The mouth-watering aroma of warm-baked sugar floats out of the Mendoza family oven and fills the house with the feeling of love and joy. A simple metal baking tray holds the delicious creation of an unbreakable sisterly bond who’s way of connecting is through the combination of flour, eggs, and an array of other ingredients that are crafted into their impeccable cookies. Ellie Mendoza (10) and her sister Keana Mendoza (‘11) are now sharing their recipes with the public, distributing their heart-warming love for baking.
“I always admired my sister’s passion for baking,” Ellie said. “To every family event she always had a fresh baked tray of cakes, pastries, and pies, but none compared to her amazing cookies.”
Keana found her love for baking while she was a student at Westview. She needed something fun to take her mind off of stress. She soon discovered how freeing it felt to drop her textbooks, throw on an apron, and set to work with a bowl and whisk.
History is repeating itself now with Ellie.
“My classes this year are really challenging,” Ellie said. “I needed to find a hobby that would help me de-stress. That’s when I decided to join my sister in the kitchen. Since I was little, I baked with her from time to time, but now that I’m a sophomore in high school, spending time with my sister has become very valuable to me.”
The two sisters then began incorporating baking together into their busy schedules, and every week since they have worked on perfecting their craft.
The sisters slip on their oven mitts and begin combining sugar, flour, eggs, vanilla, and a vast array of other ingredients to make countless flavors of cookies. They have produced every flavor imaginable: from fresh strawberry to warm cinnamon coffee. However, the Mendoza Sisters’ aren’t just discovering their recipes by Googling “quick and easy cookies to bake,” but by sampling combinations of ingredients to curate their own unique ones. Since they’re recipes are so different, each one has endless hours of thought baked into it.
Their cookies are made from crumbly dough, then topped with a light and sweet frosting.
“We always start with a concept,” Ellie said. “We think up a flavor or flavor combination that we really want to try, and then we find the right ingredients to make it. Using our cinnamon coffee cookies as an example, we started by putting cinnamon into the dough because it blends in nicely with the other dry ingredients. Then we take some instant coffee and add a little bit of water. This transforms it from a powder to a liquid without making it too watery. This gets added into our frosting to make it have a coffee flavor.”
To make their frosting they whip together powdered sugar, heavy whipping cream, and other secret ingredients that make their cookies unique.
“[When adding in new ingredients] we always start with small quantities, Ellie said. “Then we evaluate what needs to be added, and we go off taste.” “Making the recipes ourselves can, at times, be really hard,” Ellie said. “Sometimes, no matter how hard we try, we can’t seem to match the taste to the flavor that the cookie is supposed to imitate. Nonetheless, that’s also what makes us so different from other companies and small businesses. We will stay committed to ensure that our cookies look and taste delicious, but are also accurate to the flavor.”
Their cookies resemble a brand that has become increasingly popular: Crumbl Cookie.
“I actually love Crumbl, but they’re cookies are terrible for you, which is part of the reason why we started our business,” Ellie said. “So many people love Crumbl, but aren’t too excited about putting all that sugar and calories in their bodies.”
The serving size of one Crumbl cookie is ¼ of a cookie. This is because one cookie has around 760 calories, 16 grams of saturated fat, and 76 grams of sugar; it is recommended that the average woman consume no more than 25 grams of sugar each day, and for men 36 grams.
“We wanted to deliver a substitute for Crumbl but even better,” Ellie said. “That’s why we use sugar alternatives such as stevia and significantly less quantities of it than other brands.”
The Mendoza Sisters’ cookies only have 12 grams of sugar which includes the frosting.
“The advantage of having our own business is that we know every ingredient put in our recipes,” Mendoza said. “Sometimes cookies made by corporations are so calorie and sugar dense, and it’s extremely unnecessary. When we can, we like to use natural flavors and sugars, so that our customers are pleased with the sweetness, but for those with less of a sweet tooth, not too overwhelmed with a thick and rich cookie. ”
Their cookies are sold for $2 each compared to Crumbl which is $4.99.
“It was really important to us that they were priced really well,” Mendoza said. “It’s kinda crazy to pay $5 for one cookie, so we made ours at less than half of that. As a small business, we don’t have the distribution that the large companies do, so we wanted to make sure that anyone in this area could access our cookies and money doesn’t have to be an issue. Some day, we hope to be able to expand our business and spread our product to more people.”
They have been baking, promoting, and distributing their cookies to spread their home-baked creations.
“We want to give our customers authentic, affordable, and most importantly, a delicious tasting cookie,” Ellie said. “Support a small business and shop Mendoza Sisters’ Cookies!”
