Laravel, Guzzle - Check if Cookie is set

I wish to check if the cookie is set, when doing the bottom getUsername. Can anyone help me with a quick fix for this? I've tried for hours without luck.

<?php
namespace App\Http\Controllers;
use Illuminate\Http\Response;
use Illuminate\Support\Facades\Cookie;

class CookieController extends Controller {
   public function setCookie(\stdClass $request){
     $minutes = 60;
     $response = new Response(view('panel.panel'));
     $response->withCookie(cookie('userInfo', $request, $minutes));
     return $response;
    }
   public function getCookie(){
       $val = cookie::get('userInfo');
       return $val;
    }

public function getUsername(){
    $cookie = cookie::get('userInfo');
    return $cookie->message->username;
}

public function getShopID(){
    $cookie = cookie::get('ShopID');
    return $cookie->message->shopID;
}
}
?>

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