Crumbl, a new chain bakery that just opened in Schaumburg has taken over everyone’s Tik Tok for you page. The bakery’s unique and ever-changing cookie flavors, in addition to their ice cream, definitely do not live up to the hype.

This bakery, owned by Jason McGowen, is popping up all over the United States and it opened April 14th in Schaumburg. After a thirty-minute drive to Crumbl, nestled in the middle of a fairly ugly strip mall, I was hungry and excited to sample their cookies and ice cream flavors.

Walking in, I was overwhelmed with the bright white and pink decor and the aroma of freshly baked sweet goods. I studied their nicely displayed menu and was antsy to try the new cookie flavors of the week: Waffle, Blueberry Crumb Cake, Chocolate featuring OREO, Sugar featuring Circus Animal, and their two staple flavors: Milk Chocolate Chip and Chilled Sugar. Crumbl is known for its cookies, but I was also excited for their fun ice cream flavors that they get from their main Crumbl corporation in Utah. These flavors include, Sea Salt Toffee, Peanut Butter Chocolate, Hot Chocolate, and Vanilla that they were all sold out of.

It wasn’t a long wait and when it was my time to order, I decided to order everything on the menu even though these cookies are $3 apiece. After all, if I’m supposed to write an article about these highly desirable cookies and ice cream, I figured it was best for me to become a subject matter expert. Unfortunately, Crumbl was not selling ice cream and the manager mentioned that the store may choose to stop offering ice cream altogether.  Being the ice cream lover I am, I was extremely disappointed with this news.  Thankfully, all the cookies were available.  I ordered two of every cookie and couldn’t wait to try them.

Chilled Sugar

All of Crumbl’s cookies are offered warm, with the exception of this one. I was least excited about this cookie because I felt like it was the most boring flavor and I prefer my cookies warm and gooey.  However, once I tasted it, I knew the chilled temperature fit the cookie and its flavor. Overall, the cookie tasted like a fairly standard sugar cookie, but had an odd texture that I didn’t love. As the store’s name implies, the cookie was crumbly, which provided almost a sand-like feel in the mouth.  Everytime I picked it up, I was left with crumbs on my hands. The consistency of the frosting was smooth and light which I enjoyed, but I didn’t like the overwhelming taste of almond extract. Almond extract is a strong flavor that doesn’t taste much like almonds, but is paired nicely with vanilla or cherries in desserts. Most recipes use very little almond extract, but this cookie definitely had too much. Although the cookie didn’t appeal to my taste buds, the light pink frosting swirled on top was a nice touch. The Chilled Sugar might have looked pretty, but the taste was very mediocre and I wouldn’t order it again.

Milk Chocolate Chip

This cookie, on the other hand, was definitely the worst-looking cookie of the bunch. I wasn’t overly excited for this one because it was one of the more boring flavors. Chocolate chip cookies are a staple and I believe every bakery should perfect this go-to cookie because it’s always a crowd favorite. They are basic cookies and I was expecting a bakery known for their cookies to showcase a great chocolate chip cookie, but I was disappointed again.

When I bit into it, the chocolate chips were only semi-melted and it was much more dense than I would have liked. Because they used chocolate chips instead of chopped chocolate, it didn’t have the same melting quality that a better chocolate chip cookie offers. I prefer a chewy cookie with a gooey inside that melts in your mouth, but I didn’t get that from this cookie. I believe I could buy the same cookie from a grocery store that honestly might be better and a lot cheaper.

Chocolate featuring OREO

Next, we have the cookie I liked the best, but again it was nothing noteworthy and I would hardly rave about it. The cookie and the frosting tasted exactly like the components of an OREO cookie, but the textures varied. The base of the cookie had crisp edges and had a crunch to it from crushed up OREO cookie crumbs. I really enjoyed that because it gave the cookie a nice texture and I loved the soft and very moist middle. It had a great rich chocolate taste and the cream cheese frosting paired nicely with the cookie. The frosting was creamy and tangy and made this very rich chocolate cookie balanced. This cookie was definitely my favorite, but it wasn’t enough to make me go back for another.

Waffle

I was probably most excited about this cookie because it had already received a lot of positive reviews. I really loved the look of the cookie. The whole grid idea was very clever, as was the small ball of buttercream made to look like butter on top of a waffle. Although tasty, the downside of buttercream was that there wasn’t enough of it.  In fact, it was gone with just one bite.

Rounding out this creative waffle cookie concept was a single use side packet of maple syrup.  Unfortunately, the maple syrup left my hands sticky and there were no hand wipes to wipe away that feeling.  The waffle cookie may be better off served with utensils to avoid picking up a sticky syrup laden mess and it would help tie in with the waffle concept. Although I didn’t like the sticky syrup on my hands, it really helped the cookie taste like a waffle. The idea of the cookie was there, but I don’t think my expectations were fulfilled.

Blueberry Crumb Cake

The blueberry crumb cake cookie was my second favorite as I loved the hint of lemon and the incredibly moist texture. I usually don’t love fruit baked in my desserts because I think fresh fruit has a better texture, but I happened to like this combination. The real blueberries gave it a punch of flavor and it really mixed well with the light lemon complement. I personally felt the cookie was a tad bit undercooked in the middle just because I thought it would fall apart when I picked it up.  However, this and the OREO cookie were both soft and moist on the inside and the crumbs on the outside left it crisp. I really appreciated how it didn’t taste artificial and the cookie got the actual flavor from blueberries rather than some extract.

Sugar featuring Circus Animal

Last and definitely least was the circus animal cookie. I absolutely hated this cookie. It tasted like the whole bottle of almond extract was poured into the cookie, which was overpowering. The texture was bizarre and gave off a little bit of a chalky feel. It didn’t seem like there was anything holding the cookie together. It reminded me of when I was a kid mixing flour and water together and calling it a “potion”. I just felt like the cookie held no substance and it would fall apart into a bunch of crumbs. I even tried the glaze by itself and it was just extremely sweet. I was very disappointed in this cookie. Some might like the taste of almond extract and that overly sweet cookie, but I don’t and wouldn’t ever order this cookie again.

After having high hopes for Crumbl and hearing so many people rave about it on social media, I was expecting insanely good cookies, but all I can say was that it was average at best. Considering it took thirty minutes to get there it was disappointing to have to settle for mediocrity. Yes, maybe the flavors this week weren’t the best and they might be better another week, but these were the only cookies I had to choose from and nothing was outstanding. The experience was fun and I can now say that I have gone, but I would prefer to  make my own cookies at home.

To rank them from best to worst, I would say Chocolate featuring OREO, Blueberry Crumb Cake, Waffle, Milk Chocolate Chip, Chilled Sugar, and Sugar featuring Circus Animal.

Crumbl definitely crumbled my expectations and they won’t be seeing me again.