Bountiful Farmers' Market

Anita has had a love of baking since her children were little. Hearing her kids coming in the back door for after school snacks with the house smelling of fresh baked cookies became a habit. She loved the creativity she could bring to baking cookies: changing flavours or adding in new interesting ingredients. While her son was on an Oreo kick, she started making sandwich cookies and the rest was history.

The act of baking felt almost therapeutic and Anita was often sharing her newest delicious creations with friends and family. Their rave reviews started her thinking that there was more to this baking adventure. Working in retail at the time, she found herself taking time off to prep for farmers’ markets and soon her business was expanding quickly.

In the fall of 2017 she made the decision to leave retail and go out on her own full time with cookies. By summer 2018 she was opening her bricks and mortar shop in Fort Saskatchewan.

Caught in the Cookie Jar is still a very small, family run business. Everything is made in house, from scratch. And when she says “from scratch” she means it. There are no premixes here. Even the carrots in carrot cake cookies are hand shredded! She uses high quality ingredients like Callebaut chocolate and full butter, and doesn’t cut corners for cost.

Despite having an active storefront, they’re still primarily a farmers’ market business. Anita loves the atmosphere at markets, the relationships with other vendors and the interaction with customers. She loves staying small and being personal because she believes that’s the most important thing and the best way to make and maintain a good product.

You can find Caught in the Cookie Jar at Bountiful Farmers’ Market year round and can even special order gift boxes, office platters or birthday catering!