Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies from Chelsea's Messy Apron

Gideon's Bakehouse Copycat Chocolate Chip Toffee Cookies - made dough January 15, 2024 from Chelsea's Messy Apron

8 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted and cooled 5-10 minutes to room temperature

1 cup brown sugar, tightly packed

1 large egg

1/2 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

3/4 teaspoon fine sea salt

1 cup cake flour

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 cup semisweet or milk chocolate chips

1 cup mini chocolate chips

1 cup Heath milk chocolate English toffee baking bits

1. In a medium bowl, combine chocolate chips, mini chocolate chips and toffee bits, stirring until evenly mixed; set aside.
2. In a mixing bowl, combine melted, cooled butter and brown sugar, stirring to combine. Whisk in egg and vanilla bean paste or extract until smooth and well combined.
3. Add in baking soda, baking powder and salt, stirring to combine. Add cake flour and all-purpose flour, mixing until just combined. Fold in 1 3/4 cups of the chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture.
4. Divide dough into 6 large equal portions and roll into balls. Flatten slightly to thick discs. Coat tops and sides (not bottoms) of dough discs with the remaining chocolate chip-toffee bits mixture. You can reserve some to press into cookies after they're baked.
5. Cover and chill dough for at least 1 hour but preferably 24 hours.
6. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 325 degrees. Double pan baking sheets and top baking sheet with parchment paper. Evenly space 3 cookie dough balls on 1 sheet to allow room for spread. Bake 15-23 minutes until edges are lightly set and middles no longer look raw. Remove from oven and gently press remaining chocolate chips and toffee bits into any bare spots on the cookies. Let rest on baking sheets for 15 minutes then transfer to wire rack to cool completely.

I'm back with another copycat recipe for a Gideon's Bakehouse cookie. Only this time, it isn't just chocolate chip but chocolate chip toffee. Same concept where you make big cookies and press a combination of milk chocolate chips, mini semisweet chocolate chips and toffee bits all over the cookie dough balls (except for the bottoms) then bake.

The recipe is supposed to male 6 large cookies but I made 7 out of them with my largest cookie scoop. I did gently press a few extra chips and toffee bits over the top of the test cookie after it baked, to fill in a few gaps.

The dough was easy to handle as it wasn't too sticky or dry. I did chill them overnight first to "age" then froze them. I baked the cookie from frozen dough so it took a little longer and fortunately, I remembered to double pan it this time. By double pan, I mean I put one baking sheet upside on the oven rack and placed the baking sheet with the dough ball on top of it (right side up). That worked well to bake the cookie more evenly throughout without the bottom getting too brown or baked.

Flavor-wise and texture-wise, this cookie was fantastic. I ate half the test cookie when it was lukewarm and it was perfect as the edges had cooled to a slight crispness and the middle was dense and chewy without being mushy. Plus the chips were still melty and the toffee bits had cooled to give it both crunch and a little sweetness. I didn't think I liked cookies covered in chocolate chips but when some of the chips are milk chocolate and you toss toffee bits in there, turns out I like it just fine.

Crumbl Copycat Waffle Cookies from Cooking with Karli & Crumbl Waffle Cookie revisited

Crumbl Copycat Waffle Cookies - made dough January 10, 2024 from Cooking with Karli 

1 1/2 cups salted butter, softened (add 3/4 teaspoon salt if using unsalted)

1 1/4 cups brown sugar

1/4 cup granulated sugar

3 eggs

1 tablespoon vanilla extract

4 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

Vanilla buttercream

1/2 cup salted butter, softened

3 cups powdered suar

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

milk to thin as needed

maple syrup for topping

1. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter, brown sugar and granulated sugar until well combined and fluffy, 2-3 minutes.
3. Scrape down the sides and bottom of the bowl; add in the eggs and vanilla extract. Mix until combined.
4. Add the flour and baking powder and mix on low speed until the dough comes together.
5. Portion dough into 1/3 cup dough balls. Flatten slightly into thick discs. Evenly space on baking sheets lined with parchment paper. Using a wooden chopstick, press impressions into each cookie to make waffle marks (3 grooves horizontal and 3 grooves vertical).
6. Bake for 12-15 minutes or until edges are set and middles no longer look raw or wet. Remove from oven and let cool slightly.
7. Make buttercream: cream butter until smooth. Add 1 cup of powdered sugar at a time, mixing until completely before adding more. Add in vanilla and splash of milk, mixing until buttercream is desired texture. Thin with additional milk if needed. Place a small scoop of buttercream over warm cookies and drizzle with maple syrup if desired. Serve warm.

If it seems all I've been doing lately is going to Crumbl and reviewing Crumbl cookies, you'd be half right. I actually have still been baking for my volunteer work with Soldiers Angels but mostly tried and true recipes I've made before and already blogged about so I had nothing new to post. Until this tie in with trying out a copycat recipe for the Crumbl waffle cookie. I've tried the real thing from Crumbl but had made the mistake of pouring the syrup over the cookie so all I could taste was syrup so I had to try it again last week (see review below). I've also tried the copycat recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie and it was fantastic.

Cooking with Karli Crumbl waffle copycat

Cooking with Karli also has a lot of Crumbl copycat recipes and I decided to try this one since the waffle cookie was on the Crumbl menu last week and I could do a real-time comparison of this copycat recipe with the real thing. But first, in comparison to the copycat recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie, I have to give the nod to Lifestyle's. The dough from Cooking with Karli was more sticky, even after I added all the flour and you can see the impressions didn't hold as well. Flavor-wise, I also preferred Lifestyle of a Foodie's recipe as it had more brown-sugar-caramel overtones. 

Inside pic of Cooking with Karli Crumbl waffle copycat

I also had to bake Cooking with Karli's recipe longer as the middles looked unbaked (not just underdone which I prefer) but the bottoms were fully baked. So the texture wasn't as underdone and soft as I would've preferred. The funny thing though, in terms of flavor, this matched the OG Crumbl waffle cookie more closely. So the "fix" might be to just underbake it rather than waiting for the middles to not look raw, which is what I usually do.

I did try the Crumbl waffle cookie again since last time I ruined it by pouring the syrup over it before trying the cookie itself and all I could taste was syrup.

I didn't make that mistake again and this time just spread the dollop of buttercream more evenly over the cookie (and also spread some of it over the copycat cookie).

Crumbl waffle cookie

The OG Crumb waffle cookie was fabulous. It's basically a brown sugar cookie, which I love, and the texture was perfect, chewy denseness glory. The only waffle-y thing about it were the hashmarks but that doesn't matter. I loved this cookie. Lesson learned: don't pour the syrup over the cookie. It's better without.

Inside of Crumbl waffle cookie without the syrup

Crumbl Cookies review #64: Confetti Milkshake

Crumbl Cookies review #64: Confetti Milkshake - visited January 6, 2024

I went back to Crumbl a few days after I got the Lemon Mallow Sandwich test cookie and yes, indeed got a 6-pack. But before anyone gets all judgy, I was going to my first quilting class and wanted to bring some treats. I initially meant to bake my own cookies to bring but alas, discovered at the last minute that I didn't have one of the special quilting tools the instructor had asked us to bring and I had to hotfoot it to the local quilting supply store the morning of the class. That took up my baking time; hence the fallback to get a 6-pack at Crumbl for the 9 people coming to class. 

Display picture was from when I went to get the lemon mallow tester

Not knowing who liked what, I got one of each flavor of the week. I've blogged about most of them before so the link to the review is in each cookie's caption.

Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo

Skillet Cookie

Milk Chocolate

Blueberry Muffin

Except for Blueberry Muffin. I know I've had this before but apparently didn't write about it like I thought I had. I did not try it again, thinking I didn't need to for my blog, but I was wrong. Oops. I'm not a blueberries-in-my-cookies fan so I didn't love this one, hence why I didn't feel the need to try it again when I bought it for the group.

Galaxy Brownie

I hadn't had the Confetti Milkshake before though so I did try a piece of that during the class. I loved almost everything about it. Loved the flavor, loved the cookie texture and even liked the frosting. I like pretty much all of Crumbl's sugar cookie type cookies - and by sugar cookies I mean anything non-chocolate, non-peanut butter and anything vanilla-based. That includes cake batter flavor. The only thing I didn't care for in this cookie were the sprinkles that made up the confetti in the name. I don't like sprinkles so the crunch just interfered with the texture of the cookie. I'm glad I tried it though and if there was a way for me to have this cookie without the "confetti", I'd get it again.

Inside shot of the Confetti Milkshake

Crumbl Cookies review #63: Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo and Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester)

Crumbl Cookies review #63: Chocolate Mallow ft Oreo and Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester) - visited January 3, 2023

Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo

There's a lot of hype about the Mallow Sandwich featuring Oreo and I thought I'd reviewed it before but I don't see it in a search of my blog posts so maybe I haven't. I think I've had it before though so maybe the other time was just a taste of someone else's as I normally blog what I bought for myself.

In any case, for me, the Mallow Sandwich ft Oreo lives up to its hype. I've always liked their cookies with an Oreo or black cocoa base (less rich) and the brownies in the filling are quite good. If I had to quibble about anything, it'd be the filling. It's not cream cheese which I know a lot of people object to (I'm not one of them) but more of a fluffy marshmallow (but not rubbery marshmallow) filling. I don't love it but I don't mind it.

Some people complained online about how skimpy their stores filled their sandwich cookies but you can see from the pictures that's a problem the Sparks, NV store does not have. They fill quite generously and always do these types of cookies right. So the Chocolate Mallow ft Oreo is good and, as always, a sandwich cookie gives much better value as a $4-$5-ish dollar cookie.

And of course, we come to the tester of last week. When the possible test flavors were posted on the app, I had hoped my store would do either the German Chocolate Cake or the Lemon Mallow Cupcake. Fortunately, they did the latter.

Lemon Mallow Cupcake (tester)

The cookie is supposed to be served chilled, probably because of the whipped cream topping but I let it come to room temperature (of course).

Hence why you can see the lemon glaze on top looks a bit runny. Because it was. I loved the cookie base on this one with its signature Crumbl cookie texture and sugar cookie (sans almond extract) flavor. I'm not a fan of whipped cream but what knocked this cookie down the preference list for me was the lemon glaze. It wasn't lemony enough. Instead, I tasted something more artificial than lemon. Not even lemon extract but just something artificial. Lemon extract would at least have given it some lemon punch. This would've been better with lemon curd atop it or, barring that, more actual lemon flavor in that glaze. I think this tester was an attempt to be cute and pretty but my taste buds would've preferred just the cookie base, a light vanilla glaze instead of whipped cream and lemon curd on top. No need for the squiggle of white chocolate either but that's me.

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.