Carolina Girl Cooks Tea Cookies
Carolina Girl Cooks Tea Cookies
“A balanced diet is a cookie in each hand,” proclaims the website of Jennifer Glover, CarolinaGirlCooks.com. And with two delectable flavors, Lavender and Orange Cardamom on the market (with two more flavors in the works), maybe that’s not such a far-fetched notion. Out less than a year, her Tea Cookies have been gathering a gourmet following due to their unique sweet and savory versatility.
Glover came up with the idea after having a memorable lavender-flavored dessert at a party in San Francisco. When she got back, she planted her Simpsonville backyard with lavender, which then found its way into a cookie. Utilizing a traditional shortbread recipe, she spent a year developing that cookie, then branched out to include an orange and cardamom version. “I love cardamom because it’s such a lovely floral spice and pairs well with citrus,” she adds. (Recipes that didn’t make the cut were sweet potato pecan and bourbon bacon black pepper.)
“My entire idea for the Tea Cookies is to have four flavors, one for each season. We’re doing a chocolate chip sea salt rosemary for the holidays. And we’ll be taste testing both a rose flavor and a lemon blueberry ginger at the Travelers Rest Farmers Market to see what the public likes.” A large part of the appeal of the cookies is the charming packaging. A fervent fan of all things vintage, she adds, “We chose a tea tin that’s reusable and designed it to have an antique feel; it’s perfect for storing keepsakes after the cookies are gone.” The logo is a play on an old-fashioned cameo, and the tins are embellished with whimsical hand-drawn cardamom pods, orange slices and lavender blooms along with her mission: Live Life Deliciously.
Glover’s been a real foodie her whole life, recalling that even at an early age, she pulled up a chair to the kitchen counter to help her mom cook. “My last meal request would definitely be my mom’s mac-and-cheese, but while my friends in high school were watching 90210 on TV, I was watching Great Chefs of the World.” A Clemson grad, she spent ten years after college traveling, eating and journaling about the dishes that inspired her.
Now as a baker, blogger, photographer and recipe developer, her site allows the reader to travel along on her food journeys. Working with Mother Earth Produce, a subscription box service that provides local and organic fruits, vegetables, milk, eggs, bread and meats from farmers in North Carolina and the Upstate, she creates recipes based on what’s inside the box so customers can cook what they purchase that week easily. Additionally, on the site are Southern Sundays, a South-centric collection of recipes influenced by local shops, restaurants and towns.
How exactly does the cookie crumble? Well, Glover suggests making a honey lavender cheesecake with a cookie crust, or sprinkling them over strawberries. Orange cardamom cookies could be crumbled over chocolate ice cream or served with a slab of bleu cheese and dollop of honey for an appetizer or dessert tray.
Carolina Girl Cooks Tea Cookies are available at Soby’s On the Side, Savvy Boutique, Swamp Rabbit Café & Grocery Greenville, Olive and Then Some in Simpsonville and Spartanburg, and A Southern Season stores in Charleston, Virginia and North Carolina.
Carolina Girl Cooks
www.carolinagirlcooks.com
