Sue Jones of Atlanta-based Curly Sue’s Cookies always has been drawn to sweet treats.
As a newlywed, Jones began looking for satisfying sweets that she and her husband could enjoy together. Disappointed in what she found available, she started baking at home. “I started playing with recipes and then began creating my own,” she said. “Our friends were willing taste testers.”
One January evening, while basking in the praise she’d received for her holiday baking, Jones came up with the idea of starting a cookie business. “Sometimes, it doesn’t take much encouragement to push you in a direction,” she said.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
At first, she didn’t know what starting a business entailed, but she soon acquired a cottage food license and then launched her business in 2014 by selling at her neighborhood farmers market.
Her freshly baked cookies soon were joined by cookie mixes, so her customers could enjoy the pleasures of home baking and the aroma of cookies coming out of the oven.
“I wanted to provide the experience of baking in an accessible way,” Jones said. “And soon I saw that baking means different things to different people.”
For some, taking a frozen round of cookie dough from the freezer and putting it in the oven is as much baking as they want to do, so she began offering frozen cookie dough.
“We meet people where baking fits into their lives,” Jones said. “Cookies are generally the first dessert we have when we are children. They often come with special memories of warmth and comfort. I really think cookies provide a form of happiness that no other dessert can.”
Jones’ first retail customer was Savi Provisions in Brookhaven, followed by Nuts ’n Berries. Curly Sue’s products now are available in stores throughout the Southeast as well as on the company’s website.
The cookies are made with ingredients that Jones found hard to get early on: unbleached, unbromated, non-genetically modified organism flour; vegan non-GMO sugar; high-butterfat butter; and cage-free eggs, cracked fresh as she bakes. She offers a combination trail mix/cookie mix with roasted Georgia pecans; organic dried cranberries; premium, semi-sweet chocolate; and mini Curly Sue’s sugar cookies.
She bakes out of Prep Kitchen Atlanta, just inside the Perimeter. Her bestsellers are her variations on chocolate chip cookies: espresso chocolate chip, milk chocolate sugar buzz and yin yang, which features white and dark chocolate. They’re available as freshly baked cookies, mixes and dough.
Credit: Handout
Credit: Handout
Jones also makes seasonal cookies, which frequently are variations on familiar flavors. Her strawberry sensation cookie has its roots in strawberry shortcake, and she makes peach cobbler and blueberry crisp cookies. Her holiday seasonals include apple pie cookies, gingerbread and holiday spice snickerdoodles. Decorated sugar cookies are available for the holidays and for celebrations throughout the year.
Has baking all those cookies dampened her enthusiasm for this particular sweet? “The day I don’t enjoy eating my cookies is the day I have to think about giving up the business,” she said with a laugh.
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