The late Mildred “Mama Dip” Council‘s well-known baking and original recipes legacy continues to live on through her granddaughter.
Tonya Council is carrying the torch for her family with the grand opening of her new bakery Tonya’s Cookies. On Nov. 17, the chef opened the doors to her 1,200-square-foot bakery, and she ultimately plans to expand her business into a cafe that offers soups, salads and sandwiches, according to The Daily Tar Hill.
The chef spent a lot of her childhood working at her grandmother’s nationally-recognized restaurant Mama Dip’s Kitchen, which opened in 1976 and was put up for sale with an asking price of $3.6 million. The eatery served homemade Southern-styled food and desserts and by lending a helping hand in the kitchen, the Chapel Hill native gained a special love for baking and cooking.
The pecan pie was a staple item on the menu. Inspired by her grandmother’s entrepreneurial spirit and the flavor of the pie, she worked tirelessly to craft a pecan cookie that tasted very similar. After many failed attempts she created the perfect recipe that gained a big fan base since they were available at Mama Dip’s Kitchen.
“I messed up a lot of ingredients, finally got it right and put them in the case and they started selling,” she told the publication.
Other local stores began to sell her baked goods, which led to her holding pop-up shops and opening a bakery in Raleigh. The talk of her cookies eventually landed her “Pecan Crisps” on Oprah Winfrey’s 2021 Favorite Things holiday list.
Since her roots are in Chapel Hill, Tonya felt it was important to bring her passion back to the place that sparked it so she planted on her second store in the city.
“Being from Chapel Hill, my family has always been really big in the community here,” Council said, per The News & Observer. “I wanted to open the shop where I grew up. Chapel Hill has seen a lot of growth and we have a lot of customers in Chapel Hill. I decided it was time to bring it back home.”
Right now, they are serving a limited menu and handling the many Thanksgiving orders that are flooding in. Once the full bakery is ready to go, there will be various lunches and desserts customers will be able to grab and go. Some of the various items residents can look forward to are cakes, pies, cookies, collards, sausage rolls, cinnamon rolls, sweet potato cornmeal muffins, and candied bacon doughnuts. Tonya even plans on having daily specials like “Funnel Cake Fridays.”
Tonya’s Cookie is located at 400 S. Elliott Road, Chapel Hill, NC 27514. The store’s hours are Monday through Saturday 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. For information, check out the company’s website.
