PALMYRA TWP. — Baking cookies is Stephanie Bardwell’s passion. After starting out baking commercially in Toledo under the name Big Momma Bakery, she opened The Cookie Coop along U.S. 223 in Palmyra on March 30, and since then, she has been working hard to keep up with the demand.
Bardwell started baking cookies in 2020 for her daughter’s graduation party. She then got a license to sell cookies in retail stores in Ohio, and starting baking in her church basement. When she and her family moved to Palmyra, she decided to move in a different direction.
“When we moved here, I said ‘Why don’t we put a little something on the side of the road and sell cookies cottage-food style?’” she recalled. “So we did, and now we’re ‘coopin’ out of control.’”
Bardwell now makes the cookies in her home, and isn’t baking for the commercial market anymore.
“Now that this has taken off, this is my priority,” she said.
Bardwell experiments with “a little bit of everything” with her baking, but cookies have become her passion. She works 16 hours a day, waking up at 4 a.m. to begin.
“I put all my love and soul into these cookies,” she said.
“Baking is the only thing I can do,” she added. “My husband does all the cooking.”
The Cookie Coop offers chocolate chip, double chocolate, oatmeal raisin and peanut butter cookies, along with cinnamon rolls. Bardwell also makes a different variety of specialty cookie each week, such as a s’mores cookie.
Gluten-free cookies are also available.
Bardwell came up with the name Big Momma Bakery when her cousin asked her to bake cookies, and challenged her to make a big one. Bardwell came up with a six-ounce cookie and said “Here you go — here’s your big momma cookie.”
“I’m a momma, and I made a big ol’ cookie,” she added. “It’s six ounces packed with deliciousness.”
The six-ounce cookies from Big Momma Bakery cost $4 per cookie, and 12 smaller cookies in a bag are $13.
The Cookie Coop measures 12 by 16 feet, with an additional 4 feet for the front porch. Displayed on the exterior are the words “Cookie Coop,” which makes it easy to spot from the road.
The Cookie Coop is at 3247 Myers Highway, at the corner of Myers and U.S. 223. Hours are Tuesday through Friday from 7 a.m. to 4 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday from 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. The Cookie Coop is closed on Monday. For more information, find Big Momma Bakery on Facebook or call 419-297-7928.
