Los Angeles native Rana Lustyan is both the Founder and Chief Dough Officer of Edoughble, the pioneer of edible cookie dough for the Jewish Journal. Founded in 2013, Lustyan— a trained pastry chef—introduced a new dessert category via Edoughble, creating an edible cookie dough that was premium, all-natural, non-GMO, uses certified Kosher ingredients, and does not use raw egg or raw flour.
For nearly seven years the brand has sold directly to consumers via wholesale and their online business, serving over one million scoops of edible cookie dough to date. Earlier this year, Lustyan took the next steps in expanding her brand by opening Edoughble’s first brick and mortar store down the street where she grew up and now lives with her husband and two young daughters at 2625 South Robertson in Beverlywood. Now, Lustyan and crew are bringing the joy of licking cookie dough off the spoon to the entire Los Angeles community.
I had the pleasure of speaking with Rana Lustyan about the past, present and future of Edoughble, as transcribed below for your reading pleasure.
Darren Paltrowitz: When and how did you first become interested in cookie dough?
Rana Lustyan: Baking cookies was basically my meditation as a child. It was what I did with my mom and grandma any time I had a free afternoon. My favorite memories are licking the beaters, bowl and spatula and loving the gritty sugar texture in the freshly whipped buttery dough.
DP: There are a lot of cookie dough-related products on the market, but what do you feel makes yours different from others?
RL: Edoughble was conceived at the perfect moment in my professional career. After graduating from college a semester early and having already worked as a pastry cook at Spago in Beverly Hills, I decided to attend Le Cordon Bleu to turn my hobby into a formal degree. After a few more years working in amazing restaurants I decided to get my MBA at USC. At that time, I found out I had thyroid cancer and had a full thyroidectomy. A reminder that life is short.
Shortly thereafter, Nestle recalled all their cookie dough as people were hospitalized with e.coli from eating the dough raw! Do you see how this is all coming together?! Why did a snackable, safe to eat cookie dough NOT EXIST? The universe literally told me this was what I had to create.
Fast forward 11 years and I’m 6 years into building my brand, Edoughble, a ready-to-eat cookie dough dessert. We are the only brand committed to all natural, premium and non GMO cookie dough centric indulgence and our dough comes straight from the mixing bowl.
DP: Is Edoughble kosher? Kosher-related?
RL: Edoughble is certified kosher by Kosher L.A. and we have Pareve products as well online and in our retail sweet shop in L.A.
DP: How much of the greatness of Edoughble is based in the ingredients versus the recipe itself?
RL: It is truly a combination. Better ingredients though lead to better taste. Although the foundation of the grocery industry is large-scale and low-quality and we are working to get our products in grocery stores nationally, we refuse to sacrifice the quality of our ingredients. We commit to hormone-free real butter as the bulk of our dough, Belgian chocolate, Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla, and our cookie dough is Non-GMO-Project-verified.
DP: Has the general recipe changed over time?
RL: We do modify our recipe as we test new ingredients, and get customer feedback. One piece of feedback we got at the beginning was that the dough was so sweet. We have reduced sugar significantly where you now get the perfect balance in our dough. It is obviously sweet, it’s cookie dough, but the sweetness compliments the salt, the butterness, and brings out the vanilla and dark chocolate. It’s nostalgic and satisfying.
DP: What is coming up for Edoughble in the coming months?
RL: Now that we have opened our new Sweet Shop in L.A., we have a test kitchen at our fingertips! We launch new flavors monthly that we sell online and we are creating single batch flavors that we will sell in our storefront exclusively as one single batch and then done! We are also developing new formats for our cookie dough and growing our grocery footprint as the grow the awareness of our brand.
DP: When not busy with Edoughble, how do you usually like to spend your free time?
RL: I’m with my girls and husband! Being a mom and entrepreneur has been a true challenge. It’s tough to find the balance and there never seems to be enough time for everything. So when I’m not working, I love playing with the girls, getting to know them and creating space for quality time with my husband.
DP: What are some of your favorite restaurants in the Los Angeles area?
RL: So when I used to manage Hillstone Restaurants, I was always so impressed with our regulars. We had guests who would come and dine weekly and sometimes more frequently. I am not that kind of patron. I love trying new things! So it is rare for me to dine at a restaurant more than a few times
I am biased though, and I love Hillstone restaurants Hillstone, South Beverly Grill, Honor Bar in L.A. I do keep Kosher in that I only eat Pescatarian at restaurants — and no shellfish!. I have been into Kazu Nori for handrolls and Pasta Sisters for Penne Arrabiata with Burrata – yum!
DP: Finally, Rana, any last words for the kids?
RL: Really LOVE your product and its benefits. Why does the world need that product? And while it seems there are always thousands of things to DO, take the time to think and plan your strategy, or you can get caught up in lots of DOing and you can feel lost. Having a strong strategy will help keep you focused. And every day, try to do something that makes you feel happy.
More on Ms. Lustyan and Edoughble can be found here.
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