We always send out Black & Gold in September. This is the cookie that inspired me to make a big life change, the story has been written about countless times, so I'm not going to rehash it for the purposes of creating a post.
We were given the "OK to Operate" out of our shared space in September of 2014, and as Tom Brady once said, "We're Still Here"
When reflecting upon the last eight years, there's a lot to unpack. When i started, I was fully expecting to fail. My brain logically knew that this was a dumb idea at my age. I should just get my ass to a cubicle and do my job, build my 401k and go on a couple vacations a year and be satisfied. I spent a long time trying to and eventually my heart won out. My heart knew that I should be making cookies.
Eight years later, I am tired. The last 2+ years have taken a lot out of me. Working in survival mode during a pandemic, building a shop that I wanted but truly had no choice because I wouldn't have had another way to keep my business going and now....a shop that is open and staffed & stocked 6 days a week. This is what my brain warned me about.
My heart hoped that I would find the fulfillment that I didn't find in a cubicle....my heart was right. I like when I dream something up and it works out and to be honest I like learning when i dream something up and it doesn't work out.
I can't say enough how much I enjoy Adams Village and appreciate the welcome they have given us. I know I will be fully staffed in about 10 years, there's a strong pipeline of 6 year old girls expressing interest in working here. My niece Tara is two and she just came to spend a couple nights with me and CDO Lola and every chance she got she asked to go to Auntie's Cookie Shop. I hope in about 20 years, she wants to take it over.
This means I'll need to keep things going for another 10-20 years, but I'll be honest. It's the best job I've ever had. So many lovely people support us and I'm so grateful to you for making it possible for me to have this great job.
As we hit our eighth birthday, I want to thank my staff. Specifically Megan our recently departed manager, Megan was with me for seven years. I'm happy for her to be going in a new direction, but we'll miss her a lot at Top Shelf. We wouldn't have a shop if it weren't for her helping me from the get go. I also would like to thank my dear friend of over 20 years, AnnMarie. A lot of people will encourage you to follow your dreams, fewer will work in your bakery whenever you are strapped for help and help you with your HR and Finance functions so you can try to balance the whole dang thing. That's AnnMarie. I'm very lucky!
Our newer shop team is such a joy, for such a long time I didn't really have many coworkers. It's nice to just enjoy coming to work and making cookies and talking about tv shows and joking around.
So, here we go. Top Shelf Cookies is EIGHT!
The cookie that started this whole dang thing is dark chocolate and peanut butter and it's what we're best known for. It's the first recipe I ever wrote, so in a lot of ways it's my first born and it's my favorite...kind of like how my dad likes me best.
I hope you LOVE it as much as I LOVE making it
Enjoy!!
Heather
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