The week of October 9-16 is Crumbl Cookie’s tribute to fighting breast cancer, doing so with an entire menu of pink-themed cookies. I packed my car with my trusted fellow cookie critics, Madi Mellencamp and Easton Korell, and made the trip to Ankeny to try them out. I felt their opinions were valuable because we all have different preferences for flavors, and knew I would be getting multiple insights for this review. Plus, we fall victim to Crumbl’s marketing almost every week and are pretty familiar with their styles of cookies. I was very optimistic about the menu and decided I would write a brutally honest review.

Pink Velvet Cake was a warm, gooey, rose-colored cookie topped with cream cheese frosting and crumbles of pink streusel on top. Upon my first bite, I was slightly unimpressed. The outside seemed to be a little too crunchy, and I’m definitely more of an all-around soft cookie type of person. The cream cheese frosting was delicious but overpowering the actual cookie. I would say the best part about this cookie was the decorative appeal.

Madi described this cookie as, “not the best. It definitely had the potential to be better. I really like the way it looks, though.”

“Solid 7 out of 10,” was the only feedback given from Easton.

The second cookie we happily and dutifully tasted was Raspberry Lemonade. This chilled, refreshing cookie was my favorite by far. I definitely like the cold cookies better because the frosting tends to not be as thick and melted, and they last longer if you don’t finish it right away. I felt like I was stepping back into a summer day when I took a bite out of this cookie. Immediately I was refreshed and enjoyed the texture, thickness, and overall taste of the cookie. The sugar cookie dough, whipped pink and white frosting, and lemonade taste soared this cookie to the top of my list.

Critics Madi and Easton were less than impressed, though. “It was refreshing, but it wasn’t really good. I’ll eat it, but I don’t really like the chilled cookies,” Madi said. Easton said that it was okay, he just knew it wasn’t going to be his favorite.

Milk Chocolate Chip is the movie you have watched one too many times and could recite every famous line. It’s great, but it’s getting old. The chocolate chip cookie was the OG in the early days of Crumbl and is a guaranteed release every week. To me, it has too many chocolate chunks but to chocolate fanatics, it is the perfect concoction the company could have made. Madi and Easton also agreed that it’s a top-tier cookie, but were ready for something new. Plus, it wasn’t pink-themed. I feel like they had a missed opportunity to make the dough a pink color and say they tried something new and different that went along with their overall goal.

Cake Batter Blondie, AKA the biggest letdown since the everything bagel cookie, was next. Not enough words can describe how excited I was to try this cookie until I learned that it contained my very least favorite food item–white chocolate chips. It looked absolutely delicious, with a perfectly thick base of cookie and the edges rolled in pink and white sprinkles. Until I took a bite, I thought it would be my favorite cookie. Immediately I tasted the white chocolate and knew I wouldn’t be able to finish the rest of it. It was warm and had great texture, but not amazing taste. I think the only thing this cookie had going for it was its looks.

“No opinion. Wouldn’t get it again,” is what Madi had to say about this disappointment.

Pink Doughnut, in my opinion, was as if the creators of these cookies took a classic pink frosting sugar cookie and cut a hole in the center of it. It was delicious, but it’s been done before. I wish they had thrown a different curveball that would have made it different from everything their dedicated consumers, like me, have already seen.

In Easton’s words, the cookie was “pretty mid.”

As a twist from the all-pink menu, there were remaining cookies from last week’s fall theme available. I’m not a big fan of fall flavors, so I let Easton and Madi be the judges of the Pumpkin Roll cookie.

“It’s definitely a fall flavor. The texture is very dense and less cookie-like. More like a pumpkin bar. I really recommend this if you like flavors that kind of taste like cinnamon or if you’re a fan of pumpkin pie.”

I think overall it is worth the trip to Ankeny to try these flavors before the week is over. It is in support of a good cause, and it’s super fun to try them out with friends.

But, your back-and-forth drives to get these coveted cookies are about to become a lot shorter because it has been confirmed that a Crumbl establishment is opening up in West Des Moines this fall. The exact date has not been announced, but it will be sometime in mid-November and located on Mills Civic Pkwy.