Photographer: Madison Rensing

Not everyone knows what they’ll pursue professionally by 11, but Emily Henegar, aka Cookie in the Kitchen, sure did. Starting her cookie business from her kitchen at home, she has spent the last 14+ years diving deeper into her craft and has now created cookies for companies like Michaels Stores and some of the most prominent recording artists out there. Does the name Taylor Swift ring a bell for anyone? Henegar hopped on the phone to talk to NYOTA about immersing herself in a musician’s world through her work, resting to restore creativity, and keeping community at the center of what she does.

You grew up in a household of creatives. Due to this, was there always a feeling you’d pursue a career in the arts or something arts-adjacent?

It was probably always assumed that I would do something that was very Emily, something very personal to me. My mom said that I was a CEO in a toddler’s body when I was little. I knew what I wanted and would be very vocal if I didn’t get my way. My sister was the artist in the family, and my parents planted a church when I was young, so entrepreneurship was ingrained in my family, but not in a way that I felt like it was put on me. It was something that I noticed later on, looking back at our family history. I also started the business when I was so young; my parents didn’t really push that on me, either. If anything, they had to stop me from going crazy with it. It felt like a natural progression into thinking about it as a career.

Did launching Cookie in the Kitchen so young allow you to be fearless when building the business in a way you might not have been if you had launched it today?

I had a lot of fearlessness. What comes to mind most is a quote that would often come out of my mouth: ‘Well, that was a fail. Moving on.’ I was always experimenting, playing around with stuff, and making mistakes in the business. Back then, I wasn’t worried about wasting time or thinking about how I needed to figure out what I would do with my life. It was about what was bringing joy and delight into my life, and I’m glad that the business scaled well with me and my age. I was baking in my room at my parents’ house and then in dorm rooms, and now I’m still baking from home, but in a much better setup than I’ve had in the past. If I had started the business now, I would probably have been waiting to pull the trigger on a lot of things—especially making cookies for musicians, which was fueled entirely by teenage fangirl passion. 

In your line of work, there must be a lot of trial and error regarding cookie designs. Did it take time to learn to give yourself grace as you were honing your skills as a cookie artist?

I like to say that I had a 10-year learning curve. I was able to hone my skills because I’m self-taught. A lot of natural trial and error came about, and thankfully, cookie decorating is a pretty forgiving skill because you can always scrape the whole thing off and start over. So, with most of the mistakes, I was able to pivot. The biggest thing in finding my style and honing my skills was connecting cookies with graphic design. My sister was the fine artist of the family; she actually would help me decorate some of the precise details on my cookies in the early days. That was her thing, and then I took a graphic design class one year in high school and was like, ‘Oh, my gosh, this is how my brain works.’ It just clicked for me. I’d like to say that I’m more of a curator than a creator sometimes, and my skills shine when I can pull in a lot of inspiration together and recreate or reflect that in a cohesive way. It was really cool to find another medium that connected to my work with cookies, which was also something that I was interested in separately. Then, that gave me the language to see myself as an artist in a different way than my sister. There’s natural grace for making mistakes and figuring things out as a kid, which I was thankfully able to lean into a lot.

From the outside looking in, the community part of your business is the most important aspect to you. Even though you don’t have a physical space for customers, social media has bridged that gap. How do the communities you’ve built on Instagram and TikTok influence the decisions you make in your business?

Oftentimes, people will look at my work and say, ‘Oh, it’s not cookies; it’s art,’ which is true. I had someone reflect it back to me as ‘the art of noticing.’ The art of noticing people is roped up within the art of cookies for me. At its core, it’s more about the people than the art because I can get excited about whatever I’m putting on a cookie if the person who is getting it is super excited about it. In terms of communities, it’s true that while I don’t have a physical space, finding that community has really been on social media, which is so special. My social media strategist and I have discussed how, in theory, I could have a shock and impress strategy where my goal is: here’s a portfolio of my craziest, coolest work; please enjoy it and tell me nice things about it; thank you. But I honestly resist that strategy more and more because I get so inspired by other people showing the behind-the-scenes of their process. How I want people to feel after seeing my stuff on socials or following me is inspiration rather than intimidation. 

I don’t want to feel separated from the people that I’m speaking with, so the question becomes, how can I make this feel like a fun behind-the-scenes look at what I’m doing? Especially Substack, which has been a part of showing more of my heart behind what life is like balancing entrepreneurship, figuring that out postgrad, and navigating the direction of my business as things change. Through the years, as cookies for brands and musicians have filled more and more of my calendar, I’ve heard many people say, ‘Girl, keep doing more of that, why bother making cookies for regular people?’ And I’m like, ‘You don’t get it, though; these are my people, my community, and it’s so meaningful!’ Again, back to the people behind the cookies. To create a baby shower order for somebody seems so simple, but it means so much. My mission is to make people feel like celebrities and celebrities feel like people. I would have a half-hearted mission if I only did these bigger things.

Through your work you get the chance to create for and interact with musicians across genres. Have you ever finished a set of cookies for an artist and found you appreciated their work even more after having to do a deep dive into their career?

Literally every single time. It’s hard not to be a fan after doing all the research because now I know all the lore. The biggest example that comes to mind is Harry Styles because, ironically, I was one of those girls in middle school who was like, ‘I’m too cool to be into One Direction.’ I still regret that to this day, but it’s okay. I had my redemption arc. So I asked people on TikTok for ideas for his cookies and got hundreds of comments from people sharing all the ideas. It was so fun to be like, okay, I’ve seen people talk about Pilgrim Harry, a bunch; what is this about? And go on little deep dives based on what everyone said. These days, so much of being an artist is the whole persona of an artist, their story, their colors, and the vibe of the fanbase. In my world, this accentuates the experience of listening to their music because it gives me so much more to connect to. I’m not a musician, so I’m not hearing as much as someone who is a musician would, as a visual person, and again, someone who is deeply connected to people, it’s so special to get to learn the whole vibe of an artist and see their history or their growth as an artist from where they started. Think of Sabrina Carpenter and her earlier album covers and how there has been a transition into her recent work and style on tours. It’s so interesting. I get excited to be in the world of an artist, and then, ironically, the music comes second in terms of what interests me. 

On social media you’ve created content for brands like Michaels and WÜSTHOF. How do you decide on which brands align with your company and artistry when making brand deals?

My brand partnerships manager and I talk a lot about these things together, and it’s nice to have a soundboard. The thing that we pay attention to the most, especially early on when we talk to brands, is making sure that they see my work as art and that they’re commissioning art. This has gotten a little bit more natural as the years have gone on because cookies are my canvas. But baking itself is not much of what people follow me for or what I’m super passionate about talking about. So, if a brand is looking for a baker to show their baking  process, I’m like, I might not be a good fit. but if it’s a very colorful brand and that’s what I’m going to be paying attention to first, I’m like okay, how can I translate this brand? Or can I translate this brand to cookies in my style? I’ll get excited about almost any brand if they have a very fun aesthetic and bright colors. My other specialty is really connecting people to their audiences. Are there little details in this knife brand that people will connect with the way they connect with musicians? I don’t know, but let’s see if we can try to pull those people out or help you find more of your people.  

“You never know what threads you could pull on, what overlap of your Venn diagram that is uniquely you that you can go into and build out into a passion or career.”

When getting ideas on how to scale your business in the future, are you inspired by bakeries such as Funny Face?

Absolutely. I’m obsessed with Funny Face. They’re so fun. It makes me wonder why there are so few. I’m shocked and not shocked that few bakeries make sugar cookies in-store. I’m not shocked because it is pretty challenging, and you have to train people, and there are more technical challenges, I’m sure. But I’m shocked because they’re so popular, and what they’ve done is so fun, especially capitalizing on pop culture and knowing their audience in New York really well. They are inspiring to me. Really, any brand with a fun personality, lots of bold colors, or is doing something interesting with the layout of their storefront. Funny Face has all of its cookies in display cases with purple silk behind them, and they have numbers that you call out to say which cookie you want. I think that’s so unique. I’m always gathering inspiration from different places because a bakery has always been the dream, but I want it to feel like an experience. I want it to feel like a bakery but also something a little bit different that you haven’t seen before. 

There’s a very colorful coffee shop in Nashville called Matryoshka, and it’s this tiny 300-square-foot coffee shop. I did a cookie collaboration with them last year. The thing that I love about them is that they’re very go-with-the-flow. They’re like, we’re just going to try this and put it on the menu and see what y’all think. And they’re very connected with their community. You can tell that that’s really why they do it, and the coffee is kind of secondary to that. I also deeply adore Levain Bakery. Their cookies are amazing. I did a cookie collaboration with them two years ago. I spoke with their general manager at one of their stores, who was reflecting on the owners and that they are very intentional about hiring people in the arts, given that it’s New York. She quoted them saying, ‘You’re helping us make our dream come true, we want to help you make your dream come true.’ It literally brings me to tears every time I think about it because it’s so special, and it was immediately something that I was like, ‘Oh, I want to take that with me.’ Especially being in Nashville with a million musician friends and other people working in the arts or pursuing their passions. It really connected with me. My mom and I also keep a shared photo stream album of bakery inspo that we’ve had for a couple of years that we’ll randomly add stuff to, so yes, I got lots up there for when the time comes.

On Substack earlier this year, you wrote about your biannual “CEO week,” during which you pause baking and focus on the business side of Cookie in the Kitchen. How has this helped you as a business owner, and what other tips and tricks have you had to incorporate in your life over the years?

The CEO week has been very helpful to me. I’m actually at home for one right now! I’m very deeply energized by CEO work, and typically, I’m working on something that I don’t really have time for. Sometimes, it’s more vision casting, but generally, I have a bunch of things I need to work through with my budget and bank accounts and stuff like that. It’s been helpful for keeping up with the different aspects of the business and not getting too lost in the weeds. And for me to remember I love this, this is why I’m doing this; I don’t have to be in the grind of cookie making all the time. The only other thing that comes to mind is that I’ve also implemented practicing Sabbath every week, so I don’t work on Sundays. It’s truly a lifeline for me and my business, especially when I’m working like crazy. When working freelance, your schedule can look so different day to day and week to week that knowing no matter what, I will get rest, see people, and turn my cookie brain off one day a week is so meaningful. I don’t know how I would survive if I didn’t do that. So, that has been a huge gift to me personally and in business, and I would definitely recommend doing that.

All artists need to get outside their medium to find inspiration, fall back in love with art in general, and keep themselves motivated to create. Who are some of your favorite artists that keep you creatively fulfilled? 

Rest is the first thing I do if I’m creatively drained. I honestly am in a stage where I’ve been trying to discover and navigate what place creativity has in my life outside of cookies because so much of my creative energy is fueled by that, and it’s a never-ending project. There are always things that I can be doing or working on. I’ve been trying to figure out how to protect time for this so that I’m not only giving myself the last teaspoon of creativity I have left after a whole week. Creative things are typically restful for me, but after I’ve created a bunch throughout the week, I need to rot. One helpful thing is that someone once said to me that artists need noticing time, which I loved. In this book called The Common Rule, I also read that the author spoke to creatives and said, ‘You can’t have meaningful output without meaningful input.’ Those are both filters for me when I’m thinking about how to recharge and be inspired. Do I need output or input right now? Sometimes, that means noticing time that’s not explicitly trying to find inspiration but letting myself be a human and be present. 

What advice do you have for aspiring cookie artists?

What opened up the artistry of cookie-making was finding inspiration outside of cookies. Like I said, with graphic design and with music, those were the things that would look so cool on cookies. I’m also inspired by other cookie decorators I see on social media; there’s so much more we could do with this medium. I’m always excited when I find another cookie artist doing something interesting. Typically, the advice I give is to pay attention to your passions. You never know what threads you could pull on, what overlap of your Venn diagram that is uniquely you that you can go into and build out into a passion or career. It’s the same advice in different fonts, but there’s so much inspiration out there. Try to find the common threads in what you’re interested in. That’s what’s so fun to me when I see other people creating in different mediums with that lens: to see a thread of connection  that I wouldn’t otherwise notice if they hadn’t picked it out or presented it in their art form.

This story first ran in NYOTA’s Art is Life Issue. Read more from the issue here and purchase a print copy here