We Baked The World’s Biggest Cookie!

No joke – it was 102 feet wide and over 40,000 pounds!

On May 17, 2003, we baked the World’s Biggest Cookie right here next to our bakery in Flat Rock, NC. At 102 feet wide and over 40,000 pounds, we turned the previous 80 foot record on its head!

What on earth were we thinking?

Well, it all started with this great idea — to build a museum for the Folk Artist’s Foundation (FAF), which provides encouragement, support and exposure to artists working in the folk art tradition. The museum would be FAF’s permanent home next to the bakery, be a gallery for the massive FAF art collection, and have an artist-in-residence space with a classroom for creative workshops.

But what about a little thing called “funding” for the museum?

Yes, there was that one little snag: money. One day inspiration struck Scott. Why not bake the World’s Biggest Cookie?! That should get people interested and raise a little money! The funniest part was Scott spread the word before he had the faintest clue just how big the current biggest cookie was. When a quick search revealed that Cookie Time in New Zealand had baked an 81-footer just a few years before, we were shocked initially. But that wore off and we decided to press on. Our goal would be 100 feet!

Eight months later…

After months of designing, testing and building the Big Oven, gathering 40,000 pounds of ingredients, mixing thousands of batches of dough, and calling members of the press from near and far, the big day arrived…and so did torrential rain and thunderstorms. We waited out the storm, laying dough on the pan just after midnight. We covered the cookie just before dawn and fired up the oven. As the morning wore on, the masses came to witness the landmark event.

The BIG reveal

Though rain moved in again, the crowd stayed on, and around 1 PM, we began to unveil the World’s Biggest Chocolate Chip Cookie. The escape of warm, delicious, chocolaty-scented air sent the oven cover soaring over 50 feet in the sky — quite the spectacle!

Officially the BIGGEST!

David Huntley, local land surveyor, took the official measurements of our record-breaking cookie. We then loaded Scott in the crane which placed him in the center of the cookie, while Louis Psihoyos, famed National Geographic photographer, took the crane to its highest point to capture the aerial photo above. We cut and sold cookie slices in a special commemorative box for $10 each to the waiting crowd, who were eager to get a taste of the World’s Biggest Chocolate Chip cookie. We raised nearly $20,000 towards the museum fund that day!