Cara Aune started her business That Minnesota Cookier in October 2020. The Grand Forks Herald sat down with her for this week’s 5 Questions article to ask her about how she got into baking and selling cookies.
Q: When did you get into baking?
A: I think I really kind of my whole life I was into baking rather than cooking. I’d rather do that. But, when I really started baking cookies it was around October 2019. That’s when I made my very first batch of sugar cookies and decorated them.
Q: Why did you decide you wanted to turn your hobby of baking cookies into a business?
A: I began selling my cookies to just family and friends, and they were kind of a hit. As I did some research in Grand Forks, I realized there was no business that really specialized in the custom sugar cookie market. I think it was just about a year after I began in October 2020 is when I put it out to the world that I’m selling cookies, and I started getting my cottage food license and kind of went from there. I think I also just needed a hobby. With COVID and everything going on I needed something to distract my mind. I never really had a true hobby, and once I started I just kept on going.
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Q: Do you bake any other kinds of cookies?
A: I currently only do regular, I guess you would call it the original sugar cookie with royal icing, but I do custom orders. I also put out orders during the holiday time with a presale for different types of cookies. I have a recipe for around holiday time for different flavors of cookies, like a spice cookie, or a cinnamon cookie that are also along the sugar cookie line, but they have different flavors to them. I also have a hot chocolate cookie. So, hopefully this upcoming holiday season I’m able to push those out to the world and have a few different flavors.
Q: What is your advice to people on how to make good cookies?
A: I always say I’d rather have a good-tasting cookie over a perfect-looking cookie. Making custom sugar cookies is really about design and really doing unique pictures or designs on the cookie. But, I think the key to it is really having a good-tasting sugar cookie, a good recipe and just being creative. Have different ideas on how to design different cookies and be willing to take risks and push the boundaries.
Q: What was it like starting and running your business during the COVID-19 pandemic?
A: I really only started because of COVID-19, so I’m not sure if it’s completely impacted it. The only thing I’ve changed since the very beginning is that I now make sure that all of my cookies are individually packaged. I get a lot of those questions ahead of time, so now it’s just a thing I do. Instead of not packaging every single one, I heat seal every single one so they stay fresh. I’ve done a few weddings and birthday parties, and I think that’s always the main thing that people ask is if it’s COVID-friendly, and they certainly are. I think that may be the only way it’s changed for me, because I only started during COVID-19.
