FE: MmmMaui Cookie Lady

“I left a secure job of teaching/counseling for the public school system that I absolutely loved. I loved my boss, coworkers, close to home but felt that this was my encore career calling. I viewed the leap of entrepreneurial faith as opportunity to have two careers in life that are fulfilling.”~ Mitzi Toro

Island baking expert Mitzi Toro delivers an extra special treat. She shares with us how taking a leap of faith and following a passion led to an internationally known cookie company based in the heart of upcountry. She makes one of our favorite cookies, inspired by local musician Anuhea, a fellow upcountry women and lavender farm fan. The sugar on top of this chef feature is Lavender sugar recipe using Alii Kula Lavender’s Pure Culinary Lavender.

What inspired you to start baking professionally as The Maui Cookie Lady and what are some of the ups and downs of that transition?
I have lived on Maui most of my life and saw the struggles that many food businesses have had. I knew it would not be an easy life and there would be any challenges taking the leapfrog fundraiser, hobby, expensive hobby to in hopes of a viable business. I left a secure job of teaching/counseling for the public school system that I absolutely loved. I loved my boss, coworkers, close to home but felt that this was my encore career calling. I viewed the leap of entrepreneurial Faith as opportunity to have two careers in life that are fulfilling. The challenges are not only covering my own expenses but once you hire employees and their livelihood and health insurance depends on you it is another level of responsibility that can be stressful if you are worried about making payroll. We have been fortunate to have a solid staff and the turnover is very low which helps us maintain quality, custody service and gives me the confidence that our staff is team and we are in this rollercoaster together. Every time I meet a customer who takes the time to share that they love our product, or we made someone’s day for us are the “ups” it is another opportunity to cross paths, make foodie friends and connect that I would not have had I not be in the job. It is more than butter, sugar and eggs. For me the friendships with customers is what keeps me going. In a way, its like we are all in a cookie club ad hope to stay connected as long as we can.
The invention and experimentation process of your recipes must be fun! Have you ever had any failed experiments? Do you have anything to share about trying new things and meeting challenges?
We have made over 225 variations since we started. Here is really no magical science. We have some flavors that do well and some that do not. Our small kitchen does not allow us to keep too many flavors available at once. When we release a new flavor and there are lots of requests, we bring the flavor back. Experimenting is a lot of fun and we get to see over time what will work and what will not. At first, there was a lot more wasted and more batches that did not fair well. As we have had more experience, we have more instincts of what will work.


Tell us about your little cookie shop in Makawao.
We started out wholesale and shipping nine years ago out of necessity as I did not have a traditional brick and mortar. I had been hesitant to open up a shop as running a commercial special is costly. We were shipping long before COVID hit so we had honed our energies and efficiencies in. We essentially catering to a customer who was accustomed to next day delivery with Amazon and this was a logistic challenge for us to receive an order and get that order out right away. After COVID his, we ended up having the busiest year we ever had simply because our shipping was already set to go. We had a yearlong goal in 2019, our online shopping store and where we received our orders from and finally made that goal a reality in January 2020 which was one of the most beneficial moves we have done to date.
The positive results of this determination gave us the courage to open up a shop during a pandemic. As our online presence grew, so did the customer inquiries asking to come visit us in person once they vacationed on Maui. We also wanted a local pick up location for people who lived on the island. Before having the shop, we were shipping to Maui addresses. That makes the order more expensive for local customers. The shop in the heart of Makawao town was serendipitous. The shows my late father’s favorite shop because of the clock outside and he was from Germany and it is within walking distance to our kitchen. The founder of Makawao town, TamYau, coincidently, also built the building our commercial kitchen is in. The location was offered to me by the granddaughter of TamYau as she had heard about our kitchen being in the building her grandfather had built. I had never dreamt I would have the opportunity to have a store in Makawao. It is truly the opportunity of a lifetime for me.
This is a hard question but, can you share with us your favorite cookie in your collection?
The “Anuhea Upcountry Breeze” is one of my favorites of all time as it showcases so may local ingredients and beautiful agriculture of our island: Waihe’e farms macadamia nuts, calamansi, Hawaiian sea salt and of course the beautiful lavender of Ali’i Kula Lavender Farms.
This creation was a passion project collaboration with Anuhea, a popular local musician from Upcountry, Maui. She loves lavender and had her baby shower at Ali’i Kula Lavender Farm.
My other favorites are Oh My Pumpkin Pie, Happy Days (Molasses & Blueberry), Der Spa Grand Mariner and the upcoming Black Forrest (the Octoberfest Cookie) which has cherries that soak for four months in a 10-year Tawny Port, Orang Rinds, Cinnamon Sticks, the fill is a velvet cocoa cookie along with black cherry, 64% couverture chocolate and cream center that honor the roots of my father.
And now the most important question of them all… Milk: Dunk or Sip?
I am a sipper for the large cookies and a dunker for our small 1 oz. cookies.

Mahalo to our millions of readers! Aloha and we welcome your comments below.
Akasha Lin
Akasha Garnier for #TheWishwall
Author, Brand Expert, Filmmaker
Photo: AkashaLin, Maui
Inspo: https://www.aliikulalavender.com/maui-cookie-lady-feature
Read more from:
Future Entrepreneurs - The Wishwall https://www.thewishwall.org/future-entrepreneurs