Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake from The View from Great Island

Lemon Sugar Crumb Cake - made October 29, 2025 from The View from Great Island 

All italicized adjustments are for high altitude only

Zest from 1 lemon

2 cups granulated sugar (reduce by 1 to 3 tablespoons per cup of sugar)

3 cups all-purpose flour (add 1 to 2 tablespoons per cup of flour)

1 tablespoon baking powder (reduce by 1/8-1/4 teaspoon per teaspoon of leavening)

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, cold

2/3 cup milk (add 2-4 tablespoons per cup of extra liquid)

2 large eggs

1/3 cup sour cream

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (increase temp by 10-15 degrees in high altitude). Line 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. Zest lemon over the granulated sugar in the mixing bowl of a stand mixer. Stir together and rub zest into sugar until fragrant.
3. Whisk in flour, baking powder and salt.
4. Cut cold butter into tablespoons and cut into dry ingredients until mixture resembles small pebbles and butter is evenly distributed. Measure out 1 cup of mixture, squeeze into large clumps and place in freezer while you prepare the rest of the batter.
5. In a separate bowl, whisk together milk, eggs, sour cream and vanilla. Add to the remaining mixture and mix on low speed until just combined.
6. Spread batter in an even layer in prepared pan, smooth top then break topping into smaller clumps and sprinkle over top.
7. Bake for 40-45 minutes or until toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.  

Since I was getting annoyed with my inconsistent baking results in my new high altitude environment, I finally succumbed and made a few tweaks recommended for high altitude baking. The general adjustments are in parentheses against some of the ingredients in the recipe. YMMV if you want to make similar tweaks, depending on the altitude in your location.

This turned out pretty well in that the cake didn't rise then collapse because of the altitude, hopefully due to my tweaks. The flavor was also good and I liked the texture as it was dense-fluffy-soft. Not quite a pound cake but not quite as fluffy as a cake mix cake. But better tasting.

The only thing I didn't like about this recipe is you're supposed to reserve a cup for the crumb mixture on top. In an ideal baking world, your butter crumbles would be perfectly uniform and evenly dispersed through the mixture so when you reserve a cup, it's exactly the same as the mixture that make up the actual cake.

Yeah, that ideal doesn't live in my kitchen. The cup I reserved was more dry flour than butter. So I ended up cutting a few extra tablespoons of butter into the reserve mixture until I was satisfied it was crumbly enough for a crumble and wasn’t just flour.

I'm glad I made that adjustment as the topping was just right with some large and medium streusel, not merely flour dust. So don't be afraid to do something similar if you don't like how your streusel crumble looks.

Crumbl Copycat Caramel Pumpkin Cookies from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Crumbl Copycat Caramel Pumpkin Cookies - made dough October 19, 2025 from Lifestyle of a Foodie

1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup brown sugar

1 large egg yolk

1/4 cup pumpkin puree

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 2/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

Caramel Cream Cheese Frosting

5 ounces cream cheese, softened

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, softened

3 tablespoons caramel

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup powdered sugar

1/2 teaspoon caramel extract, optional

pumpkin pie spice for dusting

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add egg yolk, pumpkin puree and vanilla, mixing until combined.
3. Add flour, salt, baking powder, pumpkin pie spice and cinnamon, mixing on low speed until just combined.
4. Portion dough into 8 equal-sized dough balls. Cover and chill at least an hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
6. Evenly space 4 dough balls per cookie sheet and evenly flatten to a 1" thickness. Bake, one sheet at a time,  for 12-13 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 20 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.
7. Make frosting: in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, beat together cream cheese and butter until well combined and creamy, about 3 minutes.
8. Add caramel, vanilla and powdered sugar, whisking until well combined and fluffy, for about 3-4 minutes. Using a piping bag or a ziploc bag with a corner snipped off, frost cooled cookies. Lightly dust with pumpkin pie spice before serving.

One recipe is supposed to make eight large cookies. I apparently like my cookies even bigger as I only got seven out of one batch. I'd had this recipe on my pinterest board for awhile but hadn't made them earlier because if you want the true Crumbl copycat experience, you have to frost them. And I didn't want to eat 7 frosted cookies.

Fortunately, my niece and nephew in law were having friends over so it gave me an excuse to try the recipe in all its frosted glory. The cookies baked up nicely, stayed thick and didn't spread too much. I made the frosting at my niece's house but since she had loaned me her Kitchen Aid mixer which was sitting back at my apartment, I ended up beating the frosting ingredients by hand. Which I did a little too much trying to get the butter and cream cheese lumps out. So the frosting ended up a little soft and runny. Oops.

I also tried to be authentic to the Crumbl version and sprinkled cinnamon on top and drizzled it with caramel. Normally I don't go to that kind of trouble when I just want a(n) unfrosted cookie but in for a penny, in for (a few more) pound(s).

This was delicious. The texture was just right and I liked the cinnamon and caramel. The frosting wasn't bad either but would've been better if I could've used a mixer to mix it properly without overbeating it to such a soft state. But again, First World problems. We move on.

As a side note, it's still hard for me to write these blogs posts as if the state of the country is normal when it so is not. But I read posts from a lot of thoughtful, intelligent, rational people and a common theme is not to let what's happening to our country take our joy away. It's okay and actually recommended, to find joy where we can, to not give in to despair or anger. Because that's how authoritarians win, when we're bowed under from the stress, frustration, despair, anger. Not letting them destroy our joy is key. To keep our happiness and our humanity and let that fuel our compassion, our persistence and our actions. So whether that's baking cookies and sharing them, "stress quilting" (I'm working on a new quilt), exercising, reading a good book or whatever replenishes you, do it. Fuel up and keep going.

Brown Butter Biscoff Snickerdoodles from Two Peas and Their Pod

Brown Butter Biscoff Snickerdoodles - made dough October 19, 2025 from Two Peas and Their Pod

3/4 cup unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon salt

3/4 cup brown sugar, packed

1/2 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup cookie butter

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1/2 cup cookie butter for the filling

1/3 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 teaspoons cinnamon

1. In a heavy medium saucepan, melt the butter over medium heat, stirring constantly, until milk solids turn a golden brown. Remove from heat and let cool to room temperature.
2. In a medium bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar, cinnamon and salt; set aside.
3. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, combine cooled brown butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar. Cream together until well combined. 
4. Add cookie butter and mix until smooth and combined. Add eggs and vanilla, mixing until combined.
5. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing on low speed, until just combined.
6. Cover dough and chill for at least 30 minutes.
7. Form the dough into small balls and flatten slightly. Press an indent into 1 dough ball and place a teaspoon of cookie butter in the indent. Cover with a second dough ball, pinch seams together and roll into a smooth ball, ensuring no cookie butter filling is exposed. Repeat until all dough is formed. Cover and chill another 30 minutes.
8. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper. In a small bowl, combine granulated sugar and cinnamon. Roll dough balls in mixture, covering completely. Evenly space on prepared baking sheets.
9. Bake 8 to 11 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or shiny. Let cool on baking sheets for 5 minutes before removing to wire rack to cool completely. 

Cookie butter meets snickerdoodle. That's the best way to describe these cookies as they're "stuffed" with cookie butter and rolled in cinnamon sugar prior to baking. 

These were good. A bit sweeter than I expected and a little more crisp than I normally like my cookies but those are my fussy taste buds talking. I gave 4 of them away to someone, expecting she'd eat two and give two to her husband. After we met and I handed off the cookies, she texted me later and confessed she ate two in the car on her way home and hid the other two from her husband. LOLOL. You can't ask for a more genuine testimonial than that. I guess she liked the cookies.

Crumbl Cookies review #101 - Martha Stewart Coconut Cake and Pumpkin Sheet Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #101 - Martha Stewart Coconut Cake and Pumpkin Sheet Cake, visited November 3, 2025

Still trying to catch up on my Crumbl reviews. This'll be a short one. Crumbl made a big deal of this collab with Martha Stewart. I didn't pay much attention other than to see her logo over the dessert descriptions. I only got 2 which were all I wanted to try from the options: the coconut cake and the pumpkin sheet cake.

I went on a Monday which I normally try not to do as I like to give the Crumbl employees a few days to perfect that week's offerings. As you can see from the first picture, whoever piped the frosting on the coconut cake hadn't quite nailed it. But, I don't sweat that stuff so it wasn't a big deal. The cake was good, nice and fluffy. I would've liked more coconut in the cake however but that's me as a coconut lover.

I don't know that I'd get this again but at least the surcharge wasn't too crazy: $4.69 regular cookie price + $0.49 surcharge = $5.18.

The Pumpkin Sheet Cake was also good but in all honesty, I couldn't tell you the difference between this and the Pumpkin Cake from a couple weeks ago. Except this pumpkin sheet cake had a massive amount of frosting vs the pumpkin cake had a nice thin glaze. Good in terms of taste but thumbs down on that much frosting. This was the same price as the Coconut Cake: $4.69 regular cookie price + $0.49 surcharge = $5.18.

Crumbl Cookies review #100 - revisiting Semisweet Chocolate Chip, Red Velvet Cupcake, Pumpkin Cake, Caramel Shortbread ft Twix

Crumbl Cookies review #100 - revisiting Semisweet Chocolate Chip, Red Velvet Cake, Pumpkin Square, Twix, gifted on October 14, 2025 

A blog follower kindly gifted me with Crumbl cookies of my choice recently. She had made the offer earlier but it wasn't until a few weeks ago that I liked enough of the offerings to take her up on her generous offer.

Semisweet Chocolate Chip

I'd had all of these flavors before because, let's face it, when you've done 100 reviews of Crumbl's offerings, there aren't many more untried flavors that I wanted to try.

Red Velvet Cupcake

I've linked my previous write ups on each cookie (or cake) under the captions for each picture. Up until this point, I hadn't tried out the Crumbl(s) in my new location so this delivery was my first experience with the one closest to my niece's house where I'd asked them to be sent.

Pumpkin Cake

I have to say, the Thornton, CO Crumbl made a good first impression on their desserts. The toppings on the three cookies were generous (look at that semisweet chocolate chip! and the Twix!) and the glaze/icing on the pumpkin cake was mercifully not too thick or thin but just right.

Thank you, Meredith, for the Crumbl! My family and I enjoyed them all. Okay, I ate more than my fair share, lol.

Caramel Shortbread featuring Twix

Crumbl Cookies review #99 - Chocolate Peppermint Cake (test cake)

Crumbl Cookies review #99 - Chocolate Peppermint Cake (test cake), visited October 4, 2025 

I'm behind on my Crumbl reviews. Not that I've been going a lot but this is from over a month ago and I'm just now getting to it. I was back in my permanent home (as opposed to the temporary one I'm living in for the next few months) for a few days to take care of some things and, to my surprise, my local store was testing a product. I was surprised because I haven't seen them test anything for awhile.

But I was glad enough to see it this time that, despite my dislike of mint and chocolate together as a flavor, I decided to try this one. Hope always springs eternal when it comes to a test cookie or cake, despite knowing with near 100% certainty that I won't like it.

I think I'm still trying to convince my taste buds they're open-minded. But, alas, it turns out they're not. I knew that ahead of time so it was no surprise to me that I didn't care for this particular cake. I like peppermint and I like chocolate. I just don't like them together.

The frosting wasn't too overwhelmingly minty but it was minty enough to jar my taste buds when combined with chocolate. The combination is just not my thing. The chocolate cake itself was okay but I did my usual scraping off of the entire top layer of frosting and ate as little of the middle sandwich layer of frosting as possible.

The cake was light and fluffy but not particularly rich-chocolatey. In fact, I'm not sure whether, in a blind taste test, I could tell the difference between Crumbl's chocolate cake and one from a cake mix. And y'all know the chip on my shoulder about cake mixes. Sorry, Crumbl, not a fan of this one.

This was $4.98 plus a $0.49 surcharge at my local store. Wise of them not to have a bigger surcharge like some of their more tasty desserts.