our evolving mission - 1.5 years in

Lately I've been reflecting on our mission and what makes our cookies distinct. Part of the fun of running this small biz is that we're shaping our identity as we go, and learning what really matters to us through each new flavor -- and also learning what our community enjoys. 

I often think about all the elements of each cookie and how each cookie ties back to our goals. Here's my breakdown (just thinking out loud)...

1. oatmeal raisin pudge
- toasted oats
- cold browned butter 
2. chocolate chip pudge
- cold browned butter
3. strawberries n cream pudge
- mixing in an extra ingredient to the dough
- breaking freeze-dried strawberries by hand (for mouthfeel and aesthetic)
4. campfire pudge
- housemade graham crunch (cooked, then baked)
- cold browned butter
- hand-filled with 9 mini mallows
5. pink lemonade pudge
- soo much lemon zest
- lemon zest rubbed with granulated sugar, sits for 15+ mins to bring out the oils
6. pecan pudge
- toasted pecans
- ground AND chopped pecans
- hand-topped with a whole toasted pecan
7. pumpkin spice pudge
- hand-filled with housemade cheesecake filling
- housemade pumpkin spice mix
- so many inclusions to bring out flavor
8. red velvet pudge
- hand-filled with housemade cheesecake filling
9. gourmet chocolate chip
- toasted pecans (for flavor not texture)
- heath

This is nearly every single menu item we have across all seasons, with the exceptions of matcha and coal pudge - which, like all our flavors, are just well-developed flavors, but without the higher level of physical effort. This also excludes the shortbreads. From the beginning, we launched with a no-compromises mindset. With each cookie, we do our best to bring out their potential, even if they take so much work. Looking back, that's been an ever-present theme in our journey.

When we first started, we knew we loved Asian flavors and creating "not-too-sweet" cookies. But over time, we've also put our spin on classic American flavors, and reimagined other flavors into a cookie format.

Take campfire pudge for example - it's a s'more in cookie form. But adding browned butter for its nutty flavor, more salt to balance the sweetness, consciously using dark chocolate, and changing the depth & texture of plain graham crackers with our "graham crunch". Graham crunch brings a level of like caramel-ish flavor and a crunchier texture to the cookie. All together, this cookie takes 3 SEPARATE elements of the s'more and marries them all into one homogenous, elevated experience. 

Another traditionally American flavor we made was pink lemonade pudge. Here's the previous blog post about its development process. Riffing off the fruity-ness of strawberries n cream pudge, our customers requested a lemon flavor. And with fruity cookies, we don't really have a model to follow. There aren't a lot of recipes online (or even cookies in bakeries) for fruit-based cookies (not to mention for the 6 ounce size), and certainly not in a method we would want to follow. Fruit flavors are tricky because 1) it's hard to bring out their flavor, and 2) they can add a lot of moisture. 

Essentially, pink lemonade pudge pushes the boundary on what a cookie can be, and that makes us really proud. The flavor is commonly a drink that doesn't make its way into a baked-good form. You will be hard pressed to find such a mindblowingly accurate flavor representation in a cookie, and that's the result of going down many rabbit holes and studying uncommon cookie ingredients. It's not just flour, sugar, leavening, eggs, and butter that can make a cookie, and we're really excited to keep learning how to bring out the potential of each ingredient. 

We believe that not everything should be transformed into a cookie, but we're excited about the new flavors that we'll try. You could say that our cookies are tailored to an Asian palate that prefers less sweetness, but our goals extend far beyond that. We hope to make cookies that you wouldn't have dreamt of. Inspired by Adam Jones in the movie Burnt, "People eat because they are hungry; I want to make food that makes people stop eating. I want people to sit at that table and be sick with longing." 

We hope to serve you an unforgettable experience.