When a dessert company makes billion-dollar profits off 1,000-calorie cookies, it’s time to ask — what are we really celebrating?
The Cookie Craze Taking Over America
Do you know what the biggest food trend in America was this past week? Crumbl Cookies.
This dessert franchise, launched in 2017, has exploded across North America. Their pink boxes, rotating weekly menu, and social-media-ready designs have made them an instant phenomenon. Since opening, Crumbl has generated over $1 billion in sales and boasts millions of TikTok followers and copycat reviews on YouTube.
But here’s the question: are Crumbl Cookies really that good, or are they simply one of the smartest marketing plays in the modern food industry?
When Trend Meets Nutrition
I’ll be honest — I don’t care how “good” the cookies taste. As a Registered Dietitian, my focus is nutrition, not trendiness.
I’m not anti-dessert. I believe in a balanced approach to eating — a cookie here and there won’t harm anyone. But balance doesn’t mean pretending that extreme indulgence is harmless. Some treats are fine; others push well beyond what should ever be considered “a treat.”
And Crumbl falls squarely in that second category.
The Dubai Chocolate Brownie: A Nutrition Horror Show
Let’s start with one of Crumbl’s top sellers — the Dubai Chocolate Brownie. It’s described as:
“A soft fudgy brownie with a crunchy Kataifi and pistachio filling topped with a layer of milk chocolate and drizzled with even more pistachio cream.”
It sounds luxurious, but here’s the reality:
- Calories: 1,010
- Total Fat: 56 g
- Saturated Fat: 28 g
- Cholesterol: 123 mg
- Carbohydrates: 118 g
- Sugar: 84 g
- Protein: 17 g
That’s half a day’s worth of calories and three times the daily sugar limit in a single dessert.
Even if you shared it, you’d still be consuming more sugar than most people should eat in an entire day.
Portion Distortion and Marketing Manipulation
This is where Crumbl’s brilliance — and danger — lies. They’ve turned portion distortion into a brand identity.
Their cookies are intentionally oversized. A “single cookie” could easily feed two to four people, but it’s packaged as one portion. The average customer doesn’t think twice about eating it whole, because it’s sold as a serving.
Add in clever flavor names — “Churro Delight,” “Cookie Butter Lava,” “Peanut Butter Munch” — and you’ve got the perfect psychological storm: nostalgia, novelty, and social approval. Every bite feels like an event, not a decision.
That’s exactly what their marketing aim is, include you in a trend that you need to be a part of. But at the end of the day it’s just a dessert. And they don’t care about your health, they just care about making money. Their marketing plays into your emotions and triggers you to buy.
Why We Fall for It
Crumbl didn’t invent indulgence — they perfected how to sell it.
Every cookie drop is designed to create FOMO (fear of missing out). You’re told the flavors are available for one week only, which triggers urgency and makes indulgence feel justified. “It’s limited edition,” after all.
And because social media thrives on visual appeal, these cookies are photogenic. Posting one online feels like participation, not overeating. We’ve traded mindful eating for Instagram validation.
The end result? A company that profits off our biology — and our boredom.
Crumbl Isn’t the Problem — It’s the Symptom
The issue isn’t just Crumbl. It’s the food culture we’ve built — one that celebrates excess and normalizes overconsumption.
We live in a society where 1,000-calorie desserts are marketed as “self-care.” Meanwhile, rates of obesity, type 2 diabetes, and heart disease continue to rise. It’s estimated that over 129 million people in America have at least one chronic disease. That is a very sad statistic.
We can’t keep excusing this as harmless fun. It’s not judgmental to acknowledge that these products are unhealthy — it’s factual. A culture that defends unlimited access to ultra-processed food is one that’s forgotten what real nourishment looks like.
The Hidden Cost of Normalizing Excess
This “just a treat” mentality has real consequences.
The average North American adult consumes around 19-22 teaspoons of added sugar daily, far exceeding the recommended limits. Chronic overconsumption contributes to insulin resistance, elevated triglycerides, liver fat accumulation, and inflammation — the groundwork for nearly every major chronic disease.
And here’s the kicker: these effects build silently. You don’t wake up one morning with heart disease because of one cookie. You get there after years of “treating yourself.”
What Real Moderation Looks Like
Real moderation isn’t about deprivation; it’s about proportion and frequency.
Enjoying a cookie occasionally is reasonable. But when every coffee run includes a pastry, and every stressful day “deserves” dessert, moderation becomes meaningless.
A homemade cookie — using butter, sugar, and flour — typically lands between 70 and 100 calories. It’s satisfying without overwhelming your metabolism. Crumbl’s version? Ten times that.
There’s nothing inherently wrong with sugar or fat. The issue is how much and how often.
The Bigger Picture: Corporate Responsibility in Food Culture
Companies like Crumbl operate in a gray area of responsibility. They comply with labeling laws, but that doesn’t mean their practices align with public health.
When a brand markets ultra-dense desserts as a fun family outing, they’re not just selling cookies — they’re selling habits. It’s time we ask whether billion-dollar food corporations should bear more accountability for what they promote.
Because for every viral cookie box sold, there’s another reminder that nutrition education and marketing power are nowhere near equal.
A Better Way to Treat Yourself
You can absolutely enjoy dessert without the sugar hangover.
Bake at home using smaller portions and less sugar. Try recipes that emphasize flavor instead of volume — dark chocolate, fruit, or oats. Food should still taste good; it just doesn’t need to deliver a full day’s worth of calories in a single bite.
And if you’re someone who tracks your nutrition or reads labels, don’t apologize for it. That’s not “disordered” — that’s informed.
The Questions That Matter
Next time you’re tempted by a Crumbl cookie, ask yourself:
- Have I already had dessert every day this week?
- Will this make me feel better or worse later?
- Am I eating this because I want it, or because everyone else is?
- Could I share it — or skip it entirely — and still feel satisfied?
The answers matter more than the frosting.
The Bottom Line
If you are asking yourself why I care so much to write about Crumbl, it’ because I have people in my life where information like this matters. People that I care about that need to alter their diets and skip places like Crumbl Cookies to live longer.
Heart disease and chronic diseases effect such a significant portion of our population that it’s time we as healthcare professionals stop acting like the ‘treat yourself’ mentality is healthy. We need to stop pretending like saying no to dessert is disordered eating mentality, because it’s not.
It’s time we stopped believing that being on multiple medications to manage chronic disease conditions is just the norm as we age. I went into this profession to help people avoid those routes in this life.
You don’t need to swear off dessert. You just need to understand what these foods do to your body. They raise blood sugars, increase calorie consumption, raise risk of heart disease, raise risk of obesity and other chronic health conditions.
Crumbl Cookies aren’t a harmless indulgence — they’re a mirror reflecting how disconnected our culture has become from mindful eating.
So eat at your own risk.
Or better yet — bake your own.