Lauren Genter, owner of Glāzed Bakery, is on a mission to make the perfect cookie.
Glāzed Bakery sells cookies on East Union Street outside of College Green, and Genter strives to make every cookie her best.
“I'm not satisfied with stuff that's not great,” Genter said. “I feel like it has (to be) something that people taste and (are) like, ‘Woah.’”
Genter was unsatisfied with the options for cookies in Athens, partly due to dietary restrictions, and decided to take matters into her own hands. She has a specific taste when it comes to sweet treats and prefers them to be a certain texture and taste.
“What I'm looking for in a treat (is) hard to find,” Genter said. “And so I experiment and make them myself.”
Glāzed Bakery is relatively new to Athens, having released its first drop online for pickup Sept. 6 and its first Instagram post Aug. 9. Since then, Glāzed Bakery has been consistently selling its products both in person and online.
Currently, Glāzed Bakery sets up shop across the road from the Schoonover Center, next to the Rise & Grind coffee truck every Wednesday from 10 a.m. to 1 p.m., weather permitting.
Riley Ghosh, a freshman studying film, takes advantage of these hours every week.
“Every single Wednesday, I go get a cookie,” Ghosh said. “It is a highlight of my week. Monday and Tuesday sometimes are difficult to get through because I have a lot of classes, but knowing Glāzed is only a day or two away is really what gets me through the start of that week.”
Ghosh said his usual go-to is the sea salt chocolate chip cookie.
“It was the single best chocolate chip cookie I had ever eaten in my life,” he said. “The amount of salt is perfect, and they have so many chocolate chips inside that the ratio between the chocolate and the cookie itself just works perfectly.”
Customers online share similar opinions in reviews.
“Holy cow, some of the best cookies I’ve ever had,“ Kimberly H. wrote in a review on Glāzed Bakery’s online store. "The flavor descriptions of the cookies online … you can taste in every bite.”
Genter is not the business' only baker; she has a dedicated daughter ready to help behind the scenes.
“We do kind of everything together,” Genter said. “She's a teenager, so for her to have job experience … I don't know any other way other than to be like, ‘Let’s make a business.’”
Many Athens residents have a strong preference for local businesses over larger corporations. While walking around town, it's not hard to spot signs in support of shopping local.
“With local places and Glāzed specifically, I know who is making these cookies,” Ghosh said. "I've been able to speak to them and know what lovely people they are … and I think that’s great.”
Genter tries to bring a local element to Glāzed Bakery by incorporating high-quality local ingredients found near Athens.
“For a while, I was doing a recipe with salted caramel apples, and I was using local apples from Cherry Orchard from the Farmer’s Market,” Genter said.
Customers of Glāzed Bakery can also find special flavors, like the salted caramel apple. Cookie varieties such as pumpkin cheesecake, chai latte, cranberry almond shortbread and pink sugar can be found on Glāzed Bakery’s website and Instagram. Homemade Rice Krispies treats are also available.
Cookies at Glāzed Bakery are $3.50 each, and a pack of “mini dippers,” 12 small cookies with a two-ounce container of buttercream, costs $8.
Glāzed Bakery currently has pre-orders for its Thanksgiving Bundle available on the website, offering a small Harvest Box of six to eight treats for $22 or a large box of 12 to 14 treats for $34. The pickup for this bundle will be Nov. 26 at Avalanche Pizza.
Glāzed Bakery is currently trying to figure out how to continue selling as the weather gets colder, but Genter said she would like to sell more. Ghosh said he is eager to see what the future of Glāzed Bakery will look like.
"I’d be more than happy to see them have a proper establishment at some point,” Ghosh said. “I was just thinking, ‘Man, it'd be great if they were open all week somewhere.’”
