Within the upcountry city of Makawao on the slopes of Haleakala, a humble little bakery generally known as The Maui Cookie Girl is producing a few of the nation’s most desired cookies.
Crafted by proprietor Mitzi Toro, the extra-large, chunky cookies are filled with regionally produced substances that make them distinctive to Hawaii, similar to Waihee Valley Plantation macadamia nuts, Hawaiian sea salt, lavender, Haleakala Creamery caramel, lilikoi (ardour fruit), mango and even Maui Brewing Firm beers and Koloa Rum.
“Hawaii has a lot stunning agriculture that we are able to use in our cookies, so the chances are infinite,” Toro advised SFGATE.
The cookies’ creativity and mixture of flavors have caught nationwide consideration in recent times with the assistance of actor and former skilled wrestler Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson, who complimented the bakery in a 2016 Instagram submit that has obtained greater than 374,000 likes.
“This isn’t a drill,” Johnson wrote. “That is 16oz of handcrafted, hand rolled, slap somebody within the face trigger it tastes so good, decadent and harmful chocolate chip cookie – appropriately named THE ROCK (The Dwayne Johnson cookie) as a present from considered one of my fav cookie spots on the earth.”
The Rock’s cookie turned out to be Toro’s Da Half Baked cookie at double the scale. It’s full of Reese’s, Snickers and an Oreo.
“Folks had been gifting our cookies,” the 48-year-old Toro advised SFGATE. “I didn’t understand this was occurring, after which when an organization stated they had been [preparing gifts] for The Rock and he cherished cookies, they requested us to make a particular cookie for him, so we did.”
“When he did his first submit, I used to be so honored,” Toro continued. “I didn’t know he was going to submit, and he did and gave us that assist. That’s like a dream of any artisan baker.”
Since The Rock’s Instagram submit, different celebrities have grow to be followers. Rapper Ludacris rented a helicopter to fly from Honolulu to Maui particularly to choose up a field of cookies from Toro in 2018. She additionally was requested to create cookies for Snoop Dogg, Cardi B, Chic and the late Bob Saget. And the bakery has appeared in quite a few nationwide magazines and TV exhibits, together with “Good Morning America,” Meals Community Journal and O, The Oprah Journal.
“My mother calls me the Forrest Gump of the meals business,” Toro stated. “So many unbelievable alternatives have offered themselves to me, and I by no means had a baking class.”
Toro is a self-taught baker who started making cookies as a freshman at a highschool in Los Angeles.
“I used to be actually shy in class and nervous, and my freshman yr English trainer had baked cookies,” she stated. “I simply do not forget that feeling the cookies gave me, calming me down, and it tasted actually good. Afterwards I requested for the recipe, and I simply saved baking that recipe all via highschool.”
Toro moved to Maui along with her household on the age of 20, and she or he continued baking cookies for co-workers firstly of a brand new job or for household and buddies through the holidays as a pastime.
In 2012, Toro bought her cookies for the primary time at an area farmers market as a fundraiser to thank the nurses who took care of her dad previous to his passing. The cookies turned a right away hit, and inside a couple of months, she began getting repeat clients.
Given a alternative between persevering with her educating profession and baking full time, she took the leap and stop her day job.
She ran the enterprise on-line, which set her up for achievement through the pandemic, and noticed a rise in gross sales the previous two years. In 2021, she opened her first brick-and-mortar retailer in Makawao, which is fairy-tale-themed, attaining an enormous aim that Toro had lengthy dreamed. And she or he created her personal line of extracts now out there on the market, together with mango and lilikoi
Since 2012, The Maui Cookie Girl has made greater than 225 kinds of cookies, however there are solely 12 out there at a time. The unique ButterRum Triple Chunker and White Chunk Mac Nut are the highest sellers.
Of the seasonal cookies, the Anuhea Upcountry Breeze is the bakery’s hottest, made in collaboration with Maui singer-songwriter Anuhea. It’s made with white chocolate, macadamia nuts, calamansi, sea salt and lavender. One other scorching seasonal merchandise is the Tropical Monkey, which Toro describes as banana bread in a cookie.
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