Shop Local – Behind The Cookie

Pacific Cookie Company’s Holiday Gift Guide

Did you know that as Christmas comes around, Pacific Cookie Company doesn’t just give away solid-colored cookie towers? Yep – we have plenty of gifts for everyone, and they’re not just your standard one-dozen box. Read on for our favorite gifts for everyone in your life that you can find in our store and online!

Gifts for Him:

Santa Pants

Our Santa Pants gift bag is super cute, and the guys in your life are bound to laugh. Stuffed with two dozen cookies.

Straight to Your Heart

The sleek, silver design of our Straight to Your Heart Tower is ultra-cool. Stacked with one dozen cookies.

Gifts for Her:

Adorn Me Cookie Tower

Our Adorn Me Cookie Tower is perfect for the woman who looks forward to decorating the tree… in March. Includes one dozen cookies.

Snowfall Cookie Box

The glittery ribbon on our Snowfall Cookie Box adds a dainty touch to the standard bow.

Gifts for Kids:

Got Cookies?! Gift Basket

Let the kids set out cookies for Santa – and eat some of them, too. This comes with five dozen, after all!

Gifts for the Locals:

Surf City Sweets

Drawn by local artist Lynn Piquett, the Surfer Statue is memorialized on this cookie tower.

Baked in Santa Cruz

The Giant Dipper sits behind our gorgeous ocean, watched over by the iconic Surfer Statue. Find two dozen cookies nestled inside this gift box.

Gifts Under $25:

Country Rustic Holiday Gift Box

This rustic box may not have literal bells and whistles, but it still captures Santa’s magic.

Harlequin Cookie Tower

Have a movie fiend in the family? These Harlequin cookie towers are perfect for your DC comics lover.

Gifts Under $50:

The Santa Cruz Cookie Tin

Sunny days and Saturn Café – this cookie tin will transport them to Santa Cruz whenever they pull out this tin.

Rose Gold Reflections

For a glittery, gleaming box, you can’t beat a shimmery bow in rose gold to hold two dozen cookies.

Gifts for the Traditional:

Warm & Cozy Cookie Gift Box

Red and green plaid bows are a classic for Christmas, making these boxes perfect for the Christmas traditional.

Seasons Eatings Holiday Cookie Tin

Fill their stockings and wish them Seasons Greetings… with three dozen cookies to feast on.

Gifts for the Homesick:

Home for The Holidays

Say you miss your loved ones with the three hos: Home, Holidays, and Hope.

Quarantine Cookie Care Package

It’s hard when you can’t see family; send them a quarantine cookie care package with one dozen cookies and toilet paper. (You have to have a sense of humor!)

Which gifts will you be giving your loved ones from Pacific Cookie? Tell us in the comments!

Cookies and Coffee Pairings

At Pacific Cookie Company, we pride ourselves on our Nellie’s Special: two cookies and a coffee to wash them down. The special is extremely popular – after all, what pairs better than Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co.’s coffee with a Chocolate Chip during a late-night stop? Plus, there’s no better feeling than supporting local small businesses during the holidays.

While we don’t serve every coffee from Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting with our cookies, we can recommend the best brews to try when you walk down the street. Here are our favorite pairings.

Chocolate Chip: Santa Cruz Full City

We serve Santa Cruz Full City at the store, because it’s a classic from Santa Cruz Roasting Co. (and it’s “Santa Cruz” Full City – we have to represent the town). A medium roast, the coffee’s vanilla mingles with the slight bitterness, perfect to pair with the cookie’s semisweet chocolate chips.

Chocolate Chip with Walnuts: 40^th Anniversary Blend

What goes better with our walnut-filled cookie than a medium-roast coffee that has walnut flavoring? On top of this, the buttery brown sugar in the Chocolate Chip cookie matches the brown sugar tasting note mingling with the walnut in the 40^th Anniversary Blend.

Almond Joe: Colombian Supremo

Almond Joe has almonds (of course), but it also has semisweet chocolate. Colombian Supremo’s medium-body roast has a fragrant, floral taste with notes of roasted almonds and caramel. It’s a sweet pairing balanced by the nuttiness.

Cahootz: Bean of the Earth

Our Cahootz cookie is, arguably, our sweetest cookie, thanks to its macadamia nuts, white chocolate, and hint of coconut. Rather than tamper it down with a dark roast, we recommend celebrating the taste with Bean of the Earth, which has notes of apricot and vanilla.

Dr. Midnight: Kenya AA

It might not seem like it at first taste, but part of Dr. Midnight’s delicious darkness includes grape juice, so pair it with a fruity, wine-like coffee. Our recommendation: Kenya AA, which has a crisp taste of bright, wine-like acidity.

Lemon Drop: Indian Monsooned Malabar AA

Our Lemon Drop has a strong, lemon taste, which we’re extremely proud of. Pair it with the Indian Monsooned Malabar AA, which is extremely light to keep a cedar-like note. For those not in-the-know (like myself), cedar notes taste sweet, like vanilla, so it’ll pair with the light, sugary dusting throughout the Lemon Drop.

Mint Condition: Chocolate Moka Java

Mint can be hard to complement outside of chocolate… so pair it with chocolate! Santa Cruz Coffee Roasting Co.’s flavored coffee, Chocolate Moka Java – which is smooth and sweet, with chocolate flavoring – doesn’t fight with the mint in the cookie, but melds with the dark chocolate.

Oatmeal Raisin: Steve’s Smooth French

Oatmeal raisin has a hint of cinnamon on top of its raisins, so pair it with currants and brown sugar. And by that, I mean pair it with Steve’s Smooth French, with tasting notes that pull out the raisins and warm spices without overwhelming your palate.

Peanut Butter: Mexican

This light French, medium-body roast pairs with the strong taste of peanut butter. It has a nutty, buttery flavor that mingles with the sweet and savory taste of our peanut butter, while milk chocolate and brown sugar add extra oomph.

Peanut Butter Chocolate Chip: Santa Cruz Organic Espresso

Espresso is strong, which is perfect when paired with semisweet chocolate chips. The Organic blend is rich and sweet, rather than bitter, lessening the peanut butter in a yummy way. You might even want to dip the cookie in the coffee, but that’s just us.

Snickerdoodle: Try the Nutcracker as we enter the holidays!

Our Snickerdoodle basically needs a coffee with cinnamon tasting notes. Enter: this coffee, full of cinnamon with a hint of hazelnut, which complement the sweet notes of our Snickerdoodles.

Ginger Spice: BluesBreaker

Our Ginger Spice is filled with ginger. Like, baked with crystallized ginger and ground ginger, then sprinkled with ginger sugar. It’s a Christmas miracle! It’s also supported by nutmeg, so underscore that tasting note with BluesBreaker, featuring hints of chocolate and nutmeg in a full body, dark roast.

What is your favorite cookie and coffee pairing? Will you be trying any of these? Tell us below!

Happy National Small Business Day!

We love celebrating Santa Cruz-based companies, so in honor of National Small Business Day, we thought we’d share our favorite products from Toque Blanche. They sell some of the best cooking and baking products in Santa Cruz!

Filled with goodies to make every chef a pro, Toque has carried on despite the struggle COVID brought to our local businesses. The least we can do is lift them up! These are our favorite items that will up your baking game.

Wood Handle Whisk

While many people love metal whisks, we know that for some, nothing can replace a wood handle. This whisk uses lacquered birch hardwood for the handle and stainless steel wires. Best part: it’s dishwasher safe.

Bread Loaf Baker

Bread-making doesn’t have to be stressful with this bread loaf baker! Throw your dough into this loaf pan and then place it in the oven. It will crisp up the edges while keeping your insides soft thanks to the refractory ceramic and domed lid managing humidity; holes on the bottom and top guarantee the perfect crust.

Cookie Sheet

What makes this cookie sheet so unique: it’s topped with a nonstick Americoat, a type of silicone coating that makes it easier to peel cookies off – minus the middles sticking to the sheet. Clean-up is also easy: just wash gently with a sponge and dish soap.

Stainless Steel Scoop

We’ve written about why cookie scoops are so important (like, a bunch of times), and Toque Blanche sells the perfectly-sized scoop for your perfect cookies. You’ll no longer have to worry about uneven burning and mushy insides.

Digital Scale

Scales are better than measuring cups and spoons because they’re the most accurate. And, with baking, accuracy is crucial – too much flour and you’ll have crumbly dough, too little and it will be runny. (We wrote about these issues before!) This scale is highly rated and will measure your ingredients to the gram, so you’ll never have issues with dough again.

Springform Pan

If you’re baking a cake of any sort, a springform pan should be your best friend. This one is made of carbon steel and can withstand 390ªF. Its nonstick coating is perfect for cakes that require a light touch. The spring opens with a simple flip of a latch, but it’s tight enough to avoid seeping out while in the oven.

White Marble Rolling Pin

Marble is porous, meaning it withstands the cold better by absorbing heat: perfect when you’re mixing cold ingredients into a recipe, like cold butter into flour. It’s simple to clean – just wipe it down and stick it on its stand, making it a fab décor item in your kitchen.

Mix-n-Measure 2-Cup

We love this mix-in-measure cup. Sure, you can use a scale for grams, then translate it to ounces; teaspoons into tablespoons; or tablespoons into cups. But this cup makes it way easier by having marks for every measurement, taking the guesswork out of baking. No more googling like a mad chef – it’s all in this two-cup glass.

Kolder Glass Mix-in-Measure, 2 Cup, $7.99

Toque Blanche doesn’t just sell amazing bakeware – they also sell amazing kitchen tools, like cutting boards, crepe makers, herb strippers, and more. But we had to rave about the tools that will make your baking life easier.

Have you shopped at Toque Blanche? What’s your favorite cookware and bakeware? Let us know below!

Mother’s Day 2021 Gift Guide

Mother’s Day is right around the corner, and we’ve got just what Mom needs this year…fresh-baked, gourmet cookies of course! We’ve put together a list of our top picks, which includes our brand new cookie towers!

Vintage Tulips Cookie Tower

Our BRAND NEW cookie tower is quite possibly the cutest gift to send this year! You’re basically sending Mom cookies and tulips. Well, not real tulips but like, you get the point. Select two of her favorite flavors and include your personalized message at checkout. Easy as can be!

Wildflower Cookie Tower

You’ll be sending Mom Mother’s Day wishes AND Spring Greetings with our NEW Wildflower Cookie Tower. Inspired by California’s beautiful wildflowers, this is a sweet yet simple way to show Mom some love! She’ll be delighted to find our delicious, gourmet cookies inside!

With all My Heart

This totally reminds us of the arrow-running-through-heart-mom-tattoo. Right?! Show Mom your loyalty, without the permanent ink, with our NEW cookie tower: With all My Heart. You can pick from our red, white or pink hearts (or, send Mom one of each?!). Each tower includes one dozen scrumptious cookies!

Sweet Elegance

Our most popular gift box is a great way to say, “Happy Mother’s Day!”. What’s even sweeter is you can pick Mom’s favorite color combinations AND her four favorite flavors. You seriously can’t go wrong with this one!

While these are just a few of our favorites for this year, any of our gourmet cookie gifts will make a perfect Mother’s Day Gift. Wishing all the amazing Moms a very Happy Mother’s Day!

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