Plum Island Cookie Giveaway (Contest Now Closed)

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Penelope Pig Cookie

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.

plum island cookie company logo

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.

Dawn Marie Shay from Plum Island Cookies

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.

Plum Island Cookies in wrappers

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.

Plum Island Cookie Gift Certificates

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.

Scallop Shell Cookie

Penelope

This was, hands down, my favorite shape. Not to mention my favorite name. (I wonder why.) Love the pink sanding sugar.

Penelope Pig Cookie

Sand Dollar

Shaped like a sand dollar topped with a beautiful petal-shaped flower.

Sand Dollar Cookie

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.

Close up sand dollar cookie

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.

scallop shell cookie

It’s dusted with pale blue sanding sugar.

close up scallop shell cookie

sugar on cookie

Stella Starfish

Love the upturned corners on this one. It’s dusted with pale lavender sanding sugar.

starfish cookie

close up starfish cookie

flat starfish cookie

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.

thin crisp butter cookie

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.

Good luck!

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Jessie Cross is a cookbook author and creator of The Hungry Mouse, a monster online food blog w/500+ recipes. When she's not shopping for cheese or baking pies, Jessie works as an advertising copywriter in Boston. She lives in Salem, Massachusetts with her husband and two small, fluffy wolves.

83 COMMENTS

  1. 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
  2. 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.
  3. 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.
  4. 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.
  5. 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.
  6. 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!
  7. Mine would be vegan banana+maple syrup muffins :) I have some friends who are vegan, so I love baking those for them!
  8. 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.
  9. 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.
  10. 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.
  11. 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.
  12. 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.
  13. 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.
  14. 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.
  15. 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!
  16. 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.
  17. 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! :)
  18. 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...
  19. These cookies are gorgeous! favorite baked good? extra extra sourdough bread why? it just is sooooo satisfying
  20. 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!
  21. I think I have to say brownies... although it's not very original. There's just something unbeatable about a moist, chewy beawnie... yum.
  22. 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.
  23. 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.
  24. 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.
  25. i think my favorite baked good is cookies, especially made with my best friend Rebecca Louise during our annual xmas time cookie party.
  26. 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!
  27. 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.
  28. 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!
  29. 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!
  30. 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.
  31. 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.
  32. 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!
  33. 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!
  34. 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.
  35. Blueberry Buckles!! I will eat the whole thing myself if other people don't eat it within a couple hours :P So delicious and so easy and it has real fruit in it, so I can pretend it's healthy :D
  36. 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 :-)
  37. 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!
  38. Those cookies are adorable and look so yummy! My favorite baked good is hands down, frosted sugar cookies! So hard to stay away from!
  39. 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.
  40. 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.
  41. My latest obsession is with Whoppie pies -- although I love blueberry pie too. Very different but both Maine staples.
  42. I ABSOULUTELY LOVE ICE CREAM AND COOKIES TOGETHER, ITS THE MOST DELIGHTFUL WAY TO ENJOY BOTH, ITS LIKE A PARTY IN YOUR MOUTH!!!!!!!!!!!!
  43. 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!

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