BOISE, Idaho (CBS2) — Many people indulged in creating comfort foods like cookies, brownies, and the all-too-popular banana bread during the 2020 lockdown, but few can say they turned their newfound love of baking into a full-time job.
Arika Cooknell, owner of Tree City Cookie, says she started baking cookies during the pandemic to care for her mental health.
"I was experiencing a lot of depression, anxiety, things along those lines. I needed a creative outlet, and so Tree City Cookie was born out of that," said Cooknell. "I love sharing cookies with others. It really truly brings me joy, and I always aim to spread joy."
Cooknell makes elaborate, custom cookie art, as pictured below. She says it all started with her gifting cookies to neighbors, friends, family and members at her church "just for fun." It was her cousin's baby shower that launched Cooknell's larger orders.
"She was throwing a baby shower via Zoom, and she wanted cookies," said Cooknell. "She ordered cookies from me, I mailed them across the country, and we all got on Zoom and had our treats and baby shower stuff together. From that moment, everyone was like, can you make us cookies? Can you ship cookies?"
It was then that Cooknell realized she had a viable business.
Cooknell says it is crucial to her to use locally sourced ingredients.
"One of the main ones that I think makes my cookies so delicious is the merengue powder from another local cookier," said Cooknell. "I do my best to support other local businesses by buying from them in order to put the best ingredients into my cookies."
Tree City Cookie starts at about $58 a dozen and goes up from there, depending on how detailed the request is.
"There have been orders that have been extremely elaborate, and they go upwards of $75 a dozen," said Cooknell. "If I don't get enough time, if it's a rush order, there is a rush order fee because that means that I'm staying up throughout the middle of the night to get the cookie order done."
Cooknell says she has clients that started ordering cookies a year in advance to ensure they'll have cookies for their event.
Cooknell says she grew up baking Christmas cookies with her family. She described getting paid to do something she loves so deeply as "weird."
"There are times that I, like, pinch myself and ask, 'Is this my life?' And it is. I wake up just excited all the time to work. I'm excited to do my job, like, there's not a lot of other things that I enjoy doing as much as I enjoy cookies," said Cooknell.
If you'd like custom cookies, click here to get a quote.
"I try my best to respond within 48 hours," said Cooknell. "I am a one-woman business. Sometimes, it's longer if I have a large cookie week. As soon as the deposit or the balance is paid, I bake my heart out, and you show up and text me when you arrive, and I go ahead and hand off the fully finished product."
Cooknell is also available for hire to do "cookie parties," similar to what we did together baking Halloween cookies.
"I do cookie parties for a lot of local businesses. Around the holidays is really when I get booked with parties, and we do Christmas cookies, Thanksgiving style cookies, and I just get to be a part of their employee appreciation," said Cooknell.
Cooknell says some comments she's used to receiving include, "How on earth did you make this? This is so realistic. How does this taste as good as it looks? If not better than it looks?"
As someone who tried her cookies, I can vouch that they are as delicious as they are pretty. While I struggled to decorate them anywhere near as well as Cooknell, I thoroughly enjoyed eating them!
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