day.

You can use a basic croissant from Costco as a tasty bread for sandwiches, but swapping out an expected bread choice for something with a bit more flavor is a good way to change things up and use up any leftovers from breakfast. They add a little sweetness and crunch to your lunch thanks to the almond filling and sprinkling of powdered sugar on the outside. These Danish sandwiches are similar to a Monte Cristo, which is made with sweet French toast in place of traditional sandwich bread.

Pair the pastries with savory ingredients, like ham and cheese, or stick with sweeter options like Nutella spread. A classic peanut butter and jelly is also a good candidate for upgraded bread to keep it from getting boring.

There's something special about a melted grilled cheese sandwich, but you can put a new spin on the classic by switching up your bread. Use slices of leftover cake or sweet breads to make a grilled cheese-style dessert. You can use mild, creamy cheeses like Brie, then pile on extras such as sliced apples, strawberries, or even chocolate. If you want to keep your sandwich loaded up with cheese, incorporate different types to give it more complex flavor.

To try this hack without going all the way to a dessert-style sandwich, swap regular sandwich bread for brioche instead. It has just a hint of sweetness, plus a soft, pillowy texture that works well on the griddle. Costco sells brioche in a sliced loaf, so it's as easy as traditional sandwich bread for putting the sandwich together. Just be sure to use room temperature butter with this delicate bread, since it can tear with too much pressure from spreading the butter over the slice.