Crave Cookies Review #4: Better Than XXX, Cookie Monster, Biscoff Gingerbread and Red Velvet Oreo

Crave Cookies Review #4: Better Than XXX, The Cookie Monster, Biscoff Gingerbread and Red Velvet Oreo - visited December 4, 2024

I usually try to post a review of cookie shop cookies the week they're available in an attempt to provide more info for anyone considering a purchase. Alas, I think I'm only successful in posting same week less than half the time. In this case, I just can't eat enough or write it up in time to make the post.

Flavors the week of November 29 - December 5, 2024:

Better Than XXX: chocolate cake dough mingling with decadent Ghirardelli caramel, topped with fresh whipped cream and a sprinkle of crushed toffee

The Cookie Monster: blue vanilla dough loaded with chocolate chips and cookie dough bites with a gooey edible chocolate cookie dough center

Chai Eggnog: chai-spiced sugar dough with eggnog icing

Biscoff Gingerbread: spiced gingerbread dough with Biscoff filling, Christmas nonpareil sprinkles

December 2024 monthly flavor:

Red Velvet Oreo: red velvet dough loaded with crushed Oreos and white chocolate and a luxurious white chocolate drizzle

Better Than XXX

I normally only get 1 or 2 flavors max but decided to splurge and get a 4-pack this time. 

The Better Than XXX cookie had 3 points in its favor and 1 counterpoint. First I enjoyed the chocolate cookie itself. Normally I'm a little leery as Crumbl has taught me their chocolate cookies are mostly too rich for my liking. But this one from Crave had just the right level of chocolatey-ness and great texture, dense and fudgy. You're not on chocolate overload with the first bite. Second, you can't go wrong with caramel on anything. Third, I liked the toffee crunch as well to provide a texture contrast.

The only thing I didn't like was - you guessed it - that whipped cream topping. I just can't get into whipped cream. I don't like the airy texture and it doesn't taste like anything. As I always say, it's air with calories. So I took a bite of the cookie as it was meant to be, scraped off the whipped cream, broke the cookie into pieces, wrapped each piece in plastic wrap and stuck them in the freezer. 

The Cookie Monster

I had reservations about the Cookie Monster. I mean, it's blue. Blue is neither appetizing or appealing. I get they dyed it blue to fit the Cookie Monster theme but ugh. I just don't like blue food. 

However, if you close your eyes and ignore the color, this cookie was fantastic. As in, it might be the best of the bunch for that week. Edges were crisp, flavor was brown sugar caramel-y goodness and it was thick and chewy-moist. I loved it.

I took a bite when it was still somewhat lukewarm so the chips were melty. Did I mention it was fantastic? Because it was. Thankfully, the cookie dough center was a normal color and not dyed blue. So my only objection to this cookie was the blue dye. I almost wanted to eat more than a bite but I had two more cookies to try so I wrapped this one in pieces as well and stuck them in the freezer for another day.

Biscoff Gingerbread

The cookie I most wanted to try from this week's lineup was the Biscoff Gingerbread. Although I'm not a big fan of gingerbread anything, I am a cookie butter lover. Plus I thought the gingerbread would complement the cookie butter and it did. 

This was also another good cookie with crisp edges and that layer of cookie butter "stuffed" in the middle. If you like gingerbread, this one's for you. It didn't have a strong gingerbread or molasses flavor but was just right. 

By the time I got to this though, the cookie was no longer warm and the cookie butter lava wasn't melty lava so much as a soft interior of the cookie center. I could have warmed it up for the lava flow but I've learned I prefer Crave's cookie textures when they're more solid and not mushy-soft as they tend to be when they're warm. Still good but I like the lukewarm texture of their cookies as opposed to warm and mushy.

I didn't love the nonpareils but I understand they added it for that Christmas flare and it does make the cookie look pretty. It just didn't add anything for me. 

Red Velvet Oreo

The last of the 4 bites I took of cookies that day was this Red Velvet Oreo. Also amazingly good. I really enjoy Crave's texture and the thickness of their cookies. This too was not overwhelmingly chocolatey. It's a more typical cookie though and one I could probably make as a copycat. Still good though and rounded off the 4-pack I got.

Since even I cannot eat 4 cookies in one go, I had a bite of each cookie and then stuck them in the freezer to enjoy, one piece at a time, in the future. At this rate, I have enough cookie pieces to see me through the end of the year and beyond. Not a bad problem to have.

To sum up, my ranking for last week's cookies would be The Cookie Monster, the Red Velvet Oreo, the Biscoff Gingerbread and, bringing up the rear mostly because of that whipped cream frosting, the Better Than XXX cookie. So far I'm enjoying the Crave cookie offerings. As long as I stay away from the ones that have a lot of frosting or whipped cream, they offer more interesting flavors than Crumbl. Or else Crave is still new enough to me to be a novelty. We'll see how that holds up in the coming months.

Crumbl Cookies review #82 - Caramel Butter Toffee Cake

Crumbl Cookies review #82: Caramel Butter Toffee Cake - visited December 3, 2024

One of the things Crumbl does with its cookie line is they make variations of essentially the same base core cookie to expand their menu. Snickerdoodle, for instance, comes in various iterations like the Snickerdoodle Cupcake, Snickerdoodle Sandwich, Churro and Hazelnut Churro. When they expanded beyond cookies, they started doing the same. The Tres Leches Cake was followed by a cookie butter version.

They still had pies leftover from last week on the menu

This week they did it again. They previously had the Crumbl Butter Cake and now have followed it up with the Caramel Butter Toffee Cake.

And after one bite of the Caramel Butter Toffee Cake, I wholly approve of this product extension. It was utterly freaking delicious. All the things I loved about the original butter cake - the flavor, the texture, the crunch of the sugar crystals on the outside - were all there in the toffee version. And in terms of flavor, it was even more enhanced with the brown sugar caramel addition to the butter.

The whipped cream topping was a bit too high for the box

Although just like with the original version, I still didn't love the whipped cream on top, even drizzled with caramel, so I ended up scraping most of it off and spending my calorie allowance on the cake itself. 

The caramel toffee flavor really makes this cake and might, might even give it a slight edge over the original butter cake. I loved the caramel over the cake as well but it was really the cake itself that made it worth the $1.49 upcharge. The original butter cake only had a $0.99 upcharge so they raised it another 50 cents. With that, the single cake was $6.47. I can live with it as my Crumbl treat for the week. I was tempted to get a 4-pack of this one to freeze for later but I decided to give my wallet and my waistline a break. 

But still, this might have just become one of my favorite Crumbl desserts ever. Ever.

Crave Cookies review #3 - Pecan Pie

Crave Cookies review #3 - Pecan Pie, visited November 25, 2024 

I've taken a bit of a break from blogging. First because I've been traveling and in the past 11 (now 13) weeks, I've been in 4 countries and 3 states. Fun and a bit tiring. I used to blog about my travels but have decided for my recent trips that I'd rather experience things in real time and be more mindful in the moment, rather than trying to document everything for posterity. So that's what I did.

Second, post US-election, life has seemed rather surreal and not in a good way. But I will reserve commentary on that and, in addition to stress-exercising three times a day (I'm not kidding), I've also been keeping on pace with comfort eating. Not baking much though so I don't have any new recipes to share. But I did make a stop at Crave Cookies last week to get the Pecan Pie cookie. Since it's Thanksgiving week, both Crumbl and Crave have gone with pie and autumn-themed cookies. I meant to post this earlier while the pecan pie cookie was still available at Crave but I missed it by a couple of days.

Last week's four weekly flavors at Crave were:

Better Than Pumpkin Pie: pastry sugar dough meets pumpkin pie spread, ginger snaps, whipped cream, and a sprinkle of candied praline pecans

PB Cup S'more: rich chocolate dough crashes into crushed Reese's PB cups, while gooey marshmallows melt in the middle. All on top of a graham cracker base.

Carrot Cake: tender spiced dough with shredded carrots, hearty oats and crunchy walnuts infused with sweet cinnamon chips. Topped with our signature cream cheese frosting.

Pecan Pie: brown sugar dough meets pecan pie filling, candied praline pecans and a brown sugar glaze.

The monthly flavor is The Brookie - chocolate dough jam packed with milk chocolate chips and semisweet chunks finished with a dusting of powdered sugar.

Despite my exercise sprees, I decided I only have caloric room and appetite for one cookie and that was the pecan pie cookie. I almost got the carrot cake cookie but I don't like walnuts in my cookies so I passed.

The pecan pie cookie was a great choice. Thick and chewy, it had the perfect pecan pie flavor. Somehow, Crave also managed to get the chewy, nutty texture and flavor of a pecan pie filling in the cookie itself. Like that sweet, chewy, caramel-y texture as part of the cookie texture. I was impressed. The edges were crisp as well and retained that crisp even after I froze pieces of the cookie and ate a piece (thawed) later.

I didn't care for the glaze as much as when at room temperature, it hardened into a penuche-like texture and it was too sweet for me. Thankfully, it was a glaze and not a blanket of frosting so it was easy enough to chip off and eat without it. The cookie itself was amazing.

Crave Cookies review #2 - The Bueno

Crave Cookies review #2 - The Bueno, visited October 17, 2024

Here are this week's cookies and their descriptions from Crave: (the marketing prose is a bit cutesy so I edited to the factual descriptions, lol)

Better Than Cheesecake: A rich, cocoa-laced dough topped with a velvety cheesecake frosting, whipped cheesecake cream and caramel drizzle, finished with a dusting of crushed graham cracker.

Pumpkin Chocolate Chip: Soft chewy pumpkin dough cozies up to melty milk chocolate chips

The Bueno: Luscious vanilla dough bursting with Kinder Bueno chunks, stuffed to the brim with more Bueno goodness, and finished with a white hazelnut drizzle.

Peanut Butter Cup: peanut butter dough with crushed Butterfinger and a Reese's peanut butter cup heart 

The Carmelita is on the menu for the month of October and the milk chocolate chip is a staple on the menu so I won't repeat them here.

I passed on the cheesecake and the peanut butter cup (strong Crumbl vibes there and I would've passed on the Crumbl versions as well anyway). I wanted both the pumpkin chocolate chip and the Bueno but decided to adult this week and only chose one cookie. The chosen one was the Bueno. I'm not sure I've ever had a Kinder Bueno but I approve of the Kit Kat-like concept of it so I went with it.

The positives: this cookie was thick. Almost like a cookie mound with only a slight flattening at the edges. And I love that about it. I also loved the texture and milk chocolatey-ness (yes, that’s a word) of it. The flavor was that perfect brown sugar caramelization of a really excellent chocolate chip cookie. 

The not quite as positive: I’m not sure I loved the Kinder Bueno chunks in this. Nothing against the cookie itself but the Kinder Bueno chunks, mostly the wafer-y shell, wasn’t consistently crisp; some were soft, some seemed stale but I know they’re not stale but just softened in the moistness of the cookie dough and during baking. I probably would’ve felt the same if they’d used Kit Kats but at least Kit Kats have more wafer and hold their crispness better. I also wasn’t a big fan of the drizzle but mostly because it made a chubby cookie harder to eat neatly. None of this is a deal breaker and I quite enjoyed the cookie. If they’d make the milk chocolate chip like this, it would beat Crumbl’s. So I’d consider this another winner from Crave Cookies.

 

Crave Cookies Review #1 - The Biscadoodle, The Carmelita and the Milk Chocolate Chip

Crave Cookies Review #1 - visited opening day October 12, 2024

Move over, Crumbl, there's a new cookie shop in town. Actually, there are two new cookie shops as one is an additional Crumbl franchise in South Reno. But the brand new, not-a-Crumbl one is called Crave Cookies. I'd never heard of them before and wouldn't have known about them at all if I hadn't been scrolling Instagram and their ad popped up about their grand opening in midtown (Reno) and that they were giving away free chocolate chip cookies on opening day. Hmm, you don't say?

I would've gone even without the incentive of a free cookie as I like to try new cookie places and bakeries. So this incorporated nicely with my Saturday morning errands.

When I got there, the place was festooned in balloons, there were two guys outside under a balloon arch welcoming customers and the tiny place was bustling and packed inside. Bustling from the workers in the kitchen behind the counters and packed with people lined up to order their cookies. 

The line didn't move very fast but that was okay as it gave me a chance to peruse the menu. Similar to Crumbl, it appears Crave Cookies drops new flavors every week. The milk chocolate chip is a weekly staple but you can get the semisweet version on Thursdays. New flavors drop on Fridays. And the flavors are definitely these-are-not-your-grandmas-Tollhouse-cookies kind of vibe, ya know?

I mean look at them above and below. For posterity, here are the descriptions of this week's cookies from Crave's website:

The Biscadoodle: snickerdoodle dough, sprinkled with cinnamon and sugar, slathered with Biscoff cookie butter and topped with crushed Biscoff cookies

Pumpkin S'Moreo: a warm, spiced pumpkin dough meets chunky Oreos with a marshmallow toasted just enough to remind you of those perfect s'mores nights - without the whole getting-smoke-in-your-eyes part.

Brookies 'n Cream: our signature brookie dough is packed with Oreo chunks and white chocolate chips. Stuffed with a Hershey's cookies and cream bar, and finished off with a white chocolate drizzle and crushed Oreos

Butterfinger Cheesecake: our signature sugar cookie base sugar cookie topped with our New York cheesecake spread. Covered in a generous amount of crushed Butterfinger, and finished with our signature drizzle of both melted peanut butter and milk chocolate

The Carmelita (October monthly craving): Oatmeal cookie? Good. Caramel? Good.  Together? Amazing. That's our oatmeal dough with semisweet chunks, caramel bits and a Ghirardelli caramel drizzle.

Milk Chocolate Chip (always available): signature dough bursting with Guittard milk chocolate chips. So iconic, other cookies want its autograph (semisweet available every Thursday).

Fortunately I don't like s'mores (marshmallows are no bueno for my taste buds) or cheesecake so it was easy to pass on the Pumpkin S'moreo and the Butterfinger Cheesecake (I don't like Butterfingers either). I did waver on the Brookies & Cream but I already knew I wanted the Biscadoodle and I wouldn't say no to the Carmelita. Plus I was already getting the free milk chocolate chip cookie and I decided 3 cookies was enough for my waistline.

The cookies are $4.49 each so similar to Crumbl's pricing. They're also about the same size and also come in individual boxes if you don't get a multi-pack. In fact, everything feels Crumbl-esque except the flavors seem more creative. I also liked that the cookies I got weren't buried under a mountain of frosting. You know my feelings about frosting.

Milk Chocolate Chip

So let's start with the milk chocolate chip. Again, Crumbl-esque vibes. It's served warm but by the time I got to it, it was room temp. I warmed it up very slightly just to soften up the chips but texture-wise I would've preferred it room temperature. At room temp, it has the kind of texture I love, moist and almost fudgy. When warm, it comes across more as warm cookie dough. Which is not my thing.

It was good, although admittedly, I have a low bar for thick milk chocolate chip cookies. I will admit, in a blind taste test, I'm not sure I could tell it apart from Crumbl's but I like Crumbl's milk chocolate chip cookie so that's not a bad thing. The only suggestion I would make for this to be better is to add more milk chocolate chips. Mine were a bit skimpy and not actually "bursting" with chips as their description says. And that's saying a lot since I don't usually like a ton of chocolate chips in my cookies. But a few more here wouldn't hurt.

The Biscadoodle

Let's talk about the Biscadoodle. To sum up? OMG. OMG. OMG. This cookie is AMAZING. It's essentially a snickerdoodle glazed with melted cookie butter and crisp bits of Biscoff cookies sprinkled on top. OMG. 

This cookie right here was worth the trip to get to midtown, park a couple blocks away (tiny, tiny parking lot where Crave is located) and wait in line. It was also worth the extra workout I had to do to enjoy a quarter of the cookie before I tucked the rest away in my freezer for later. 

The cookie texture was perfection. I ate it at room temperature and it was just right. The melted cookie butter on top complemented the cookie perfectly and the Biscoff cookie bits added a nice crunch. This one's a winner.

The Carmelita

I didn't have room to try the Carmelita on the day I got it but I broke it into pieces and took a couple of the pieces with me the next day when I was volunteering at an event. My volunteer shift and the event ran from 9:30 am - 2 pm so I'm glad I had the cookie to tide me over.

Not to mention, it was also quite good. The oatmeal gives it some heft and the caramel bits weren't hard now that the cookie was no longer warm. They were nicely chewy. The chocolate chips were semisweet, probably to offset the sweetness from the caramel and they worked. Not sure I'd get it again given it seems Crave would have more intriguing flavors every week but I'm glad I tried it and I did enjoy it.

In summary, I think Crave is my new serious competitor to Crumbl. At least for now. It's brand new (to me) and it looks like there'll be an amazing line up of flavors to try. It's open every day so, unlike Crumbl, if I want a cookie on a Sunday, I can go get one. I think it's smart of them to drop new flavors every Friday since it primes people to go on the weekend. That's more convenient for me since their location is farther from me and with parking being at a premium, it's better (again for me, me, me) to get there on a weekend. Plus they're not going head to head with Crumbl on the timing of their new offerings. I'm looking forward to seeing what other new flavors will be available.