Many of us can relate to sneaking a few bites of raw cookie dough—and when we do, we probably don’t think much of it afterwards. But when Rana Lustyan, a Le Cordon Bleu-trained pastry chef who trained under Wolfgang Puck at Beverly Hills’ Spago, watched in 2009 as the nation faced yet another food recall—this time of nearly four million units of raw cookie dough which led to the hospitalization of approximately 80 people—she knew it was time to search for a safer solution for the masses. Five years later in 2013, Lustyan launched Edoughble, a Los Angeles-based and family-owned supplier of homemade, small-batch, edible cookie dough to savor at home, and also to customize with branding and use in corporate gifting, as well as to market businesses, events and other causes.

“Edoughble is pronounced ‘edible’ as it is edible dough, and a play on words,” says Lustyan. “Edoughble is fun, indulgent and will bring out your inner child.”

In its 12 years of business, Edoughble has continued to grow. In addition to offering 11 scrumptious and safe-to-eat flavors of cookie dough, such as Milk n’ Cookies, Snicker-Dude and Chocolate Chip Off the Ol’ Block, the supplier also makes do-it-yourself kits and subscription boxes. To teach fans how to make sweet, no-bake treats of their own, Lustyan hosts virtual classes, and those who register receive a baking kit with premium ingredients, such as non-GMO all-purpose flour, pasteurized flour, Madagascar vanilla and Edoughble containers for their finished cookie dough. Edoughble also has a brick-and-mortar store, Sweet Shop, in Los Angeles, which sells edible cookie dough that’s homemade and hand-scooped on site; a truly indulgent experience.

But perhaps the sweetest part of it all, is that Edoughble partners with the Food Recovery Network, a national nonprofit that unites college students in the fight against hunger and food waste in the U.S., by recovering perishable foods on college campuses that would otherwise go to waste. Edoughble “dough-nates” five percent of its proceeds to the organization.

In June, the company entered the promo industry as a supplier. PPB spoke with Lustyan to learn more about Edoughble and its smile-worthy product.

PPB  Tell us about Edoughble’s cookie dough and its safe-to-eat ingredients.

Lustyan Edoughble is the original edible cookie dough and is handmade with premium, all-natural and non-GMO ingredients for a straight-from-the-mixing-bowl taste. Our dough is made with only seven ingredients, just like you would make cookie dough at home, but with ingredients that are safe to eat raw, like pasteurized flour.

PPB  What are some of the extra “sweet” ways that Edoughble cookie dough has been used in corporate gifting or to extend a marketing message?

Lustyan Our cookie dough has been gifted as kits or individual pints or single-serve containers. We include your logo or messaging or even a photo on the lids of the containers and on the lid of the box. The kits have been drop-shipped to thousands of customers across the U.S. for media launches, self-promos, company anniversaries, product launches, employee/team appreciation, prospecting and holiday gifting. Our single-serve containers and pints have been shipped in bulk for office celebrations, “just because” treats, trade-show handouts and kitting.

PPB  Tell us about your Edoughble do-it-yourself kits and subscription boxes.

Lustyan The DIY kit is a fun way to send an interactive gift to clients and staff. We have the DIY kit and the DIY Sammy Kit. The first box contains two pints of edible cookie dough in plain flavors (so no inclusions) and then on the side we provide three baggies of toppings: chocolate chips, sprinkles (colors can be customized with enough lead time) and cookie pieces. So, your recipient can add toppings to the dough to create their own cookie dough flavor to then enjoy by the spoonful or with ice cream. The Sammy Kit contains one pint of chocolate chip cookie dough, a classic, and four cookies for enough ingredients to make two cookie dough “sammies” (sandwiches).

PPB  Tell us about the Sweet Shop and what treats you sell there.

Lustyan Our manifestation of the Edoughble brand came to be when we opened our first Sweet Shop, our physical location, in Los Angeles two months before the COVID-19 shutdowns. It has been a challenging year for the shop, but it is a place where we get to combine our edible cookie dough with freshly-baked cookies and McConnell’s ice cream, and make cookie dough milkshakes, cookie dough and ice cream sandwiches, and any combo of cookie dough and ice cream you can come up with. We launch new flavors monthly at the shop and create exclusive flavors of dough and cookies. It is also a place where we can connect with our customers and see those amazing smiles in person!

PPB  Why did you decide to partner with Food Recovery Network?

Lustyan When I first launched Edoughble in 2012 as an ecommerce brand, I realized that purchasing dessert online is a luxury and not a necessity. There are so many Americans who do not know where their next meal is coming from. I wanted to be a part of this conscious system and we partnered early on with the Food Recovery Network to donate five percent of net proceeds annually to them, to further support their efforts to turn food waste into food recovery and end hunger in the U.S.   

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Danielle Renda is associate editor of PPB.