“We have a lot of people say to us ‘they were almost too pretty to eat.’”
That from Holly Goodison-Strapp of Sault Ste. Marie, describing cookies she bakes with daughter Caitlin Strapp as co-owner/operator of One Cute Cookie.
“We have a lot of artisans in our family,” said Holly regarding the creative flair evident in their cookies, which have been described as ‘works of art.’
The Strapps produce dozens of cookies at a time, specially ordered for special occasions, such as upcoming Father’s Day celebrations.
“Just recently I started changing up my style with these cookies. We created an edible watercolour paint, so now a lot of our cookies have this very unique watercolour look to them, and we have edible markers now. It definitely has changed to a cookie that I’ve never seen other people purchase,” Caitlin said.
The Strapps said they use, along with those edible watercolours, ingredients like real vanilla and real butter.
“And they’re good!” Holly said.
“If I’m going to eat a cookie, this is my favourite,” Holly said, stating she has previously paid good money for batches of cookies from other vendors that turned out to be a disappointment.
“I can honestly say that our cookies are unique. They’re cute, they’re beautiful and they taste amazing,” Holly said.
“There are other people out there baking cookies but I think what makes us unique is that we do not have pre-made icing, stencils...each one is done by hand,” Holly said.
Caitlin said One Cute Cookie has regular customers, some of which order dozens of cookies at a time.
Cookies are available for order for special occasions such as birthday parties, baptisms, anniversaries, weddings and others through the One Cute Cookie social media pages.
“We basically discuss what theme of cookies you would like, when you would like them...our prices range depending on how much detail is going to be on the cookie,” Caitlin said.
“We usually send a picture when we finish them to see if it meets their needs, and once they’re ready they come and pick up their order at my mom’s house.”
Business is good for the Strapps.
“To be honest, our ads stay up no longer than three days. We have people on our list now for next Christmas,” Holly said.
“Right now we’re only taking holiday orders. Right now you could order for Father’s Day. Normally we need at least a week in advance because the cookies themselves take three days to make. One day we do baking, the second day we do all the icing and then the third day the cookies need to dry,” Holly said.
“All the superheroes have been extremely popular, mermaids are super popular right now,” said Caitlin of recurring themes popping up in recent customer orders.
More than just making good-looking cookies, Holly said “the bottom line is we want them to taste amazing.”
“Eight years ago I moved to Red Lake (a small, gold-mining town in northwestern Ontario) and I was a baker at one of the restaurants there,” Caitlin said.
There she rediscovered her passion for baking and, after moving back to the Sault three years ago, launched One Cute Cookie with Holly.
It’s not a full-time job for either woman, but it is an enjoyable, financially worthwhile source of income for Caitlin, a stay-at-home mom, and a ‘hobby job’ for Holly, a retired hairstylist and hair salon manager.
“My mom and I were making cookies as a family tradition and we just decided ‘hey, these are good enough to sell,’” Caitlin said.
“I was up for that because I was leaving my job. People love our cookies and it was something that I didn’t see around at the time in Sault Ste. Marie, so we just thought we’d give it a try and it actually went over really well,” Holly said.
With COVID restrictions in play, Caitlin and Holly currently bake separately from their own homes, but fortunately, the two live near each other.
“It’s strictly from our homes but I do believe that the demand could be there that we could expand (to a conventional storefront business). We’ve had a lot of very interesting offers but at this time this suits us, suits our lifestyles,” Holly said.
“Because we are creative people we’re constantly looking for new ideas. Our cookies are definitely unique. They’re going to be different every time...people seem to really love them, and that’s quite a compliment,” Holly said.
Mother, daughter make cookies almost ‘too pretty to eat’ (10 photos) - SooToday
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