Costco's new $8.49 Carnegie Cheesecake Bites drew 447 upvotes and a mush complaint

Costco's newest dessert in the refrigerated case is Carnegie Cheesecake Bites: a one-pound pouch of New York cheesecake poppers covered in dark chocolate, $8.49 at the warehouse, item 2088882. A member found the bag on a warehouse shelf on October 13 and posted it to r/Costco as a new item. By the morning of October 14 that thread stood at 447 upvotes, a 97.5% positive rate and 68 comments. 1

The bag makes its pitch in print: "New York's finest cheesecake. One bite at a time." across the top, with 1 LB (454 g) of cheesecake inside. The reaction in the thread runs warm, and it keeps circling a practical question — how a pound of soft cheesecake survives the drive home.

Carnegie is the New York deli whose name dates to 1937, and the pouch borrows that history directly: Legendary Since 1937 sits underneath the skyline drawing. Inside are the house's New York cheesecake bites — a cream cheese base shaped into poppable balls and dipped in dark chocolate. 2

The allergen panel covers milk, eggs, wheat, tree nuts and coconut, which puts the bag out of reach for households avoiding any one of the five. 2

The front panel is also where the numbers live: a one-pound net weight, a dark chocolate coating, and a line reading "keep refrigerated or frozen." This is a warehouse format, a pound at a time, against the brand's three-ounce retail pack of the same bites. 2

Carnegie sells these cold, and that is where the recurring complaint in the thread begins. The label allows either refrigeration or freezing, which gives a shopper some control over how firm the bites are by the time they get home, and freezing is the option that firms a soft bag up.

The bites are finished before they go in the bag, so there is nothing to cook or thaw. Carnegie's own serving note treats them as a ready snack at any hour — something to hand out after school, to put on the table with afternoon tea, or to finish an evening with. 2

$8.49 for 16 ounces works out to about 53 cents an ounce. The same brand's chocolate-covered cheesecake bites sell in a three-ounce retail pack for $5.49 at FreshDirect, or $1.83 an ounce. 2

On unit price the warehouse bag lands near a third of the retail pack. What a shopper trades for that is portion and shelf life: three ounces finish in one sitting, while a pound of cheesecake has to stay cold in the freezer until the household works through it.

The praise is direct. "These are INSANELY good," one buyer wrote, and a second confirmed a shared verdict at home: "We bought these! 100% agreement from both humans who tried them." 1

The complaints run the other way, and the first is the mush problem: "My only complaint is that they come refrigerated. Since they are so soft, both bags I got were mush." 1

The second is the ingredient list. One commenter read off bleached wheat flour, potassium bromate, xanthan gum, guar gum and locust bean gum, the kind of panel that ends the conversation in some households. 1

The bag's size carries its own warning, and the member who posted the find put it plainly: "They are delicious and I could easily finish the whole bag in 1 sitting. Be warned." 1

Buy the bag if a pound of dark-chocolate cheesecake bites for $8.49 suits your household, if you can keep it cold or frozen, and if you are willing to press the pouch to check it has not gone soft before you leave the warehouse.

Skip it if you want a dessert with real crunch, if milk, eggs, wheat, tree nuts or coconut are off the table, or if a one-pound bag of cheesecake is more temptation than your kitchen wants sitting in the freezer.

Buyers report finding the red pouch in the refrigerated case, and the item number to look for is 2088882.