At long last, I’ve had the privilege of trying the cookies at Gideon’s Bakehouse in Disney Springs! I have been waiting years for this ever since Gideon’s Bakehouse opened up and became ultra-famous. The line in front of Gideon’s is always insane, so much so that they instituted a virtual queue before guests can even join the physical line. I’ve always wanted to see if the hype was worth it. Being a sweet tooth myself, and a bit of a dessert snob, I was looking forward to this for a while.

We happened to go at a time when it wasn’t busy enough for the virtual queue, so the physical line was the only wait. The attendant told us it was about 45 minutes, but it felt more like 25, which was a relief. I needed the time anyway to decide what cookie to get. They had options that all looked very appealing to me, but I ended up choosing the Triple Chocolate because I’m a chocoholic.

Once we finally got inside the building, my nostrils were overwhelmed by the nearly suffocating aromas of butter and sugar. The smell is so strong I thought it might make someone sick from standing inside for too long. The decor was charmingly gothic and spooky, with framed portraits of these adorable and weird creatures from Gideon’s lore. It was dimly lit inside, but they had the cookies on display to admire. All of them look like boulders encased in giant chips or morsels—chocolate or peanut butter depending on the type of cookie. Suffice it to say, my mouth was watering. We ordered fast and got the cookies in an adorable box with a trading card of one of the creatures on it.

Now, for the review. Before eating my own cookie, I tried a bite of the ones my family members had gotten. My sister got their Original Chocolate Chip cookie. The vanilla flavor was strong and warming, and the chocolate was rich. I will say this is the best chocolate chip cookie I’ve ever tasted, even though I only had a bite. Meanwhile, my mom got their limited time Coconut Caramel Cookie, which is the classic chocolate chip with salted caramel and coconut cream, topped with shaved toasted coconut. I enjoyed this one even more than the Original Chocolate Chip because of the flavor variety. It tasted slightly salty and the coconut really shined.

The Triple Chocolate cookie was chocolatey and extremely rich! There are five different types of chocolate inside. As I ate, I could taste the more creamy and milky elements versus the more semisweet and dark ones. The variation in flavor made it more interesting. It was surprisingly soft and easy to pull apart given how large and chunky it looked. The doughy inside is not raw, but very velvety and chewy (something the bakers do on purpose). I loved this! The cookie tasted very buttery and not overwhelmingly sugary, say in comparison to Crumbl cookies. I can’t eat much of a Crumbl cookie without getting sick because you’re practically eating straight sugar, even though I love Crumbl. In contrast, Gideon’s cookies rely more on butter, which gives them a richer, fuller flavor without making you feel sick from huge amounts of sugar. The cookie even had a few flakes of salt on it that provided a salty break from the sweetness.

I absolutely loved Gideon’s cookies and now understand the hype!