Living in the Twin Cities, unique restaurants are scattered everywhere, such as Al's Breakfast, the city's narrowest restaurant at 10 feet wide; Matt's Bar, the origin of the famous Jucy Lucy; and Milk Jam Creamery, famous for sandwiching unique ice cream flavors between two donut halves. So, I shouldn't have been surprised to find T-Rex Cookie, a dinosaur-themed cookie shop selling 1/2 pound cookies. Cookie lovers, brace yourselves.
Owned by Tina Rexing – hence the name T-Rex Cookies – the shop sells giant 1/2 pound cookies, as we shouldn't expect anything less from a dinosaur themed cookie shop. They even offer a 5 pound cookie for meetings or events that serves 40 people by itself (think the size of a pizza)!
If you put aside the giant cookies – the shop's eclectic design, their cafe menu, and even the T-Rex Cookie gear will convince you to visit. Here's why it should be on your bucket list:
The Cookies
Every day, there's about 13 different flavors to choose from. The above is peanut butter, a soft, decadent classic that somehow tricks you into thinking that you can handle eating the entire thing at once. Other classics include M&M, oatmeal raisin, snickerdoodle, and chocolate chip, to name a few.
The above is Sea Salt Caramel Chocolate Chip, another classic combination in the dessert world.
Along with the classics, T-Rex Cookies also offers uncommon flavors to set itself apart. These unique flavors are ever changing, but some examples range from Peppermint Hot Chocolate to Lemony Snicketdoodle (trust me, it's not unfortunate), and Cherry Pie to Purple Velvet.
And finally, the Snickerdoodle, with its picturesque gradation of baked cinnamon sugar on top.
To really surpass expectations, T-Rex Cookies even caters to what's trending at the moment. This past summer, they sold a cookie called "The Bastard, a.k.a. Jon Snow" that featured ingredients like coconut, cream, and sugar. More recently, the "Purple People Eater" featured purple cookie dough when the Vikings were still in the running for the Super Bowl.
But, if you aren't a cookie person (who can say that?), they have a cafe menu, cute coffee drinks, and delicious chocolate milk with chocolate syrup draped around the edges of the glass. And if that doesn't entice you, the details of the space will.
The Design
With its exposed brick walls typical of the Twin Cities, an entire wall full of windows to provide endless amounts of natural light, and oodles of seating options, the essentials are all covered, whether you're meeting with a friend or just need a place to study.
To push the theme, they have added a T-rex mount on the wall (complete with sunglasses), little dinosaur statuettes scattered around the place, a couch with a dinosaur print on its upholstery, and even a bin full of t-rex stuffed animals, all of which are examples of the shop's eclectic nature.
In addition, T-Rex Cookie adds to its decor with cookie pillows and whisk lights hanging above the cookie display. They even have a framed print at the register depicting a food pyramid with cookies at the base, milk in the middle, and "everything else" up top.
So, if you're ever in the Twin Cities, make sure you make a stop at T-Rex Cookie – you can even take some home with you if you can't get enough. They also sell them at Sprout and Seventh Street Truck Park in the Cities. Make sure to follow their Instagram to keep up with all the different flavors that they offer, along with a healthy dose of dinosaur references too.