Crumbl Cookies review #90 - Banana Caramel

Crumbl Cookies review #90: Banana Caramel - visited February 26, 2025

Banana Caramel

When you've eaten Crumbl cookies for as long as I have, you eventually ended up tasting and reviewing most of the offerings each week. This week included Strawberry Cupcake, Biscoff Lava Cookie, Butter Cake and Red Velvet White Chip. I didn't have any interest in the French Silk Pie since I typically don't like custard-y or mousse-y desserts or whipped cream but I did want to try the Banana Caramel.

This seemed like a new offering or, if it's been on the menu before, I missed it. I've tried Crumbl's Banana Bread cookie before and, when made properly, enjoyed it. 

This week's version had good banana flavor but, since it was chilled, the texture was more dense, even after I let it come to room temperature. It was good but I think I preferred the other banana bread cookie a bit better. There was also a weird smell to the frosting. At least I think it was from the frosting rather than the cookie. The taste was fine and the smell wasn't overpowering or like it had gone bad. It was just...different. I'm glad I tried it but I prefer a more fluffy texture to my cookies and not the chill denseness of this one. 

One of the best things about Crumbl is their caramel so rather than a drizzle, I'd suggest or prefer if they spread a pool of caramel over the top and then "drizzled" the cream cheese frosting instead.

Crave Cookies review #9: Choco Caramel Blondie, Cookies 'n Milk, Horchata Churro and Chocolate Cupcake

Crave Cookies review #9: Choco Caramel Blondie, Cookies 'n Milk, Horchata Churro and Chocolate Cupcake - visited January 30, 2025

I'm way behind on my reviews for Crave Cookies, partly because I got a 4-pack at the end of January and it took me awhile to go through them (1/4 cookie a day means finishing a 4-pack takes me a couple of weeks). My usual MO is to portion each cookie into fourths (sometimes thirds), wrap each piece in plastic wrap and put them in a freezer bag to reside in the freezer then take out a piece each day to enjoy.

I ended up getting a 4-pack this particular week because I wanted to try 3 of the flavors and added the 4th to make it more economical.

Horchata Churro

I've never had horchata before but I'm a big fan of churro cookies (Crumbl's is my favorite) or anything in the snickerdoodle family. Crave's version was fabulous in terms of the cookie itself. Turns out I'm not as into horchata. Or maybe I just didn't like all that creamy filling in the middle. The horchata was milky like it's probably supposed to be but I don't like milk, don't drink it, don't care for the taste or texture. I ended up taking out some of the filling and just enjoying the cookie only.

Choco Caramel Blondie

The Choco Caramel Blondie is the kind of cookie Crave does really well. Drizzled with caramel and white chocolate instead of having a mountain of frosting is always the way to go for me. The cookie is domed and thick, has a great brown sugar caramel flavor and the perfect chewy texture I like in my cookies. This one was a winner.

I was more curious about the Cookies and Milk than actually wanting to eat it but it turned out to be a good cookie as well. I'm a fan of Crave's vanilla cookie dough, no matter how they dress it up. I'm not as big a fan of cereal garnishes as, given the way I portion out, freeze and eat the cookie pieces later, cereal doesn't survive my temperate approach and is best consumed the day of purchase.

I also wasn't wild about all the filling inside. I get why they do it for the concept of the cookie and anyone who likes creamy filling will like this cookie. I still like the cookie, especially the melted milk chocolate on top, but I confess to taking out some of the filling and just eating the cookie. 

The chocolate cupcake cookie was the plainest of the four and the 4th cookie I added to upgrade to a 4-pack. It's a pretty straightforward cookie for people who don't like a lot of fuss and just want a chocolate frosted cookie. I've gotten used to Crave's more elaborate over the top combinations so this was just a "nice" cookie for me. The chocolate texture was nice and fudgy and the frosting wasn't overwhelming so those were pluses. But otherwise, probably not worth the price as an individual cookie to my fussy taste buds.

Kentucky Butter Cake from Susan Recipes

Kentucky Butter Cake - made February 8, 2025 from Susan Recipes

1 cup butter, softened

2 cups granulated sugar

4 large eggs

2 teaspoons vanilla extract

3 cups all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1/2 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon salt

1 cup buttermilk

Butter sauce

1 cup granulated sugar

1/2 cup butter, cut into cubes

1/4 cup water

1 1/2 teaspoons vanilla extract

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease and flour a 10-inch tube pan.
2. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy, 2-3 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating on low speed after each addition.
3. Beat in vanilla.
4. In a separate bowl, stir together flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Add to butter mixture in 3 additions, alternating with buttermilk in 2 additions, mixing on low speed until combined.
5. Pour batter into prepared pan and smooth top. Bake 55-70 minutes or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean or with a few moist crumbs.
6. Cool 5-10 minutes and run a thin spatula around the cake, loosening from the mold. Invert onto a serving plate.
7. For the sauce: combine the sugar, butter and water in a small saucepan. Cook over medium heat until butter is melted and sugar is dissolved. Remove from heat and add vanilla extract, whisking to combine.
8. Poke holes in top of hot cake, pour 1/4 cup sauce over cake. Let stand until sauce is absorbed then brush remaining sauce over cake. 

I had buttermilk to use up and I've had this recipe on my pinterest board for just such an occasion. Plus I also had eggs nearing their best by date and although eggs will last awhile even after that date, I was taking no chances on letting them expire, not with the cost of eggs these days.

I like pound cakes for their texture and this was no exception. Surprisingly, this wasn't as rich as I had expected, given the amount of butter sauce slathered over it. It's a nice cake, especially if you want a straightforward, no fuss vanilla cake. I did think the recipe made too much butter sauce as I couldn't get enough to absorb into the cake so I ended up with a generous amount spilling to the sides of the cake.

Next time, I would probably make half the amount of butter sauce and brush more over it while the cake was warm to help it absorb better.

Crumbl Cookies review #89 - Wafer ft KitKat and Valentine Confetti

Crumbl Cookies review #89 - Wafer ft KitKat and Valentine Confetti, visited February 18, 2025 

This week's menu had the original Tres Leches Cake and one of my favorites, the Iced Oatmeal but what I wanted to try was the Wafer ft KitKat as that seemed new (to me). Plus, surprisingly for a Tuesday, my store still had the Valentine Confetti from last week so I decided to try that as well.

From the description, I figured this would be a really good brown sugar cookie covered in melting milk chocolate and garnished with KitKat chunks,

And I was right. Albeit they're never as generous or as chunky with the chopped up candies as their marketing and advertising always showcases so I had to screenshot the pictures from the Crumbl app and compare it to the actual cookie I got. But, to be honest, I've had worse, particularly with the Twix cookie where all I got was Twix dust so the KitKat one was nothing to complain about.

The cookie itself was amazing - thick, excellent brown sugar flavor and wonderful chewy texture. I liked the milk chocolate melting on top of it and wish Crumbl would do more glazed or light icing cookies or those with just melted milk chocolate on top than their thick frostings.

Ironically, perhaps the only thing I didn't care for as much with this cookie were the KitKat pieces. Similar to when they garnish with cereal, the topping stales quickly against the moisture from the melted chocolate. KitKat is made up of thin wafers so they're even more prone to softening and coming across as stale. I get that Crumbl likely wouldn't want to serve just a plain brown sugar cookie covered in chocolate so the KitKat garnish is a schtick that adds to the visual appeal. Still, even with or without the KitKat, this is a great cookie.

I had thought about getting the Valentine Confetti cookie last week as I tend to like their sugar cookies (sans any almond frosting) but hesitated because I don't care for sprinkles baked into the cookie. I just want a plain sugar cookie. But that's not what cookie shops do and having it leftover from last week seemed like another chance to try it. So I did. As expected, I liked the cookie's flavor. It's a nice, basic, vanilla sugar cookie. Also as expected, I would've preferred it without the sprinkles baked into the cookie. 

Condensed Milk Cake from 4 a Kid

Condensed Milk Cake - made January 29, 2025, modified from 4 a Kid

1 14-ounce can sweetened condensed milk

4 large eggs

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

1 cup (120 grams) all-purpose flour

1 tablespoon baking powder

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line a 9 x 9-inch baking pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray.
2. In a mixing bowl, whisk together the condensed milk, eggs and vanilla extract until well combined. Add flour and baking powder and mix until combined. 
3. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake 25-30 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean. Remove cake from oven and let cool 5-10 minutes before serving.

I wanted to like this cake. It's easy to make and only has a few ingredients so it's also simple and no fuss to put together.

The flavor itself was fine as a nice vanilla cake. What threw me off though was the texture. I don't know if I overmixed it (but I don't think I did) or if my expectations were wrong. I expected a cakey texture based on the ingredients and the appearance of the inside.

But it was....spongy. Not like a chiffon or angelfood cake sort of spongy. It was more rubbery than spongy. Almost like a mochi but with the deceptive appearance of a cakey cake. But it wasn't really cakey. 

I don't know if I did something wrong in the mixing or baking but the texture was deceptive in that it looks cakey but it's rubbery.