TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — A new study by HelloFresh found that the cost of baking a batch of cookies for Christmas is joining the list of holiday traditions hurt by rising inflation. They’re calling it the Christmas Cookie Price Index.
The study examined the cost of key ingredients for cookies, like butter, milk, eggs, flour, sugar, and baking soda across 60 cities in the United States and 30 countries around the world. For the sake of the study, the methodology says a batch is 100 cookies made off of a “classic butter cookie recipe” from Preppy Kitchen.
Of the 60 cities surveyed, the most expensive was San Diego, California, where a single batch of cookies is going to end up costing bushy-tailed bakers $12.40.
Here are the top 10 most expensive U.S. cities to bake Christmas cookies in this year, according to the study.
| City, State | Price (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1. San Diego, California | $12.40 |
| 2. Burlington, Vermont | $12.08 |
| 3. Los Angeles California | $11.41 |
| 4. Salt Lake City, Utah | $11.40 |
| 5. Wilmington, Delaware | $10.00 |
| 6. Bridgeport, Connecticut | $9.92 |
| 7. Milwaukee, Wisconsin | $9.79 |
| 8. Phoenix, Arizona | $9.21 |
| 9. Detroit, Michigan | $9.00 |
| 10. Little Rock, Arkansas | $8.91 |
Tampa made it into the top 20 percent of most expensive cities for baking the sweet treats, with the overall cost of a batch ringing in at $6.37, according to the study.
The least expensive city surveyed was Charleston, South Carolina, where the cost for a batch is $2.23.
Here are the top 10 least expensive U.S. cities to bake Christmas cookies in this year, according to the study.
| City, State | Price (USD) |
|---|---|
| 1. Charleston, South Carolina | $2.23 |
| 2. Charleston, West Virginia | $2.90 |
| 3. Des Moines, Iowa | $4.13 |
| 4. Portland, Maine | $4.62 |
| 5. Dallas, Texas | $4.76 |
| 6. Charlotte, North Carolina | $4.92 |
| 7. Lincoln Nebraska | $4.97 |
| 8. Albuquerque, New Mexico | $5.05 |
| 9. Cleveland, Ohio | $5.20 |
| 10. Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania | $5.20 |
The survey’s 30 countries were ranked by cost too, and the most expensive country to bake cookies for the holidays is Sweden, where a baker’s batch is going to cost $12.84, while the least expensive was Ecuador, where cookies are going to cost $3.50.
The U.S. average from the survey was $6.10, with America ranking at number 18 of the 30 countries in the HelloFresh study.
For bakers who want to test the cost versus cookie recipe at home, here’s the list of ingredients the survey used to help them calculate their rankings. Since it’s supposed to make 100 cookies for the batch, there’s enough for friends and family after you put the survey to the test. For science.
- 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)