For a company that makes solely vegan, gluten free and soy free cookies, “We’ll Make a Cookie Monster Outta You!” is a pretty bold claim.
Yet, Adna-based baking business PNW Cookie Co. puts its cookies where its slogan is. The company is lauded by many Lewis County residents as having a delicious line of cookies and its stock is purchased nationwide by folks with dietary restrictions, or by people who just enjoy a good cookie.
This Saturday, between 8 a.m. and noon, the local business will be featured on QVC (a television network for shoppers), for the fifth time. The show is free to watch online, though the set time the PNW Cookie Co. will appear is unknown.
It will be on QVC channel two, on “In the Kitchen with Mary.”
Callie Carpenter, owner and founder of the cookie company was born and raised in Lewis County by a home ec teacher for a mother. Her mom was a traditional baker who taught Carpenter everything she knows.
Around when he was 30, Carpenter’s brother developed an intolerance to gluten and dairy.
“When he would come to our family gatherings and we’d see what he’d bring as his treat, they just sucked. They were really bad. And I would ask him, ‘Why don’t you get something that’s good? Why are you getting this?’ And he was like, ‘This is the best,’” Carpenter said.
Upon hearing that from her brother, she sprung into action, creating what would eventually become her business.
As someone with a background in baking, Carpenter purposely did not pull from the ideas of other gluten free or dairy free products at the time. If they all sucked, replicating them would, too. What she created instead, after trial and error, became an opportunity to offer some joy to other people who were going through her brother’s troubles.
“You know, we’re from Lewis County like, we didn’t know anyone that had any food restrictions or anything like that, and you really kind of turned our noses up at baking with alternative ingredients,” she said. “But, when you have someone that actually gets sick, then it affects you. You think about it a lot different.”
The company was first started in 2018, and Carpenter still gets emails nearly every day from a customer raving about the cookies. They come in a variety of flavors including chocolate chip, double chocolate chip, snickerdoodle, peanut butter, molasses and oatmeal raisin. On QVC, the company will be featuring a limited edition peppermint hot chocolate cookie. During the fall this year, they also had a pumpkin-doodle cookie.
Because of COVID-19 restrictions, Carpenter will appear on the show via video chat. But that’s fine with her, she said, because she won’t have to fly to QVC’s studio on the east coast to film.
Growing up, Carpenter said she was a shy kid who found it hard to “fit in.”
“As I grew up I started to realize that I was different, but that wasn’t bad and really started to embrace what my differences were. And then now, we’re starting to pioneer with our company and we get to do it in my community,” she said. “I really want it to be something that other kids can look to and realize that the only thing that’s going to stop them from achieving greatness is them. They can push and work on whatever it is that their dreams are.”
Find the episode on Saturday at https://qvc.co/3sWT6Ri. For more information on the Adna company, visit https://pnwcookies.com/. Cookie orders can be placed online, and the website has a long list of local stores that sell the products at the link https://pnwcookies.com/pages/where-to-buy.
