Hop aside Easter Bunny; there’s an up-and-coming service in town that’s dishing out festive sweet treats.
Sunnyvale resident Megan Wong is the owner of One Cute Cookie Bakery, a small business where she makes and intricately decorates cookies for special occasions and holidays like Easter. The stay-at-home mom of two started the business in 2022 as a passion project, and is gaining appreciation from locals for her attention to detail and willingness to take on orders during the busy holiday season.
A set of Easter cookies wait for the finish decoration by Megan Wong, owner at One Cute Cookie Bakery in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, March 29, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“I already had a couple of people contacting me saying, ‘I forgot to order Easter cookies. Will you have extra?’” she said. “I always bake extras, because I know I’ll have a lot of people asking me at the last minute.”
Orders are placed through the One Cute Cookie website and made in Wong’s home kitchen. In addition to pre-decorated regular and mini sugar cookies, she also offers customized ones and “Paint Your Own Cookie” kits, which come with a mini paintbrush, edible paint palette and sugar cookies printed with a black-and-white design.
Wong’s busiest times fall between October to December, or Halloween and Christmas, when she gets 30 to 35 orders. Easter, however, can come in a close second. This year she is working on finishing 15 orders, or 82 items, before the holiday.
One Cute Cookie Bakery owner Megan Wong decorates Easter cookies at her home in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, March 29, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“I’m a pretty slow decorator, so that is a lot for me to do in a week,” said the Fremont native.
Easter cookie preparations start as early as January, when Wong brainstorms a list of design ideas and tests out decorations. A month before the holiday, she posts a pre-sale where customers can place orders. This year, she is showcasing designs including pastel-colored Easter eggs, white bunny faces and a bright yellow chick with beady eyes. Cookie costs can vary depending on factors including the size, design and type of packaging. Her products for the Easter pre-sale items ranged from $6.50 for an individual cookie to $55 for a platter of 18 mini cookies.
Custom made Easter cookies made by Megan Wong, owner at One Cute Cookie Bakery, ready for pick up at her home in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, March 29, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
Wong said she was never a baker, but motherhood inspired her to pick up the cookie cutters and piping tips. She started baking cookies for her kids’ birthdays and Christmas events, and shared them with friends and family members before launching her service.
“I loved doing it,” she said. “I have pictures from the first few Christmases when I decorated cookies with (my son) and I was so proud of what I had done. Looking back at it now, it was not very good at all, but it got me interested.”
But making the treats, especially around the holiday season, isn’t always a sweet deal. During the day, Wong is busy taking care of her family. It’s only when they’re fast asleep that Wong can get started on baking and decorating, sometimes staying up until 1 a.m. or 2 a.m. to finish them.
One Cute Cookie Bakery owner Megan Wong decorates Easter cookies at her home in Sunnyvale, Calif., on Friday, March 29, 2024. (Ray Chavez/Bay Area News Group)
“It’s been a tough thing to limit my orders to something that is manageable for me so that it doesn’t impact my family as much, or my sleep,” she said.
Her hard work doesn’t go unnoticed, especially by her customers.
During the November to December holiday season, Sunnyvale resident Mariela Sanchez will typically order several of Wong’s “Paint Your Own Cookie” kits. Her four boys love to decorate the cookies to pass time when they are home from school during break.
“It is really cute,” she said. “As a mom of four boys, she really saved (the kids) from boredom during any kind of break.”
She recently picked up an Easter-themed kit to bring to her relatives in Fresno, who have also gotten used to the activity.
“It’s like our thing now — that auntie brings cookies over and we paint,” she said.
Like Sanchez, Erica Mendes makes a beeline for the bakery anytime there is a special occasion, like her kid’s birthday. The Sunnyvale resident likes to order customized cookies, and is constantly amazed at the level of detail Wong can achieve.
“I don’t how she’s able to have a steady hand,” she said. “The detail on it is crazy intricate.”
She recently ordered a few custom egg-shaped cookies that spell out her young son and daughter’s names. The family is going to Disneyland to celebrate the holiday, and she wanted something festive to fill in their on-the-go Easter baskets.
“I want to have something for Easter morning for them that is an egg,” she said. “It’s a fun little spin on the traditional Easter we normally have.”