This new SLO County scoop shop serves up cookie dough like it’s ice cream
A mother who spent the pandemic tinkering with creative cookie dough treats will turn her online dessert business into physical shop when she opens a brick-and-mortar location in Morro Bay next month.
The Dough Connection, started by a laid-off San Luis Obispo private school teacher last year amid the Covid-19 shutdown, plans to open in a storefront by the end of July that will specialize in “safe-to-eat cookie dough desserts.”
The shop, owned by April Bodine, will be located at 913 Embarcadero in a 435-square-foot tenant space with outdoor seating facing the bay.
It will offer treats such as cookie dough scoops, cookie dough sundaes, dough stuffed cookies, homemade Pop Tarts and dough-stuffed Rice Krispies. Her cookie dough recipes don’t include eggs and they treat the flour.
“Instead of a gelato case, it’s going to be cookie dough,” Bodine said. “It’s all safe to eat. We don’t add any eggs and we heat treat the flour so there’s no bacteria.”
Raw cookie dough can cause food poisoning because it contains uncooked eggs and flour, which can contain harmful bacteria.
Bodine, a San Luis Obispo resident and mother of two children, said that she got into the business by “accident.”
“I was teaching early childhood education at a private school when I was laid off last year,” Bodine said. “I decided I’d bake everything I’d ever want to while I was homeschooling my kids.”
Bodine said she started making different flavors of safe-to-eat cookie dough and storing them in jars in the freezer.
“That turned into posts on my personal page and selling my desserts online,” Bodine said.
Bodine said that a physical space to operate was the natural next step for the business. She has hired a baker and expects to staff one to two part-time workers to help serve customers.
“I want to make it really family friendly so I sought out parents who have young kids and either were looking to get back to work or take on a part-time job,” Bodine said.
The business owner said she had hoped to open July 4 but is waiting for permitting to finish tenant improvements..
She said the business hours likely will be 11 a.m. to 8 p.m. six days per week.
The business also will do pop-ups such as appearing at the Peddler’s Fair on Fourth of July weekend in Cayucos.
This story was originally published June 29, 2021 at 9:00 AM.
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