09/26/2009 Bake or take: Phoenixville business has you covered If you think baking cookies from scratch is best left to 1950s sitcom moms like June Cleaver, but you long for that warm-from-the-oven aroma and taste, don't give up hope. Pottstown Mercury– September 26, 2009 By Gary Puleo, Special to The Mercury All you have to do is go buy some cookie dough from The Handcrafted Cookie Co. in downtown Phoenixville and take it home to your own kitchen. Since they're creating small batches of dough using only all-natural and organic ingredients, you can be sure husband-and-wife-team Chad and Theresa Williams aren't running a cookie-cutter operation here at their café. They make it easy for you to take credit for the baking. So if somebody happens to drop by while your cookies are in the oven, high-end fixings like organic Madagascar bourbon vanilla extract may even help you come off smelling like a world-class gourmet baker. "Neither of us was really a baker before, but liked the convenience of the mass market brands of dough," Chad said. "But when you read the labels with all the big words on it, it's the sort of stuff we try to personally avoid eating. So we thought why not do the cookies with natural ingredients and whole foods, with no hydrogenated fats and no artificial anything." With Chad's background as a chef, the couple had considered opening a full restaurant for quite a while, Theresa said. "But we were unsure about taking on something that big, so we tried to come up with something that had to do with food that we like ... and we both have a pretty strong sweet tooth," she said. The King of Prussia couple stumbled upon the perfect compromise when they decided to open the little specialty shop that offers ready-to-eat cookies as well as take-home dough, along with the dunking sidekicks that are any cookie's best friend — coffee, tea and milk. Sticking to the couple's culinary philosophy that embraces elements like organic eggs and chocolate chips, as well as freshly chopped and grinded spices and nuts, Theresa created The Handcrafted Cookie Co.'s 16 "fun" flavors. "Your favorite childhood cookies all grown up," is how she likes to describe them. Not to worry, that classic favorite, chocolate chip, has been left untweaked and comes loaded with chocolate morsels. But it is joined on the menu by the imaginative Nutty Irish — a sugar cookie with walnuts, toasted oats and "creamy Baileys" — and the adventurous lavender vanilla sugar cookie. Other flavors include Chocolate Cherry Cordial, Raspberry Mint, Blueberry Bliss Oatmeal, Cinnamon Delights, Mocha Coconut and Mintnight Dreams — a mint chocolate cookie speckled with dark and white chocolate chips. "We do have a mixer, of course, but everything is done by hand from start to finish," Chad said. "It's still a cookie, but it's all very high quality, nourishing ingredients — all butter, unbleached flour, nothing artificial." Their mix of customers is fairly evenly divided between those who just want to buy cookies already baked to the ambitious folks who want to feel a little bit like bakers themselves, Theresa said. Cookies sell for a dollar each and $10 for the dough, which comes portioned out in a box nice enough for gift-giving. Also available are cookie-dough pops, cookie-crusted cheesecakes and cookie pies. The shop's conscientious proprietors are as committed to using eco-friendly products and establishing a charitable rapport with local groups as they are to the high standards they employ in the kitchen. Although Phoenixville was originally just a nice midway point where the couple could meet up for a visit with Theresa's parents, who live in Pottstown, it didn't take long for Theresa and Chad to become captivated by the small-town atmosphere. When they discovered the available space on Main Street — originally occupied by legendary bakery shop Goebel's — the intent was to set up a wholesale and online cookie business. "Then we figured as long as we're going to be here baking and we have a storefront, why not open up?" Theresa allowed. The cooperation of landlords Bill Felton and Jim O'Brien, who own several buildings in town, played a big role in that decision, Chad added. "They've very involved in the community, very knowledgeable and helpful, not an absentee landlord like so many others in this town are," he said. "That's a big plus for us that they're here and invested in the building. We like the direction the town is going in and it can only get better." The Handcrafted Cookie Co. (www.thehandcraftedcookiecompany.com) is located at 24 S. Main St., Phoenixville, and may be reached at 484-921-4934. Hours are 4 to 8 p.m. Wednesday and Thursday; 4 to 10 p.m. Friday; and 10 a.m. to 10 p.m. on Saturday.