Do you ever think about how expensive your batch of homemade cookies is? Baking up a storm is always fun, but particularly seasonal as we head into these festive weeks. We’ve all heard that supply issues and pricing have ramped up this year, and that’s where the Christmas Cookie Price Index comes in!
Meal kit provider HelloFresh recently carried out the global price comparison of ingredients across 60 major US cities and 30 cities around the world, to see where the most expensive cookies were being baked. So, how do your cookies rank?
The Christmas Cookie Price Index
Christmas cookies are a tasty holiday treat and a fun annual tradition, with the cookie baking season typically starting in mid-November around the world. Despite notable rises in food prices recently, this year is no different.
HelloFresh looked into the costs, doing a like-for-like comparison of the essential ingredients of this favourite holiday treat, including the cost of flour, eggs, butter, sugar, and baking powder in each location in the study.
With a whopping $12.40 per batch, San Diego tops the list of most expensive US cities, while Sweden ranks top internationally with a batch cost of $12.83. At the other end of the scale, the best price per batch was found in Charleston, South Carolina ($2.23) and globally in Ecuador ($3.50).
The Most Expensive Christmas Cookies
Within the US, the most expensive cities for baking Christmas cookies are:
- San Diego, California ($12.40)
- Burlington, Vermont ($12.08)
- Los Angeles, California ($11.41)
- Salt Lake City, Utah ($11.40)
- Wilmington, Delaware ($10.00)
- Bridgeport, Connecticut ($9.92)
- Milwaukee, Wisconsin ($9.79)
- Phoenix, Arizona ($9.21)
- Detroit, Michigan ($9.00)
- Little Rock, Arkansas ($8.91)
Internationally, the most expensive countries for baking Christmas cookies are:
- Sweden ($12.83)
- Dominican Republic ($11.74)
- Denmark ($10.97)
- New Zealand ($10.57)
- Russia ($9.81)
- Switzerland ($9.75)
- Costa Rica ($9.62)
- Norway ($9.05)
- Mexico ($8.31)
- Australia ($8.04)
The Least Expensive Christmas Cookies
In the US, the least expensive cities to bake Christmas cookies are:
- Charleston, South Carolina ($2.23)
- Charleston, West Virginia ($2.90)
- Des Moines, Iowa ($4.13)
- Portland, Maine ($4.62)
- Dallas, Texas ($4.76)
- Charlotte, North Carolina ($4.92)
- Lincoln, Nebraska ($4.97)
- Albuquerque, New Mexico ($5.05)
- Cleveland, Ohio ($5.20)
- Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania ($5.20)
Around the world, the cheapest Christmas cookies can be baked in:
- Ecuador ($3.50)
- Poland ($3.62)
- Spain ($3.80)
- Germany ($4.04)
- Chile ($4.20)
- Belgium ($4.26)
- Portugal ($4.33)
- Argentina ($4.48)
- UK ($4.75)
- Austria ($4.80)
Our Irish audience might be interested to know that Ireland ranked #13 for cheapest ingredients!
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How the Pricing Was Calculated
The Christmas Cookie Price Index calculated how much it costs to bake a batch by collecting the current prices from online supermarkets of the following staple ingredients in each location:
- Flour: a 2lb package of flour (32oz / 1kg)
- Eggs: a box of 12 eggs
- Butter: an 8oz serving of butter (200g)
- Baking soda: a 1lb packet (16oz / 0.5kg)
- Sugar: a 2lb package of sugar (32oz / 1kg)
All prices were collected in the local currency and then converted to USD using the average monthly conversion rate of August 2021.
The Christmas cookie dough is based on a classic butter cookie recipe from Preppy Kitchen that creates 100 cookies.
About the Author: Emily Manning
