Celebrate National Sugar Cookie Day in Montrose!

Did you know Tuesday, July 9 is National Sugar Cookie Day? Summer and sugar cookies just seem to go together. To celebrate, I would suggest bringing your favorite friend or women’s group to Montrose, or come alone with a good book. Head to Baked or Montrose Bakery and order a bunch of different cookies, and have a cookie tasting. Wouldn’t that be fun?

Of course I had to do some cookie research for this article. (It’s a tough job but somebody has to taste those cookies!) Sharon Kenneally, the Le Cordon Bleu trained owner of Baked (3600 Ocean View Blvd., behind Starbucks), will settle for nothing less than the finest ingredients for her cookies and that means pure butter. Each cookie is either a work of art, oversized or special in some way. For example, their giant chocolate chip cookie has ground chocolate as well as gourmet chocolate chips. The gorgeous one in the front of the box above is called a chocolate crinkle and tastes as good as it looks with chocolate crevices next to stark white powdered sugar. Their oatmeal raisin cookie is made from a 30-year old secret recipe and the red, white and blue sugar pop was created just for July. The cookies at Baked are only 75 cents to $1 each. They go very well with an iced caramel latte, and yes the caramel is made fresh at Baked!

Did you know that Baked is a family affair? That’s one of the things that make our “one of a kind” Montrose businesses so special. Sharon oversees the kitchen, which was designed to be open so you can watch while the goodies are being baked and decorated. Sharon’s daughter Erin, son Sean, and daughter-in-law Shelby can be found happily working the front.

When you think sugar cookies, Montrose Bakery quickly comes to mind. They have been creating them for decades and happily boast 25 different varieties. On any given day you will find a very colorful and sometimes whimsical assortment ready to go into a paper bag or box. Café owner Henry Baeza sells these gems for $6 a dozen. My favorite is the confetti swirl cookies pictured below. They are so happy and great for birthday parties and festive occasions. There are also swirl cookies with multi-colored or chocolate jimmies, classic thumbprint cookies filled with jam, traditional peanut butter, chocolate dipped, and Italian biscotti, just to name a few. The Montrose Bakery & Café (2325 Honolulu Ave.) is the perfect place to sit outside, enjoy a full meal, watch the world go by, and then get baked goods to go.

So do stop by these unique establishments and enjoy National Sugar Cookie Day here in the Montrose Shopping Park!

  Mary Dawson