Crumbl Cookies review #38 - Lemon Cheesecake

Crumbl Cookies review #38 - Lemon Cheesecake, visited May 10, 2023

I missed my goal of trying to publish this the week it was available so I'm playing catch up today.

I got a 4-pack last week (yes, the frozen pieces of Crumbl cookies in my freezer are stacking up nicely) since last week's line up included one of my favorites: Pink Velvet. I got 2 of those plus a Hazelnut Mudslide but I've already reviewed those so the only new-to-me flavor I got was the Lemon Cheesecake. I had waited to go on Wednesday as that's supposed to be when my store has the test cookie but last week they didn't do a test cookie for some reason so I got the Hazelnut Mudslide in its place. Although I probably could've gotten a third Pink Velvet and I woudn't have been sorry about it.

Before I get into the review of the Lemon Cheesecake, look at the perfection of that 4-pack. I have to reiterate how consistently nice of a job the Sparks, NV Crumbl does with its cookies, both in appearance and the bake itself.

Now on to the Lemon Cheesecake. At first I wasn't going to get this at all since I don't like the tang of cheesecake. But several of the online fan reviews I read bemoaned the fact that it didn't taste like cheesecake at all so my taste buds perked up and I decided to try it. I'm glad I did as this was delicious.

Look at that perfect cookie texture - dense and chewy. The "cheesecake" topping, in fact, did not taste like cheesecake but was more like their normal cream cheese frosting. Sometimes I find Crumbl's frosting a little overwhelming but this one worked really well because of the tart lemon curd on top. It was delicious and perfectly offset the sweetness of the frosting. I enjoyed this one a lot and would definitely get it again. Oh, this was supposed to be served chilled but I don't like chilled cookies so I let it come to room temperature before I ate it and it was perfect.

Crumbl Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies from Binge-Worthy Bites

Crumbl Copycat Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough May 12, 2023 from Binge-Worthy Bites

1 1/2 cups salted butter

1 1/2 cups dark brown sugar

3/4 cup granulated sugar

1 1/2 tablespoons vanilla extract

3 1/2 tablespoons light corn syrup

2 large eggs

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cornstarch

1/4 cup milk powder

4 cups all-purpose flour

2 1/2 cups milk chocolate chips

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter until light and no lumps remain. Add brown sugar and granulated sugar and beat for 5 minutes on medium speed, scraping down the sides and bottom occasionally to keep mixture even textured.
2. Add vanilla and corn syrup and mix for another 3 minutes.
3. Add one egg and mix until well combined. Add second egg and mix again until well combined.
4. Add baking soda, baking powder and cornstarch, mixing until combined.
5. Add milk powder and mix until combined.
6. Add flour in 3-4 additions, mixing on low speed until just combined. Do not overmix. Fold in milk chocolate chips.
7. Preheat oven to 375 degrees. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
8. Portion dough into baseball-sized dough balls, cover and chill while oven is preheating.
9. Evenly space 4 dough balls on prepared sheets. Bake for 9 minutes then rotate pan. Bake another 4-5 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for 20 minutes. Serve warm.

It's National Chocolate Chip Day (May 15)! And nothing epitomizes chocolate chips than their starring role in a chocolate chip cookie (thanks, Ruth Wakefield, for that accidental and brilliant use of chopped chocolate)

Chocolate chip cookies are the most popular items in military care packages to deployed troops so I make them for almost every package I send out. And thanks to pinterest, I'll never run out of recipes to try for making them. I'm really glad I tried this one because it was excellent. The pictures are just from the test cookie as I haven't baked the rest of the batch off yet for care packages.

But what a test cookie it was. Crisp edges, molten chocolate, chewy middles, caramelized brown sugar flavor. This recipe has a couple more ingredients not in your typical chocolate chip cookie recipe (corn syrup and milk powder) but if you can, I highly recommend going the little extra mile to make the recipe as is. This could be my new go-to favorite in the foreseeable future. Considering the dozens, if not hundreds, of recipes just for chocolate chip cookies that I've tried over decades, that's saying something.

Thick Oreo-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies from One Happy Bite

Thick Oreo-Stuffed White Chocolate Chip Cookies - made dough May 7, 2023 from One Happy Bite

1 cup unsalted butter, cold

1 cup brown sugar

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups cake flour

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder 

1 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup white chocolate chips

1 cup crushed Oreos (about 10 Oreo cookies)

15 Oreo cookies

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together cold butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined, 2-3 minutes.
2. Add eggs, one at a time, mixing on low speed until just combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl as needed to keep mixture even textured. Add vanilla extract and beat until pale and creamy.
3. In a separate bowl, whisk together cake flour, all-purpose flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt.  Add dry ingredients to butter mixture in 2-3 additions, mixing on low speed after each addition until just combined. Stir in crushed Oreos and white chocolate chips, mixing on low speed until evenly distributed.
4. Cover and chill dough for 15-30 minutes. Then scoop out dough, flattening to discs. Place a whole Oreo in the center of one disc and cover with another, sealing the edges by rolling into a tall ball, completely encasing the Oreo. Repeat with remaining dough. Cover and chill rolled cookies for several hours or overnight.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 375 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space 6 dough balls per sheet, at least 2 inches apart. Bake 12-14 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove from oven and let cool for 15 minutes on the baking sheet before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

So...it's been awhile since I've posted a new recipe that I've tried out. Not coincidentally, it's also been awhile since I've been able to bake anything. First I was sick and I don't bake when I'm sick. Second, I had an international trip so I was out of the country for a couple of weeks. Then, 4 days after I got back, I moved. Three weeks later, I've finally gotten an internet connection, got my furniture in place, got my stuff moved up and have unpacked (almost) everything.

Just as importantly, I also had enough time to organize all my baking stuff and (sort of) remember where I put everything in my new kitchen. And finally I was able to go grocery shopping and stock up on baking ingredients again.

Work didn't stop while all this was going on and I'm working on a significant project so I also had to fit in cookie dough-making time into my schedule. But the stars finally aligned and I'm back in business. Or at least volunteering as these went into a care package for a deployed service member on a Navy ship somewhere.

You've heard me say I love Oreos and don't tend to favor cookies and cream sort of cookies, despite my partiality for the Oreos that go into them. I have to admit though, I liked these cookies more than I expected.

The dough was a dream to work with, not too soft or sticky and not dry or crumbly. So it was easy to flatten pieces of dough into discs and press them around a whole Oreo cookie for the "stuffing".

I also tested out my new oven for the first time when baking these cookies. So far so good, although, as usual, I didn't time the cookies but just went by how they looked. The recipe says to bake at 375 degrees and I suggest going with that if you want uniformly thicker cookies. I baked the first baking sheet at 350 and they spread a bit more, particularly at the edges. The higher temp had less spread and the Oreo stuffing didn't look like such a lump. Overall, not a bad recipe to christen my new kitchen with. Not bad at all.

I liked how the second sheet turned out at 375 as they didn't spread as much and didn't have thinner edges. Regardless of the baking temp, these were delicious. The Oreo softens in the middle so it's a consistently chewy-soft texture and the flavor was also really good.

Crumbl Cookies review #37 - Dulce de Leche, Cake Batter, Maple Oatmeal and Peanut Butter Milk

Crumbl Cookies review #37 - Dulce de Leche, Maple Oatmeal, Cake Batter and Peanut Butter Milk

I'm still trying to get into some sort of rhythm where I publish my review of Crumbl cookies in the week they're actually available. I'm getting this under the wire as tomorrow is the last day of this week's lineup.

I am thrilled, probably to a weird, unhealthy blood-sugar-level degree of thrill, that, with my recent move (more on that later), my closest and only Crumbl near me is a tester store. Tester stores are specific Crumbl locations that do a test cookie almost every Wednesday where they do a new cookie that isn't available nationwide yet as the cookies are - well - still being tested, both by the store in making them and the customers in eating them.

Which now changes my whole game plan on when I go to Crumbl. Because if I'm going to get any particular flavors, I might as well go on Wednesday in case the tester cookie interests me.

Dulce de Leche

The flavor that interested me this week in the regular lineup was Dulce de Leche. I love dulce de leche and caramel in all forms. I knew I would like this cookie and I did. The little caramel dollop on top looks pretty but it's best spread more evenly on top of the dulce de leche frosting so you can get the full flavor of it paired with the dulce de leche and the cookie.

Dulce de Leche inside

I'm glad to be near the Sparks store again as they do cookies much better and more consistently in terms of texture, not too long in the warmer and not overbaked. The cinnamon cookie base was excellent and the dulce de leche was fantastic. This one's a keeper for me.

Maple Oatmeal

The second cookie I wanted to try was the Maple Oatmeal. I'm not a big fan of maple flavor but I love Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal and had hoped this would be something similar. It was and it wasn't. The cookie itself is very similar to Crumbl's Iced Oatmeal so I enjoyed that part. And the glaze was similar to the iced oatmeal in that it wasn't a heavy frosting but an (all-encompassing) glaze. But unlike the Iced Oatmeal where the glaze was soft or softly set, the glaze on the Maple Oatmeal was much firmer, almost like a penuche frosting. You can see from the picture where it breaks in pieces. It wasn't my favorite. Cookie was really good but penuche-like frosting isn't my thing. Too sweet.

Maple Oatmeal inside

Cake Batter

I've tried a copycat recipe of the Crumbl Cake Batter cookie before but it doesn't come close to the real thing. I loved the Crumbl Cake Batter cookie. It's like my beloved vanilla sugar (not to be confused with the pink sugar which I don't care for) but with a little more brown sugar flavor. Or cake batter flavor? Whichever it is, it's excellent. Again, taste and texture were on point.

Cake Batter inside

Peanut Butter Milk ft Reese's Puffs (tester cookie)

To round off the 4-pack I got this week, we get to the tester cookie. At the Sparks location this week (Wednesday), it was the Peanut Butter Milk featuring Reese's Puffs. By all accounts, I would've skipped this cookie because you know me and peanut butter aren't bffs. But it was a tester cookie, the chocolate cookie was promised to be made with milk chocolate instead of dark chocolate and I talked myself into trying it out with an open mind.

The cookie itself was pretty good. I liked that the chocolate wasn't overwhelming or too rich and the texture was a nice cross between fudgy but not too fudgy and still cookie-textured, not cakey or too mushy. But, you guessed it, the peanut butter frosting wasn't for me. The frosting wasn't too thick (thankfully) and peanut butter lovers would probably like it. But, because I'm not a big peanut butter fan, I didn't love it. Hence why I don't normally get peanut butter cookies. I tried it, I didn't care for it, no need to get this again when it hits the national roster. Texture was fine so it was really just the flavor for me. And I've never been a fan of cereal on top of their cookies. Cereals stale too quickly and don't freeze at all well. I had a piece of this to taste it then plucked the Reese's puffs off, divided it into another 3 pieces and wrapped each piece for the freezer.

Crumbl Cookies review #36 - Oreo Birthday Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #35 - Oreo Birthday Cake

The more Crumbl cookies I try, logically, the fewer flavors there are left that are new to me. Or at least the fewer flavors there are that I want to try. Case in point for this week. I'd already had the Caramel Shortbread and while I hadn't tried the Cinnamon Roll before, I had had the Maple Cinnamon Roll and thought it would be too similar so I didn't "need" to get it. Pass on the peanut butter ones and Cotton Candy sounded too sweet for me.

But I did want to try the Oreo Birthday Cake as the Oreo-based cookies are the only chocolate cookies I like from Crumbl for the most part.

This one didn't disappoint either. Good texture and flavor, not too overwhelmingly chocolaty or rich. 

The frosting was a bit heavy though and there was too much of it so I did the usual scraping off of more than half the frosting and enjoyed the cookie. Crumbl's Chocolate Cookie featuring Oreos is still my favorite chocolate/Oreo-based cookie though, partly because that one doesn't have sprinkles. But both cookie bases are excellent.

Crumbl Cookies review #35 - Texas Sheet Cake (new) and Lemon Poppyseed (revisited)

Crumbl Cookies review #34 - Texas Sheet Cake (new) and Lemon Poppyseed (revisited), March 23, 2023

I only got two cookies when these came out. I've never jumped on the bandwagon of sprinkling salt on my cookies and I'd already tried the sea salt toffee before anyway and didn't need to get it again. I don't like Monster Cookies (not a peanut butter fan) or raspberry or cheesecake so no go on the Raspberry Cheesecake cookie. 

I did want to try the Texas Sheet Cake cookie though as it's supposedly new on the Crumbl roster plus I like Texas sheet cakes in general. The cookie was good warm, a bit cakey, but it is a Texas Sheet CAKE cookie after all. Thankfully it wasn't as overwhelmingly richly chocolatey like most of Crumbl's chocolate cookies are so I enjoyed it. I think I prefer the real Texas sheet cake though instead of the cookie version so this goes in the category of glad I tried it, don't need to get again.

Now, let's talk about the Lemon Poppyseed. Last year, I was getting pretty disillusioned with Crumbl Cookies. The ones in Las Vegas just weren't as consistently good as the one in Sparks, NV that I used to go to. But I happened to be back in the Sparks area the week these came out so I *had* to stop by for a cookie run. Although I'd given up on Crumbl's stuffed cookies (mine never had any discernible stuffing in them), I decided to give the lemon poppyseed another chance because I've had more consistently good cookies from the Sparks store than at any other Crumbl location.

I'm glad I gave the Lemon Poppyseed another chance as the Sparks store delivered this cookie as it was supposed to be - with actual lemon curd inside the cookie that you could see and taste. This was delicious. Texture of the cookie was spot on and the lemon curd filling was just right, not too sweet or too tart and I didn't get any flimsy excuses about the filling baking into the cookie or, as I suspect what I happened in Vegas, the filling being forgotten completely. 

You can see from the comparison pictures below what I'm talking about. The top picture was from last year from one of the Crumbls in Las Vegas. See the lemon curd filling? Yeah, me neither. The bottom picture is the Lemon Poppyseed from the Sparks Crumbl that actually had filling. Well done, Sparks, well done.

Crumbl Cookies review #34 - Strawberry Cupcake

Crumbl Cookies review #34 - Strawberry Cupcake, April 24, 2023

I'm going slightly out of order so I can publish this post about the Crumbl Strawberry Cupcake while it's still available at Crumbl through this Saturday (reminder that all Crumbls are closed on Sundays).

I had initially planned to skip this week as none of the flavors were appealing. I had already tried the Cookies & Cream Milkshake (FWIW, none of the Cookies & Cream Milkshake Cookies I've seen at any Crumbl are as light as pictured on their menu; they've all been dark), the Buttermilk Pancake and the Triple Chocolate, none of which I felt the need to repeat. 

That left the Strawberry Cupcake and I wasn't that interested because I don't like strawberries in baked goods. I like strawberries well enough but prefer them in their whole(some) fruit form, not incorporated into stuff. 

But I thought, heck, might as well try it because you never know, right? I was driving to the Bay Area for a work trip so I stopped off at the Rocklin Crumbl on my way to pick up a cookie. I sampled it in the car while it was still warm (seriously, do people not do that? So many of my Crumbl pics have the inside of my car as the backdrop).  

Anyway, I was half right/half wrong about this cookie. I loved the cookie itself. Perfect vanilla flavor and perfect texture. Unfortunately, I didn't care for the strawberry cream cheese frosting at all. I normally don't mind their cream cheese frosting, albeit they frost their cookies with a heavy hand. But the strawberry flavor was not to my liking. Too sweet, a little artificial tasting and had an odd aftertaste. I ate the first bite as Crumbl intended but ended up scraping most of the frosting off the rest of the cookie. It took me 3 sittings over 2 days to finish the cookie, not because of the cookie but because of the (scraped off) frosting. I wouldn't get this one again unless I could get it without the frosting but that's just me.