Australians desperate to try the famous American Crumbl Cookies after a disastrous pop-up in Sydney have been urged to try a much cheaper ‘dupe’ currently available at Woolworths.
The Loaded Cookies from Cookie Man, an Australian-owned brand that first opened in 1958, have the same doughy texture and sugary fillings as Crumbl Cookies.
Sydney mother and food lover Annie, @Anniesbucketlist, shared a review of Cookie Man’s red Velvet and Snickerdoodle flavors.
Both types are available in packs of two for $5.50 at Woolworths.
“Apparently these are Crumbl Cookie dupes that you can get from Sydney,” Annie told her followers in a video on social media.
‘They cost five bucks for a pack of two from Woolies so I had to try them.
“I have the red velvet and the snickerdoodle. You have to microwave them for ten seconds so they get sticky in the middle.”
While visitors to the Crumbl pop-up in Bondi on Sunday complained that the biscuits, flown back to Australia from Hawaii for resale, were “stale”, Annie said the Woolworths alternative was delicious.
‘The red velvet filling wasn’t as sticky as the others, but the cheesecake filling inside was really creamy and delicious and a nice contrast to the chocolatey outside. Eight out of ten,” she said.
“Honestly, I normally wouldn’t get a snickerdoodle flavor, but the cookie butter filling was the best. This was nine out of ten. Super great for a Woolies cookie.
‘I would buy this again.’
The Loaded Cookies (pictured) from Cookie Man, an Australian-owned store first opened in 1958, has been called a ‘dupe’ of Crumbl Cookies
Annie (pictured), Sydney mother and food lover (pictured), @Anniesbucketlist, shared a review of Cookie Man’s Red Velvet and Snickerdoodle flavors on TikTok
Several foodies and TikTok influencers who waited in line for more than an hour Sunday to buy a $17.50 Crumbl cookie said they were disappointed with the quality.
“This looked like a scam, this is actually really bad,” said TikTok food critic Hamze.
“It’s so sweet, the texture is just weird, it’s so sugary — I feel like I’m just eating sugar.”
Crumbl co-founder Sawyer Hemsley responded to a TikTok review from influencer Elle the Eastern Suburbs Mum, who spent $150 on 10 cookies.
‘You have to try them fresh in the US! PS: This pop-up is not affiliated with Crumbl Cookies,” Hemsley captioned the video.
It was the first time the US-based franchise recognized the event, which was fiercely defended by organizers in an online statement.
They said they never claimed to be an official Crumbl store and that the cookies had been stored in an airtight container before the event.
The Loaded Cookie variants (pictured) are available in packs of two for $5.50 at Woolworths
Sydney influencer Elle (pictured) spent $150 on 10 cookies at the fake Crumbl pop-up in Bondi on Sunday
“Our aim was to bring authentic Crumbl biscuits to Australia by importing the biscuits directly from the US,” organizers said.
“We traveled to the US to purchase the cookies and imported them in their original packaging. We didn’t bake them ourselves.’
Organizers also said all the legal boxes for the pop-up had been ticked.
“Our intention was to bring the cookies to Crumbl fans. Importing and reselling is called parallel import. Parallel imports are legal,” the statement continued.
“We have followed all legal procedures, classified the cookies as commercial goods and obtained the necessary approvals from Australian Customs.”