Sweet & Simple® Cookies...Baked Locally, With Love

Cookies are, by definition, hard to resist.  Fairfield resident Michelle Jaffee has made resistance even more difficult with her new line of cookies, Sweet & Simple, adorable in their individual cellophane wrappers, brown and white labels and retro daisy logo.  What’s more, the label proclaims, they’re “baked with love.”

We at CTBites like to support the local, entrepreneurial spirit. (Plus – let’s face it -- we don’t hate eating cookies.)  So we set out to sample the sweets.

Michelle Jaffee started baking early, at age six, on a wood-burning stove in her family’s California home.  As a Connecticut mother of three, she continued baking for family and friends and in 2009, after taking baking classes at the French Culinary Institute in NY, decided to start a small baking business.  Once she found a commercial kitchen, Sweet & Simple® was born.

Our personal favorite was the Big Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. Like all Sweet & Simple® cookies, this one contains no preservatives or unpronounceable ingredients. The ingredient list is simple (and sweet) -- just oats, brown sugar, butter, raisins, flour, egg, vanilla extract, salt and baking soda. The result is a buttery, chewy cookie with a rich brown sugar flavor.  The oats and plump raisins add texture and interest.  Yes, we could definitely feel the love.

Also tempting -- the Big Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookie, the Big Chocolate Chip Cookie and the Big Brownie.  All contain large, visible semi-sweet chocolate chips (yum); the cookies are sweeter and a bit less chewy than the Big Oatmeal Raisin Cookie. The Big Brownie is a kid pleaser  – a large, round brownie-muffin hybrid studded with chocolate chips. It has rich chocolate flavor and a more cake-like texture.  (Note - the brownie and cookies all get chewier, gooier and harder to resist when warmed in a hot oven or zapped for a few seconds in the microwave.)

The cookies are sold via the website and locally at Westport Wash & Wax, Oscar’s Deli, Stiles Farmers Market, Village Bagel and Gold’s Deli in Westport; Cinch, Pine Creek Deli and Village Bagels in Fairfield; Spic and Span Market in Southport; and the Easton Village Store and Redding Ridge Market.  And look for the special Sweet & Simple Big Playhouse Cookie and Big Triple Chocolate Brownie available exclusively at the Westport Country Playhouse concession.

Go to www.sweetandsimple.com for more information. Hey, what could be better for Mother’s Day than a cookie . . . baked with love?