Crumbl: The cookies that broke the internet

By ELEKTRA GEA-SERETI and ZOE HÄLLSTROM, 2024

If you have TikTok and like cookies, there’s a very high chance that you have heard of Crumbl Cookies, a business that has a reputation for its cre ative flavors, rotating menu and thirst-trap-like pro motional videos.

Since opening in 2017, Crumbl has expand ed to over 600 bakeries in 47 states and is the fastest-growing cookie company in the nation.

New flavors are added fre quently, usually weekly, and their current recipes are also updated and improved upon, sometimes based on public feedback. Their cookies draw inspira tion from popular foods and desserts including pies, cakes, candies and even breakfast foods.

But are Crumbl Cookies really worth the hype? This is what Dateline set out to test.

Dateline reviewed Crumbl’s weekly flavors from Jan. 8 until Jan. 14. The following are our comments about each cookie.

Confetti Cake: This is our favorite cookie of the week. The cookie base is fluffy like a funfetti cake and surprises you with sprinkles through out. The cream cheese frosting offers a depth of fla vor and smooth texture that Crumbl Cookies’ simple but tercream frosting cannot compete with.

Peanut Butter Cup Featuring REESE’S: The cookie has a natural-tasting peanut butter flavor and is fudgy, yet is also very stodgy and sticky to the touch and in your mouth. Both in terms of visual appearance and flavor, the cookie is one-dimensional. that they had pizza samples by the door.

Lemon Cheesecake: This cookie looks artificial, but we appreciate all of its elements that vary in texture and flavor. The cookie base tastes like a sugar cookie, not a graham cracker crust, and the toppings taste overly sweet and mildly tart with no trace of cheesecake flavor. Texturally, the toppings are gelatinous, which is not ideal.

Rocky Road: This cookie is identifiable as being rocky road flavored but like the classic flavor combination of chocolate, marshmallow and almonds, it is average.

The cookie base is decadent and is complemented by dark chocolate chips. The texture of the marshmallow is perfect: it oozes into the rest of the cookie. Also, the almonds add a crunch but their flavor is overpowered by the other components’ sweetness. On average, Crumbl is worth the hype, with some extremely unique flavors and ideas and an excellent appearance. Additionally, these are undoubtedly social gathering cookies, as it’s fun to try the different flavors and review them with friends. However, they have a steep price and can easily burn a hole in your wallet. Dateline recommends purchasing these cookies once every couple of months unless you’re willing to pay the price! You may think the flavors desperately require trying, but don’t worry: there is always next week.

I was seated in the upstairs area by a very nice waiter, who explained to me in Italian how they make their pizza. The restaurant uses the very famous Italian wooden oven, which gives the pizza a stronger taste of all of its ingredients and comes out very warm.

I decided to order my favorite pizza,

Arts

the Pizza Margherita, composed of pizza dough, tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil. When the pizza arrived, it smelled amazing. The smell was a delicious mix of basil and tomato sauce. The mozzarella was perfectly runny, but I noticed that so was the tomato sauce, which was not much to my liking. The flavor was delectable, representing a good Southern Italian pizza.

I’m Eddie Cano

The last restaurant I decided to try was I’m Eddie Cano, which is also located on Connecticut Avenue. Similarly to Cafe Milano, the restaurant had a great ambience, including Italian music playing in the background. A unique aspect of I’m Eddie Cano is that the building has beautiful bay windows, which are used as benches to be seated at tables. I also quickly noticed that the menu was split into two sections: one with American food and the other with Italian food.

As an appetizer, they provided handmade bread with olive oil. I ordered the cacio e pepe pasta, which is pasta with pepper and a creamy sauce. My brother ordered a simple pasta with tomato sauce and meatballs. My order was flavorful and truly Italian. On the other hand, my brother’s pasta was not as authentic and the meatballs were a bit tasteless. Overall, though the restaurant had tasty dishes and a lovely atmosphere, the food was a bit more “Americanized” than in the other restaurants.