Stephanie Spear Kerrie Miller says she works seven days a week and it’s the best job in the world. Kerrie is the baker and artist behind Pink + Peck, a custom cookie company based in Herndon. We got the chance to chat with Kerrie about what it’s like being a ‘Cookie Lady’ and making the pivot from corporate to cookies. Read on for more with Kerrie Miller of Pinch + Peck.
About Kerrie
Kerrie Miller is a Herndon native and still lives there with her husband and college-age daughter. In 2018, Kerrie was searching for a project that would bring her joy. “I was feeling really burnt out with work and I just needed something else,” she said. “So I started a blog about working through my grandmother’s old recipes.” The blog was called Pinch + Peck as an homage to the classic recipes Kerrie was exploring.
By 2020, Kerrie was cooking her way through her grandmother’s collection, while becoming increasingly disillusioned with corporate life, when COVID hit. “The company I was working for went under,” she said. “Then I found a new job, and then that company went under. I couldn’t do it anymore.”
All the while, Kerrie was cooking and baking – but not the decorated sugar cookies that have since become her signature. “My mom was the one who encouraged me to try the decorated cookies,” she said. “The first batch was terrible but I kept at it.” Kerrie archived the blog and changed her website to be all about her baked goods.
Kerrie kept at it, working on the decorated sugar cookies and continuing to make classics like loaves, drop cookies, and small cakes. “That’s when I started working toward getting my cottage license,” she said. “And then I applied to sell at the farmer’s market.”
Photo courtesy of Kerrie Miller
She got her cottage license in Fall 2021 and by 2022, Kerrie was selling baked goods weekly at the Oakton Farmers Market. She was selling other baked goods but always had a few decorated sugar cookies on hand for display. “It was a great way to get my name out there,” she said.
Now, Kerrie does one pop-up a year, the Herndon Wintermarket, and runs her business exclusively online. “Customers fill out a request form on my website and we go from there,” she said. Many customers are repeats.
Kerrie said that one of the best parts about her business is getting to know other cookie-makers in the area. “It is definitely a spirit of community over competition,” she said. “People will refer business to others, there’s a lot of support. There really is enough business to go around.” In particular, Kerrie said that knowing which bakers can accommodate allergy or dietary restrictions is critical. “There are bakers that are dedicated to being gluten-free or allergy-free, so if a customer asks for that I will frequently refer them to one of these other bakers,” she said.
About Pinch + Peck
Kerrie’s signature item are decorated sugar cookies. The decorations can range from a simple color scheme to a complex design. Everything is customizable – from the shape of the cookie to the color palette. “Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite set is, it’s probably whatever I’m working on that week. But I really like weddings, the brides always know what they want” Kerrie said. “The customers are so creative and I love working with their ideas.”
Kerrie works with the customers via email to come up with a concept for the cookies, which includes making a mood board and picking designs for each order. This is also where Kerrie will set the pricing for the order depending on the complexity of the order and the number of cookies. “It really depends,” she said. “If you just want something simple that’s on one end of the spectrum, and then it goes up from there based on the design, quantity, etc.”
Kerrie uses organic ingredients wherever she can, and has hundreds of different cookie-cutter shapes. She also has a sugar paper printer that can print a logo or image directly onto the cookie. She is a frequent shopper at Costco and Restaurant Depot for her supplies. “In 2024, I made 185 batches of dough, using almost 600 eggs, and 600 cups of sugar,” she said.
Kerrie works with customers to make cookies for events like birthday parties, baby showers, and weddings. She also works with corporate customers to make cookies for special events.
“I think people would be surprised at how much time it takes to make the cookies,” she said. “Even after all of the decorating is done, the cookies have to dry and that takes time. It’s why I can’t take last-minute orders.” Another surprising thing about the decorated sugar cookie business is how hyper-local it is. “Cookie ladies don’t deliver, so people want to find someone close to them to pick up,” she said.
To get in touch with Kerrie about custom cookies, send her a message via her website
