Do you prefer ooey-gooey cookies, or a warm slice of pie? Well, all you sweet-tooths out there no longer have to choose, thanks to the cookie-pie business taking Long Island by storm: BakedwithGrace.
Some of us spent quarantine learning a new hobby, while others spent it in one long existential crisis. But that simply wasn’t enough for then-20-year-old Grace Reilly, who was looking for something a little sweeter.
“I’m the type of person that just always needs to be doing something. I got bored of
Netflix!” Reilly, 21, says.
As a college student, Reilly makes most of her money babysitting — not the most in-demand profession during the months most people were staying home. So she started brainstorming for alternatives.
“I always made cookies with the boys I babysit … and they would ask for different fillings,” Reilly says. “They would ask for mint oreos, another week marshmallows. All different stuff we would put in it. And chocolate chip cookies — warm, gooey — is my favorite dessert. So that’s kind of how I got the idea.”
Thus, BakedwithGrace was born. It was a modest endeavor at first — until the Internet got involved.
In August 2020, Dave Portnoy, best known as the founder of Barstool Sports, a pop culture and sports blog that has an unrivaled grip on college-aged Internet audiences, featured BakedwithGrace in his well-known “Barstool Review” series in which he eats and judges food from various restaurants. After that, there was no turning back — these cookie-pies were in demand.
Despite a booming business that would suggest a natural chef, Reilly hadn’t had much prior experience with baking. She mostly relied on store-bought cookie dough, but always with a twist — delicious fillings that people clearly can’t get enough of.
“I just wanted to make some money and I love desserts, so I figured why not try and start selling them?” Reilly says. “I never imagined it to be this big. I thought I was just going to be making them out of my house and doing pick-ups.
“I had never planned to start baking from scratch,” she says. “This is kind of a freak thing.”
Unable to keep up with the cookie-pie requests from her home, Reilly started working from a shared professional kitchen space. But she quickly outgrew that, too, and now has her own storefront in Babylon that just celebrated its grand opening on July 17.
“I’m not stopping at one store,” Reilly says. I’m even talking to distributors to get them into more grocery stores. It’s already in Uncle Giuseppe’s and a bunch of other markets across Long Island.”
You can also find BakedwithGrace at Fat Boys Burrito Co. in Bellmore, Coliseum Kitchen in Plainview, Gabby’s Gourmet Deli in Woodbury, and many other locations.
So all you cookie fanatics and all around dessert-lovers, clear your afternoon schedule — there are cookie-pies with your name on them! For more information, check out the BakedwithGrace website.
For more food and drink coverage, visit longislandpress.com/category/food-drink.
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