The Story of Dem Cookies

I’m Lauren, the Head Cookie in Charge at Dem Cookies…but some of you may know me as DaFoodWhisperer!

I’m a food photographer, hospitality enthusiast, gastronome, cocktail connoisseur and a self-proclaimed chocolate chip cookie fiend. Seriously, I can’t turn down a chocolate chip cookie. And don’t let the cookies be fresh out of the oven! Clawdhammercy!

HOWEVER (and let’s be VERY clear) not all chocolate chip cookies are created equal! Take it from me - I’ve tried them all!

Speaking of cookies, I’ve always said that I don’t bake. Well…scratch that. There’s only ONE thing that I would claim to bake - my famous salted toffee chocolate chip cookies. For years, I’d been bringing them to work, cookouts, parties, potlucks and cabin trips. And for years, I’d always had people telling me that they were the best cookies that they’d ever had and that I needed to sell them.

Sounds like a good idea, right? In theory, yes. But the way my life had been set up? The time to devote to baking and selling cookies just didn’t exist. The nudges and requests to sell continuously came my way. In December 2019, I finally answered a call to sell my cookies during a holiday event. At that affair, I made over 300 cookies and every last one sold…and they sold quickly! Folks who sampled the cookies were texting and emailing me saying they needed more cookies in their lives! I couldn’t believe it, but in that moment, the universe confirmed something that I already knew — I had something special and the world needed it.

Over the next couple months, I researched shipping & packaging cookies and I tested (and retested) to perfect my recipe. (My coworkers were REALLY lucky during the testing phase!) Finally, I was ready to seriously consider selling my cookies on the side. And then COVID-19 happened. The world stopped. I was now unemployed, confused about what to do next AND trying to figure out how to occupy all of the new found time on my hands. Finally, I had the time to devote to this passion project and no real excuses not to start baking cookies as a side hustle!

On April 28, 2020, I jumped head first into baking and, thanks to The ‘Rona, Dem Cookies was born!