Eat This Now: Cookies from Brown Suga

Assorted Cookie Box at Brown Suga // Photo by Kat Alfieri

Limits do not exist when walking into a bakery. One step inside Brown Suga, a Black woman-owned cookie shop in Olathe, and I immediately abandon my “I’ll just try one” mentality and opt for a box of six. I came here for cookies, so I might as well commit to the task at hand and secure the goods.

My selections; Lemon crinkle, Snickerdoodle, two Butter Cakes, Birthday Cake, and Cookies n’ Cream. Let’s break them down.

Lemon Crinkle is simultaneously a lemon bar dusted with powdered sugar and a spoonful of cake batter. The citrus is tart enough to get my mouth to pucker. The lemon curd takes on a cake batter consistency, proving that citrus and butter are two peas in a pod. The cookie does its best to hold shape as long as possible, but will inevitably succumb to gravity. This is a non-issue. To be honest, I inhaled this one.

After trying one of the Butter Cakes, I am deciding that cake is best served in cookie form. I was blessed enough to get one that had just been in the oven, gifting me with what I consider to be tip-top shape for a baked good. The Butter Cake cookie is true to its name—butter and cake. Simple name, great execution—like licking cake batter off a spatula.

Cookies n’ Cream plays a solid game of Inception. A cookie within a cookie, but provided with more. White chocolate chips are added, acting as an extension of the Oreo’s cream center. It’s a double-stuffed dream served with a punch of crunch.

The Snickerdoodle is cinnamon comfort rolled in sugar ‘n’ spice. It’s not as soft as the other cake-based cookies, meaning it’s more likely to hold together thanks to its crispy outer shell. Overall, it’s a chewier cookie that provides texture variety to the cookie box.

Finally, the Birthday Cake. Although not as “cakey” as I was expecting, it nailed the Funfetti vibes that took me back to elementary school birthday parties at a bowling alley. It had yellow sprinkles for Super Bowl weekend and was more akin to the consistency of the Snickerdoodle but with a pop of color.

After completing my escapade through the box of cookies, my only wish was to be back in the kitchen to see what kind of chemistry Brown Suga is cooking up because they’re defying the laws of matter by serving up solid cookies that simultaneously embody cake batter. I’m not a scientist, but the women here might just be because my willpower is a thing of the past. It’s time to embrace the C-word, and by that I mean cookies.

Pro tip: Warm these babies up. 10 to 15 seconds in the microwave will do wonders.

Brown Sugar is located at 1066 W Santa Fe St, Olathe, KS 66061.