Peter Sterne sat down with the anonymous foundress of Cookies on Campus. Cookies on Campus delivers chocolate chip cookies to your door not-for-free!

Why did you decide to start a cookie-delivery business?

I’m a senior in the College majoring in PoliSci who really likes to bake. I even considered dropping out of Columbia two years ago and joining the French Culinary Institute. I wasn’t really serious, but I got to meet with the head chef at the Institute and he let me try all the desserts because he knew I loved baking pastries. Recently, I’ve been working my way through the recipes in “Cooking” by James Peterson.

Why did you decide to make simple chocolate-chip cookies if you’re capable of more complex desserts?

Well, cookies are really easy and cheap to make. I don’t really have time to make all those complex recipes, so I’ve been messing around in the kitchen trying to make something simple. Last weekend, I realized that I wanted to make cookies, but I didn’t know who would eat them. So I decided that I should sell them. It was easy to make an online order form with Google and a blog for my business. But the other reason that I chose to do chocolate-chip cookies is because the first thing I learned to bake when I was younger was Tollhouse chocolate-chip cookies.

Can you tell Bwog what’s in the recipe or is it a secret?

It’s a trade secret. Or you can just google “chewy chocolate chip cookies.” It’s a pretty basic recipe but I added some cinnamon, since a little cinnamon never hurt anyone!

How has the demand been?

Both higher and lower than I expected. The first day, the Band Suite ordered 2/3 of my supply for the night. Then a Barnard suite ordered two dozen, and then the Band Suite ordered a dozen more, with a note asking me to please bring more if I had it. But there are hardly any orders during the week, so I might just cut back to weekend deliveries.

What’s it been like to deliver cookies to people all over campus?

I’ve gotten to see lots of cool dorms. I had forgotten what John Jay looked like – and I finally found out after four years where one of the Barnard dorms is located. It’s also been a great way to meet new people. Living in a River single, it’s not really easy to meet people. It’s nice to have a reason to leave my room and go across campus, and to make people happy while they work instead of doing my own work.

Any final thoughts?

If you order cookies, you become my friend. So I’m really just making cookies for 6,000 of my closest friends.