Breanna McGowan loved eating cookie dough growing up. It was always one of her favorites.
But eating raw cookie dough is highly discouraged by medical experts because it contains uncooked flour and eggs.
So when McGowan found out about the possibility of making “edible cookie dough” — which means she doesn’t use any type of eggs and the flour is heat treated to make it a safe-to-eat treat — it was a game changer.
That simple discovery first led her to making it home for her children, then for her co-workers.
The feedback was so overwhelmingly positive that eventually led to her starting her own edible cookie dough business: B. sweet.
“After some encouraging words from others, I decided to go for it,” McGowan said. “I have always wanted to have my own business, and hopefully, this is just the starting point.”
McGowan officially started B. sweet about three months ago. She is currently finishing up her business degree and taking marketing classes at the University of the Cumberlands. With only one semester left and because she’s a “hands-on learner,” she wanted to have her business started so that she could immediately apply what she was learning.
“I am new to the small business world, but it’s always been something I wanted to accomplish so I am excited to see where this will go,” McGowan said. “Working full time, full time online classes, parenting and deciding to do cookie dough has been a little chaotic, but it’s been great all at the same time.”
McGowan said she came up with the name B. sweet because, for one, even though she is only doing edible cookie dough treats at this time, she wanted something she could expand on in the future. She also has the vision of the brand meaning more than just the baked goods that she sells.
“I wanted the name to be inspiration for people to ‘be sweet’ and spread kindness,” McGowan said. “I have ideas to incorporate this more into the business over time.”
McGowan said she hates to cook and never thought she was “good” at it, but to her, baking is a completely different skill set and something she enjoys doing.
“I definitely feel more motivated when making sweets,” McGowan said. “Elaina, my 6 year old, loves to make treats, so we would find ourselves in the kitchen with every ingredient you could imagine spending a whole afternoon baking.
“My son, Lincoln, has food allergies so we would always try to tweak recipes with ingredients he could have so he wasn’t left out,” she added. “Cookie dough was something that was easily tweaked on most flavors, and he got to be a part of eating the same thing as everyone else.”
Currently, all of B. sweet’s offerings revolve around edible cookie dough.
She offers a variety of standard flavors like chocolate chip, fudge brownie, and snickerdoodle, but she also has gourmet dough that include flavors like s’mores, cookies & cream, and Samoa. All of the flavors are sold in individual 4-ounce snack containers or larger 8-ounce containers.
Some of her other offerings include:
• cookie dough sandwiches – homemade soft fudge cookies with cookie dough filling
• cookie dough pops – chocolate covered cookie dough on a stick, a new exclusive product that B. sweet collaborated with Three Daughters Coffee & Sweets (543 Main Street, Suite B in Russell Springs) on to be sold in their shop.
• smaller, kid-sized dough containers for party favors.
• special Easter treats that McGowan hope to debut soon.
Long term, McGowan said she has a lot of ideas she wants to incorporate and try to grow the business, including treats outside of edible cookie dough.
But her current focus has been on expanding flavors and “looking to have a new or special flavor each month.” She also hopes to be able to offer edible cookie dough at more locations for more convenient purchasing.
This summer, McGowan said B. sweets will be able to be found at Saturday pop-ups at local coffee shops — including Common Grounds Coffee & Yoga and Reel Java & Creamery — and some other local businesses.
The best way to order is directly through B. sweet’s social media pages on Instagram or Facebook: @b.sweetrc.
Even with just being in business for a short time and not being in as many locations as it will be someday, McGowan has been excited to see the community’s response to B. sweet.
“I want to thank everyone that’s supported me so far,” McGowan said. “I honestly wasn’t sure how this would go over when I started, and it has been great to see others enjoying the cookie dough as much as I do.”
