our story

Two friends, a lot of butter, and a whole neighborhood behind us.

how we got here

Jessica Christopher & Michelle Taylor

We met at a mommy group and bonded over a shared, slightly unreasonable love of cookies. In 2020 we started baking out of our home kitchens as a cottage-licensed business, selling decorate-your-own kits and testing doughs until they were exactly right.

When we outgrew the cottage rules, we leased an old laundromat in West Altadena and started building our first real shop.

Those early years were folding tables, farmers’ markets, and driveway pickups — decorate-your-own kits handed off with a smile and a lot of sprinkles. We learned our neighbors’ names, their kids’ birthdays, and which flavors sold out first. That’s still how we think about this place: a shop built by the people who show up for it.

Altadena Cookie Co. co-founders Jessica Christopher and Michelle Taylor smiling together outside their shop.
Altadena Cookie Co. co-founders Jessica Christopher and Michelle Taylor holding fresh chocolate chip cookies in the kitchen.

Then the fire

The January 2025 Eaton Fire hit while we were mid-move. Michelle lost her home, Jessica’s was badly damaged, and much of our equipment went with it. With help from community grants and a GoFundMe, we rebuilt over about ten months.

In the meantime, we stood in our parking lot handing out Oreos and t-shirts with a card that read, “to tie you over until we can feed you a proper cookie.” We reopened in late 2025, one of the first new businesses to open in Altadena after the fire.

the shop we always wanted

The space finally looks like us: a hand-painted mural of the San Gabriels, a wall of big bold flowers, paper lanterns in pink, purple, blue, and lime, and a row of old arcade games in the corner. There’s a Polaroid wall for every dog that visits, and the occasional pot-bellied pig.

We build every cookie from its own base recipe because we’re genuinely fussy about texture — the chew, the edge, the crackle. When we name a flavor key lime pie, we want it to actually taste like key lime pie, not like a sugar cookie wearing a costume.

Altadena Cookie Co. co-founder Michelle Taylor holding a chocolate chip cookie over one eye while wearing a blue bandana and apron.
Customers browsing freshly baked cookies at the Altadena Cookie Co. bakery counter.

rooted in the neighborhood

Our flavors come from the people who walk in. A neighbor tells us about the cornmeal cookie their grandma used to make, and we figure out how to put it in the case. Feeding this community has been the whole point from day one — from driveway kits in 2020 to the counter today.

We’re cheeky, a little sarcastic, and proud of it — but we take the cookies seriously. Come in, grab one, watch us ice a batch, and stay a while. Everybody’s welcome.

Started in our home kitchens

Reopened after the Eaton Fire

New business back in Altadena

Flavors we’ve obsessed over

From friends and neighbors

“Gorgeous new shop, and the cookies live up to it. The weekly specials get me every single time.”

Ieva M.

“We’ve been ordering since the home-kitchen days in 2020. Every pickup still feels like a treat.”

Marisa M.

“Great mix of classic and inventive flavors, a cute room to sit in, and the friendliest counter in town.”

Crystal C.

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