It's happened again.

This Thursday we'll be debuting a new biscotti: Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut. The biscotti has a rich chocolate taste and the cherries, which have been soaked in a port wine, give it an additional burst of flavor. So if you're interested, stop by Cohasset and see Bob for a bag. We have a feeling they might go fast.   Another new biscotti, not to us but to the market, is the Pecan Oat Biscotti. This biscotti is great with just about any type of beverage. The nutty flavor with a hint of white chocolate make this biscotti a great cookie.

So since we're talking biscotti, where do they come from? What is their origin?

The biscotti has its roots back to the time of the Romans. The legions of soldiers needed a food source that had a long shelf-life so these unleavened, finger-shaped wafers were first baked to cook them then baked again to dry them out. This method made the wafers durable for travel and provided nourishment to the travelers. The word biscotti is derived from the Latin "bis" meaning twice and "coctum" for baked (which was later changed to "cotto" meaning cooked.  After the fall of the Roman empire, survival was the foremost thought so it wasn't until the Renaissance that the biscotti re-emerged in Tuscany and since then people have been enjoying these twice baked wafer as a morning treat with coffee or tea or as an after dinner treat.

Some of my Italian friends call the biscotti cantucci  and any other crunchy cookie, whether round or square or elongated, biscotti.  Some pronounce biscotti, bee-SCOAT-tee, while others pronounce them, bis-Cot-tee. Whatever you call them or how ever you pronounce them, you can find a wide range of flavors. Currently we offer the following flavors: Chocolate Coffee Cashew, Pecan Oat, Cherry Chocolate Hazelnut, Anisette, Pistachio Cherry, Orange Cherry Almond. All can come plain or some of them can be dipped in Dark or White Chocolate or drizzled with White Chocolate. So if you are in the market for a good biscotti, give us a call.

Fall Specials

It's that time of year again, Back to school. The changing of the air, the winter clothes in the stores, the school supply ads all point to the fall. Students don't enjoy this time of year whereas parents are very happy and excited for this time of year.

We decided to offer two discounts this fall. One is a Back-to-School discount. Receive 15% off your entire order. Use the promotion code School10 when you checkout. The discount is available until November 1, 2010.

Another discount we are offering is for teachers. Being an educator, I know first hand how much money I spend to get supplies for my classroom or for those students who can't afford it. I love finding a bargain or sale just as much as the next person. If you are an educator, you receive 15% off your entire order not only for the fall but the entire school year. Just use promotion code Teach during checkout.

Enjoy this time of year.

Goodbye Summer, Hello Fall!

The summer sure has been a beautiful one but it has gone by way too fast. As we prepare to do the last official market of the summer, I'm thinking ahead to the fall and all that it will bring. Bob will be doing the markets in Cohasset the month of September and October. Both of us will still be doing the Carver Market. The dates for Carver are 9/5, 9/19, 10/3, 10/10. Fall time is the time we bring out the pumpkin bread, pumpkin pies, the buckles (blueberry and cranberry), zucchini breads, the Holiday and Cinnamon Chip cookies, Sour Cream Coffee Cake, and we might try some muffins. There is talk of doing some apple crisp while at the Carver market. So come check us out.

Many markets will be celebrating the fall with some sort of fall festival. Most markets end the middle of October but there are a few that will continue into November. A few places even do a winter market. Check out Edible South Shore to find which markets are open later in the year.

With the fall comes the New England Food Festival. Plymouth host a variety of activities prior to Thanksgiving. Check out http://www.usathanksgiving.org for more information. We decided to see if they had all the vendors for the festival and they needed one more so we signed on. Now the daunting task is to decide which item to enter into the festival. The festival will be held on the waterfront on 11/20 from 11-4pm. If you are in the area, stop by. Vendors will be competing in areas of Best Chowder, Soup, Dessert, Party Foods, Decor, Local and Fresh. Judges will award a prize to a lucky vendor in each category. A people's choice award will also be awarded. Should be a fun and exciting time.

Enjoy the sunshine, the cooler morning temperatures, and the signs that fall is on its way.

Introducing the Choc-a-lotta and our 200th Fan

The winner of our "Name that Cookie" contest was Kristy Reine from Baton Rouge, Louisiana. She received a bakers dozen of the new cookie. The Choc-a-lotta has Dark, Milk, and White chocolate chips mixed in the oatmeal batter. We narrowed down all the suggestions to 4. The four possible winners were: Trifection, Trinity, Harmony, and Choc-a-lotta.


We also had a contest going to see who our 200th fan would be. Jill Currier from Somerville, MA was our 200th fan. She was able to pick any item off the website and choose a bakers dozen of the Original cookies (Oatmeal Chocolate Chip). She had purchased some cookies earlier in the day at the Carver market and joined our Facebook page shortly there after. Enjoy the cookies Jill.

Stay tuned for another contest.

Farmers Market Feedback

Spending the summer at the markets is a way to meet people. Below are comments given to us from customers at a variety of markets.

"Your Harvest cookies are the best cookies we've had...probably ever! Just simple oatmeal cookies with dried fruit, no chocolate. The whole family enjoyed them." Cohasset Farmers Market customer

"The Apple pie was the best apple pie I have ever had. I have had a lot of them over my lifetime." 85 year old man at the Hingham Market.

"I tried an oatmeal chocolate chip cookie from another vendor at the Braintree market and was disappointed. Your Oatmeal Chocolate chip cookies (Original) are to die for. The chocolate and the salt make it delicious" Cohasset/Hingham Farmers Market customer

"I'm addicted to the Chocolate bread. It's so moist and delicious." Cohasset Farmers Market customer

"I've been looking all over for your Pistachio Cherry Biscotti since we had it at an Edible South Shore lecture series. I couldn't get them out of my mind." Carver Farmers Market customer

"It's worth it for cookie goodness." Cohasset Farmers Market customer in regards to the carbohydrate content.

"The Coconut Banana bread is amazing. I can't stop buying it every week." Cohasset Farmers Market customer

"The Sugar-Free Blueberry mini-pie was delicious. Over 2 pounds of blueberries and you could taste the blueberries." Hingham/Cohasset Farmers Market customer

"You products not only taste good but they look good."


Thank you for all of your feedback. We'll post more at a later date. Stop by and check us out.
Cohasset Market every Thursday from 2:30-6:30 until the middle of October.
Carver Markets every other Sunday from 12:00-4:00 until the middle of October.
Hingham Market Saturdays from 10:00-2:00...fall dates to be added

Name That Cookie Contest!

So far August is shaping up to be filled with hot, humid weather and afternoon thunderstorms. Our market today ended up being a wash after a few hours due to lightening and thunder followed by the skies opening up and pouring a ton of much needed rain.

We're kicking of August with a contest. We made a new cookie. This one is of the same base as all the other cookies, Oatmeal, and has dark, milk, and white chocolate chips. The winner of the contest will be given a dozen of the new cookies and their name on our website. So think of a winning name and submit it either through our FaceBook page or email us at info@familysecretsbakery.com. Good luck to all of you.

On a side note, ideas and thoughts are starting to pour out of our minds for new cookies, biscotti, breads, and cakes. Hopefully we'll be able to experiment shortly on a few ideas and if all goes well, start offering them for the fall.

Just a reminder, we are in Cohasset every Thursday from 2:30-6:30 and will be at the Carver's Farmers Market 8/15 and 8/29. If you are looking for something that isn't usually brought to the market but is offered on our website, give us a call or email us and let us know. We'll be happy to make it and bring it to the next market we are at.

Enjoy the month of August. Hope to see you at a market.

Time marches on.

The month of July has flown by. We've been busy baking and selling items at 3 farmers markets. I can honestly say that I felt like I was on a merry-go-round. We enjoyed our time at the Hingham market and made new friends and contacts. It was great to see other customers from other markets show up. Maybe in the fall we'll head back to Hingham for some dates. Right now, it's nice to have only 2 markets to worry about.

Trying to figure out what to bring to the markets is always a challenge. Since we only bring a small sampling compared to what is offered on our website, it never fails that we don't have something someone is looking for. For example: Toffee Chip cookies. They weren't a big hit at the beginning of the season so we stopped bringing them along with us only to find people asking for them. Another cookie having the same results are the Freedom cookies. The Blondies and Southern Comfort cookies have a certain following, but lately they're selling out before the Original or Peanut Butter Cups. Don't get me started on pies or breads. One week, all the breads can sell out in an hour but the pies are slow moving. The next week we bring more breads and less pies and it's the pies that are flying off the shelves instead of the breads. At this stage in the game, we just laugh about it. We're reminding customers that they can email or call us a few days before we show up and ask us to bring/make something for them. We'll hold it for them on market day. So far this concept has caught on.

We love hearing feedback from our customers. One elderly gentleman from the Hingham market raved about the Apple Pie. Another lady from the same market commented that on the Cream Cheese Pound Cake. She stated that her elderly aunts absolutely loved it.

August will be a little slower in pace but we're still at the Cohasset Market every Thursday and will be in Carver on 8/15 and 8/29. As fall approaches we'll bring out different breads, like Pumpkin and Zucchini, and Blueberry and Cranberry Buckle and Sour Cream Coffee Cake. If you have any suggestion for new cookies, breads, biscotti, let us know.