Cool Cat Cookies Opens Inside Kind Oasis

Site of Cool Cat Cookies, 2169 N. Farwell Ave., Photo taken March 14, 2023 by Sophie Bolich.

The Farwell Ave. shop Kind Oasis is introducing a new kind of edible — but the medicinal properties of this product aren’t related to hemp.

“Hot and fresh” cookies from Cool Cat Cookies, a new bakeshop housed within the eastside business, are now available. And though they pair well with hemp-infused products from Kind Oasis, the treats are free of cannabinoids, so everyone can partake.

The bakeshop quietly opened in February with five flavors: chocolate chip crush, chocolate chip crush with walnuts, oatmeal pecan cranberry dream, the doodle and peanut butter choco delight.

The cookies are made from scratch on-site, and don’t contain any preservatives, said Bob Kashou, co-owner of Kind Oasis and Cool Cat.

Kashou made countless batches of cookies before settling on a winning recipe. “I can’t tell you how many pounds of flour we went through,” he said. “I wanted a ‘wow’ when people bit into their cookie. I wanted to hear, ‘this is the best cookie I’ve ever had.'”

The cookies debuted on a larger scale last weekend at Bazaar, a monthly makers market held in the Kind Oasis space. They were a hit.

“When we started the process, it was pretty much an enhancement to the CBD space, but it’s kind of grown from there,” said Kashou, who noted that customers have been “raving about the cookies.”

Next up, Cool Cat plans to tap into the catering business, fulfilling orders of up to 300 cookies for corporate gatherings and other events.

Smaller crowds may be better suited to the party cookie — offered in 9-inch and 12-inch sizes. The giant cookies will be available for pre-order at a later date.

The bakeshop also plans to expand its offerings with additional flavors, as well as vegan and gluten-free options.

Cool Cat Cookies is located at 2169 N. Farwell Ave. The 12,810-square-foot building also houses the Kind Oasis retail store, a community and yoga space, a commercial kitchen and infusion kitchen for gummies and other edibles. The building’s upper level contains a private meeting and lounge space.

The bakeshop occupies a space once used for pop-ups. Its title is a nod to the leopard mural on the north side of the building.

The N. Farwell Avenue building has passed through three generations of Kashous. Before it became home to Kind Oasis in 2020, the building was a carpet store, Kashou Carpets.

Kashou co-owns the business with his wife, Sandy, brother, Salem, and Erik Willms. Several other family members are also partners.

“Watching the building morph from the oriental and carpeting store to Kind Oasis to also offering these cookies has been a really good thing for my soul,” Sandy Kashou said. “This is a building that was built in 1924. The Lower East Side, it’s changed a lot and is changing continually, so to have a building that is withstanding those changes, I think it’s pretty fine.”

Cool Cat Cookies is open Tuesday through Saturday. Specific hours are still in the works as the business continues to develop. Sandy Kashou is in the process of setting up an online presence and ordering system for the bakeshop.

Keep an eye on the Kind Oasis social media pages for updates.

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