Etsy Profile: Chiu Mei - Fancy That Cookies

Tell me a bit about yourself.

My name is Chiu Mei (like CHO - MAY). I am Taiwanese by birth but have lived in the USA for 18 years, currently in Raleigh, North Carolina. Y‘all would love it down here in the South! I just got married a couple of years ago and have worked as a restaurant pastry chef for the last five years. My husband had been gaining weight eating all my desserts, so I thought I should find another avenue to share them before he got too heavy!

name your own fortune cookies

Apart from baking what do you enjoy?

I like to cook, sew, travel (we went to London and Paris for our honeymoon), shop (hence my need to sell my baked goods), garden (including herbs, berries, hot peppers, vegetables, sunflowers ,etc.) and of course eating - anything and everything! I especially love “bizarre” foods like stinky tofu, escargot, and have even tried kangaroo once!

rich chocolate chip torte (gluten-free, flourless)

What made you get into baking and then selling your goodies?

Our trip to Paris really inspired me to try making the fine desserts/pastries we saw there including macaroons, operas, croissants, eclairs, tiramisu, etc. These take a while to perfect, that is for sure! I will likely add some of these to my shop over the next year, depending on my customer feedback.

spicy meringue bites (lavender, chocolate, green tea)

movorian sugar cookies (low sugar)

Please describe your creative process.

I love to try out new things and have found that many things that do not necessarily sound all that good can be very tasty and more fun. I get some of my ideas from the gardening that I do, reading and just talking to people about the things that they like. In my Etsy shop you can find just about everything sweet you are looking for--cookies, brownies, tarts, pies, and more. I offer vegan and flourless items as well. If you don't see what you want, let me know and I will do my best to satisfy your sweet tooth! All my ingredients are fresh and no preservatives are used. If you have any special dietary needs let me know that, too. I have a two year culinary degree, several years pastry chef experience and a food safety class certificate.


chocolate ganache brownies with walnuts

Where can people find your baked goods?

For now only on Etsy in my shop, Fancy That Cookies, but this foray into the e-commerce world is really exciting and I am learning a lot of new, interesting things about the Internet that I hope to be able to utilize for a long time to come.

All images by and copyright of Fancy That Cookies, 2009.