A new cookie shop has opened in Italian Village. Nestled at the southeast corner of Fourth Street and Third Ave, Cookie Cravings Bakery opened last month. Lindsey Tewanger and a close friend had been baking and decorating cookies for about a year for friends. When the orders kept coming, they became difficult to manage as they were both working full time.
That’s when Lindsey sat down with her husband, Matt and his mom, Joan and came up with the idea of opening a brick and mortar bakeshop. When they came across their location with hardwood floors and brick walls, they felt it was the “perfect blank canvas to build a bakery.”
“Columbus has a lot of fantastic bakeries that fill their own niche, but after researching, there weren’t many shops specializing in decorated cookies,” said Joan. “Our cookies can be customized to just about any shape, size or color and can be ordered for any event. We take our tagline, “When Ordinary Cookies Just Won’t Do”, very seriously.” If you are attending tonight’s A Date 2 Remember, you will see their delightful moustache cookies at the event.
Matt is the main baker and decorator for Cookie Cravings. He has been a chef in Columbus for the last 12 years- a sous chef at The Worthington Inn as well as Basi Italia and he completed his apprenticeship at The Refectory. Lindsey has spent many years working in the Columbus restaurant industry and Joan has an MBA experience managing a café in the healthcare industry.
I stopped in the shop yesterday and tried the Almond Sugar cookie in moustache form ($1.00). It is a thick, dense cookie, very lightly browned (perfect!) and coated with a light layer of icing. Cute and not crumbly. I also tried a pig shaped cookie in Honey Cardamon and iced in pink ($1.25). This cookie was evenly baked and had a sweetness that was not too sugary. I also tried the other cookie they were offering yesterday, a blue-iced tee-shirt in Lemon Lavender ($2.25). That flavor came about from a trip to North Market Spices where they found beautiful lavender. It is more of a savory cookie and tasted like a bread.
As the seasons progress, they expect to find more inspiration from Ohio’s flowers and herbs. Lemon Rosemary is their best selling flavor to date. The bakery is proud of using real butter, sugar and flour.
When you visit the shop, you can expect to find a good selection of flavors every day, a cookie that is $1 every day and Stauf’s coffee, which they brew in a french press multiple times throughout the day. Some of the flavors you may find include: Decorated Cookies – Almond Sugar, Lemon Rosemary, and Honey Cardamon. Classic Line of drop cookies – Carrot Cake, Lavender Shortbread, and Double Chocolate Walnut. They will also offer seasonal selections, such as Pumpkin Maple, and Gingerbread. As new flavors become available they will be shared on their website and through Facebook and Twitter.
Cookie Cravings Bakery takes special orders and the average price for a dozen 3″-4″ wrapped cookies is $30.
Cookie Cravings is located at 227 E. Third Ave, Columbus, Ohio 43201 and is open Monday-Friday 10am-6pm, Saturday 10am-4pm. They are closed Sunday. Visit them on the web at cookiecravingsbakery.com. Like them on Facebook and follow them on Twitter @CookieCravings.