Local Vendor Spotlight: Cookie Momster

Inhee Hwang, owner of Cookie Momster, a Mountain View based company, has partnered with Sigona’s to bring you free cookies and lattes this week!

By Carmelo Sigona

Good things begin in spring time! Flowers bloom, trees bud, birds sing, the Giants have their season opener and Sigona’s gives away free treats.

This week Sigona’s has partnered with Inhee Hwang, owner and pastry chef of Cookie Momster, to offer you a freshly baked brownie and gingersnap cookie for free with your purchase of $30 or more. On top of that, we’re throwing in two free Emmi Caffe Lattes – an entire snack to share with a friend – on us!

Inhee, along with her husband Kyuwoon Hwang, manage and operate their six-year-old business with some help from their two sons Daesun and Brian Hwang. Inhee tells us, both her sons drew on their professional art and design careers to collaborate on a ground-up, re-branding and overhauling of the Cookie Momster.”

Inhee Hwang baking her specialties

Truly a family affair, Inhee takes care of all the baking and her husband Kyuwoon takes care of all the administrative work. Her youngest son, Brian, recently launched Cookie Momster’s Web site.

This local family business has been able to operate and expand with great success in recent years by expanding its product line to include new items including cookies, biscottis, breads, energy bars, brownies and macaroons. Changing the company from Morning Biscotti to Cookie Momster was just another step to give the products names. For example, the brownies are called “Brownie Points and the gingersnap cookies are called Ginge Benefits.”

Cookie Momster Brownies come with nuts and without!

Cookie Momster fans may recall that Inhee’s fabulous treats were previously offered under the name Morning Biscotti and wonder what happened? When Morning Biscotti was first introduced to Sigona’s, its main pastry was biscotti, but as customer demand grew, the name Morning Biscotti became too limited. Inhee’s oldest son Daeson then came up with the idea of changing the name to Cookie Momster.

“Cookie Momster was a name and milestone that both broadened the scope of the bakery’s domain and proudly announced its fondly familial foundation,” said Inhee.

Inhee spent time as a painter and a sculptor before realizing that baking and cooking was her real passion. That natural artistry developed into an art for baking and she’s now able to utilize her artistic abilities to hand make a wonderful line of mouthwatering treats.

Sigona’s was one of the first retail stores to carry Cookie Momster pastries, starting in 2005 when the company was still called Morning Biscotti. John Nava, specialty foods buyer for Sigona’s, remembers when Inhee brought samples to the Redwood City store for him to try. Curiously, these samples never made it Nava’s hands as Jimmy Sigona, brother John’s son and jack-of-all-trades in the business, had eaten them all, leaving no trace behind. The only remaining piece of evidence was Inhee’s business card.

Jimmy spoke so highly of Inhee’s treats that Nava wasted no time in bringing them into our stores.

“Cookie Momster treats are great,” said John Nava. Inhee truly bakes fine quality products and she is an absolute pleasure to work with. Her product line continues to expand and we look forward to seeing what goodie she puts her twist on next.”

Cookie Momster’s recipe is no secret. Inhee told us her pastries are different because they are made with honesty, love and, best of all, her passion for baking. Cookie Momster pastries are all natural, handmade and contain no preservatives. All ingredients are sourced locally, such as the dried papaya used in her biscottis…a favorite among Sigona’s customers.

A delicious combination of Cookie Momster Pastries and Emmi Lattes to enjoy!

Don’t forget to bring your coupon in from April 7-13, 2010 for a chance to take home a free Cookie Momster Brownie, Gingersnap cookie and two Emmi Caffe Lattes with your purchase of $30 or more!