It’s not just a cookie. It’s more a favorite dessert dressed up as a cookie.
That’s what brand owner and creator Sofia Demetriou says patrons are supposed to enjoy when they bite into one of her Duchess Cookies.
Demetriou’s brand, which is growing across Brooklyn, Queens and Long Island, New York, is set to open its first Lehigh Valley franchise location at 247 Northampton St., in Downtown Easton. The shop is taking up space that formerly housed Metro PCS next to Polliwogs & Petunias and near The Bayou Easton. A mother-daughter team, who will become the regional franchise owners, chose Easton for the location because the daughter just moved to Bethlehem, Demetriou said.
There, guests soon will have their pick from a dozen daily of a total of 130 rotating flavors. Think nods to such classic desserts as apple pie, blueberry cheesecake, and Italian rainbow cookies, as well as the more fun and creative, such as “Cookie Monster,” with a blue sugar coating; and “Galaxy,” a purple and black coconut ash sugar cookie filled with milk chocolate ganache and topped with edible glitter.
The majority of cookies are known for being stuffed with such fillings as cheesecake and fudge, as well as peanut butter and fruit preserves. In Easton, there also will be coffee and soft-serve ice cream, as well as cookie sundaes.
Cookies, sized 4.5 to 5 ounces, will be sold in singles and priced around $4 each. If all goes well, the shop hopes to open in the city’s downtown by early July.
Pictured is Sofia Demetriou and her late grandfather, Spyro Tomaras. Demetriou said baking has always been in her family with Tomaras and her late great-grandfather, Antonis Antoniou, operating New York-based bakeries for several years.
Demetriou describes her cookie treats as “yummy,” “ooey-gooey” and “delicious.”
A Queens, New York native, Demetriou of Long Island initially set out to become an interior designer, graduating from the Fashion Institute of Technology and performing freelance work in New York for about a decade. Demetriou told lehighvalleylive.com she put the ambition aside when she became a mother, noting it was a tough industry to break into while achieving a proper work-life balance.
Baking, however, had been in her roots since she was a child.
Demetriou recalled mixing creative concoctions and decadent flavors ever since she could pick up a spatula. She found herself while being a stay-at-home mother sculpting cakes and crafting dessert tables for large parties.
“That’s how it all started,” Demetriou said.
Both Demetriou’s late great-grandfather, Antonis Antoniou, and late grandfather, Spyro Tomaras, operated New York-based bakeries for several years. In 2013, Demetriou and her cousin, Kristyne Kounas, opened The Sweet Duchess, a Long Island-based custom cake and confection business. The pair closed The Sweet Duchess by 2018, allowing Demetriou to put total focus into her cookie venture.
Demetriou’s fiance, Patrick Poix of Woodbury, New York and a Florida native, has since partnered with her in the business. Poix has an extensive background in food and beverage management and international business.
The menu of cookies, also available to ship online, is extensive with the latest concoctions being known as “Twizles.” Those treats are made by fusing two cookies together into a starburst pattern.
Twizles include “chocolate covered strawberry,” a strawberry cookie and milk chocolate fudge cookie fused together before being pumped with a milk chocolate fudge and swirled with mini white chocolate chips and filled with a strawberry pie filling; “blueberry lemon” a lemon cookie and blueberry cookie fused together and filled with a sweet and tart blueberry pie filling; and “mocha caramel macchiato,” a sugar cookie dotted with chocolate sprinkles, meshed together with a brown sugar espresso cookie, and filled with sweet caramel.
Then there’s such things as the “oatmeal apple pie cookie,” which has an apple pie center encrusted in a crispy, gooey cinnamon oatmeal cookie; the “grape PB&J cookie,” melting together a peanut butter cookie with purple sprinkles and grape jelly; and the “s’mores cookie,” a chocolate chip cookie with a twist of cinnamon and a heap of marshmallows on top.
Popular are the “gender reveal” cookies, which includes a classic chocolate chip cookie with a hidden blue or pink filled center. Most cookies are bought a la carte, but the website does offer some options to bundle favorites.
Patrons can order the “best sellers bundle,” which comes with choice of 4, 8, 12, or 24 favorites, including the “Cookie Monster” cookie, “chocolate chip” cookie, “Funfetti” cookie, and “Galaxy” cookie. There’s also a “chocolate lovers” bundle, complete with choice of 4, 8, 12, or 24 of the “chocolate pecan fudge,” “triple chocolate,” “chocolate chip,” and “churro Nutella” cookies.
“People can order as many or as little as they like online,” Demetriou noted.
Seasonable varieties, such as “The Grinch,” featuring a peppermint swirled cookie filled with hot cocoa fudge are available during the winter holidays; and a blueberry lemonade “Twizle,” featuring a blueberry cookie and lemon cookie swirl with blueberry pie filling are available in the warmer months.
There are future plans for other fun flavors, such as cherry Coca-Cola, which will include Poprocks candy on top; an acai bowl cookie, with the flavors of honey and coconut; and a strawberry crunch “Twizle,” featuring a strawberry cookie filled with a vanilla pastry cream and topped with strawberry crunchies.
The majority of Duchess Cookies are known for being stuffed with such fillings as cheesecake and fudge, as well as peanut butter and fruit preserves. In Easton, there also will be coffee and soft-serve ice cream, as well as cookie sundaes.
Duchess Cookies continues to grow and expand at a rapid pace.
The brand produces its treats at a facility in Ronkonkoma on Long Island. It then ships them out frozen to its five locations and four partner locations -- currently across Plainview, Whitestone, Patchogue, Oceanside and in Queens Center Mall, New York -- where the treats are then baked fresh on the premises.
The company additionally wholesales its cookies to a few partner cafes and shops, including Milk N Cookies in Mamaroneck, New York. and Stamford, Connecticut; and Rush-Hour Cookies in Bayside, New York and Brooklyn, New York.
The Easton store and four other New York locations are planned for this summer. Demetriou expects another 35 locations -- in California, Florida, North Carolina and Texas -- to open doors within the next two years. The coronavirus pandemic, she said, stalled a few openings she had hoped for in 2020.
The brand has reached a viral presence on social media, garnering nearly 52,000 followers on Instagram. It gained a lot of attention in 2018 when Demetriou released a cookie, priced at $1,000, and dubbed “The Thousand-Dollar Cookie,” to tap into the luxury market and drive-up online sales. She hired television personality and socialite Kim Kardashian’s best friend, Jonathan Cheban, also known as the “FoodGod,” to help promote the luxury treat on social media.
Why was the cookie worth $1,000? The treat featured a 23-carat gold-leaf coating, as well as came with a Baccarat catchall; 36-inch pearl necklace; and hand-sculpted chocolate shoe.
Patrons can still order the $1,000 cookie, which is hand delivered in the United States, by calling or sending an online inquiry.
The success of “The Thousand-Dollar Cookie” put Duchess Cookies on the map, leading to the brand being featured on many television networks worldwide. Prior, Demetriou herself also competed on the ABC Network’s “The Chew” and the Food Network’s “Chopped Sweets.”
Demetriou attributes her success in that folks need to be able to find a small piece of comfort food from time to time. Her cookies provide a niche when someone is in need of something sweet but doesn’t have a lot of time to sit and indulge, she said.
“We pride ourselves on having something for every pallet,” Demetriou added. “With such a wide variety, it’s hard to leave without finding something you’ll love.”
Sofia Demetriou, owner and founder of Duchess Cookies.
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Pamela Sroka-Holzmann may be reached at pholzmann@lehighvalleylive.com.
The Link LonkJune 11, 2021 at 06:31PM
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N.Y. ‘stuffed’ Duchess Cookies franchise coming to Downtown Easton - lehighvalleylive.com
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