Meet the Producer: Cookie Box

By Lauren Lynch December 13, 2010

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This article originally appeared in the December 2010 issue of Seattle Magazine.

Anne Nisbet and Marcia Sisley-Berger were destined to bake together. Having walked the same dining room floor at Ray’s Boathouse, albeit at different times (Nisbet was  director of catering from 1991 to 1998, Sisley-Berger a pastry chef from 2003 to 2009), the two met through a mutual friend who knew they had at least one thing in common: a passion for baking sweet treats. In August, their obsession became Cookie Box (cookieboxseattle.com), with an official launch at the Pike Place Market Artisan Food Festival in September. “We know we make good cookies,” says Nisbet, noting that her marketing background and Sisley-Berger’s kitchen expertise allow for a steady stream of creative ideas. “The biggest challenge is not to make too many things.” Each bite-size cookie contains ingredients from the local Smith Brothers Farms dairy as well as a few outside sources that Sisley-Berger knew would not fail the quality test. The team gives just as much attention to the naming process. The classic chocolate chip cookie, made with Guittard chocolate chips and a dash of sea salt, is dubbed the Mary Ann in honor of the Gilligan’s Island All-American beauty. The savory Olivia shortbread, made with oil-cured black olives and freshly grated lemon zest, is the “sophisticated, well-traveled party girl” who pairs well with a little bubbly. The Brigitte, a straight-up Scharffen Berger chocolate cookie, is “one little sexpot” wearing a jacket of powdered sugar. And a bite of the coconut almond macaroon will leave no doubt as to why it’s named Happy. For the holidays, Nisbet and Sisley-Berger have put together boxes filled with everything from just cookies to sweet-treat-and-cookie combos ($12.95–$26.95, depending on size), assembled by hand in colorful packaging. Online orders (one dozen minimum, $9–$30) can be shipped by UPS or delivered locally by a courier service.

 

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