Crumbl Copycats: Pink Sugar Cookies from Lifestyle of a Foodie and Cooking with Karli vs the Crumbl OG

Crumbl Copycat Chilled Sugar Cookies - made dough July 1, 2023 from Lifestyle of a Foodie

1 stick butter, softened

1/4 cup oil

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons powdered sugar

1 egg, room temperature

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

2 1/3 cups all-purpose flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1 teaspoon baking powder

Pink sugar cookie almond icing

1/4 cup butter, softened

1 cup powdered sugar

2 tablespoons heavy cream, cold

1/4 teaspoon almond extract

pink gel food coloring

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, granulated sugar and powdered sugar until a consistent texture. Beat in oil until combined.
2. Add the egg, vanilla extract and almond extract; beat until just combined.
3. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, salt, cream of tartar and baking powder. Add to butter mixture in 2 additions, mixing until just combined after each addition. Do not overbeat.
4. Using a large cookie scoop, scoop out 9 equally sized dough balls. Using the bottom of a glass dipped in granulated sugar, flatten each dough ball into a thick disc. Cover and chill or freeze for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough discs. Bake 10-12 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and let cool completely before frosting.
6. Make the frosting: cream together the butter, powdered sugar and almond extract until well combined. Add in the heavy cream and beat on medium speed until light and fluffy. Add in a tiny bit of pink gel food coloring using a toothpick; mix and check the color. Add more if needed, until desired color is achieved. Generously spread frosting on cookies and chill before serving.

I had some time one day and decided to do a baking experiment with copycat recipes for the Crumbl pink sugar cookie. First off, I'm not a fan of the pink sugar. It's got an almost cult-like following among some of the Crumbl fan base but I'm not one of them. When I had first tried it, I thought the (fake) almond extract flavor was too overpowering and not good at all. I liked the cookie but not the almond extract flavor.

Second, Crumbl said they changed the recipe to include real almond extract, not fake, when they re-released the pink sugar. I didn't try it when the pink sugar came back on the regular menu (it's off again, sorry, pink sugar lovers) as, real or fake, I'm still not a fan of almond extract.

But, in the name of baking experiments, I decided I'd try a couple of copycats for comparison, not just with the Crumbl pink sugar but between themselves. When it comes to Crumbl copycat recipes, the two main sources seem to be Lifestyle of a Foodie and Cooking with Karli so their copycat recipes are the ones I decided to try.

Crumbl Copycat Chilled Sugar Cookies - made dough July 2, 2023 from Cooking with Karli 

1 cup salted butter (I used unsalted)

1 cup granulated sugar

2 eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon almond extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

Sweet Almond Icing

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

3 cups powdered sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract

1-3 tablespoons milk

neon pink food coloring, optional

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and granulated sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes, scraping down the sides to keep the mixture even textured.
2. Add eggs, vanilla extract and almond extract, beating until just combined.
3. Add flour and baking powder, mixing until just combined. Portion 1/4-cup balls of dough. Flatten each dough ball with the underside of a glass pressed gently in the center, making thick discs. Cover and chill or freeze (you can skip this step if desired).
4. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space dough discs. Bake for 9-11 minutes or until the cookies have puffed up and are no longer glossy. Cool for several minutes on the baking sheets then remove to wire racks to cool completely.
5. Make the frosting: cream butter until smooth and creamy. Slowly add in powdered sugar, almond extract and milk until smooth and desired consistency. Spread over still slightly warm cookies. Let cookies cool completely then chill, covered, in the refrigerator until ready to serve.

A comparison of the two recipes show the main difference is Lifestyle of a Foodie uses oil and Cooking with Karli is all butter. The differences in the baked cookies is Lifestyle's cookies spread less and had a slightly more crisp-yet-still-chewy texture while Karli's was a softer texture and mouthfeel. 

I only made the frosting recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie since I didn't need that much frosting for the taste test cookie from each recipe. If you want the Barbie-pink of the Crumbl OG pink sugar, you do need to use pink food coloring, not red. The pink you see on the frosting on made was achieved with ONE drop of pink food coloring. As in, I dipped a toothpick into the pink gel and gently added a tiny bit to the frosting. And even then, you can tell Crumbl's frosting is a slightly lighter pink. 

So the purpose of the baking experiment was 1) which came closest to Crumbl's original and 2) which did I like better?

The original Crumbl pink sugar cookie

On the first question, the results are a little inconclusive. To be honest, I was distracted by the almond extract flavoring in all of them. The new recipe was better than the old one in that the almond extract flavor wasn't as overpowering. But I'm still not a fan of almond extract so I can't say I loved any of them. 

However, between the two copycats, I have to give more of a nod to the one from Cooking with Karli. The flavor is similar on both but Karli's wins on texture. I prefer the all-butter version with the softer chew and more moist mouthfeel than the one with oil that adds a light crispness but also a slightly drier mouthfeel. Both recipes were good but next time I'd sub in vanilla extract for the almond extract as a personal preference.