Great Lakes Pot Pies

Great Lakes Pot Pies is mostly a pot pie company.  They are located in Michigan, but also ship nationwide (frozen pies).  They make savory pies in various sizes and fillings, breakfast pies, sweet pies, and also hand pies.  But I tried none of those things (although I gladly would, many sound great!).  I was drawn to their snack foods business, where they sell a fairly unique product: pie chips.

Pie chips are available as a savory option (everything seasoning) or sweet (cinnamon sugar).  I tried the later.  They recommend as a snack right out of the (resealable) pouch, sprinkled on ice cream, or any other creative uses you can come up with.

Cinnamon Sugar Pie Chips.

"Irresistibly crunchy pie chips with sweet cinnamon sugar goodness. The crisp cookies come with a flaky buttery crust and are covered in cinnamon sugar."

"Savor buttery, flaky cookies crafted from our famous pie crust—each crisp bite of the cinnamon chips is reminiscent of the delight of freshly baked pie."

I wanted to love these.  I didn't love these.  I simply liked them.  

Which is to say, they were fine.  Absolutely fine.  But I wanted more from them.

They were very buttery and seemed to be made from high quality pie crust.  I liked that there were smaller nibble broken bits and bigger squares.  They did, indeed, taste like pie crust.  

But for a standalone snack, I wanted more from the cinnamon sugar element.  They were coated on just one side, and the cinnamon and sugar were both fairly muted.  I wanted more, more, more.

As an ice cream topping, pudding topping, or even just with fresh berries and whipped cream they were a nice component, but as a standalone snack, they weren't quite enough flavor for me.  Low 3/5.

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Hungry Crumbs

Update Review, September 2025

Catering Setup.

I had Hungry Crumbs as part of a catered event.  This photo was right before service, they added napkins and cookie bags before the event got started (and signs for each kind of cookie).  Cookies are normally $6.50 each.  They were served warm.  I tried all three available.

Red Velvet w/ Almonds & White Chocolate.

When I saw the sign for this cookie I nearly didn't take one.  Red velvet with white chocolate sounded great, but why add almonds to the mix?  That seemed like it would be kinda too much / muddled.

But I ended up really appreciating the almonds.  They added great crunch.  The red velvet flavor wasn't particularly strong, but the white chocolate gave a slight sweetness and creaminess like cream cheese frosting almost, so combined with the color, my brain did believe it was red velvet, just, with crunch.

The cookie was well baked, lightly crisp but still quite soft, very fresh.  3.5/5, I wouldn't get this flavor again, and I prefer a gooier cookie, but I recognize that this was well made.

Matcha Strawberry.

Next, matcha strawberry.  Not a flavor I'd ever normally pick.  I love fresh strawberries but don't really care for most strawberry flavored things, and I don't mind matcha, but its not a flavor I'm ever seeing out.

But, wow.  This was a great cookie, hands down my favorite from Hungry Crumbs.  It was even softer and better baked for my preferences than any others, and had exceptional flavor.  The strawberry was crazy intense and bright, and then the matcha came through on the finish.  It was complimentary and complex and just really shockingly good.  4/5.

Lemon Poppy. (Vegan)

The final flavor was a vegan offering, lemon poppy.

It too was a well baked cookie.  Soft and perfectly baked.  There was nothing odd or vegan tasting about it, in fact, I had forgotten it said it was vegan until I went to write this up.

The flavor wasn't quite what I was expecting though.  It was a very vibrant lemon flavor, like the strawberry in the previous cookie, really strong.  But the base cookie was a sugar cookie, so it was much sweeter than I anticipated.  Not a bad thing, just, for some reason, I wasn't expecting a sugar cookie base.  The poppy seeds added a bit of crunch, but I didn't taste them much.

So, if you like lemon desserts (which, I don't generally) and you want a sugar cookie, this is great.  For my mood though it wasn't quite right  Still a strong 3/5, and likely would be higher if I was in the mood for sweet.

Original Review, August 2024

As part of the SF Vacant to Vibrant program, the SF government is “helping small businesses, entrepreneurs, artists, and cultural organizations activate vacant storefronts to revitalize the area and promote economic recovery”, by paying their rent for the first few months, giving them grant money to seed their operations, providing resources to help with securing permits, etc. Many of these vacant storefronts are around my office and neighborhood.  One, Hungry Crumbs, just opened super close to my house (where Prima Cafe used to be, which I'm sad about losing, as I really did like their froyo and the owners seemed so nice, but I'm glad to see something finally there, it has been vacant since the pandemic).

Signage.

"Stuffed Cookies Made Right!  Hungry Crumbs offers delicious home made stuffed cookies!"

Hungry Crumbs makes one product: cookies.  The space certainly could accommodate a more extensive menu, as Prima Cafe offered a full breakfast and lunch lineup, along with froyo, and a full coffee bar with espresso drinks, etc, all in that same space, but so far, they are focusing only on cookies.  Hopefully soon they offer drinks too?

"Hungry Crumbs is a  a unique cookie concept that combines classic and contemporary flavors. The menu includes unique selections such as Ube Cookies and Balava Dough Cookies, tailored to appeal to both traditionalists and adventurous eaters."

Anyway, I don't know much about the business, as they have a very minimal webpage.

Displays.

The cookies are all attractively arranged under display domes. All are priced the same, $6.50. The day I visited had 8 regular flavors available. The lineup was: 

• Ube Crinkle
• Hot Chocolate (chocolate based cookie with mini marshmallows)
• Banana Biscoff
• Lemon Curd
• Cherry White Chocolate
• Pecan Dulce de Leche
• Strawberry Cheesecake
• Chocolate Chip

They are larger than your average cookie, and most (all?) are stuffed.

I had a very, very hard time narrowing down my pick, as the strawberry cheesecake sounded very unique and had visible gobs of strawberry cheesecake in it, I do adore ube anything (hence the label on my blog), and the staff member serving me recommended the banana Biscoff as a unique one, and said he loved the lemon curd too.

Oatmeal Raisin (GF, V)

They also offer one gluten-free and vegan offering (that I think changes) for those with dietary restrictions.  It is priced the same as all regular cookies at $6.50, no upcharge.

Racks of Cookies.

Cookies aren't actually plucked from the display domes to sell to you, rather, they are stashed on racks behind the counter.  They are served room temperature, not warm like most other trendy cookie shops these days.

Pecan Dulce de Leche. $6.50.

"Indulge in the rich, nutty flavor of pecans complemented by creamy Dulce De Leche caramel."

After an agonizing decision making process, I went for the pecan dulce de leche.  Something about the pecan perched perfectly in the center just really drew me in.

The base cookie was somewhat a textbook standard for what a good cookie should be - it was soft, yet it had a pleasant chewiness to it.  It tasted freshly made.  The base flavor was fairly average in terms of sweetness level and butteriness.  Baked evenly, with no too crispy burnt edges.  Do I prefer a more gooey, lightly underbaked cookie?  Yes.  But there was absolutely nothing to criticize on the bake on this.  

I knew it was a pecan cookie, but I was surprised by the actual taste of the cookie base, as I recognized it instantly: while it might look like a more common chocolate chip or whatever generic base, it tasted exactly like a pecan sandie, which, I suppose, is the only real pecan cookie I know.  There were bits of nut studded throughout, and it was a very nut forward cookie, which I wouldn't have guessed from inspection alone.

Pecan Dulce de Leche: Inside.

The pecan cookie alone was a pretty good cookie, but this had more to give, in the form of the dulce de leche filling.  Here you can see the cross-section.  It had a thin layer of the dulce de leche right in the center, that extended through most of the cookie.  It isn't a puffy, mega-stuffed cookie, but, you do get some filling in every bite.  It is, predictably, very sweet.  It was fairly thick and rich, it didn't really ooze out at all.  

At room temperature, as served, I consider it a fairly unique, very well baked, cookie, but not one I'd likely find myself really craving.  ***+.

Of course, I wanted to try it warm too, and a la mode, since that is where magic often happens.  The cookie softened up a bit, and as I had hoped, the dulce de leche got a bit more oozy.  It still didn't ooze much, but a bit more.  It did pair nicely with ice cream.  ***+.

I'm not sure which way I preferred this though, room temp with some whipped cream, or warm with ice cream.  Both were fine.  I'd try another flavor next before getting this again, unless really craving pecans.

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Dianne's Fine Desserts

Dianne's Fine Desserts is a bakery you may have experienced, but not realized it before.  Although they've been around since 1976, you probably haven't heard of Dianne's Fine Desserts by name, even if you've enjoyed their products, as they distribute entirely to foodservice and wholesale customers, no consumer retail sales.

"A leading provider of premium frozen thaw-and-serve desserts to the foodservice industry, Dianne’s Fine Desserts® has been serving up inspiring, mouth-watering and memorable desserts for over 40 years. The Company’s product line includes cheesecakes, layer cakes, pies and tarts, brownies/bars, individual minis and specialty desserts; all created at two state-of-the art GFSI-certified manufacturing facilities. Dianne’s Fine Desserts has strong core markets, an established customer base and product lines that anticipate consumer demand and support customer initiatives and goals."

Their product line includes pies, cakes, tortes, cheesecakes, dessert bars, brownies, and minis.  I only tried (at least knowingly) only the minis.

Assorted Cheesecakes.

"A five flavor collection of mini cheesecakes perfectly sized and packaged for any occasion – 7 pieces each of Vanilla, Chocolate, Lemon Crème, Strawberry and Salted Caramel with Candied Hazelnuts."

Our assortment had 5 flavors, 2 caffeinated, 2 fruity, 1 plain.  I tried all but the strawberry.  The vanilla, strawberry, salted caramel, and lemon all used the same basic graham style crust, the chocolate had a chocolate one.  

Vanilla.

I started with the most simple flavor: vanilla.  Note that it is explicitly vanilla, not "classic NY" or plain or anything like that.  That said, I didn't actually taste vanilla.  It just tasted like a lightly sweet basic cheesecake, and not a particularly good one.  It was really, really dense, and not really creamy, so a letdown from the texture standpoint too.

Vanilla cheesecake base? Low 2/5.

Then there is the crumble on top, which seemed to be soft cake crumbs?  An odd thing to have on top.  It was fine I guess?

Vanilla: crust.

And then there is the "crust".  Which, really was more of a base than an actual crust.

First, I have to address the poorly constructed cheesecake aspect of it.  You may have noticed in the first vanilla cheesecake photo you didn't actually see a crust.  Because, on that side of the cheesecake, there was no crust.  Spin it around a bit, and then you get this section here, with 50%+ crust.  This is a single cheesecake, just, rotated.  So they lose points for such poor quality control.

And then they lose every other possible point for the actual execution of the crust.  It crumbled into sand moments after this photo was taken.  It tasted like sawdust.  It was truly awful on all dimensions.  Zero stars.

Lemon Crème.

And from the boring vanilla, we suddenly get very fancy.  This is not just lemon cheesecake, but a lemon *crème*.  I expected/hoped that maybe it would mean this one would be a bit more creamy?

Alas, the crème did not seem to help the texture.  Again, just very very dense.  It did have mild lemon flavor, but again the base cheesecake wasn't particularly good.  Meh.  1/5.

It had the same crumble topping and totally poorly assembled crust as the vanilla, as you can see here, this side has basically no crust.

Lemon Crème: crust.

And yes, spin it around, and you can get plenty of sawdust crust falling out immediately.

Salted Caramel.

The salted caramel had little bits of candied hazelnut on top.  They were a bit soft, but tasty enough.  

This one had a really enjoyable, sweet but not cloying, fairly developed, caramel flavor.  Hands down the most successful of the flavors.  It too was fairly dense and I didn't love the texture, and it didn't really taste like a cheesecake exactly, but, for a thick, dense, sweet bite, it was good enough.

The crust was again horrible, and poorly distributed.  

The best of the four I tried, by a lot.  Very low 3/5, as the crust was still awful, and it wasn't really what I think of as a cheesecake.

Chocolate.

The chocolate one came topped with a Oreo style crumb on top, which also seemed to be what made up the very crumbly base.  This base was slightly better than the others, but only slightly, and it still just crumbled apart immediately.

The base cheesecake was again just soo dense that it made it not enjoyable.  Mild chocolate flavor, mild cheesecake flavor.  I guess my second favorite, but I didn't really want it. 2/5.

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