Crumbl Cookies has been taking the USA by storm with over 800 locations opening since 2017. The overwhelming popularity of the bakery comes from their rotating variety of cookies every week. With about 300 flavors, every week’s selection tends to have a flavor that caters to any customer. The opening of the Crumbl store in Springfield on Feb. 9 has created an astounding buzz among students on campus, because who doesn’t love a sweet treat? Coming from two students who had never had the opportunity to see what makes the cookies so special, we decided to give it a try.
With the new rush that this store is receiving, you can tell that they are struggling with the quantity of people. When placing an order online, the soonest pickup time for us was two days after placing the actual order. On top of this, it got a bit messy during the pickup. It took them about 20 minutes to get our order out to us, and we were hopeful that ordering online would prevent this. The employees themselves seemed a little under the weather as well, but we did pick the cookies up at 8 p.m. so they could have just been having a long day. What we did find out quickly was that people ordering in person were getting their cookies much faster. I think that their online ordering has a lot of kinks to be fixed and for that reason, we recommend just ordering at the store.
For the cookie reviews themselves, we picked four out of the six cookies being offered: milk chocolate chip, chocolate-covered strawberry, molten lava and nilla bean cupcake. To rate the cookies, we decided to use a 1-5 scale with one being the worst, and five being the best.
Milk Chocolate Chip Gianna: 3 Ellie: 3.2
The classic cookie that stays every week while the others are cycled through. We both were a little displeased here. It felt almost undercooked, and although that is their style, it was not what we expected. For a cookie bakery, we were expecting a chocolate chip cookie that was to die for and one that would draw people back. The amount of chips in it was satisfying, but the texture of the cookie was ultimately what pulled us both away from a higher ranking.
Chocolate Covered Strawberry Gianna: 5 Ellie: 3.4
This cookie is all about preference. Gianna is a huge fan of chocolate-covered strawberries, so this was very enjoyable for her. The cookie portion was soft and fluffy, with an almost brownie-like texture that complimented the strawberry cream cheese frosting. Topped with chocolate drizzle, this cookie was one of the best for this week’s selection. We certainly noticed that there was much more thought and care put into this flavor compared to the other flavors, which was another reason why it ended up being the most sought-after in our list.
Molten Lava Gianna: 5 Ellie: 3.3
Chocolate lovers, this is the one for you. A rich, chocolate cookie filled with molten chocolate “lava” had Gianna loving every bite. It was the perfect level of sweetness with just the right amount of molten chocolate on the inside. The dusting of powdered sugar on top is similar to that of a brownie. Ellie did thoroughly enjoy this one but was dissatisfied with how dry the cookie was without the molten, as it didn’t resemble the softness of the other cookies. A suggestion would be to have this warmed when ordering, so the chocolate can truly become “molten” inside and be evenly distributed to the dry portions of the cookie.
Nilla Bean Cupcake Gianna: 1 Ellie: 3.9
Nilla Bean was a toss-up between the reviewers. Ellie liked it for the sweet, but subtle flavor contrast of the cream cheese frosting to the vanilla cookie. The cookie itself had a great texture and was baked all the way through. To complement it, the cookie was garnished with a fluffy but thick frosting. Gianna hated it for this exact reason. It felt very overbearing with sweetness to her, especially after all the other cookies. Ellie would agree that the sweetness became too much after the initial bite, but the first one was the best out of all. If you are a fan of cream cheese frosting this one is for you. If not, then we suggest a different cookie on the menu.
Our final consensus: Crumbl Cookie is a spot that we believe to be overhyped. The prices did feel fair to us, as the size of the cookies was equivalent to a woman’s hand. For four overly-sized cookies, it was about $20. These cookies are not able to be eaten in one sitting so they will take you a few days to finish, especially if you just get one or yourself. The drawback of this is that the cookies can become overbearing quickly. We enjoyed sampling each one but found it hard to stomach the final portions. They are good – but for the hype that they receive, we expected more. Their only specialty and focus are cookies after all. We recommend going in with the expectation of adequate cookies, and you will be very satisfied. We do not think it is a place to visit every week, but rather somewhere fun to go on occasion.
