Crumbl Cookies review #62 - Chocolate Cereal Milk (tester) and Gingersnap

Crumbl Cookies review #62: Chocolate Cereal ft Milk and Gingersnap - visited December 20, 2023

Chocolate Cereal Milk

This is my last visit to Crumbl for 2023 and I'm still trying to catch up on my reviews.

I continue to be fascinated by the test flavors so even if I do or don't like what's on the regular menu, I will almost always go for the test cookie. The test flavors are posted on the app and shows which test locations are testing which flavor. I've started to screenshot what the different options are. My store only tests one flavor at a time so my FOMO kicks in to see what other flavors are being tested.

Mine did the Chocolate Cereal Milk ft (insert chocolate pebbles cereal?). I loved 2 of the 3 things about this cookie. The first was the cookie itself. Look at that perfect texture below. Flavor was also really good, not too richly chocolate. I also liked the light vanilla glaze over it and thought it was a perfect complement to the chocolate cookie. What I didn't like though is the chocolate cereal coating. 

It was nice and crunchy when I first bit into it shortly after I got it although some bits of cereal had already started to soften from the moistness of the glaze. But, you guessed it, as more time passed, more cereal started to soften and stale. I don't eat Crumbl cookies all at once; they're too big and have too many calories. So I usually only eat a quarter piece then I freeze the rest. Past experience proved cereal does not freeze well at all so I left this one out and ate it over the next couple of days. Yup, cereal got stale. If this hits the regular menu, I wouldn't get it if they still do the cereal coating. I liked the cookie and glaze but it's not worth $5 to pay for an outer coating that'll stale before I can eat it.

Gingersnap

The other flavor I got this week was the Gingersnap. I had been disappointed in the Gingerbread Cake from earlier in the month because the edges were hard and crunchy and the cookie wasn't as underbaked as I would've liked. But I did like the flavor so I thought I'd try again with the ginger snap.

I'm glad I did because this was delicious. It was baked perfectly, not too hard but not too underbaked either. And the flavor was delicious, not too over-spiced but definitely good flavor. I never used to be a fan of gingerbread or gingersnap cookies because I don't like molasses that much and I've tried some bad ones. But apparently when you have a good one, you become a fan.

Nice job on this one, Crumbl.

Crumbl Cookies review #61: Chocolate Caramel Tart (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #61: Chocolate Caramel Tart (test cookie) - visited December 6, 2023

I love test cookies, especially ones like these. It's a "pie cookie" which basically means a cookie shell filled with, in this case, goodness. There's a caramel layer topped by a chocolate mousse layer topped by a thick chocolate ganache. Then sprinkled with flakes of sea salt.

If that sounds good to you, it's because it was. This is supposed to be served chilled, probably because of the mousse, and I don't like chilled cookies so I let it come to room temperature first before I tried it. I liked this cookie because I liked each of its components separately and they worked well together. The cookie base isn't too sweet (although to be honest, weeks later, I can't remember clearly what the base was, only that it served as a good base) and I always love Crumbl's caramel. I'm not a huge fan of mousse or ganache but both were good and worked well with this cookie. The ganache was almost likea thick fudge and wasn't too overwhelmingly chocolaty. I'm also not a big fan of sea salt sprinkled on cookies but I'm probably a minority on that one and I don't see them omitting it if/when this hits the regular menu.

Crumbl Cookies review #60: Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Crumb Cake, Gingerbread Cake and Caramel Shortbread ft Twix

Crumb Cookies review #60: Lemon Poppyseed, Chocolate Crumb Cake, Gingerbread Cake and Caramel Shortbread ft Twix, visited December 6, 2023

Chocolate Crumb Cake

 

This review is mostly about the Chocolate Crumb Cake as I've already reviewed the Lemon Poppyseed (twice, the second Lemon Poppyseed bought at the Sparks store was way better than the first one bought at a Las Vegas store).

Gingerbread Cake

I've also reviewed the Gingerbread Cake but the one I got 2 years ago was much better than the one from this year. In a rare miss from my Sparks store, this one was a trifle overbaked or fully baked. The edges were hard and the texture of the cookie wasn't as underbaked as I would've liked or how my first one was from 2 years ago. 

Lemon Poppyseed

Shortbread featuring Twix

The shortbread featuring Twix though was much better from the Sparks store than the Vegas one. In Vegas, I got Twix dust. From the Sparks store, I got Twix chunks as the garnishes were supposed to be. The caramel was amazing as always.

Chocolate Crumb Cake

But the real review is for the Chocolate Crumb Cake. It might look slightly familiar as I was told the original test cookie was called the Chocolate Babka which I did get and review as a test cookie back in August 2023. The cookie on the regular menu was changed to have the chocolate glaze, more chocolate crumble garnished and they cut back on the cinnamon flavor so it didn't fight for supremacy with the chocolate (spoiler: the chocolate flavor won). I approve of these changes, even with the chocolate glaze, which I also enjoyed. I liked the flavor of this cookie much better than the tester since it was more of a chocolate cookie only subtly flavored with cinnamon. And as you can tell from the below picture, I loved the texture as that's the perfect cookie texture to me at room temperature: dense, moist and chewy, not too mushy/raw but also not cakey or dry.

Classic Fudgy Brownies from Lisa Yockelson

Classic Fudge Brownies - made December 2, 2023 from Brownies & Blondies by Lisa Yockelson 

3/4 cup unsifted all-purpose flour

3/4 cup plus 1 teaspoon unsifted cake flour

1/4 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon salt

18 tablespoons unsalted butter, cut into tablespoons

6 ounces unsweetened chocolate, roughly chopped

2 cups granulated sugar

4 extra large eggs

2 extra large egg yolks

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 13-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a medium bowl, whisk together all-purpose flour, cake flour, baking power and salt; set aside.
3. In the top half of a double boiler over hot water, combine butter and unsweetened chocolate, whisking until completely melted and smooth. Remove from heat.
4. Add sugar to melted butter-chocolate mixture and beat to combine. Add eggs and yolks, one at a time, beating after each addition until just combined. Beat in vanilla extract.
5. Add dry ingredients in two additions, mixing until just combined.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth into an even layer. Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool completely before cutting and serving.

As you can tell from the pictures, this time around I was using up M&Ms from my leftover Halloween candy stash. I could've probably added more M&Ms on top to use them up but before baking, they seemed like plenty. Next time, I'll need to use a more generous hand.

I prefer adding M&Ms on top of brownies instead of inside cookies. M&M cookies always seem a little too sweet to me, no matter the cookie, because of the sweetness from the candy shell.

On top of fudgy chocolate brownies, M&Ms work well as the brownie is chocolatey rather than sweet so the M&Ms add a nice sweetness and crunch.

I've mentioned in previous posts that Lisa Yockelson is the queen of brownie recipes. She has multiple baking books and a wide variety of brownie recipes. Admittedly, I'm not sure I could tell too many of them apart in a blind taste test and what ingredients make them (slightly) different from each other. But I can tell they're all good. Delicious, fudgy with a firm but soft texture that isn't too mushy. This was easily one of those and the thick brownie batter supported the M&Ms on top quite nicely.

If you want an easy brownie recipe so you can serve warm brownies while unwrapping Christmas presents, this one fits the bill. Merry Christmas (Eve)!

Sable Breton-Inspired Butter Cookies from Hayden Annika

Sable Breton-Inspired Butter Cookies - made dough December 5, 2023 from Hayden Annika 

3 egg yolks, room temperature

75 grams powdered sugar

100 grams salted French or European butter (I used Kerrygold)

1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract

250 grams cake flour

1. In the bowl of a stand mixer with the whisk attachment, whip yolks and sugar until pale and thick.
2. Add softened butter and vanilla until thoroughly mixed and smooth.
3. Switch to a paddle attachment and gradually add cake flour on low speed.
4. Wrap dough in plastic wrap and refrigerate for at least 1 hour. Once chilled, stamp cookies. Freeze stamped cookies for at least 1 hour.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper and evenly space frozen cookies. Bake 10-12 minutes. Remove from oven and let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

New cookie stamp alert! Still Nordic Ware and made in the USA but this time sourced from Target, just in time for the holidays. Plus they were 30% off when I bought them so $14 for the three stamps were a good deal.

If you're new to cookie stamping, these types of stamps with wooden handles and large impressions that aren't too finely detailed but still have a pattern, are the best starting point.

And of course, it helps to work with a good recipe that holds the stamped impressions during baking. Which, as you can see, this one does. 

I followed the recipe exactly, subbing in Kerrygold European butter since I didn't have access to French butter like the original recipe suggested. I don't have a link back to the original source like I normally do as I got them from the files section of my Facebook group on Molded Cookies but I credit the recipe to one of the group's members who publishes her recipes for stamped cookies.

Sable Breton are butter cookies that tend to be on the buttery and (sometimes) dry side. They're not the crisp snap of shortbread or at least this one didn't. I don't know if I didn't bake them long enough to get the snap. I have mixed feelings about this recipe. I love how faithfully the stamped impressions held and the flavor was good. Not sure I was wild about the texture though as it was in that nebulous ether stage between crisp and chewy. I prefer a cookie texture to commit to one or the other. Plus it had a drier mouthfeel. Which maybe real Sable Bretons also have? It's been awhile since I've had one so I can't remember. Still, look at those impressions. The recipe didn't make very many cookies given the size of my stamps but the dough was easy to work with and easy to make again for more cookies to send in military care packages.

Speculaas Cookies from Bigger Bolder Baking

Speculaas Cookies - made dough December 3, 2023 from Bigger Bolder Baking 

1 2/3 cups (236 grams) all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

2 teaspoons cinnamon

1/2 teaspoon ground cloves

1/2 teaspoon ground aniseed

1/4 teaspoon ground nutmeg

1/4 teaspoon black pepper

1/4 teaspoon ground ginger

1/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup (4 ounces) butter, room temperature

3/4 cup (128 grams) brown sugar

2 tablespoons milk

fine rice flour or granulated sugar, for rolling

1. In a medium bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, aniseed, nutmeg, black pepper, ginger and salt; set aside.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until well combined and fluffy, 3-5 minutes.
3. Beat in the milk then gradually add the flour mixture in several additions, mixing on low speed.
4. Once dough is combined, gather into a ball, flatten into a disk and wrap in plastic wrap. If using an embossed rolling pin, chill dough 10-15 minutes then roll out with a plain rolling pin to 1/3" thickness between two sheets of parchment paper. Refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.
5. If using cookie stamps, wrap dough in plastic and refrigerate until firm, at least one hour.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
7. If using embossed rolling pin, dust embossed rolling pin with rice flour and run rolling pin over rolled-out dough; cut with cookie cutters. If using cookie stamps, pinch off pieces of dough and roll into balls. Roll balls in granulated sugar and stamp with cookie stamp(s). Cut edges if you want them neat. 
8. Evenly space stamped cookies on prepared baking sheets and bake about 15-18 minutes until slightly golden. Let rest on baking sheets for several minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely.

I made these earlier in December so I'd be able to ship them out to deployed military troops hopefully in time for them to receive it for Christmas. While I'm not usually a big fan of too many spices in cookies, speculaas are the rare exception (although I'm starting to develop a taste for gingerbread, finally).

Biscoff cookies rank right up there with Oreos in my snobby taste buds exceptions for store bought cookies. It doesn't mean I don't try to bake replicas at home though, although so far nothing tops the original Biscoff cookie.

But these were meant to be stamped and I can't not use my new Christmas stamps, right?

The impressions turned out decently well on these, although the fine writing on the "Merry Christmas" stamp was a little hit or miss.

The tradeoff you have to make with these is how much of a crunch you want in them. If you bake closer to the 15 minute mark, they're a little softer but they're actually meant to be crisp. If you bake closer to the 18-20 minute mark, you'll get the crunch but they are a little harder to bite into. It's all a matter of preference and how strong your teeth are.

Surprisingly, I like the crunchier version in terms of both taste and texture. When they're not baked to full crunchiness, you'll get a mixture of crunch at the edges and more chewiness in the middle but, like the original Biscoff cookies, they are meant to be crisp throughout. The flavor seems to come through better when they're crunchy. I ended up liking the spiciness of this cookie as well, crunch and all.