Disclaimer: As part of a Yelp Event, I received a free Sundae during this same visit. That item is…read morenot included in this review; only items I personally paid for are reviewed here.
Four Pack ($15) - Let me start by saying that these cookies are massive - probably around 5-6 ounces per. For the most part, they are kind of "mound" shaped with a clearly taller center than surrounding ring. I went with the cookies that deviated more from that shape.
Ree (Gooey Butter Cake with Marionberry Jam) - It's so rare to see Gooey Butter Cake outside of St. Louis, I had to get this. This particular cookie looks almost like a biscuit due to the height, but it's much heavier and denser. After biting into it, I would not describe this as a gooey butter cake whatsoever. It doesn't have the right flavor profile, nor does it have the crackly sugar crust on the top that this cake is known for. Instead, this cookie tastes exactly like a floury sugar cookie, but instead of it being homogeneous throughout (other than some possible baked edge underneath), this one has has an outer crust around 1/2 cm thick, surrounding a very fudgy, almost underbaked, floury interior. There's no decadence; it just tastes like floury cookie. I wouldn't have gotten this if I had known it was just a riff on a sugar cookie. (2/5)
Jessica (Strawberry Shortcake Crunch) - This cookie has crunchy nilla wafer bits sprinkled on top, dressed well with powdered dehydrated strawberry. The base here approaches one of those soft puffy cloud-like and crumbly lofthouse cookies, at least near the edges. The interior, however is more dense and fudge-like, but not quite as dense as the other 3 cookies. There's a heavy cream cheese based strawberry frosting slathered on. This cookie might have a little more sodium content than the rest - I can actually taste quite a bit of the salt in the cookie. (3/5)
Rosie (Strawberry Shortcake) - This cookie is sparsely filled with dehydrated strawberry bits, then liberally sprinkled with crunchy brown sugar crystals. The freeze dried strawberries embedded inside kind of rehydrate from the moisture in the cookie dough, giving them a bit of chewiness. The sugar gives good textural contrast against the fudginess of the base cookie. The flavor profile again is like a sugar cookie - there's barely any strawberry flavor here. The cookie skin is a bit thinner than the previous two, so there's more inner underbaked area. (3/5)
Marie (Victoria Sponge) - This one is the driest cookie of the four, at least for the outer baked shell. It's again a sugar cookie tasting base with a homemade strawberry jam and cream. I like the jam - it's vibrant and full of fresh strawberry flavor. Probably made with fresh in season strawberries rather than sad Driscoll's. There's otherwise whipped cream on top that's sweet and very stabilized. I'm not convinced it has actual dairy in it. The base tastes like sugar cookie but it's slightly different from the sugar cookie base of the gooey butter cake. (3/5)
All four cookies have very similar textures. One's a bit more cloud-like, another has a drier shell, but overall, they're like fudgy playdough. There aren't any crispy baked edges or crusty bottoms, no gooey melty interior, no soft airiness, it's just all very samey. I think they play it too safe, like the cookies look 100% different from each other, but in actuality there's only a 10% difference between each cookie.
These cookies are definitely for the instagrammers - eye-catching, safe cookies that seem to rely more on decoration than true ingredient and technique differentiation. There's nothing wrong with that. I'm just not the right demographic. And even with my lower 3* star rating, I still might return to buy cookies to give away as presents.
Bathrooms - None, and I asked. They recommend going to the pizza shop across the street.
Food: [2.75/5]
Service: [ ]
Other: [ ]
Final Rating: 3/5
