spread some joy this season

Each Thanksgiving week, my kitchen transforms into a veritable cookie factory as (in addition to the cookies I bake for the market and online sales) I churn out batches and batches of chocolate crinkle cookies, pizzelles, pfeffernusse, peppermint bark, and just about any other holiday treat you could dream of. Then those cookies are packed into tins and shipped or delivered to neighbors, friends, and family across the country.

It’s a labor of love, and one for which the process starts immediately after the previous year’s baking frenzy ends and I start to think about what I want to include in next year’s tin.

I typically start with the cookies that I know I have to make—usually that’s a personal favorite or a traditional cookie that it just wouldn’t be the holidays without. That might be a chocolate crinkle cookie or a gingersnap. Or maybe it’s a decorated sugar cookie or an old-fashioned spritz cookie made with a cookie press.

Once I pick that first cookie, all of the other choices flow from it. A chocolate crinkle cookie, for example, is soft and chewy. It’s also (obviously) chocolate and typically rolled in powdered sugar (Pro tip: Roll your cookies in granulated sugar before you roll it in powdered sugar and your beautiful white coating won’t disappear in the oven). Because I can only fit so many cookies into a tin, I start to consider other flavors, textures, and decoration so that, by the end, I have a good mix—a couple of chocolate cookies, a vanilla or two, perhaps something citrusy, and definitely one that is spiced. I bring in some soft cookies, a couple of crispy ones, a crunchy one. Maybe some are rolled in sugar, others are dipped in chocolate, and one is covered in rainbow sprinkles. And I can’t forget a nutty cookie, like a linzer (made with almond flour) or tender, buttery rugelach filled with pecans and brown sugar.

My hope is that the cookies bring as much joy to the recipients as they do for me to plan and bake. In my opinion, there’s really nothing like a homemade cookie around the holidays, but don’t worry if you don’t have the time to bake your own—this season, I’m offering an Electric Oven Bakeshop Holiday Cookie Box! Each box includes six each of chocolate malt biscotti (chocolate, crunchy), vanilla sprinkle cookies (tender, vanilla, rolled in sprinkles), ombre rainbow cookies (almond flavored, soft, colorful), chocolate molasses thumbprints (chewy, spiced, chocolatey, rolled in sugar), and raspberry linzer cookies (fruity, tender, nutty). Order one for yourself or someone you love, or maybe even for that coworker that you barely know but whose name you drew in the office Secret Santa lottery—it’s sure to be a hit!

WHAT’S IN A NAME?

“Why ‘Electric Oven’?”

“So, what’s the deal with the electric oven?”

“Is this some kind of special oven?”

“Is that supposed to mean something?”

By far, the most frequently asked questions I’ve gotten since I started Electric Oven Bakeshop are related to the name. Some people are curious, some seem slightly suspicious, and most are probably just making conversation, since quietly standing at a stranger’s farmers’ market stall is kind of an awkward thing to do.

Yes, my convection oven is powered by electricity, but the truth is, I really just like the sound of it. For me, electric brings to mind excitement, mad scientists, and the Muppets, of course. Add a whiff of nostalgia, which is the same feeling I hope customers will experience when they have a bite of a childhood favorite treat, like a half-moon cookie or a giant, fudgy brownie, and you have an idea of how the name “Electric Oven Bakeshop” came to be.