For veteran bakers and baking novices alike, perfecting the classic chocolate chip cookie is no simple feat. The perfect bite is a confluence of textures, an artful balance between salty and sweet and slightly bitter, all of which come to fruition with quality ingredients and impeccable technique.
Maya, 11, and Nadia Turner, 13, have not only come to the perfect recipe but are sharing their confections with loyal customers. The University City sisters are the founders of Chocolate Girls’ Cookies and have been selling cookies since 2019.
The Turners were inspired to form the LLC after seeing kids their age on TV.
“I really wanted to be different,” said Maya. “There were no kids at my school who had their own business, and I wanted to be the first. We watched Shark Tank, and we saw kids on there, and I was like, ‘I want to be in Shark Tank.’”
The cookie company was also born out of the girls’ love for baking at an early age. Their mother, Shelly Williams, would bake cookies for Maya and Nadia when they were little. Over time, the girls adapted their great-great-grandmother’s recipe, found willing taste testers and tweaked the recipe based on the feedback they received.
“We thought we had something just based on the taste and the feedback that we had,” said Michael Turner, Nadia and Maya’s father and Chocolate Girls’ Cookies’ manager. “We passed out cookies at my job — I had a Ziploc bag [of cookies] — and a guy cupped his hands and asked for the crumbs. That’s when I was like, ‘Girls, we're really onto something.’”
Proceeds from selling the sweet treats go toward Maya and Nadia’s college fund. Some of the earnings are also set aside for a cause that’s important to the family. The girls’ merch features their company name with cookies in place of O’s and a pink ribbon as the L in “chocolate.”
“Our grandmother passed away from breast cancer awareness, so we put [the ribbon] in our hoodie,” said Nadia, who came up with the design. “We donate some [of the] money to breast cancer awareness.”
Previously, Chocolate Girls’ Cookies desserts were sold at the Soulard Farmers Market and at St. Louis Children’s Hospital. Now you can find their cookies in select movie theaters, Barnes-Jewish Hospital and on their website: www.chocolategirlscookies.com.
To learn more about what makes a good chocolate chip cookie, the girls’ aspirations for their business and how they feel about sour cream as a cookie dough ingredient, listen to St. Louis on the Air on Apple Podcast, Spotify or Google Podcast, or by clicking the play button below.
“St. Louis on the Air” brings you the stories of St. Louis and the people who live, work and create in our region. The show is produced by Ulaa Kuziez, Miya Norfleet, Emily Woodbury, Danny Wicentowski, Elaine Cha and Alex Heuer. Roshae Hemmings is our production assistant. The audio engineer is Aaron Doerr.
