Hi there! I’m Julie! I’d love to tell you more about how Noshy came to be.
Let’s set the scene. It’s the mid 1980s in South Jersey. You’re in a large wood paneled kitchen with pineapple-stenciled cream colored fabric window coverings. Christmas music is playing. The air smells of warm cookies.
This is where it all started. Just a girl and her Dad, combining flour and sugar into delicious cookies for the holidays. (See the two of us below, circa 2003?)
I don’t actually have a specific memory of being taught how to bake; it’s something that I’ve always known how to do.
Making cookies at Christmastime was always quite a production. Aluminum foil would be laid on basically every semi-horizontal surface within 10 feet of the kitchen so that we’d have sufficient room to cool the fresh-out-of-the-oven cookies.
Dad and I knew nothing of room temperature butter or properly measured flour but the cookies were delicious nonetheless and we always had a fun time. It was a great arm workout too – mixers be damned, all dough was made in one specific bowl and stirred with one specific work-horse of a spoon. And until I was older, try as I might, Dad usually had to finish mixing the dough – my wee little arms just could not deal.
In fact, I never made cookies with anything other than a (particular) bowl and (a particular) spoon until I started Noshy and bought my first-ever mixer. (But let me tell you, had I known how amazing life with a mixer is, I would have asked for one for Christmas many, MANY years ago).
When it wasn’t Christmastime, we didn’t bake a lot. But there were always cookies. My grandparents lived near a great little German bakery and I’d easily polish off a plate of cookies in no time flat. Or someone would always be putting packages of Oreo or Stella D’Oro in the shopping cart.
Even when that bakery closed, at a local farm where we’d buy our produce (and I’d pet the llama they had), I’d always get a cupcake covered in blue sprinkles, all dressed up like Cookie Monster.
Cookies were in my life while I was a Brownie and Girl Scout, too. For many years running, Mom was the “Cookie Mom” and I had the highest cookie sales many years running.
As an adult, cookies were always my go-to snack. They were perfect while traveling, great for celebrations, and fantastic for when you just needed a little something sweet. No special utensils needed. Just you and the cookie. (and usually some milk, because: dunking.)
So, in hindsight, it seems that despite my education and initial professional choices, cookies were bound to be a thing.
And I’m so glad you’re here to enjoy it with me. Join the conversation on your social media of choice or sign up to be a part of our inner circle and get emailed updates, discounts, and fun surprises! (See below for Social and Newsletter links/signups.)
And, of course, don’t wait another second before trying our cookies!