Loaded Dough

They say life happens when you are busy making other plans, which is what happened when Mitch Connor & Kasinda Croser were working hard on creating a vegan supplement for fitness fanatics, only to stumble upon a talent for making cookies that would become a weekly indulgence as their cheat meal.

If you are scratching your head on how you can make your guilty pleasure into a day job, you need to know that it includes long days and a whole lot of commitment, and the recipe from those original cheat meal cookies the recipe is still the same – they have just been umm… elevated! 

To think 6 months ago, Mitch and Kasinda were making cookies for personal consumption and happened to post a photo on their personal Instagram pages - friends and family started putting in orders and almost overnight they were getting 300 follows on Instagram. Cookies were more than a cheat meal… they became a daily experience!  This expansion saw them taking over Kasinda’s parents’ kitchen and when that reached its limit they serendipitously received a message,

“A lady in Wyong, who owns Reign Burger Co., suggested a collaboration. We dropped the cookies in and she said I have a free space out the back. We took the space and jumped in there for a bit, then we started to grow out of there.” With their first commercial kitchen, they were able to service the cafes, collaborations and start to plan their next steps.

With pace and demand for the cookies moving rapidly, these two knew it was time for their own space, and in late November 2020 Mitch and Kasinda found it.  Finding the right location in Terrigal was essential and, now with the word out, you can buy directly from Loaded Dough (the line is sometimes around the block).

The day we visited, people were knocking on the window even though they were closed wanting to get their hands on these delicious, over-sized, gooey centred, moorish cookies!

Each week you will find a new creative cookie available next to the 6 core cookie flavours, plus the choice of 2 flavours for vegan cookies, 3 varieties of brownies, 2 styles of scones and that’s not even including the selection of cupcakes supplied by the Coast’s cupcake queen Cakes by Kyla.   

Mitch shares, “New this week we’re launching a Mini Cookie Pizza; we also do Three Tier Cookie Cakes; a large Cookie Pizza; a Cookie Snack Pack  with heaps of different cookies cut into quarters; finally our Munch Boxes a few cookies, lollies and brownies in a box.  We want to keep it fresh and keep coming up with new flavours.”

This week the cookie special is a S’mores inspired cookie.  A marshmallow and Nutella centre with scotch finger biscuits, chunky choc chip mixed through drizzled with chocolate and marshmallow on top…. see these are next level!  Kasinda expertly breaks one in half, with the Nutella oozing out and the cookie itself holding shape allowing you to still eat it without it breaking apart.

Mitch and Kasinda reflect on how much effort they put into their first business venture that didn’t take off, to how a cheat meal has developed into not only their own store front but selling wholesale to multi cafes across the Central Coast and Newcastle, partnerships and support from local heros like Kyla from Cakes by Kyla and Reign Burger Co.  

It may not have been the way they thought they would succeed in the food industry – but sometimes that is just the way the cookie crumbles!