I'm thinking of adding drop cookies to my menu (chocolate chip, peanut butter, etc.). I made a batch of chocolate chip last night and it cost me $6.44 to make (got 28 cookies at 1.5 oz each). I was shocked! I assumed it would be less, but the chocolate chips alone were almost $3 and it took a whole bag. I googled around to see what people are charging for their drop cookies in my area and I got anywhere from $3.50 for two dozen up to $10 per dozen. Hubby suggested I go in the middle with $8 per dozen. I know prices are different depending on where you are, but what are you guys charging for drop cookies?
I just added up what my costs are for my choc chip. Mine uses all 3 kinds of sugar, butter AND oil. Ballpark, it costs me slightly under $15 to make a batch that yields over 200 cookies, using the #24 scoop. This breaks down to less than $1 per dozen. (I use 3/4 of a 72-ounce bag of choc chips to a batch ... to give you an idea of batch size, I use 18 cups of flour and 8 sticks of butter .... uh, margarine.)
I charge $6/dozen. That's only $0.50 each. For anyone who thinks that's too high, I send them to Subway, Arby's and Starbucks, where they are welcome to pay $0.79 to $1.50 per cookie if they want.
Can you or are you buying supplies at the grocery or at Sam's? The 72 oz bag of choc chips from Sam's is $8.38 = $0.116 per ounce. To equate this to a 12-oz bag at the grocery, 12 oz's would be $1.39, which I believe is way cheaper than a bag at the grocery.
Hey indydebi. I didn't get a notice that anyone had replied.
For right now I'm stuck buying at the grocery store. My only other option is to go to Sam's, but they don't have the brands I like (flour, sugar, butter). I'm kinda brand friendly, which I know is probably stupid, but I have seen a change for the better in my sugar cookies since I switched flour and sugar brands (Pillsbury's Best flour and Domino's sugar). Sam's and a public restaurant supply store that sells bulk food items basically sell the same off-brands (off-brands to us grocery store people anyway). I'll have to do some research and see if I can buy larger quantities and get a better unit price, or I'll just have to stock up when things are on sale. Good thing we just closed on our first house last night and it's got lots of storage! Hubby is gonna love it when he opens a cupboard and sees nothing but sugar and flour. 
Grocery pricing does make a big diff. I thought of another diff that may be making an impact... when I say "butter", that ALWAYS mean "Imperial Brand Margarine" which costs me less than $0.35/cup ($0.67/lb).
There are some things that I'm brand loyal on, too. Peter Pan peanut butter or nothing (I donated $45 worth of Sysco peanut butter to a food bank because one taste on the end of my finger told me it was NOT going to work.) Nestle's choc chips only. Sun-Maid raisins (tried the 50-lb box of Sysco raisins and they had a bitter aftertaste).
brand loyal....that's what I meant to say. LOL!
The recipe I used called for butter-flavored Crisco and I'm not buying that, so I used 50/50 real butter and regular Crisco (half cup of each making the butter $0.75 per cup). The biggest cost was the chocolate chips, so finding those in larger quantities and hopefully a cheaper unit cost is first one my list!
Thank you for replying indydebi!
Must get Sam's Club card!!!
I'm trying to start up a deal with a local gift basket company and have told them that I will be charging about $10 a lb. (their request of quantity) They are also very small cookies, think Famous Amos size, but it comes out to about 3/4 of a regular batch of cookies to make the pound. I use the other 1/4 to fulfill my DH's need to eat whatever I bake! HTH
I've seen several people say they don't like butter Crisco, but I have a couple of butter Crisco recipes that are just plain yummy!! Maybe we don't have the refined taste that others do 
but everyone loves my white chocolate macadamia nut cookies (It's just Crisco's chocolate chip recipe, substituting white chocolate chips and macadamia nuts for semi-sweet and pecans) and my peanut butter cookies made with butter flavored Crisco. They're melt in your mouth goodness! 
I just don't want to buy another tub of Crisco when it takes me so long to get rid of the regular stuff (i don't use it for cakes, icings, or any other recipes for that matter). I've never had the butter flavor, but I just don't want to buy it if I don't think I'm going to use it.
Check your local Sam's again, have you been lately? I went there and found they have more name brand baking suppies now. They had Nestle chocolate chips, Guittard chocolate chips and Domino sugar. I thought they just had these items for the Xmas holiday, but they are still carrying them.
I guess it's more of the wasted cupboard space for me than the cost (we only have 4 cabinets total in our kitchen right now). Maybe I'll have to break down and buy the butter stuff when we move.
I'll have to send mom again to check out Sam's. She is the one with the membership. That would be nice if I could at least get the choc chips cheaper. They are so worth it though!
Believe me, that was the first thing I checked out when we were looking at houses.....the size of the kitchen. There is a little pantry/closet that I claimed for all of my cookie/cake stuff. Woohoo!!
We just went tonight to get the keys and unlock the doors for the first time as homeowners. We're such dorks.
Yah, hubby even took a pic of me and our realtor (who is also a friend) when she handed me the keys. LOL!
Freezer/storage question........ You make your dough and ball it out and freeze it...in what? Do you just use those zip freezer bags or do I need to vacuum seal them for the freshest keeping? I was thinking of doing them in multiples of 12 since I will sell the drop cookies by the dozen. That way I can just grab a bag and bake.
I scoop the dough out in balls. Put as many as I can on a baking sheet and freeze them 'till they are solid enough to stack. I stack them in a poly carbonate (clear hard plastic) food containers. A single row, covered with a sheet of wax paper, layer of cookie balls, wax paper, etc. I also layer them in the aluminum food pans. When I needs some, I just remove the lid or the alum lid, pull out what I need.
Understand that I bake 300 a day, so they don't stay in my freezer long. I try to find one day a week just for cookie dough ball production!
Wow! I hope to someday be that busy!! Hubby came home last Tuesday with 4 orders from his office and one for chocolate chip. Um, honey, I just do decorated sugar cookies. He begged and I gave in, had never baked a chocolate chip cookie in my life! I found a recipe that I saw Alton Brown do on TV just a week earlier. Yum! Customer loved them and actually ordered them again this week. Guess I'm in the drop cookie business now! This week I'm making chocolate with peanut butter chips, next week peanut butter, etc., until I know my recipes....then it's off to the car dealers with samples!
Sounds like how I got started! hubby's employer wanted to switch cookie suppliers, they said, "hey phil, your wife caters... does she do cookies and would she want to quote us?" He said, "SUre she does!" Next thing I know, he's on the phone to me saying, "Honey? Do you do cookies?"
You can use a base cookie recipe for lots of variation. For example.....
Chocolate cookie dough: Add peanut butter chips, chocolate chips, PB AND Choc chips, crushed Andes mints (sold in Aisle 8 with the choc chips ... it's a taste similar to Girl Scout Mint cookies), white choc chips, mini M&M's.
Oatmeal cookie dough: Add raisins. Or craisins. Or peanut butter chips. Or butterscotch chips. Or a combination of any of the above!
Great idea indydebi for the base cookie recipe.
My chocolate chip are 1.5 ounces each. I wanted to make a bigger than average cookie, but not too big. I found this to be a good size, but now I have to weigh out each ball! We ran over to Walmart last night to buy DS some new clothes (my 10yo is now in men's clothes! Growin like a weed!) and the cookie scoop in the kitchen gadgets aisle was too small, but the ice cream scoop was too big! Do you buy your scoops at a restaurant supply or something? There must be sizes in between, I'm hoping!
Great idea indydebi for the base cookie recipe.
My chocolate chip are 1.5 ounces each. I wanted to make a bigger than average cookie, but not too big. I found this to be a good size, but now I have to weigh out each ball! We ran over to Walmart last night to buy DS some new clothes (my 10yo is now in men's clothes! Growin like a weed!) and the cookie scoop in the kitchen gadgets aisle was too small, but the ice cream scoop was too big! Do you buy your scoops at a restaurant supply or something? There must be sizes in between, I'm hoping!
The only place I know of that I can walk in and get them is in an outlet mall about an hour south of me. A kitchen supply store. The #24 is the size I use. (It's about 1.25" deep in the center and 1.75" wide - inner dimension. It hold 3 Tbsp of water.)
I know the ones in the regular retails stores and the Pampered Chef ones do not have a size number in them, but the #24 has worked out great for me. I've seen people on the Food Channel use ice cream scoops, but I"m not interested in making a cookie MEAL .... just a simple cookie. Not too big ... not too small.
I do NOT believe in the phrase "Bigger is Better". No. No, it's not.
Hubby is going to hit the public restaurant supply store for me today, but I can't figure out what size disher to get. All I know is that my chocolate chip cookies are 1.5 ounces and I like that size, but I can't figure out from the Hamilton Beach website which one I need for that size cookie. Maybe I'll just have him grab me a bunch and hopefully I can return the ones I don't use. They aren't too big (I made 2 oz'er and that was too big of a cookie), but slightly larger than regular cookie size, at least to me. They are approximately 3.25" in diameter and weigh 1.5 oz.
I just read this thread and have picked up some great tips. thanks you two
I was in the Publix food store earlier this year and they have several sizes of cookie scoops. I found their medium one works best for me. I use it for my Oatmeal Raisin and it's the perfect size. I have been refrigerating my other drop dough and rolling it, i haven't figured out my problem but I don't like the look of the other cookies as drop cookies. I wish I could get over myself, because it definitely requires more of my time. I like the idea of making ahead of time and freezing. Will try that next week
I was in the Publix food store earlier this year and they have several sizes of cookie scoops. I found their medium one works best for me. I use it for my Oatmeal Raisin and it's the perfect size. I have been refrigerating my other drop dough and rolling it, i haven't figured out my problem but I don't like the look of the other cookies as drop cookies. I wish I could get over myself, because it definitely requires more of my time. I like the idea of making ahead of time and freezing. Will try that next week
What do you mean you don't like the look of the drop cookies? Because you froze them? Explain, explain.
I too like the idea of freezing ahead, at least a few days. Now I don't do this with my sugar cookies just because I have a problem baking them after I freeze them (can't ever figure out how long to let them thaw before baking).
MichelleM77 what I don't like about drop cookies is that they don't have a perfect shape. I like a more precise cookie. That's the part that's killing me. I need to use the scoop and get over it. I like the idea of making the dough and freezing ahead of time. I've had the flu so haven't been doing much of anything this week. Sorry about the confusion.
MichelleM77 what I don't like about drop cookies is that they don't have a perfect shape. I like a more precise cookie. That's the part that's killing me. I need to use the scoop and get over it. I like the idea of making the dough and freezing ahead of time. I've had the flu so haven't been doing much of anything this week. Sorry about the confusion.
Oh, N2, that so agrees with what I say all the time: If regular housewives had access to all of the foods and tools that I do, as a commercial food business, we'd all LUV being housewives!!
Even way back as a little kid, I always wondered why bakery cookies were so perfectly round and the at-home ones weren't. Well, I'm in my 40's when I learn it's the tools we use! Cookie scoops and baking on parchment paper turn out perfect, uniform cookies every single time.
This archaic method of using 2 tsps to "scoop" cookies dough has long gone by the wayside!
I know what you mean about the cookie shape. The choc. chip I've been making are all relatively the same shape because I've been weighing each ball of dough out! I know, crazy! I can't wait to get to GFS and buy a disher! Hubby was supposed to get me one this week, but never made it to the supply store by his jobsite. How dare he! LOL!
Michelle, check out BJ's! They sell Domino brand sugar. Powdered, Brown and Regular if my memory is correct! You can look to see what they carry online.
I sell drop cookies and one requirement, MINIMUM two dozen order on any cookie like that. Otherwise, it is a waste of your time, IMO. I have the recipes perfected to half sizes, etc so what I make is is exactly what I am selling. Of course, the BF and 3yr get all pissy because there are no extras, but oh well!!
I'm not a member, but I might have to see if they have a day like Sam's where you can stop in and pay an extra 10% or something if you aren't a member.
Oh yes, totally putting a minimum of two dozen on drop cookies. I have a minimum of a dozen on my decorated too.
Thank you for the idea, totally forgot about BJ's!
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