Happy Birthday, Crumbl! This past week, the cookie company blew out its candles and celebrated by rolling out some special birthday treats for their 8th anniversary. With the much-awaited return of confetti flavors, we wanted to review their lineup of limited-edition cookies and give you the sweet scoop on this year’s birthday confections.
Established in 2017, Crumbl has made it a tradition to celebrate its anniversary with special birthday-themed flavors during September, with both brand new creations and nostalgic favorites. This year, they had a sale on the cookies with a “6-pack for the price of a 4-pack” deal for the week, drawing the eyes of many Crumbl-enthusiasts. We taste-tested their full spread to see which cookies deserve a candle on top, and which ones blew out the flame.
The Pink Sugar Cookie, which is a specialty cookie that only appears on the weekly menu a few times a year, made its way into the birthday batch. Unfortunately, it didn’t meet our expectations. While the frosting is good and a cute pink color, we found it to be overly sweet with no real flavor other than artificial. The cookie itself is also dry and—though we hate to say it—too crumbly, even for Crumbl themselves. It was at best a basic, sub-par cookie that we wouldn’t have personally added to the birthday box. Due to its unoriginality, it earned a dismal 5/10.
One of our favorites was the Hazelnut Cookie, which enchants your taste buds from the first, crispy bite. Right off the start, the cookie is warm and melts in your mouth instantaneously, as the center is generously filled with Nutella. The top of the cookie is also drizzled with Nutella and sprinkled with sea salt, providing for an amazing salty-to-sweet ratio. Somehow, it achieves the perfect crunch while remaining soft and gooey in the middle, a Crumbl standard, gaining a strong 9.5/10.
In birthday spirits, the Confetti Cake cookie was a taste of child-like wonder in each nostalgia-filled mouthful. The cake was extremely moist and fluffy, with an adorable two-layered design that resembled a classic cartoon birthday cake. The frosting was really sweet in a tasteful way, making for a good combination with the cake that felt comparable to a typical box-mix cake your mom would make for your fifth birthday, receiving an 8/10.
The other birthday-based item was the Birthday Cake Cookie ft. OREO. With sprinkles and cake batter cream cheese frosting, this cookie was not one to miss and definitely belonged in this year’s birthday box. The cookie was thick but soft, with a crunch coming from the chunks of OREO cookies scattered throughout. While having the sweetness Crumbl is most famous for, the frosting still had an authentic cream cheese taste, detailed with dainty artistry using rainbow sprinkles for a traditional birthday cake feeling. Overall, this cookie takes a perfect 10/10.
While not a part of the birthday week limited-edition flavors, this timeless favorite is still a constant within our Crumbl order, the Chocolate Chip Cookie. The warmth of the cookie is comforting, providing a hint of classic cookie culture with every bite and using large chocolate chunks to add that hint of sweetness. It has both a crispy outside, creating that slight crunch, alongside the chewy delicacy that is the middle of this crowd-pleasing cookie. Although not in the running for the title of our favorite birthday flavor, it still earns a 7/10.
In the end, we had to agree there were some standouts within this year’s birthday lineup and we hope to see them make a return for next year. In third place, the Confetti Cake Cookie, because nothing says “birthday” like a nostalgia-filled bite of cake. In second place, the Hazelnut Cookie emerges to bring a balance of sweetness and saltiness to a cookie, definitely not skimping on the filling.
And, our overall winner and favorite is the Birthday Cake Cookie ft. OREO! With a flawless score of 10/10, this cookie is all we could hope for in a birthday treat, with a sweetness that isn’t too over the top but still puts us in a celebratory mood. So, here’s to looking forward to another year of Crumbl birthdays, and hopefully another batch of cookies just as sweet.
