LAPEER, MI — First they combined a 50-50 mix of cookies and ice cream into a never-before-seen dessert called Cookie Cream. It went viral.
Then, they’ve created popular ice cream flavors into cookies, such as the signature Superman cookie with three different doughs and flavor profiles — strawberry, lemon and blue moon — all packed into one delicacy.
And even a four-and-a-half inch birthday cake cookie sandwich, which has been incredibly popular. Even a cheesecake stuffed elephant ear is on the menu.
Now, Kookys N Cream is innovating again, and their most recent creation is selling out daily — the Dubai chocolate cookie.
The Dubai chocolate cookie is a chocolate fudge cookie stuffed with a pistachio and tahini cream that has a bunch of Middle Eastern phyllo dough (kadaif) baked inside of it.
“We make this mixture with the tahini and the pistachio cream so it’s nice and smooth, and the two flavors together kind of create a higher-end peanut butter flavor,” said Jessica Harold, owner of Kookys N Cream. “Add that to the crunchy phyllo dough, some other ingredients and you get this really sort of creamy, crunchy interior of a fudgy cookie. Then we dip that cookie in some really high-end dark chocolate and sprinkle it with some pistachios.”
A fever pitch for Dubai chocolate has become popular through TikTok since last October, and Harold knew she had to do something with the flavor.
She had seen it in brownies and cheesecakes, but never a cookie. So she knew she had to try it.
“It’s been cool because at first no one knew what it was,” Harold said. ”Now a lot of people know and we get a lot of repeat visitors and guests because this cookie is a little bit addictive.
“I am trying to elevate our cookies a bit to be show stoppers. That is what gets peoples attention.
Within the first two weeks of offering the Dubai chocolate cookie in February, Harold said she sold 1,000 and then sales picked up quickly.
She sold nearly 5,700 in its first month.
“The Dubai chocolate cookie has put us on the map again,” Harold said. “I am trying to elevate our cookies a bit to be showstoppers. That is what gets people’s attention, and they’re just so delicious.”
In 2024, Harold said Kookys N Cream sold nearly 31,000 cookies, selling more than, 11,150 in the first four months of the year — averaging about 2,500 per month.
Now, in the first four months of 2025, Harold said she has sold more than 14,800 cookies. The average so far in 2025 — 4,230 cookies per month.
From North Pole, Alaska to Honolulu to your front door in Michigan, Kookys N Cream will get you vacuum-sealed and guaranteed fresh baked goods.
“We have shipped cookies to all the reaches of the United States,” Harold said. “We don’t ship internationally. My big concern is if they get held up at customs, you know, then you’re not getting the fresh cookie that we like to give.”
HOW IT STARTED
Coming up on its six-year anniversary, Kookys N Cream opened in August 2019 during Lapeer Days.
Six months later, Harold found herself using TikTok more and more during the COVID-19 pandemic while trying to also make sense of how to keep the business going.
On a whim, she messaged one of her favorite content creators and offered to send her some cookies from her cookie shop and bakery, located at 374 W. Nepessing St. in Lapeer.
RELATED: Michigan’s Best Local Eats: How a TikTok addiction helped Lapeer’s Kookys N Cream thrive
That content creator, who at the time had a couple-hundred-thousand followers, offered up her address and told Harold that she would shout the company out in a TikTok.
A few days later, while Harold was away for retreat and away from her phone, Emily Feret (@emilyjeanne333 on TikTok) posted a TikTok showing off the Kookys N Cream product.
It spawned more than 600 orders, Harold said.
After filling all 600, comedian and influencer Zoe Roe (@zozoroe on TikTok) did the same thing causing another huge influx of orders — 1,200 this time.
It has cornered the market on what they call Cookie Cream, a 50-50 mix of cookies and ice cream that is the company’s most popular product.
“We take traditional cookies and desserts and make them more exciting,” she said. “All your favorite deserts — we turn them into cookies.”
At the end of the night, the bakery takes all unsold cookies and breaks them up for a fresh batch of Cookie Cream the next day.
Harold is in business with Patrick Hingst, who owns Woodchips Barbecue across the street from Kookys N Cream in downtown Lapeer.
He proposed opening up an ice cream store and Harold, who did marketing for the restaurant, jumped at the opportunity to make Cookie Cream a reality.
“I believe in this downtown. I want to see all the small businesses thrive,” Harold said. “You know, it’s a struggle for small businesses these days. It’s been a tough year. I talked to so many other business owners as the economy has sort of turned, people are tightening their wallets. But if you don’t have these unique downtowns, if you don’t have these unique businesses, well then you’re just going to be homogenized and then there’s going to be no reason to come visit a small town if it’s all the same big boxes and chains.”
Kookys N Cream is currently operating in its summer hours, open from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. Monday through Thursday, 11 a.m. to 10 p.m. Friday and Saturday and from noon to 9 p.m. Sunday.
Since gaining initial fame from TikTok, the business now operates its own TikTok, Instagram and Facebook accounts.
Orders for the business can be placed online at https://kookysncream.com/.
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