Our licensed and insured home-based bakery is based in Chico, CA. We serve Chico and the surrounding areas.

Customers must be able to pick up cookies from our front porch in Chico.

The license that allows us to function from our home (cottage food license) does not allow us to ship our products.

We generally do not deliver our cookies, but there may be exceptions depending on the situation (must be arranged ahead of time).

Sugar cookies: There isn’t a lead time per se; we are considered booked when all of the available spots are taken for that day. The number of spots will be indicated on our calendar; if the day is greyed out, we are no longer available to take orders for that day. Fridays and Saturdays are the first days to go. Dates may become booked as early as a month ahead of time, so if you’ve got a date, book it! (Booking is currently available through the end of October)

Customers are able to cancel and modify their orders at their leisure (so long as it is 72 hrs ahead of time).

Macarons: We ask that you order at least 48 hrs before pick up, as we need to prepare the egg whites for baking, and ensure we have all of the ingredients necessary for your selected fillings. We may cut off dates if we reach our weekly quota (it will be indicated on the order page).

For the last 4 years, we have not required a deposit at time of order for custom sugar cookies. We understand that plans may change and that you may need to adjust quantity or cancel your order, therefore we find it easier to collect payment closer to or day of pickup.

Macarons, since they are rarely custom, must be paid for at the time of order on the website. The exception is when customers are ordering both sugar cookies and macarons (see FAQ on that).

Please book all orders (sugar cookies and macarons) through the appropriate pages on the website (brownboxbakeshop.com). I get so many messages through Instagram, Facebook, email, and even my personal cell phone, that it gets extremely hard to keep track of any orders this way.

When you book through the site, you will automatically get a confirmation email, reminder emails, and the ability to upload and modify theme details at your leisure. (Sometimes the photos don’t upload for some reason; but I’ll reach out if that’s the case). I also get your contact info here in case I need to reach out. It’s a win-win for everyone!

We totally understand that plans change.

You are free to cancel or modify your order up until 72 hrs before your scheduled pickup on the website. No need to explain! If you need to cancel after that, you will need to contact us directly at brownboxbakeshop@gmail.com, as we may already be in the process of preparing your order.

While we do understand that last minute events may occur, we do ask that you let us know of your cancellation or modification as soon as possible so that we can make adjustments, as well as to allow others to take the spot.

You can do this one of two ways:

1) Book your sugar cookie order through the calendar and in the special instructions, make a note that you would like to order macarons as well (and approximate quantity/design if possible). If you choose this method, you will pay for both sugar cookies and macarons at the time of pickup in a single transaction.

2) Book your sugar cookie order through the calendar as usual, and order macarons through the macaron page. You will need to pay for the macarons at the time of ordering. You will pick up both at the same time, but will only need to pay the remaining balance (cost of sugar cookies) at the time of pickup.

Sugar cookies: As orders are completely custom, there is not a set price on sugar cookies, as the price depends on the complexity of design, size, materials used, etc. Currently, most cookies are generally $3 ea, for a 3-4 in cookie. If it will be more or less, we will reach out and let you know. Otherwise, it’s safe to assume that each cookie will be $3 ea.

Macarons: Macarons are currently $20 per box of 10 macarons. Each box contains a single color and flavor.

Sugar cookies: There is no minimum order for sugar cookies. You can order 2 or 20 or 222 cookies. Since we make a ton of dough every week, and different shapes require different amounts of dough, we do not require that you order by the dozen. For smaller orders, however, we may not be able to accommodate a large number of colors (e.g., a rainbow set for 2 cookies — it’s a lot of work to produce 7 colors for just 2 cookies!)

Macarons: Macarons are ordered in sets of 10, as that is single batch size when baking.

Our sugar cookies contain gluten, eggs, and dairy. We have dabbled in working on both gluten-free and vegan versions of these cookies, but we are not yet comfortable putting them out there for sale :)

Macarons contain nuts (almonds), eggs, and dairy. The majority of macaron flavors are gluten-free. Those that contain gluten are marked with an asterisk. We do not offer vegan macarons at this time.

We currently do not offer products other than decorated sugar cookies and French macarons. On occasion, we may offer special treats, but we believe in doing a few things really well (also, this is mostly a one-woman show).

Sugar cookies: Sugar cookies should last at least a week at room temperature, in a cool, dry place, in an airtight container. They probably last a lot longer, but our kids have not let them last that long, so we don’t have firsthand experience! Our customers have also had success freezing cookies for months, however, if you would like to prevent the colors from running, there is a widely accepted method of doing this (will post links/instructions soon).

Macarons: Macarons hold up extremely well in the refrigerator for about a week or for a few months in an airtight container in the freezer (please do not store in the box they come in; it will not keep out odors, etc). If stored in either of these ways, please allow macarons to come to room temperature (about 10-15 min) to allow the shells to soften before enjoying.

Again, we absolutely understand that things happen that may prevent you from picking up your goodies. If your treats have not yet been made, it’s usually no big deal. We’ll just move on to the next order and await your next one!

However, if we have completed your order, and you have not paid/picked up your order after we have contacted you, you will not be able to place an order with us in the future. We love our customers and want to be a part of your most important events, but this means a loss of income, and most importantly, time. Time that could have been spent with our family, or on another order. So please, just communicate with us, one way or another :)

In general, the answer is no. Believe us, we want to make cookies for every event that comes to us! However, Brown Box Bakeshop is a one-woman show and there are only so many hours in the day. We are always striving to achieve a work-life balance, which is tough to do for small business owners (who, in reality, are working 24/7 in one way or another!). This means limiting the number of orders we take on per day.

Because nothing is made ahead of time or frozen, it takes a lot of time to make dough, bake, and decorate. Even a seemingly small amount of cookies can take hours!

You are always welcome to inquire about a date to see if there is some flexibility, but there is no guarantee of availability unless you actually book a date on the calendar. Another option would be reserving a date a few days before your event, since the cookies keep well for at least a week. We may even be able to push your cookies closer to your event date depending on the orders that week (but you still need to reserve a date on the calendar!)

In general, if the date is unavailable on the calendar, so are we :(

When you book an order, you will immediately receive a confirmation email confirming the details of your order. In that email, there is a black button that links you to a page where you can modify the details of your order. Please make your changes here as this is what we refer to when looking at the final details of your order!

In general, we are totally fine with you changing your theme so long as it’s at least 72 hours before pickup. However, cookie shapes are not guaranteed (we have literal hundreds of cookie cutters — but you never know!)

When you book your order online, you immediately get a confirmation email to the email address you provided. If you don’t see it, check your spam! The subject of the email will be:

New Cookie Order: Custom Sugar Cookies

and the email will come from scheduling@squarespacescheduling.com

You will also receive an automated reminder email 48 hrs before you are due to pick up your order.

As we usually make hundreds of cookies each week, you will not receive a personal email/message from us unless we have a question about your order (it gets too crazy to juggle otherwise!). So if everything is good, just come by during your scheduled pickup time to grab your cookies!

So the short answer is, if you have a confirmation email, and you don’t cancel your order, you’re good to go! :)

Because we run out of a private residence, pick up address is included in both your confirmation and reminder emails; it will not be posted here or anywhere public.

Payment details are also listed in both emails. We take Venmo, Paypal, cash or check. Instructions for all are included in your emails.

Unless otherwise specified, your total for your order will be $3 multiplied by the number of cookies you ordered. You will also find the total amount on your cookie box when you pick up.

General pickup times are between 9am-6pm in Chico. They are broken up into 9am-12noon, 12noon-3pm, and 3pm-6pm blocks to help ease the flow of traffic in the neighborhood (as well as to give us a sense of when you’ll be coming by so cookies don’t stay out all day long!)

We understand that you may not be able to make these times due to work and other commitments. Since it’s a no-contact porch pickup, we can likely accommodate times earlier or later than 9am and 6pm — you just need to let us know ahead of time!

Because are schedule is so packed, please do not arrive before your scheduled pick up time; they will more than likely not be ready.

We hold a small number of personal gift boxes and crinkle in our inventory, but please check ahead of time with us. Typically, they are just leftovers from a sale. Gift packaging is an extra $1 per box, and will include crinkle inside the box.

Otherwise, our cookies come in a plain, kraft box lined with bubble wrap or packing foam sheets to keep them from shifting.

Yes! By default, all cookies are individually bagged and heatsealed in clear, flat bags at no additional cost. If you would not like your cookies to be bagged, please indicate this at the time of ordering.

We believe that Brown Box Bakeshop offers the best sugar cookies in town at the best value. You are unlikely to find the level of quality and taste at this price anywhere else! Our cookies are made with the highest quality ingredients and take hours to create, but we believe that everyone deserves to have cookies for their special occasions, so we try to keep costs low as often as we can. Because of these reasons, we do not offer discounts for our scratch-made, made-to-order products.