Why mess around with cookie dough ice cream when you can cut right to the chase and get a scoop of cookie dough straight?
For the Los Angeles-based Edoughble, it’s the question that launched a successful e-commerce operation in 2013 and, as of this weekend, the cookie-dough company’s first sweet shop. Opening on 15 December, the brick-and-mortar store is just a few blocks from where the company’s founder and CEO Rana Lustyan grew up – a location selected, she says, “to bring my passion to the community with a place for people to connect and feel happy.”
Of course, the elephant in the room is the threat of salmonella. But by using non-GMO ingredients, and completely eliminating eggs, raw flour, and chemical leaveners from the equation, Lustyan says her doughs effectively sidestep any potential risks – and they’ll appeal to a range of palettes and dietary needs.
More than ten flavors, including peanut butter, s’mores, and espresso chip, will be available at the shop, plus the brand’s signature homemade mix-ins and swirl-ins, like rainbow sprinkles and chocolate sandwich cookies. There will be plenty of gluten-free, vegan, and paleo options, she says, and McConnell’s ice cream, vegan soft serve, and cookies – yes, properly baked ones – will also be on the menu.
A graduate of Le Cordon Bleu and a veteran pastry chef of restaurants like Wolfgang Puck’s Spago and Boulevard in San Francisco, Lustyan came up with the idea of selling safe-to-eat cookie-dough in the wake of a massive recall, in 2009, of Nestlé’s Toll House cookie dough. Recognizing a gap in the market, she turned to e-commerce and wholesale – “two industries I was less familiar with at the time” – but long-term, “my dream has always been to open a brick and mortar,” she says.
For more information, visit edoughble.com.
