What Hawaii needs: This soft serve in a cookie shot glass

My first visit to The Dirty Cookie in Tustin’s Union Market was back in fall 2015, shortly after they opened. I love cookies, and their signature item was — wait for it — cookie shots.

Original Cookies ‘n cream cookie shot with almond milk, for those like me who have a love-hate relationship with lactose. — September 2015: Original Cookies ‘n Cream cookie shot with almond milk, for those like me who have a love-hate relationship with lactose.

That’s right. Dirty Cookie makes edible shot glasses from cookie dough and hand-coats the inside with Belgian chocolate. That way, you never have to worry about milk leakage and soggy ruins.

I revisited this month and found tons of new flavors and menu items, even though the basic concept has stayed the same.

Talk “dirty” to me: cookie shot flavors include chocolate chip, cookies ‘n cream, red velvet, matcha green tea and churro. — Talk dirty to me: cookie shot flavors.

First off, cookie shots are now available in new flavors. Dirty Cookie initially launched with chocolate chip, cookies ‘n cream and red velvet shot glasses; the first two are still the most popular. Now, you can even enjoy vegan and gluten-free options.

The Vegan and Gluten Free options ($7) are slightly more expensive than a regular cookie shot ($5.50), but the cookie still tastes great. — Vegan and gluten-free ($7) shots are more expensive than regular shots ($5.50), but the cookie tastes great.

Vegan and GF cookies have a stigma of being cardboard-like, but I’m happy to discover these shots are moist, chewy and decadent. In fact, the chocolate used to make them is richer so they actually taste sweeter than the regular cookies. I’m not allergic to gluten, but I like getting the GF option because 1) there’s sprinkles on it and 2) of course I want the richer chocolate.

Insider’s tip: If you’re torn between flavors, ask about the secret menu. Based on availability, Dirty Cookie will offer a hybrid cookie shot made with two flavors (such as chocolate chip and cookies ‘n cream).

You can now get your cookie shot filled with chocolate or vanilla cream, coconut cold brew, soft serve or toasted marshmallow (S’mores).

And now there’s more than just whole or almond milk to go with your cookie shot. S’mores just launched about a month ago and is available daily, but you can only get soft serve ($7) Thursday thru Sunday. So soft serve = your chosen cookie shot, vanilla bean soft serve, sprinkles and hot fudge.

Pictured: Double chocolate GF cookie + vanilla bean soft serve

The small amount of soft serve in each shot is just enough so you can still enjoy the cookie flavor. The vanilla bean is fragrant and refreshing, but don’t waste too much time Instagramming — this melts fast!

If you want to make your cookie shot even cuter, edible character shots ($7) ranging from Storm Troopers and Darth Vader to the Sesame Street cast are available.

The characters differ daily, depending on availability. — Character choices differ daily.

If you don’t feel like indulging immediately, Dirty Cookie offers tons of other snacks that are perfect for the road. It’ll be hard to just pick one, but go for either the cookie butter ($7) or cookie pops ($2.75). Cookie butter has been available since March in flavors like snickerdoodle chai and matcha green tea (I’m partial to cookies ‘n cream). And cookie pops are bite-sized pieces of heaven — gloriously chunky pieces of cookie dough with a rich, creamy fudge filling in between.