Cookie trays line Jzeanna Ibon’s (9) kitchen counters every Tuesday night. One by one, the trays are filled with homemade cookie dough. The rows of cookies chill in the fridge overnight, awaiting the next morning when they’ll be baked, decorated, and sold.
Ibon has been selling cookies at school every Wednesday since the fall. She sells three flavors each week, totaling around 40 cookies a week.
“I have one flavor that I’ve been doing ever since I started, and it’s Oreo’ N’ Mallow,” Ibon said. “It’s a s’mores cookie, but instead of a graham cracker, I use Oreo on the bottom. Then every week I sell two new flavors. I try my best to keep up with doing a new flavor every week, and I try not to repeat any flavors. Every week it’s a surprise.”
Ibon has already baked a variety of flavors, and has learned to alter recipes to fit what best suits her baking style. Ibon’s weekly flavors come from her customers’ requests and recommended flavor profiling online.
“I brainstorm my new flavors,” Ibon said. “Sometimes they’re basic like candy bars and cookies. Sometimes they’re a little bit more interesting, like chocolate mocha cookies, tiramisu, Boston cream, and different types of cheesecake cookies. I also tweak recipes for myself, I see what things work for me and what processes work, [for example], how much refrigerator and oven time the cookies need. I also have my own cheesecake icing that I make myself.”
Ibon sells her cookies in the quad throughout the school day, typically selling out around the end of lunch. Ibon packages her cookies in individual paper wrappers to ensure they stay clean and sanitary.
According to Ibon, to perfect her new flavors and ensure she can sell on Wednesday, the process has to be stretched out.
“On Saturday, I try to make the idea of the cookies, and I then post on my Instagram,” she said. “I usually use Canva to design my posts. Sometimes it can be very last-minute, but usually by Tuesday, I know what I’m doing. After school, I prep the cookie dough, which ends up being around 50 cookies because that’s what my fridge and oven can handle. It takes around two hours on a good day to prepare. By Wednesday morning, I just put everything in the oven, decorate, and then pack.”
Ibon’s business, which she developed during the COVID pandemic, has grown significantly and is fueled by her love for baking. Ibon started by sharing her treats with her friends as a hobby, but now she has a steady customer base of around 20 people.
Although it wasn’t a smooth process at first, she kept practicing until she was able to create delicious masterpieces.
“[During COVID], I noticed there were ingredients lying around, and they weren’t really being used,” Ibon said. “I would just Google recipes if I had extra four, extra sugar, extra brown sugar, etc. I started baking from there. I used to burn a lot of things; I wasn’t naturally gifted in baking. At first, they would be flat and too chewy. When I first made cookies, they were a total mess, a blob on a tray. So the first time I even made something edible, I was so happy.”
After a couple of years of baking, Ibon wanted to share her treats. So, she started selling her cookies at school, one for $3 and two for $5.
“I wanted to get more experience with having something of my own and growing my business skills,” Ibon said. “When I first started selling, I would put them in plastic wrap, but it was very messy. I carried around a big tin foil container because that was the only thing I had at the time. By the time I had messier flavors like apple pie, it was so messy, and nobody was buying them. I had to figure out what to do with this problem. Then my mom bought me the container I use now, which holds cookies in stacks.”
Ibon’s customer base has grown significantly; on average, she sells out by lunch. Her business started with selling cookies to her friends, but has expanded to students all across campus.
“Normally, new customers bring more people that I don’t even know to buy cookies,” Ibon said. “That’s also why I started this: to have more experience talking to people and working on my social skills. I used to get really nervous even saying hi to someone. I think I’m a little bit more confident now. I don’t run my business for the money, I just do it for the experience.”
