It’s likely you can smell the goodness as you approach her front door.
It’s the aroma of chocolate chip cookies at their finest, made by a transplanted Newfoundlander in the same spirit and style that her grandmother and mother made them across the previous two generations.
Drawing on those traditions, St. John’s native Sarah Stadnicki (Thornhill), has become the master of this cookie, baking and selling them through her a home-based operation, The 27th Chip company.
“While I was off having my children, I struggled with not working so that was when baking came into play,’’ she said.
“My best friend, who (also) happens to be from Newfoundland (Rachel James) lives nearby in Freeport. She was off as well, and we started to explore the idea of baking. The craft of baking in Newfoundland is different. We appreciate the effort put into making things and getting them out there,’’ she added.
When they first started, they were making items for bake sales at their children’s schools and also going to farmer’s markets … all along remembering what their grandmothers and mothers did to ensure the product was consistent and good for those enjoying their baked goods.
"The craft of baking in Newfoundland is different. We appreciate the effort put into making things and getting them out there." — Sarah Stadnicki
Stadnicki and James started the home-based company in 2011 and the partnership lasted four years until James had her fourth child and had to pare back what she was doing.
This left Stadnicki to move forward — and she did — by founding The 27th Chip company in 2015, ironically named after the 27th attempt she made at coming up with a recipe for the cookies that would keep them fresh on store shelves for several days after coming out of the oven.
Stadnicki’s cookies are baked in Brunswick, Maine, and proudly sold at The Gelato Fiasco (Brunswick, Portland), Derosiers (Freeport) and The 1912 Cafe, L.L. Bean (Freeport).
Even though she now lives in Brunswick, a place she moved to after graduation from Memorial University’s School of Nursing approximately 20 years ago, she has found a way to stay with her homeland’s age-old tradition of a cuppa and a cookie.
Along that journey, she met her husband at university. He is an American who graduated from Memorial’s medical school and chose to move back to Maine to practice medicine. He now works at the Central Maine Medical Centre.
Along this path, Stadnicki practised nursing and had three children (now aged 14, 12 and 10) before she and James started baking cookies as a pastime.
“It came time for us to decide what we were going to do, and we decided to continue in business together. Our challenge would be to find a recipe that could be reproduced on a daily basis.”
“The key for us was finding the right chocolate, balancing it and learn as you go. Salt and chocolate are a match made in heaven and once we hit on the right combination — after 27 tries — we were able to get our products to the storefronts and have them last for two or three days.”
The success of The 27th Chip is simple. She set criteria for what she wants to accomplish and supported those standards through her checks and balances that make the company both local and unique.
Stadnicki said taking a hobby and turning it into a business takes a special understanding from family … and a supportive partner … something she appreciates in her family.
She said there are sacrifices that have to be made. Instead of being out in the backyard kicking the ball around with the children, she is in the kitchen. They have grown up with her and they know she can’t always get out of the kitchen.
“I love baking. My children are baking snobs now and they know a good product when they taste it.”
“My parents still live in St. John’s and they tell me all the time nobody takes the time anymore to bake. If they are going somewhere, it is easier to just go to Sobeys and buy something to take with you.
"What I do is special, and I think people appreciate it more.”
Last year alone, The 1912 Café at L.L. Bean in Freeport sold 8,100 of her delicacies and a host of others were sold at both locations of The Gelato Fiasco. Toss in what she made for bake sales, catered events, donations and people just seeking a dozen cookies from Sarah, she approximates she made in excess of 10,000 cookies.
“I love baking. My children are baking snobs now and they know a good product when they taste it.” — Stadnicki
The secret to obtaining the right ingredients was simple, Stadnicki said — buying local is key, even if it costs a bit more.
She sourced local eggs, flour, butter and, of course, the perfect chocolate chips which cram her quarter-pound delicacies.
“This helped them maintain that right-out-of-the-oven taste, flavours that everyone knows are hand-crafted,” she said.
“Some of the best recipes that get the best responses are ones that came from our grandmothers. There is no lavender in there to make something flowery. Just take the ingredients and make a cake,” she added
She said one question she often gets is does she do mail orders?
Stadnicki said that is the next logical step in the business component, to find a way to package the cookies and ship them across the United States.
“This would take special licensing to get it started. I have already converted our dining room to do this and I think my family wouldn’t be too excited about another expansion,’’ she laughed.
“Ensuring the made to order quality is the key so the turnover is consistently fresh. You always want to get the right-out-of-the-oven-at-Nan’s-table taste.”
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