02/09/2026
This is for all my cottage baker friends š©š»āš³ please share
Yep-Iām posting it. Customers complain all the time about the cost of homemade sugar cookies. Cottage bakers use fresh ingredients. Cookies are not mass produced by a machine and do not have preservatives for a long shelf life.
Any cookie baker will tell you that cookies last about 3-4 weeks in the heat sealed bags that we use. When you pick up your cookies from us they are fresh by about a day or 2- no transportation in a truck or warehouse which could compromise the ingredients of the cookie.
This Target cookie does have a very simple design but I really doubt it is hand decorated unless they hired many people to just put the eyes and mouth on each cookie. Think about how many cookies they mass produce. Sure they added a stick- not a big deal to do and a little card- again not too much time to print and add.
The point is - give your local bakers some love and orders where the price per cookie is higher than $3. Stop giving your money to big box stores and support your community. In the end itās just a few more dollars to shop local but you are getting a better product and helping someone who needs extra money.
The amount of time to consult with your customer, shop, make dough, make icing, color icing, individually bag icing, bake, decorate, design and print a card, package and clean your kitchen- make a pre-order form or invoiceā¦if you break it down is close to minimum wage.
Most bakers do this as a side gig or a form of therapy bc it is relaxing and fun for some people. They normally do not have a staff to help and are either married with a family or a single mom. Not a lot of time to devote to a side gig. Much less cook, clean and work a day job on top of this.
Do the right thing and support your community ā¤ļø donāt badger a home baker when you can see that even target starts at $3 a cookie and their product is sub par to even a beginning home bakers quality and talent.