It's several hours of time. Shop for ingredients, prep, cook, decorate, and package and clean up. Depending on how fancy, that adds extra time. Plus, at least $7-15 for ingredients, electricity, etc.

If they’re hand-iced or otherwise elaborately decorated, $60 seems very reasonable to me. You’re not buying cookies per se, you’re buying the enjoyment of something special and visually pleasing. If you really just care about cookies for eating, then get a bag of Pepperidge Farms.

Anonymous wrote:Current farm market prices for homemade cookies in my area drop cookies $0.75. Buckeyes, drop or cutout cookies with chocolate or sprinkles or other topping that is quick but still requires work beyond baking- like those chocolate ones dipped in confectioners sugar $1.00, Fancy items that take longer in labor like a cinnamon roll cookie with icing or half dipped cookies $1.50, small macarons $2.00, really detailed Royal icing cookies2.50-3.00, cookie sandwiches with icing in the middle $3.50.
Usually $1.00-more per half dozen if they have nuts.

Where do you live? I can’t imagine this is the DC area.

Current farm market prices for homemade cookies in my area drop cookies $0.75. Buckeyes, drop or cutout cookies with chocolate or sprinkles or other topping that is quick but still requires work beyond baking- like those chocolate ones dipped in confectioners sugar $1.00, Fancy items that take longer in labor like a cinnamon roll cookie with icing or half dipped cookies $1.50, small macarons $2.00, really detailed Royal icing cookies2.50-3.00, cookie sandwiches with icing in the middle $3.50.
Usually $1.00-more per half dozen if they have nuts.

I’m part of a FB group for bakers who make royal icing cookies. The going rate for cottage bakers is $60+ a dozen. Before I started making cookies, I would have balked at this price. But now that I make them, I realize how time consuming it is. A batch of cookies takes me about 4-5 hours beginning to end (not including drying time). If you pay $60, you are essentially paying anywhere from $12-$15 an hour for labor (and that doesn’t include ingredient costs which are currently high). There’s no way I could make a living so I don’t sell. But I would find it insulting if someone asked me to do them a favor unless it was a close family member or a friend who I could count on to return the favor.

Anonymous wrote:No one is devaluing anyone's skill. This isn't something the friend does for a living. It's for fun and we are trying to sort what cookies generally cost in a nice bakery as we haven't found any nearby for a starting point.

If anyone has some examples of how much they have paid, we would be interested in hearing.

Got it. I misunderstood and thought you were side complaining about how much gourmet cookies cost. Apologies 🙏🏼

Thank you. Just looked on line and Wegman's does sell trays of cookies. I hadn't thought of it because I don't shop there.

Maybe Wegman's individual cookies?

No one is devaluing anyone's skill. This isn't something the friend does for a living. It's for fun and we are trying to sort what cookies generally cost in a nice bakery as we haven't found any nearby for a starting point.

If anyone has some examples of how much they have paid, we would be interested in hearing.

How much do you get paid per hour?

Consider the time your friend is taking to shop for those quality ingredients: the time it takes to make the dough and carefully portion them out so they cook evenly. The time it takes to wash the dishes. The time it takes to carefully decorate and package the cookies so they transport well.

There’s a reason those fancy cookies are expensive. They have a skill and you should be willing to pay them fairly for their skill. Just because a grocery store cookie is cheaper doesn’t mean you should devalue their skills

Trying to determine a reasonable price per dozen for Christmas cookies. Higher quality than Giant, Safeway, etc. But, unwilling to pay prices for some of the fancy online stores which go anywhere from $50 to $100. Acquaintance will be making the cookies with high quality ingredients but doesn't have a business. So trying to settle on a fair price but having trouble finding nearby bakery to gauge costs against. The few I have found sell individual cookies (not particularly festive) for as much as $3 - $4 each making a dozen Christmas cookies $50 which seems high.

If anyone buys from a nice bakery or custom orders what is the going rate?