On a weekday afternoon under Chennai’s scorching sun, customers gathered around warm bowls of scoop cookies — the viral dessert trend that has been steadily taking over cafés and Instagram feeds across the city. Crisp on the outside, gooey and chocolate-filled within, scoop cookies had customers crowding around tables with spoons in hand. Some dug in almost immediately, while others passed the dessert around between friends, lingering over conversations as spoons cut through the warm, molten centre. The dessert’s popularity points to a larger shift in Chennai’s café culture, where Instagram-driven food trends are now influencing what people eat and how they experience desserts.
Tucked away in Alwarpet, The Nini Cafe claims to be among the first in the city to introduce scoop cookies. “We started as a food truck in Anna Nagar before opening this shop here. It wasn’t a trend we saw somewhere and followed — we just experimented with it on our own. We already baked cookies, and one day we simply tried scooping and serving them this way,” the team says.
The café offers just one variety — the triple chocolate scoop cookie. Unlike regular cookies baked conventionally, the team says the scoop cookie is water-baked. “That’s why it’s gooey. The process itself is different,” they explain, handing me a bowl.
The top retains crisp, but the moment the spoon cuts through, the centre, it turns soft and molten. Every bite has layers of white, milk, and dark chocolate drizzled over it. Ittruly is a decadent treat for weary souls on a sizzling hot day.
Reactions from customers, however, were mixed. Abdul Kaif, a content creator and AI/Tech student from Chennai, described the dessert as “Instagram-worthy but way too sweet.” Keerthana, who travelled with friends from Anna Nagar to try it, felt the opposite. “If I could, I would probably have this every day,” she says, laughing. Another customer described it as more of a shared experience: “It’s the kind of thing you don’t really order for oneself.”
Bowl to tins
As the trend evolved, it also found a second form in cookie tins, offering a wider range of flavours such as Nutella, Chocolate Biscoff, and Ferrero Rocher, topped with chocolate chips. With multiple home bakers across the city experimenting with the format, the dessert is also being shipped across the state.
“It was very popular in foreign countries, so we started making it at home. We tried it and loved it, and then introduced it to our customers,” says Sandhya, a home baker and psychology student running The Brownie Break (@cakes_by_sandhya) from Nanganallur.
Talking about baking these cookies, Chinmaie Gorla, founder of Enchanted Bakehouse (@enchantedbakehouse), says, “Achieving the perfect gooey texture requires a careful balance of ingredients, moisture levels, baking temperature, and timing.” She explains that the focus lies on using premium couverture chocolate, brown sugar for deeper caramel notes, and precise fat-to-flour ratios, along with controlled underbaking techniques. “Unlike traditional cookies that are baked for structure and crispness, cookie tins are intentionally baked to remain molten and soft in the centre,” she adds.
The cookie tins sold across the state are priced differently, in portions ranging from 100 grams to 500 grams, catering to both individuals and groups. “We ship across Chennai and other parts of the state as well. It takes a maximum of two days to deliver, and they stay fresh. They can also be reheated before eating,” Sandhya adds.
Beyond being a cheat-day treat, the dessert is increasingly ordered for different occasions, from personal indulgence and shared experiences to gifting. “They have also become extremely popular as gifts because the presentation feels modern, premium, and experience-driven,” says Chinmaie.
While the craze has found a strong audience, not all responses to this trend are entirely glowing. “The taste is really good, and there are multiple textures. I personally would’ve liked some vanilla ice cream with it so there’s a balance. But a hardcore chocolate lover would absolutely love it,” says Ammaar Yacoob, a content creator and economics student from Chennai. He adds that while it works as an occasional treat, it is not something he would order regularly. “Not a one-time trend dessert, but definitely something I’d order occasionally — maybe once in a month or once in a couple of months,” he says.
Social media has undoubtedly played a major role in driving the trend. Having tried the dessert due to online hype, Abdul says, “the melted chocolate and scoop-style cookies looked super tempting in the videos.”
The impact is equally evident at the business end. “We posted a video the day before the launch, and a lot of people showed up after seeing it online. It went viral very quickly, and ever since then, customers have continued coming in,” says the team at The Nini Cafe. This was reflected inside the café as well, with customers often pointing toward the scoop cookie trays as they enter. The staff was seen restocking the display as orders kept coming in.
The throne held all along by brownies and kunafa chocolate seems to have been taken over by scoop cookies. While a section of consumers actively follows such viral trends, others continue to stick to their classics. “Hype comes and goes, but Chennai still has its classic dessert spots that people always go back to. People follow trends for a few months, but eventually they return to their roots,” says Ammaar.