Brian Long

Hilton, NY

Home-made cookies, including diabetic and gluten free.

Here’s our intern Anne’s report of her interview with Brian Long:

Maude (Anne’s young assistant) and I first spoke with Brian of Brian’s Kitchen. When Maude tried a sample of Brian’s chocolate chip cookies, she exclaimed, “Mmm it’s really good.” I wasn’t the least bit surprised because I have noticed many people with similar reactions at Brian’s booth. Not only does he offer regular chocolate chip, molasses, and oatmeal raisin cookies for 3.50 a package, he also offers gluten free ($4 a package) and diabetic cookies ($4.50 a package). If you have trouble deciding what kind you like best, or have people with different preferences to share with, you can purchase a variety package, which Brian says is very popular. I was curious to know what kind of cookie Brian likes best. He confided that if he’s only having one cookie, he prefers the molasses because it has a strong taste, but if he is going to eat a dozen cookies, he prefers the chocolate chip because it is milder. The only flavor he doesn’t like is oatmeal raisin because he doesn’t like raisins.

I was also interested in how Brian got started making cookies for the market. I, like many people Brian has encountered, thought that it would be difficult to start a cooking business from home because the kitchen needs to be inspected (and I think it would be hard because I am such a bad cook, but that’s a different story), but he said it isn’t very difficult at all. He started his business by simply making cookies. Then he experimented and tinkered until he liked the results, and then was nice enough to share with colleagues at his work, who encouraged him to sell the cookies as a side business. He got his kitchen inspected, which he said wasn’t a difficult process, and he was in the cookie business.

Brian is continuing to experiment. He is striving to make the best cookies he can so he can share them with others. Right now he’s experimenting with a shortening alternative, which he hoped at the time of the interview would be a great substitution in some of his cookie recipes.