Lucky for us, Shannon Melde has always loved baking. The Scottsdale native began as a child, and then a stint at culinary school—where she realized she didn’t love cooking food but still loved baking—confirmed it.
She followed her passion two years ago and launched Sugar and Chip AZ, specializing in gourmet cookies.
Think options such as triple chocolate chip, semisweet chocolate chip pecan, rocky road, white chocolate cranberry pecan, confetti, snickerdoodle, milk chocolate chip walnut, pineapple upside cake cookies, and of course, classic chocolate chip. All flavors can be made gluten-free, and Melde is also working on a vegan cookie recipe. Custom flavors are also an option.
“When I was younger, I had what I think was a family recipe, and these are loosely based on that,” she says. “Some recipes I tweak, and some are from my head, and I play with them until they’re just right.”
Not only is each cookie made and hand-shaped with love, but also made with the best ingredients possible.
“I don’t buy in bulk,” Melde explains. “When people order, I see what their order is, and then I buy the ingredients for it so that everything is fresh.”
The cookies are available in bags of a dozen and also can be individually wrapped.
And while she asks for a two-day lead time on orders, she can sometimes fulfill orders on the same day.
The cookies are available for pickup, or Melde ships statewide.
Visitors to the Sugar and Chip AZ website will notice that not only are there cookie options to choose from but also State Forty Eight Collaboration T-shirts. Melde donates 70 meals for each shirt sold to St. Mary’s Food Bank. She is also launching The Maddie Melde Foundation in honor of her daughter, who passed, and is a wish granter for Make-A-Wish Arizona.