Artisan Cookies Made Simple
With Krista's Baking Co., gourmet treats are just a cookie mix away
By Seattle Mag November 30, 2015
This article originally appeared in the December 2015 issue of Seattle magazine.
At 22, cookie entrepreneur Krista Nelson already understands the subtle nuances of dinner-party politics. She realizes, for instance, that full-time working parents given the task of bringing a homemade dessert to a dinner might need a little help.
That is why the Ballard native and former Snoqualmie Ice Cream marketing guru launched Krista’s Baking Co., which produces a line of artisan cookie mixes made of organic, non-GMO ingredients. For her best-seller, the salted espresso chocolate chip mix, Nelson hand-scoops into individual baggies: Shepherd’s Grain flour, fair trade Theo chocolate, non-GMO cane sugar and Jacobsen Salt Co.’s Stumptown coffee flake salt.
All you do is add an egg and a stick of butter, bake—and, voilà—gourmet cookies. What impressed us was the texture: fresh and gooey with just the right chew. Nelson, who grew up baking in her grandmother’s home on Camano Island, currently offers five mixes that are available year-round, plus two fall season mixes ($11–$13), and is hard at work on a brownie mix and gluten-free cookie mix.
Nelson makes her mixes after-hours in the kitchen at The Fat Hen, but you can find them around town at Home Remedy, Cone & Steiner and the Theo Chocolate Factory & Retail Store in Fremont. Happy baking.