WHERE ARE YOU LOCATED?

I am a cottage baker working from my home in Cincinnati, OH. Local landmarks I'm near: Cincinnati Zoo & Botanical Garden and Cincinnati Children's Hospital and Medical Center.

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WHY ARE DECORATED COOKIES SO EXPENSIVE?

I understand that looking at a cookie and comparing the price to chain bakeries it's difficult to understand the value of of handmade custom cookies. My hope is that with understanding what goes into the process will help you appreciate the value even more.  Let me give you a quick walkthrough of what goes into the custom cookie decorating process:

• Details & Design: Each cookie set is made specifically for the person/people receiving them. It is important to me to spend as much time as needed to make sure I am meeting the needs and understanding the vision of the client. I want to create a design that will have that wow factor! Once we've discussed the theme, I then come up with color scheme (if not already provided) and sketch out the cookies. The complexity of the design if definitely a factor in how long it takes to come up with the concept.

• Dough & Icing: I make all of my dough and icing from quality ingredients from scratch. This process includes weighing, mixing, chilling, cutting, and baking. Next comes to the most tedious part, in my opinion, preparing the icing. This includes coloring and thinning the icing to create cookie masterpieces (when it's first made it's really thick!). This part usually takes me at least 1-2 hours!

• Decorate: this is the best part! I have the most fun turning the sketches into edible creations. Decorating can take anywhere from 4-10 hours or more depending on the complexity of the set. Some cookies only take 1-2 steps with drying times in between while others can have as many as 4 or more steps it really just depends on the design of the cookie and the number of cookie designs in the set. I take the most time decorating because I want to get it as close as what you've envisioned so that when you get the final product you will fall in love!

• Pickup & Delivery: I want your cookies to not only look beautiful, but also taste as good as they look. Unless requested otherwise, each cookie is individually heat sealed for freshness. Then comes the boxing. I typically place cookies in a box with a window so that you can see the cookies displayed. Either with tissue paper or paper shreds at the bottom of the box, I then place the cookies (along with business cards and cookie care), close the box, add my stickers (ingredient, allergen, and logo), and finish it off with a coordinating bow to match the theme. There's a special treat attached for the person purchasing (because we all know we may not get to the treats if we're hosting).

 

DO YOU SHIP YOUR COOKIES?

Tink's Sweet Shoppe operates under the Ohio Cottage Law which states that it is illegal for me to ship outside of the state.  However, I can create the cookies for you and even package them for shipping to provide to you to complete the shipping process. 

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HOW FAR IN ADVANCE DO RECOMMEND SHOULD I PLACE MY ORDER?

What I recommend is the sooner the better, but the latest, I recommend contacting me 2-3 weeks before your event date to get your order "on the books". Around the holidays, it gets really busy with  fulfilling presale orders so I will often need more lead time, but it never hurts to ask about a last minute order to see if I can accommodate you.  I do also offer the option to tentatively reserve a spot as far out as a year in advance by filling out the Pencil Me In form. This is not a commitment or order form, but lets me know you might be interested and then I will check in with you a month before your event to see if you want to place an order.