The journey is the destination, she says, and she just keeps mixing it up.
She has built this community over a decade, at a big table in the little sweet shop she raised. On her feet prepping dough at dawn, then welcoming women and people from all walks of life through the doors where decorating cookies is the task and making memories is the goal.
Here, the icing is fresh, the message empowering, and the chocolate? Life-changing.
As the costs of goods rises, she pivots and then pivots again. Keep the doors open. Keep pouring all that heart into your hearth. Change a couple of things to stay afloat, but never change the spirit of this place.
What a master’s degree at RISD and a degree in life waiting tables in Hoboken won’t teach you is that you can do anything you put your mind to, and that anything is easier to accomplish when your feet don’t hurt.
How She Got into the Cookie Jar
“In 2001 while looking for a favor for our wedding, I stumbled across the art of decorated cookies and with a friend, taught ourselves how to bake and create them.”
Dani B. at work
On Owning and Running a Small Business
“Owning a small business is hard but every day is an adventure. I know my purpose in life is to spread as much love as I can.”
Dani's cookie artwork
Is That a Pinch of Activism We Taste?
“I have never been a wallflower when it came to women’s rights. I was raised to believe that women can do anything men can do. As I got older, learning that women had to bust down doors, march down streets, and fight for their rights was an infuriating revelation.
My frustration and goals to spread the word [about women's rights] by leading with love, led me to working on more Girl Power/ Women Power cookies and artwork.”
Tell Us About That Life-changing Cookie
“Our chocolate chip cookie is called the “Life Changing Chocolate Chip”, and it comes from a story a friend told me about a really bad day she was having. She took a break and went to a coffee shop on the boardwalk, sat in the window, and enjoyed one of our chocolate chip cookies with a cup of coffee. She said it was a “life-changing” break for her and that she went back to work in a fantastic mood. I told my husband the story and he suggested we start calling it that. Since then,we call them “Life-changers”.
