There’s no question: You’ve just gotta love a lady who bakes cookies shaped like seashells—and then hand delivers them to you “just because she was in the neighborhood.” (Seriously, you do. I think it’s one of the Immutable Laws of Treats.)
But that’s the way that Dawn Marie Shay, baker extraordinaire and owner of the Plum Island Cookie Company, rolls. And that’s just fine with us.
Dawn bakes these gorgeous French butter cookies by hand in her kitchen on Plum Island, which is located just off the Massachusetts coast, not far from The Mouse House in Salem.
She knows her stuff: As a graduate of the BU Culinary Arts’ Program, she trained with Julia Child and Jacques Pepin.
It shows. Her cookies are almost (almost!) too pretty to eat. They’re also absolutely delicious. Here are the goodies she dropped off for us.
Dawn was also kind enough to give us two gift certificates so that some of you guys can experience them for yourselves. Read on for more info about the cookies, and how to enter to win a gift certificate for a small box of cookies.
Get to the cookies, Mouse!
Yep, yep! OK. Here’s what Dawn was kind enough to bring us. Each cellophane package of cookies has two large cookies in it (they’re about the size of my palm). They’re double wrapped and tied with raffia.
Penelope
This was, hands down, my favorite shape. Not to mention my favorite name. (I wonder why.) Love the pink sanding sugar.
Sand Dollar
Shaped like a sand dollar topped with a beautiful petal-shaped flower.
I think I still have a sand dollar that I picked up on the beach as a kid. I had no idea until I googled it, but a sand dollar (the real kind, not the cookie kind) is actually a flat, burrowing sea urchin.
Scallop Shelly
If you’re thinking that this really look like a seashell, there’s a good reason. Shay molds them using a real scallop shell.
It’s dusted with pale blue sanding sugar.
Stella Starfish
Love the upturned corners on this one. It’s dusted with pale lavender sanding sugar.
In terms of taste, these are really good, authentic, old-fashioned French shortbread, made with butter, flour, sugar, eggs, vanilla bean, and salt. That’s it. They’re exactly as crisp and buttery as you want them to be.
Enter to Win Plum Island Cookies!
But don’t take my word for it. Order some yourself, or enter to win a gift certificate for a small box of cookies (worth $19.95 and contains four 2-cookie packages). Here’s how.
How to Enter
To enter, leave a comment on this post answering the following question:
What’s your favorite baked good and why?
That’s it. (No really, that’s it.)
Contest Rules
- You must enter a valid e-mail address on the comment form. (That’s how we’ll contact you if you win.)
- Only one entry per person.
- This contest is open to U.S. residents only.
- Deadline for entries is Midnight (EST) on Friday, June 4, 2010.
Two winners will be chosen on Saturday, June 5 by random number generator and notified by e-mail. Each winner will receive one gift certificate for a small box of Sand Dollar Cookies from The Plum Island Cookie Company.
Probably cookies!
My favorite time of year is Christmas when my bestie and I host a Christmas Cookie party!
Refrigerator pinwheel cookies that are chocolate and vanilla. So dunkable!
Cookies are my favorite! They are so versatile and I love the crispiness of a cookie! I have never seen any cookie this beautiful! :0) missytaylor2000 at yahoo dot com
Brownies!
Oh wow, these are seriously beautiful cookies! I love the sand dollar design. Did you know if you cracked a real sand dollar apart, there are five dove-shaped shells inside?
Picking one favorite baked good is hard, but I’m a big fan of dense brownies.
I think my favorite is homemade Pecan Pie, I love it and it always reminds me of my Mother.
Funny how my favorite baked good has changed over time. When I was a kid I loved cake with as much frosting as was legally allowed (sometimes more!). Later I liked chocolate with a side of chocolate topped with chocolate (still do). Now a good oatmeal cookie with chocolate chips (and no raisins!!) is my favorite.
My favorite baked good would have to be pie. I love the apple peach pie my Mom always bakes for Thanksgiving, I look forward to it every year. It’s warm, flakey, and gooey! Chocolate chip cookies are a close second, they always go good with milk.
Cannoli!
Especially those from the south end of Boston. A must stop when I’m in New England!
Those are the cutest cookies I have seen in a long while. Who doesn’t love cookies!recent mccrory
My favorite baked goods are cookies and madeleines because they go well with everything. You can dress them up or down. You can have them at a reception and a bbq. Anywhere and every occasion.
Favorite baked goods–chocolate chip cookies, specifically the ones from Levain Bakery, but I’ve only been there twice and still have fun making ccc’s!
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Mine would be vegan banana+maple syrup muffins
I have some friends who are vegan, so I love baking those for them!
That cookie of the pig’s butt is sooo cute!
I think my favorite baked good is the pumpkin-white chocolate cheesecake I make during the holidays.
My favorite baked good is bread! But I may change my mind after biting into one of these cookies ~
I love chocolate cookies of any kind. My favorite recipe is the Triple Chocolate Cookies from the cookbook \American Classics\ by the editors of Cook’s Illustrated.
The cookies look divine dear Mouse, yet for the favorite, you have to go rich, and syrupy. My personal one is a greek pie, with nuts and a liberal quantity of eggs called Melachrini (meaning brunette). Last time my aunt made it, she used 30 eggs for a big baking pan. The smoothness was well worth the callorie storm.
These cookies look so delicate and delicious – thanks for the chance to win.
My favorite baked good is soft, fudgy, homemade brownies – and of course the old classic chocolate chip cookie.
My favorite cookie is snickerdoodles. My favorite dessert is red velvet cupcakes.
My favorite baked good is chocolate chip cookies. They were the first thing I remember baking with my grandmother. When I was 5, she let me measure out all of the ingredient (my very first lesson about mise en place) and add them to the bowl. She let me do everything except run her Sunbeam stand mixer.
My favorite baked good is the last one I ate. I love it all, bread, cookies warm from the oven, pies. I guess if I had to pick my most recent favorite it would be the Lobster Tail from Mike’s Pastry in Boston’s North End.
My favortie baked good it brownies, especially with some vanilla ice cream.
Hands down- cookies! I don’t think I’ve met a cookie I didn’t like!!
Wow, that’s a hard question. There are just so many baked goods to choose from. Even though I’m definitely a sweet craver, I’d have to say a good loaf of bread can tempt me every time.
I love cheesecake. I adore it. But these cookies look good too!
My favorite baked good is fresh homemade bread – can’t beat it!
Kolache. I like meat best when it’s encapsulated by fresh, sweet bread.
Thank you for the giveaway
I have always loved pies, especially the coconut cream pie my Grandmother always made for me when visiting.
My favorite baked good is the first banana nut bread I attempted three nights ago. After moving out of state (and away from my favorite Park Avenue bakery), I took the plunge to make my own.
Mission accomplished!
Chocolate Pudding – because it’s so easy to make and delicious with any combination of dessert
My absolute favorite baked good is apple pie. I could eat it everyday if the right apples were available. I don’t like sharing my pie if I can help it… it’s that good.
fantastic giveaway! and my favorite baked good are cookies! I love cookies, you can’t go wrong with chocolate chip, oatmeal, peanut butter, sugar cookies etc. Cookies cure all!
For me there is no question! A chocolate croissant. I had a memorible one for breakfast in Madrid on my honeymoon with a lucious dark cafe con leche. Hummm…making me weak in the knees just thinking about it…
My fav is my dad’s 7-up cake- yum!!!
These cookies are gorgeous!
favorite baked good? extra extra sourdough bread
why? it just is sooooo satisfying
Right now….I love the cake! Mmmm, but it’s hard to share so I gotta say I would also go with cookie bars!
my favorite baked good is tiramisu! i love the creaminess of the mascarpone cheese mixed with the combination of lady fingers, espresso and cocoa. DELISH! i can eat a whole tray by myself, so it’s dangerous for me!
Oooh, there are so many good choices. But snickerdoodles probably win the race.
I think I have to say brownies… although it’s not very original. There’s just something unbeatable about a moist, chewy beawnie… yum.
These cookies look to beautiful to eat. My favorite baked good is soft, fudgy, homemade brownies and of course the old classic chocolate chip cookie.
Favorite baked good would have to be Sourdough Bread…fresh, hot and crusty from the oven, I could eat the whole loaf! Great giveaway, thanks.
My favorite baked good is Boysenberry Cobbler, the way my great grandmother made it. So delicious, my mouth is watering!
my very own homemade oreo cookie. yum.
My favorite baked goods would have to be homemade pie, Apple, Peach, Key Lime, Cherry…yummy!
My favorite baked good is banana cake with marscapone frosting. Mmmmm.
My favorite baked good is banana nut bread! Yum!
Pie! I used to get a birthday pie instead of a birthday cake, because my mom is awesome.
Hi my name is Raven
My fave baked good has to be Andes cookies. They arent in stores or anything, they’re cookies that my grandmorether usually makes every Christmas. The reason I like them is because my gram isnt a traditional gram (she’s still young and she travels most of the time, so we rarely see her.), so to see her bake is almost like a miracal!!! lol Its a great memory for me of her.
i think my favorite baked good is cookies, especially made with my best friend Rebecca Louise during our annual xmas time cookie party.
OMgosh–I have to find a pig’s butt cookie cutter! That is so great! My favorite baked good…argh! That may be the hardest question I’ll ever have to answer b/c baking is my life and I love it all. I guess I’ll have to say cookies, particularly brown butter chocolate chip. I eat more than a dozen (in one sitting) every time I make them. Which is probably why I don’t make them more often!
Bread has to be my favorite baked good. I love to make it, and eat it.
My favorite baked good is the pumpkin cake with cream cheese frosting I make my significant other every year for his birthday. He loves pumpkin.
Favorite baked goodie would have to be peanut butter cookies
peppermint ice cream pie!!!!! because it only comes at christmastime…and my birthday!
Probably brownies, if I really had to choose. Great company, I will check them out. Good to support a local baker, everyone remember her when it comes time to send gifts!
Cookies are my favorite baked goods with bread as a close second.
My favorite baked good? That is practically impossible to answer! In the cookie realm, I think I have to go with Snickerdoodles…or maybe chocolate chip….so hard to decide! Overall, perhaps a good old fashioned slice of chocolate cake. Mmm….
Love the designs of Plum Island Cookies and that they’re local!
I have to say for me, my favorite baked good is, Peanut butter cookies.
Chocolate chip cookie; recipe right off the Nestle’s bag. Can’t beat a childhood fave.
Fresh baked bread…no wait! Fresh baked cookies. Ok, both!
My favorite would have to be homemade poundcake. The way that the house smells while it’s baking is such a comforting scent. And then cutting into it’s buttery goodness is enough to make the world just pause.
Tollhouse cookies!
My absolute favorite backed good is caramel chocolate chip brownies. They are so rich and gooey. YUM-O! I get them so rarely that I must devour them all when I get the chance.
I like anything baked, to be honest! Right now It’s a margarita pound cake I’ve adapted from a lemon pound cake recipe…YUM!
Snickerdoodles are my favorite! Don’t think they would be as yummy if they had a different name. Hope I win, cause I’d like to try a baked sand dollar cookie!
My favorite baked good would have to be ginger snaps. I always forget about them but as soon as I run across a homemade batch of them at a bakery somewhere, I remember exactly why they’re my favorite.
Blueberry Buckles!! I will eat the whole thing myself if other people don’t eat it within a couple hours
So delicious and so easy and it has real fruit in it, so I can pretend it’s healthy 
Oh wow, those are so adorable! My favorite baked good is probably cupcakes, I love how moist they are and how they aren’t huge like cakes.
Cupcakes! They’re fun to make and a perfect little serving of something sweet.
Cinnamon buns. My grandmother made the best ones that I never could duplicate. Far better than any store bought or mall-chain place. They were so gooey and sticky with tons of cinnamon and sugar. Thanks grandma, you’re the best
My favorite baked good – simply – is bread. I was raised in an old school Italian family, my grandmother made foccocia all the time, fig newtons, faccia devecia (not sure of the spelling) and so on… I am SO not a baker – but I try! And learning to cook bread has warmed my heart. I make it from scratch and I am teaching my daughters the same. It’s easy and it’s pleasing and SO satisfying that in this world of instant gratifications and whirl wind fast paced things – I still can take joy and pleasure in measuring, mixing, kneading, rolling, rising, baking and eating bread!
Those cookies are adorable and look so yummy! My favorite baked good is hands down, frosted sugar cookies! So hard to stay away from!
My Favorite backed good would have to be my amaretto cupcakes! Heavenly to say the least!
My favorite are smores. I know they are not really a baked good, more like a fire baked good, but they remind me so much of summer sleepovers at camp.
rich chocolate cake with a nutella buttercream frosting puts a smile on my face every time
I will eat Rugalach until the bag is empty or I’m tackled by a concerned friend.
I LOVE cookies! So much so that my husband calls me the cookie monster
I grew up with my mother making delicious chocolate chip oatmeal cookies. She won’t give anyone the recipe but it doesn’t matter cause no one can make them as good as her. I guess her secret ingredient really is LOVE.
My latest obsession is with Whoppie pies — although I love blueberry pie too. Very different but both Maine staples.
My favorite is “ricotta cookies” tha I make at christmas time. They are slightly cake-y, moist, and not too sweet!
I am actually the Cookie Monster.
I ABSOULUTELY LOVE ICE CREAM AND COOKIES TOGETHER, ITS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL WAY TO ENJOY BOTH, ITS LIKE A PARTY IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!
I love a coconut cake and when I eat one it takes me back to my childhood. Sitting at my Granny’s kitchen table waiting to lick the bowl when she is done!