What a difference a year makes.
Last Christmas, Christina Karras was invited to a friend’s cookie competition holiday party. She wound up winning the competition and a business was born.
“I grew up baking with my mom,” she told me. “She was a cake decorator, and watching her and helping was always something I loved and turned to when I just needed something familiar or supportive.
“Last year I got my MBA, applied for jobs, and while waiting for responses, I returned to what I knew best — baking in the kitchen every day,” she said. “It was my therapy, my comfort. My husband said, ‘Why aren’t you doing this as a full-time career?’ I said, ‘This is my hobby. I do it for fun,’ but he was serious.”
With the invitation to the Christmas party, Karras began baking in earnest.
“I started on cookies, whatever was popular on TikTok,” she said. “The Dubai chocolate bar was at its peak, so I thought, ‘Let me try to make this into a cookie.’ When I won the competition, I thought maybe this is what I should be doing, so I was playing around with a lot of different recipes, going online, figuring out what are the best ingredients, what type of texture did I want.”
Dolce by Tina opened in April, and as the Christmas orders are pouring in, Karras said she is already considering expansion.
“My typical menu consists of six classic recipes plus a flavor of the month. For December, it’s gingerbread. A really popular cookie was my S’mores, which was the flavor of the month for June, to show summer is starting,” she said. “I try to make every flavor of the month match what’s going on at the time. For the Fourth of July, I did a red velvet cheesecake cookie.”
The one cookie on the menu that means the most to her is the Kunafah, the one she took to the Christmas party.
“We have a dish called Kunafah in Egypt, where I was born, that is a popular dessert in our culture,” Karras said. “The cookie was inspired from the popular Dubai chocolate bar with Kunafah.”
Currently, you can choose from the following flavors: almond croissant, Biscoff cookie butter, chocolate chip walnut, cookies and cream, lemon poppyseed and pistachio kunafah, available in four- or six-ounce sizes.
“Most of them are filled inside,” Karras noted. “These are really big cookies. The six-ounce is very tall.”
Delivery is available in our area, or you can pick up in Irvine. To order, go to dolcebytina.com or call 949-942-5549.
“Before I got my MBA I majored in biology, which teaches you how to be accurate and measure precisely,” Karras said. “In baking, I love that everything is so specific and accurate to the gram. Everything is made in small batches by hand. I take my time and put love into it, and it always comes out so beautiful. I’m so anxious for people to try them and be excited about what’s coming next.”
Of course, Karras’ menu recipes are a closely guarded secret, but she did part with her mother’s beloved chocolate chip banana bread recipe instead.
“That’s the one we baked the most,” Karras said.
Fullerton’s Judy Bart Kancigor is the author of “Cooking Jewish” and “The Perfect Passover Cookbook.” Her website is cookingjewish.com.
Chocolate Chip Banana Bread
• 3 ripe bananas, mashed
• 2 large eggs
• 1/2 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup brown sugar
• 1/4 cup neutral oil
• 1/4 cup unsalted butter, melted or softened
• 1/4 cup milk
• 1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
• 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 tsp baking soda
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 tsp kosher salt
• 3/4 cup semi-sweet chocolate chips
• 1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1. Preheat oven to 375 degress. Grease a 9×5-inch loaf pan.
2. In large bowl, whisk eggs, sugars, oil, butter, milk, and vanilla together until smooth.
3. In another bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
4. Fold dry ingredients into wet mixture until just combined. Add in mashed banana; mix until just combined. Stir in chocolate chips (and nuts, if using).
5. Pour into prepared loaf pan and bake 15 minutes. Then reduce oven temperature to 350°F; continue baking until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean, 35 to 45 minutes more.Cool in pan 10–15 minutes, then transfer to wire rack.