Crumbl Cookies review #24 - Birthday Cake and Apple Pie

Crumbl Cookies review #24 - Birthday Cake and Apple Pie, visited July 5, 2022

I didn't think I'd ever say this but my one-sided love affair with Crumbl might be ending. Or at least going on a Ross-Rachel "we're on a break!" This week's offerings, or repeat offering as the case may be, are dampening my Crumbl obsession.

I was so looking forward to the Birthday Cake as I loved the Birthday Valentine version back in February as it was Crumbl-cakey perfection back then. This time around, I don't know if they changed the recipe or instructed their stores to increase the baking time as the one I got was more dry and crumbly. Not exactly overbaked but it was closer to a shortbread texture than a cakey one. Which was disappointing. I know it wasn't just me who got this kind of cookie as others have posted the same thing. The flavor was still good but I wanted that soft cakey texture again. 

The silver lining is it's one less Crumbl cookie I need to get in the future - good for my waistline and wallet. Sorry, inner greedy child.

The texture comparison - top is from February, bottom is from July

The apple pie also made a comeback this week. I'd had this before and hadn't planned on getting it again but I noticed they changed the cookie base so of course, I had to try it. I'm glad I did as I preferred this shortbread cookie base more than the earlier one that was more like a graham cracker-y-oat crust. This one was like what they used for the banana cream pie cookie and I loved the banana cream pie.

However, the filling was better in the first rendition of the apple pie cookie that I tried last year. Back then, the filling was whole apple slices. This new filling is more like chopped up apples which tend to get mushy and look like - well -  apple mush. Not aesthetically appealing or very tasty. Can't have everything, right? Not a complaint but in all honesty, I probably wouldn't get this rendition of the apple pie cookie again. Apple mush filling isn't a good mouthfeel nor is the texture that great.

Top is last year's apple pie cookie, bottom is this year's

The other miss with my local Crumbl since I moved is I hardly ever get a warm cookie. I tried a different store nearby while I was out doing an errand and this one was on my way home. Like the one closer to me, there was no one in the store when I walked in so I wonder how much business they do and how many cookies they already have prepped in advance. Neither cookie was even lukewarm. I know when I tried the earlier renditions of these at different stores, the birthday cookie was warm while the frosting was cool (great combination) and the apple pie cookie was warm throughout. Not the case with either of these.

Disappointment is too strong a word for these First World problems (let's keep perspective that these are just cookies, albeit expensive ones, and there are more important things in life). But it might give me the excuse to take a break from Crumbl for a bit as my expectations from my initial experiences with Crumbl seem to be set too high as my recent trips haven't lived up to those expectations. So...we're on a break.

Crumbl Copycat: Stuffed Hazelnut Churro Cookies from Lifestyle of a Foodie

Crumbl Copycat: Stuffed Hazelnut Churro Cookies - made dough July 1, 2022 from Lifestyle of a Foodie

1 stick butter (1/2 cup or 8 tablespoons), softened

1/2 cup granulated sugar

2 tablespoons brown sugar

1 large egg

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar

1/2 teaspoon baking powder

1/4 teaspoon baking soda

1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

1/4 teaspoon salt

Cinnamon-sugar mixture

2 tablespoons granulated sugar

1/4 teaspoon cinnamon

1/2 cup Nutella for the filling

1. Filling: using a 1 tablespoon measuring spoon, scoop out 7 equally-sized rounded tablespoons of Nutella onto a plastic-wrapped plate or baking sheet and freeze for 30 minutes or until solid.
2. Cooking dough: cream the butter, granulated sugar, and brown sugar together until light and creamy. Add in the egg and vanilla extract; mix until smooth.
3. Gently mix in the flour, cornstarch, cream of tartar, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon and salt until just combined.
4. Scoop out equal-sized dough balls, gently flatten them between the palms of your hands and place the frozen Nutella in the center of each disc. Pull up the edges of the cookie disc to completely enclose the frozen Nutella and roll into a round ball to smooth out the seams. Chill or freeze for at least 30 minutes.
5. When ready to bake, preheat oven to 350 degrees F and line a baking sheet with parchment paper.
6. In a small bowl, stir together the 2 tablespoons granulated sugar and 1/4 teaspoon cinnamon. Roll dough balls in cinnamon-sugar mixture and evenly space on baking sheet.
7.  Bake cookie for 10-12 minutes then let sit on baking sheet until completely cool.

I'm so happy to be able to bake again. For so long, I was packing up my old house then moving and unpacking the new house so there was little time or inclination to bake. Truthfully, I'm still half-living in half-unpacked boxes because I ran out of room to put things in my now-much-smaller kitchen. I'm having my lower kitchen cabinets extended but it hasn't happened yet so in the meantime, a lot of my baking stuff is scattered about. I did find 3 of my 4 cookie dough scoops though. No idea where the 4th one is but at least I have 3 of the 4.

Anyway, I have had the original Crumbl Hazelnut Churro so I was interested in trying the copycat recipe from Lifestyle of a Foodie. She's had the most reliably good recipes for Crumbl copycats. Even the ones that aren't super exact to Crumbl's have been amazingly good in their own right so her blog is always a good one to seek out first for any Crumbl copycat. 

The dough comes together beautifully. Save yourself a mess and follow the directions to freeze the dollops of Nutella first; you'll be glad you did. Flatten the dough into thick discs, place a frozen Nutella dollop in the middle of each disc then wrap the dough around the Nutella. I froze the dough balls first, partly because I always prefer to bake from frozen dough for less spread and partly because I like to time when I turn the oven on during summer when it's so hot. In this case, I've been making up batches of cookie dough and only baking in the wee hours of the morning.

Most of this batch went for care packages for Soldiers Angels and I was glad I found my "thank you" packaging in the midst of half-unpacked boxes and things stuffed haphazardly into any viable kitchen space I could find. The batch only makes 7 good-sized cookies though so it didn't go very far. If you want more cookies, of course, make them smaller. I decided to follow the original recipe as it was meant to be so I could recreate the "true" copycat.

Which it seems like I did. Unfortunately, what I forgot about the original is I didn't really like the cinnamon and Nutella combination that much. This would've been better (to me) without the teaspoon of cinnamon in the cookie dough to cut back on the cinnamon flavor. The cinnamon-sugar coating was fine but I'd cut back on the cinnamon so as not to conflict with the Nutella.

Careful not to overbake either. It's a little difficult to tell when the cookies are done because the Nutella filling doesn't let the middle appear cooked but it will be once the outer edges have tiny fissures to indicate doneness. Don't overbake as not even Nutella lava in the middle will save a dry, overbaked cookie.

Better Than Boxed Chocolate Fudge Brownies

Better Than Boxed Chocolate Fudge Brownies - made June 28, 2022 from Butternut Bakery

1/2 cup (70 g) all-purpose flour

2 tablespoons cornstarch

1/4 cup (20 g) Dutch-process cocoa powder

1 teaspoon salt

10 tablespoons (140 g) unsalted butter

3 ounces bittersweet chocolate

2 ounces milk chocolate

3 teaspoons mild oil (vegetable, canola, melted coconut oil)

1 cup (200 g) granulated sugar

1/4 cup (50 g) dark brown sugar, packed

3 large eggs

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

powdered sugar for dusting, optional

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Line an 8 x 8 pan with foil and lightly spray with nonstick cooking spray. 
2. In a bowl, whisk together flour, cornstarch, cocoa powder and salt; set aside.
3. In the top half of a double boiler set over hot water, combine butter, chocolates, and oil. Whisk until completely melted and smooth.
4. In the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment, whisk together the eggs, granulated sugar and brown sugar until light and frothy, 2-3 minutes.
5. With the mixer on low, pour in melted chocolate mixture in a slow and steady stream. Mix in vanilla. Remove bowl from mixer and fold in the dry ingredients, using a rubber spatula. Do not overmix.
6. Pour batter into prepared pan and bake for 20 minutes. Remove from oven, close oven door and drop brownie pan against the counter several times. Place back in oven and bake another 18-20 minutes or until toothpick inserted near the center comes out with a few moist crumbs. Cool brownies completely before cutting and serving. Dust with powdered sugar if desired.

I'm running out of unsweetened chocolate which is what my go-to brownie recipe uses and I don't want to order more online just yet, given it's triple digit temps where I now live and I'm afraid of it coming in one melted mess. So I've started trying out new brownie recipes again, preferably one that doesn't use too much or any unsweetened chocolate. 

This one fit the bill with bittersweet and milk chocolates plus cocoa powder. It was easy to make and had a nice, soft, fudgy texture. The flavor was good too with the right amount of chocolate, not too rich. They had a slightly softer texture than my go-to recipe so they seemed a little fragile but I think they'd still be okay to mail in care packages. At least I hope so as that's what I used them for.  

Crumbl Cookies review #23 - Vanilla Crumb Cake ft Golden Oreo and Maple Cinnamon Roll

Crumbl Cookies review #23 - Vanilla Crumb Cake ft Golden Oreo and Maple Cinnamon Roll

After my 6-pack week the week before and because I still had cookie pieces from that order wrapped up in my freezer, I had only planned to get one flavor this week, namely the maple cinnamon. I had already tried the Buckeye Brownie (although back then they called it the Peanut Butter Buckeye) and didn't care for it, I don't like sprinkles in my cookies so pass on the Confetti and I wasn't interested in another lime cookie with that lime wedge on top. I don't know why that bothers me but it does.

I was initially not going to get the Golden Oreo one because I don't like Golden Oreos. I can, have and will mainline the regular Oreos but I don't like the artificial vanilla taste of Golden Oreos so this was going to be a pass for me as well. But I asked in my Crumbl Facebook group (yes, that's a thing) and someone assured me the cookie itself didn't taste like a Golden Oreo and  was more like the vanilla sugar cookie. 

I love Crumbl's vanilla sugar cookie so cue my FOMO; I got this cookie as well. I'm glad I did as it was delicious. I wouldn't say it was exactly like the vanilla sugar; it seemed more like a brown sugar cookie base. I could've done without the white chocolate chips though since I'm not a fan of white chocolate but I still liked this cookie. I ate the mini golden oreo on top but that only affirmed for me that I still don't like Golden Oreos. I'm glad I tried this cookie though.

Now we get to the maple cinnamon roll which was what I was originally going to get anyway. I didn't get to eat it warm as I wasn't hungry when I first picked it up while I was running a couple of errands and by the time I got to it, it was already room temperature. 

That didn't affect the deliciousness of this cookie though and I enjoyed it. The only thing I didn't like was - you guessed it - the frosting. The texture was similar to the buttercream on the cookie butter cookie from last week and that just isn't a good mouthfeel to me. Too greasy. The flavor was good though; I ended up scraping off most of the frosting and leaving just enough to let the maple blend with the cinnamon.

The cookie base with the cinnamon and without the frosting reminds me of a good snickerdoodle and you know I love me some snickerdoodles. The cookie base was more dense-cookie but not as dense as shortbread yet also not the pillowy-soft cakey-cookie. It's hard to describe; you had to be there, lol. Good cookie, glad I tried it but likely wouldn't get again if there were other flavors I wanted to try next time it comes out.

Crumbl Cookies review #22 - Cookie Butter Ice Cream, Honeybun, Galaxy Brownie, Rocky Road

Crumbl Cookies review #22 - Cookie Butter Ice Cream, Honeybun, Galaxy Brownie, Rocky Road, visited June 25, 2022

Why, yes, I did get a 6-pack last week. There go my 6-pack abs. Nah, I'm lying, I don't have 6-pack abs. And Crumbl is only 1 (or 6) reason(s) why. What happened to "1 or 2 flavors a week", you ask?

In theory, it's because one of my nieces and her husband were in town and, in addition to my other niece who lives locally and her boyfriend (him of the snickerdoodle cupcake fame), I thought I would have all these extra mouths to help me consume the cookies. Except my local niece was sick and didn't have an appetite and my visiting niece tries to go dairy-free as much as possible. Plus her husband doesn't like sweets. I know, I know, how am I related to these people?

Cookie Butter Ice Cream

But what the heck. I had gotten back from my business trip in time to have one last day of last week's Crumbl offerings and I took advantage of it. I got two of the cookie butter because I'd never had it before and...cookie butter. Now I did cut each cookie into fourths and gave away as much as I could to my nieces (really, I did). But yes, I kept enough for myself and put most in the freezer to see me through at least a week or two of Crumbl cookie fourths to be doled out each day in the name of moderation.

I had high hopes for the cookie butter but I didn't like it as much as I expected. I liked the cookie itself - a lot - because it did have good cookie butter/Biscoff cookie flavor. But I didn't like the mouthfeel of the buttercream icing. It left a greasy impression in my mouth and hit my taste buds as bland. Like greasy, dense whipped cream. And you know how I feel about whipped cream. I liked the cookie base but I liked it better warm than chilled. I tried a bite chilled as it was originally meant to be but the cookie butter flavor wasn't very pronounced. The second 1/4 cookie I ate which had been in the freezer, I let thaw then popped it into the microwave for 6 seconds. Way, way better warm. The cookie butter flavor came through much more clearly and the texture was better to me.

Honeybun

The honeybun was a nice surprise, also when eaten warm. I don't eat honeybuns so I didn't have the real thing to compare the cookie to but I liked the cookie itself, the flavor, the texture and the light glaze. Soft-cakey texture and delicious cookie. Thumbs up.

Galaxy Brownie

I don't eat Galaxy or Cosmic Brownies either (that's a storebought, packaged snack brownie, right?) but people who do say this cookie comes close to the real thing. I wouldn't know about that but I do know this is very similar to a brownie in round-cookie form. It was soft but not fragile and had both good flavor and texture. Sometimes I find Crumbl's chocolate cookies a bit too rich for me but this one had a good balance between chocolatey-ness (yes, that's a word, 'kay?) and cakey texture. Not sure it's special enough for me to get again or even to try a copycat recipe of it but I enjoyed it.

Rocky Road

Sadly though, I didn't enjoy the Rocky Road very much. I normally steer clear of Rocky Road anything because I don't like marshmallows unless they're melted and being used to hold Rice Krispies together. I'll eat s'mores as long as you hold the marshmallow and the graham cracker. But since I thought (at the time), I was sharing these with my nieces, I added the Rocky Road to my order, figuring I would eat 1/4 and pawn, I mean, give, the other 3/4 cookie away to the others. Which, I ended up doing. My nieces liked the Rocky Road much more than I did. I made sure to take the 1/4 piece of cookie that had the least amount of marshmallow so the quarter cookie I had was good enough. The chocolate cookie was a more dense, typical chocolate Crumbl cookie than the Galaxy cookie and quite rich. The almonds helped cut the richness though so I liked them more than I usually liked having nuts in my cookies. If you're a Rocky Road fan, this is a good cookie. I'm glad I tried it but probably wouldn't get it again.

Coconut Sugar Cookies

Coconut Sugar Cookies - made dough June 26, 2022 from Pizzazzerie

2 sticks (1 cup) unsalted butter, softened

1 1/4 cups granulated sugar plus 1/3 cup sugar for rolling

1 large egg + 1 large egg yolk

1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

2 teaspoons coconut extract

2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

2 teaspoons baking powder

3/4 teaspoon salt

1/2 cup unsweetened coconut flakes

1. Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Line baking sheets with parchment paper.
2. In the bowl of stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream together butter and 1 1/4 cups granulated sugar on medium-high speed for 3 minutes, until texture is light and fluffy.
3. Beat in egg, egg yolk, vanilla and coconut extract, mixing on medium speed until combined.
4. In a separate bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder and salt. Slowly add dry ingredients to creamed mixture, mixing after each addition until just combined. Scrape down sides and bottom of bowl to keep mixture even textured. Beat in coconut flakes.
5. Portion into golf-ball-size dough balls and flatten slightly into thick discs. Roll in additional granulated sugar. Evenly space on prepared baking sheets. Bake for 11-13 minutes or until edges are golden brown and middles have set. Cool for several minutes on baking sheets then remove to wire rack to cool completely.

2nd batch baked in a non-convection setting

I was on a business trip last week that had me in a different time zone. Thanks to a(nother) delayed connection, I went more than 24 hours without sleep before I finally made it home. This meant some recent difficulties with jet lag and adjusting to my local time zone again. Which turned out to work in my (baking) favor because when you wake up at 2 am and give up trying to get back to sleep after an hour, you've got time to bake some cookies at o'dark thirty before the day gets too hot.

1st batch baked on the convection setting

I wanted to try something a little different for my next military care package for Soldiers Angels and I liked how these looked on Pizzazerie's blog. Mine didn't turn out quite as good looking as hers. I'm going to blame still trying to adjust to my new oven. It heats up faster and bakes more to the posted temp than the ovens at my old house (those ovens ran cool) when it's in a non-convection setting. I like to bake cookies on a convection setting and for the first batch, I had it on 350 degrees convection. 

It's hard to tell from the pictures but the cookies baked on the convection setting baked more slowly and spread more. For the second batch, I switched to the regular setting and those seemed to bake faster and spread less. It's possible I should've waited a few minutes after the oven reached the convection setting temperature before putting the first cookie sheet in as perhaps the oven wasn't hot enough. 

Despite these oven adventures, I loved how these cookies turned out. The sugar coating before baking makes them a little sweeter after baking so if you want to cut back on the sweetness, you can omit the coating step as the cookies themselves are sweet enough without it.

I liked both the texture and flavor of these. I didn't use coconut extract like the original recipe called for because I don't like the artificial flavor of coconut extract. Instead I substituted vanilla extract and I liked the flavor just fine. If you do want to amp up the coconut flavor, you can use coconut extract and/or roll these in coconut flakes before baking. These cookies also hold up well in hot summer weather since they don't need a frosting and they're sturdy enough to mail or bring to a summer get together.