There’s a lot more to unpack here for this month’s flavor, considering what a simple flavor it is.
For years at markets people have asked for a sugar cookie and I’ve just never felt like a sugar cookie on its own is anything special. Also, I just never thought we could make it like an elevated classic - which is what I always aim to do. So, with that in mind I’ve never made anything like an M&M cookie either. It will be a year ago this month that we opened our first storefront (only 4 months after my 2020 goal) in Adams Village.
So, I chose HBD2U!! as this months flavor because it’s our shops first birthday. What a year it’s been too. Also, a year ago, I hadn’t really made a flavor like this available because it doesn’t particularly interest me and I just didn’t see the appeal. Let me tell you why I did decide to break down and put a sprinkle cookie on our menu, because I was reminded of this recently. There seems to be a lot of cookie shops opening up in our neck of the woods that aren’t from around here. It’s impossible to miss the long lines that I’m seeing on social media and then I remembered, when I pulled the paper off our windows at 2pm on April 21st last year - there was a line of little kids waiting to come in. Honestly, a year later I think about how happy that made me feel. None of those kids had instagram and I couldn’t really see them smile because masks, but I could see their wide eyed anticipation of being the first to come into the new cookie shop in their neighborhood, which was now our neighborhood. I love Adams Village, I always liked it. I live a mile away in Lower Mills (which I also love - Dorchester is just great) Moving Top Shelf here and meeting the neighbors and having regulars has meant more to me than I think I can ever convey. Everyone has been supportive and friendly and helpful. We have more five year old girls that have told us they want a job when they are old enough. Dotty comes in and we catch up with her and send her on her way with half a dozen cookies. Natalie comes in and flings the door open and asks where all her friends are. Dorchester Running Club runs by and waves every Saturday morning. Heck, one of their runners connected me to the rescue where I adopted Lola (our new CDO) I feel lucky that we landed here. Our business has changed a lot, so has the world - I’m making sprinkle cookies for crying out loud!
We have a lot of little kids that go absolutely bananas for a sprinkle cookie, so we keep one on the menu all the time now. I finally constructed a good sugar cookie base (you purists should check out the newly available BSC- Basic Sugar Cookie) and we add rainbow sprinkles and some white chocolate chips to it. Throughout our first year we have done different sprinkle cookies - HBD2USA is red, white and blue for 4th of July, we did orange and purple and called it Hocus Pocus for Halloween - you get the idea. My personal favorite is Finish Line, for the Boston Marathon, which is available online and you can support my friends in the Dorchester Running Club that are running the Boston Marathon.
So, here I am a year later a changed woman with a storefront and I’m making sprinkle cookies, if that’s not your cup of tea - I highly recommend coming by on Test Bake Thursday - we’re always making something fun that day for those of you with more adventurous tastes!