Icing on the Cookie
Creating sweet treats for every occasion
By Blake Tommey Photo by Caleb Chancey
THE DETAILS
Icing on the Cookie
2907 Central Ave. Ste. 101,
Homewood
(205) 871-9852
icingonthecookie.net
Owners: Shelby and Katie Adams; Matt and Anna Cate Little What is it? Icing on the Cookie is a specialty cookie store that bakes, decorates and packages custom-order cookies for any event warranting sweet treats. With more than 300 cookie cutters in their arsenal, the Icing on the Cookie staff generates orders of their main product, the iced sugar cookie, fresh daily from their storefront in Homewood. “We’ll design any cookie for any event you can imagine,” Creative Director Anna Cate Little says. “It can be as minor as basketball cookies for a boy’s birthday party or as ornate as a wedding dress cookie with the bride’s name on it.” In addition, Icing on the Cookie bakes 20 other cookies for order, including ginger, oatmeal and chocolate chip cookies, as well as brownies and lemon squares.
What makes it unique? Icing on the Cookie Chef Shelby Adams bakes his thicker-than-normal sugar cookie recipe fresh every day, after which each cookie is hand-decorated. “Our cookies are very fancy and cute,” Little explains. “But what we really strive for is a dynamic and phenomenal-tasting cookie. They’re truly fresh, they’re big and they go a long way.”
Icing on the Cookie provides customers with endless ways to customize their requests online and by phone, but orders must be placed at least 48 hours in advance. “A lot of planning goes into an order,” Little says. “If a parent comes to us about a sports birthday party for their son, we can suggest soccer balls, basketballs or even University of Alabama cookies with the crimson ‘A’ on them.”
A day in the life: Chef Adams fi res up the oven every morning at 7 a.m. to begin baking. Soon after, the rest of the staff arrives to organize orders and start the decorating process, during which they ice each cookie and apply any writing with special piping bags. When every cookie is finished, the staff packages them in bags and gift boxes.
Throughout the day, the Icing on the Cookie staff is also taking new orders, updating their website and serving walk-in customers, who may purchase a treat from the small selection of cookies for sale in the storefront.
Staff size: Four, plus part-time help.
What’s ahead? In December, Icing on the Cookie began hosting parties in its newly renovated storefront and will continue to provide a place for private cookie-decorating parties for birthdays, bachelorette parties, offi ce functions and other events.
“Over Christmas we hosted a party for a doctor’s offi ce, where people came on their lunch hour to decorate cookies, eat food, drink wine and just have fun,” Little says. “Our big goal is to get equipped for having more and more of those parties.” For each party, the staff supplies cookies, icing and decorations, as well as a special gift for the guest of honor.
