By Tessa Nacke, Leroy Tran & Ashley Trinh
A brown fluid spills over and encases the melting body atop the steaming, abyssal mass as the nervous group watches the ritual … but it’s not a scene from a horror movie, it’s BJ’s limited edition Spooky Pizookie.
The Spooky Pizookie has returned for the Halloween season, a special dessert that follows the conventions of the Pizookie — ice cream on a cookie or cakey base in a skillet — but has a cookies and cream brownie, sprinkles, a chocolate topping and absurdly orange-dyed vanilla ice cream.
However, the Spooky Pizookie is accompanied by BJ’s nine other Pizookies, so should you get the Spooky Pizookie for this spooky time of year? Or should you get one of the other nine flavors offered year-round? Here’s our ranking of the ten flavors.
10. Gluten-Free Chocolate Chip Pizookie – 4/10
For the gluten-sensitive, we see this as a perfectly suitable dessert. Otherwise, as gluten-enjoyers, we can’t find a reason to like it over its gluten-based peers. It appears to have the irresistible allure of a gilded chocolate chip cookie, but its not-quite-right taste and bizarre, gummy-like texture are very disappointing. Fortunately, the ice cream was still a tasty vanilla scoop.
9. White Chocolate Macadamia Nut Pizookie – 4.5/10
It’s not bad, but it’s not good either. Maybe it’s because we saved this second-for-last, but we didn’t like the vanilla ice cream and macadamia nut cookie combo. We don’t hate white chocolate macadamia nut cookies; however, this simply didn’t satisfy our palate. It’s rather boring and unpleasant, and its sweetness can’t save it.
8. Sugar Cookie Pizookie – 6/10
A glance at this on the menu would make one think it’s bland and disappointing — who wants a sugar cookie Pizookie? However, in practice, it surprisingly holds up. It’s not as delicious as those above it, but it’s a pleasant, albeit basic, dessert. It doesn’t have either splendor or taste to be higher on the list, so it sits here. It’s very similar to Lofthouse cookies, and if you like them for their soft, sweet crumbliness, you’ll like this one. It’s just not our thing.
7. Strawberry Shortcake Pizookie – 6/10
We couldn’t find common ground for the Strawberry Shortcake Pizookie, mostly because we couldn’t agree on whether or not its warm strawberries belonged on an otherwise delicious Pizookie. We thought the shortcake was a little tough but had a perfect balance of sweetness. Nonetheless, our disagreement lands this Pizookie a 6/10.
6. Triple Chocolate Pizookie 6.5/10
We like chocolate, but sometimes adding more chocolate to a chocolatey dessert is vain. The Ghirardelli chocolate cookie was good, but we didn’t think it was special enough to warrant a score above 6.5. If you’re a true chocolate connoisseur, then this could be more than mediocre, but it’s a lot of chocolate that we find unnecessary.
5. Hot Fudge Brownie Pizookie 6.5/10
This has the same flaws as the Triple Chocolate Pizookie — it’s nothing more than chocolate on top of more chocolate. Of course, the brownie was good, the combination of fudge and ice cream was good and the cherries were a nice touch, but as a whole, it’s not amazing. We’re harsh critics, so despite the inherent goodness of its components, it didn’t have enough oomph to impress us.
4. Cookies ‘n’ Cream Pizookie – 7.5/10
The Cookies ‘n’ Cream Pizookie delighted us with a special cookies-and-cream mousse, yet the cookies-and-cream cookie that sits below it is disappointingly unnoteworthy. That’s not to say it’s bad, because it’s definitely a delicious Pizookie — it’s just not impressive. Overall, it’s a cut above the other chocolate-centric Pizookies before it as cookies and cream is a classic. However, that’s not enough to enshrine it in the upper echelon of Pizookies, and thus it sits in fourth place.
3. Salted Caramel Pizookie – 8/10
Doesn’t salted caramel seem a little boring? Sure, but BJ’s has made a typically boring addition into a delicious and novel dessert by adding white chocolate, almond toffee and pretzel bits to its salted caramel cookie. Not only does it enhance the salty and sweet flavors, but the crunch of toffee and pretzel gives it a spectacular texture. It’s spectacularly executed overall.
2. Spooky Pizookie – 9/10
At last, here’s our assessment of the coveted and limited Spooky Pizookie: it’s really good. It certainly looks amazing; the orange ice cream was so vivid. Moreover, the experience met our expectations and arguably surpassed them. There are Oreo bits scattered across its chocolate cookie, and together they harmoniously make a perfect texture and taste. The chocolate topping that you pour yourself on the ice cream was good too, although it wasn’t as remarkable as the cookie.
Ultimately, very delicious! It gets you into the spookiness of the Halloween season and has a great taste. It deserves to share a score with the final Pizookie we thought was best, and we urge you to try this one before it goes away.
1. Chocolate Chunk Pizookie 9/10
The original. The genesis of the sweet pantheon of Pizookies that BJ’s boasts. Contrarians may claim that the original isn’t always better; however, in this case, we believe that there isn’t anything better than the classic mix of ice cream and chocolate chip cookies. It’s straightforwardly delicious and a pleasure to eat. There could be something better — that’s why we leave it at a 9/10 — but it’s near perfection. If you’re ending your meal at BJ’s and have not immediately decided on your Pizookie of choice, then get this. Honestly, order it right now.
Final thoughts
Obviously, our word isn’t the rule of law. You might hate the Chocolate Chunk Pizookie and love its gluten-free sibling, and that’s alright. In the end, just go out there and enjoy a Pizookie. Or enjoy ten like us; it’s up to you.
Maybe bring a friend, though.
