Our Mission
We are in business to provide you gosh darn good cookies with undertones of home and familiarity.
Cookie Crush
Deborah Ducusin, Owner and Baker
Deborah’s journey to her present career as a Baker/Pastry Chef began in her childhood home in Santa Cruz, California. Her mother, Rosa, a full-time, nightshift nurse, always found time to cook meals for her husband and five children. Deborah quickly became Rosa’s assistant, from setting the table, washing, drying, and
putting away dishes, to cooking rice, mixing batters and cookie dough by hand, sautéing, rolling out pie dough, chopping, slicing, peeling, and the endless task of rolling Filipino style egg rolls known as lumpia. It may have appeared to be daunting work to some, but always rewarding to the cook, her assistant and those who were privileged enough to taste the outcome.
Deborah held all sorts of jobs after high school – packaged software, customer service at a video retail store, quality control for printers, assembled alarm systems, office assistant, and most recently worked 10 years in a manufacturing FAB for a semiconductor company. Her closest job to working in the food industry was packaging beef jerky where hairnets, white lab coats, and gloves were the standard attire. No job was as fulfilling as when she stepped into her own kitchen to create pastries.
Baking cakes and cookies became a hobby for Deborah. At first she made cookies and decorated cakes for family members. She also made them for work potlucks and get-togethers with friends and family. Then she began packaging cookies to give away as gifts on Christmas and birthdays. Deborah was and continues to be) ecstatic with the expressions of joy and bliss when friends and family receive a box of cookies or a slice of a beautifully decorated and divine tasting custom celebration cake – a goal achieved.
Friends, bosses, acquaintances, their friends, and their friends, and their friends... began to inquire about catering to their cravings, wants, and needs. Alas, the early beginnings of Cookie Crush and Sweet on Desserts circa 2000.
Upon realizing her true passion, Deborah quit her job of 10 years to attend Western Culinary Institute in 2007. She graduated with honors and received an Associates of Occupational Studies Degree in Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking.
“I truly believe that desserts appeal to us as adults because of an association with a feeling of reward, perhaps from childhood, and the pleasures of a sense of indulgence and satisfaction.” – Andrew MacLauchlan, author of The Making of a Pastry Chef and Executive Pastry Chef of Coyote Café
Deborah’s journey to her present career as a Baker/Pastry Chef began in her childhood home in Santa Cruz, California. Her mother, Rosa, a full-time, nightshift nurse, always found time to cook meals for her husband and five children. Deborah quickly became Rosa’s assistant, from setting the table, washing, drying, and
putting away dishes, to cooking rice, mixing batters and cookie dough by hand, sautéing, rolling out pie dough, chopping, slicing, peeling, and the endless task of rolling Filipino style egg rolls known as lumpia. It may have appeared to be daunting work to some, but always rewarding to the cook, her assistant and those who were privileged enough to taste the outcome.
Deborah held all sorts of jobs after high school – packaged software, customer service at a video retail store, quality control for printers, assembled alarm systems, office assistant, and most recently worked 10 years in a manufacturing FAB for a semiconductor company. Her closest job to working in the food industry was packaging beef jerky where hairnets, white lab coats, and gloves were the standard attire. No job was as fulfilling as when she stepped into her own kitchen to create pastries.
Baking cakes and cookies became a hobby for Deborah. At first she made cookies and decorated cakes for family members. She also made them for work potlucks and get-togethers with friends and family. Then she began packaging cookies to give away as gifts on Christmas and birthdays. Deborah was and continues to be) ecstatic with the expressions of joy and bliss when friends and family receive a box of cookies or a slice of a beautifully decorated and divine tasting custom celebration cake – a goal achieved.
Friends, bosses, acquaintances, their friends, and their friends, and their friends... began to inquire about catering to their cravings, wants, and needs. Alas, the early beginnings of Cookie Crush and Sweet on Desserts circa 2000.
Upon realizing her true passion, Deborah quit her job of 10 years to attend Western Culinary Institute in 2007. She graduated with honors and received an Associates of Occupational Studies Degree in Le Cordon Bleu Patisserie and Baking.
“I truly believe that desserts appeal to us as adults because of an association with a feeling of reward, perhaps from childhood, and the pleasures of a sense of indulgence and satisfaction.” – Andrew MacLauchlan, author of The Making of a Pastry Chef and Executive Pastry Chef of Coyote Café
