Baked with Love

Hi! I’m Sherilyn and I am the CBO (Chief Baking Officer) of Hwy 108 Cookies, LLC, an in-home, cottage bakery based out of Melrose, WI. I specialize in large, gourmet-style cookies, as well as custom-decorated sugar cookies both of which will have you in love at first bite.

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I am a self-taught baker who found the love of baking when I was a little girl, watching my Grandma create delicious desserts from simple ingredients. From about the age of ten, I became the baker in the family. I would always be the one baking desserts for our family holiday get-togethers.

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How the hustle started…in 2018, I was diagnosed with a benign brain tumor that had started growing before I was even born. It explained the reason that I’d had headaches/migraines my entire life. The next ten days were a whirlwind, I went from being diagnosed to having brain surgery. As you can imagine, it turned our world upside down. The recovery process was long and difficult. Just as I was starting to feel like myself again, the COVID-19 pandemic hit. I, like the rest of the world, had so many questions, but no answers. It was such an isolating time, every day I went to work then came home and helped my kids do school online. I needed an outlet and started baking cookies and putting them on Facebook to sell to friends and family.

 

In 2021, once the restrictions were lifted, I was asked to participate in a craft/vendor market. My immediate thought was “No way!” Like most bakers, I am a true introvert, and putting myself out there and talking to people was not my intention. After some thought, I decided to participate and it was so much fun! It was like I left the introvert in the kitchen and the extrovert went to the event. I found it easy to talk to people about something that I love doing. Watching them enjoy the fruits of my labor is so fulfilling. This little side hustle has turned into so much more than I ever expected!

 

I always found that this quote describes me perfectly: “You don’t have to love cooking to cook, but you have to do more than love baking to bake. You have to bake out of love.” ~Tom Junod