The Liverpool student who’s created the most in-demand NYC-style stuffed cookies

A Liverpool student has created New York-style stuffed cookies that are so in demand she had to limit them to one per person!

Sara Al-Janabi, who’s in her final year of a digital marketing and business degree at JMU, only launched The Big Boy Bakery in March.

Her first sale was at the Makers Market in the Bombed Out Church, where almost 300 super-thick cookies were snapped up in under two hours.

It was such a success that she went back on Easter Monday with 1,000 that she’d spent five days baking into the early hours … and sold out again.

“That first day I was so nervous about how much I’d sell, when I saw the queue I was genuinely shaking,” she says. “Even my family weren’t sure I hadn’t made too many, they thought they had dessert sorted for the next week! 

“But in the weeks before I was trying to stay positive, so I was visualising it would go well and there would be a queue. The weather was horrendous, but that was the one thing that didn’t go to plan.

“The market started at 10am and I’d sold out by 11.40am – the last half an hour I had to do one cookie per person because I didn’t want people who were queuing in the rain not to get one. A lot of them had seen me post online that I was scared they wouldn’t sell and they’d travelled to support me.

“I really was overwhelmed, and I had that moment of ‘this could actually work, it could my reality’.”

For 23-year-old Sara the timing of her business boom isn’t textbook – she’s going into her finals with a lot of deadlines ahead.

But she says, after a tough few months recovering from surgery, the idea of launching her own venture couldn’t wait.

“I’m such a foodie and I come from a Muslim family so we connect through food, it’s our way of celebrating. I’m obsessed with what’s new and I do like baking, I definitely got that off my mum because there’s always a cake our house that she’s made.

“I’ve always liked posting on socials and in lockdown I did 12 days of 12 different bakes. Some didn’t work well because I’m not a complete natural baker, but the cookies I gave to friends and family always went down well.

“About six months ago, I had knee surgery and that’s when the idea started for my business. I’d just come back from Barcelona where I’d been living my best life and then I couldn’t even walk so I was at a real low point. I was in a brace for about six weeks, going into uni on crutches.

“I’d thought before about having my own business so while I was recovering I decided when I could move and do stuff again I was going to do it. Even though it was nerve wracking to put myself out there, whether it worked or not, I just wanted to try.”

Buying equipment and ingredients with her student overdraft, Sara set up The Big Boy Bakery and started posting on social media about her baking journey, honestly sharing all the hits and misses as she created various limited batch flavours.

“Even when I’m prepping for the pop-ups things still go wrong, but these cookies were the thing I’m good at and I enjoy the design and adding to them to make them look good. 

“Like everyone does, I eat with my eyes first so I wanted them to look aesthetic. They don’t look picture perfect, some are a bit wonky or a bit spread out, but that’s because they’re home baked and I’m so all over the place myself and that’s how the cookies are.”

Sara, who’s originally from Leeds, loved being part of the artisan small business community of the Makers Market and enjoyed the vibe of the Bombed Out Church so much she was keen to return.

Now she hopes her sold-out Easter Monday pop-up there will be the first of many across the city.

“Every cookie has different ingredients, and with the pop-ups I’ve changed the flavours each time. There’s a triple choc fudge brownie one I kept because that was so popular, one was Dubai pistachio, I had a lemon meringue inspired one and for Easter Monday I did Easter flavours like Nutella with caramel, caramel egg, crème egg, and I do a mystery flavour.

“My idea is to do pop-ups across the city and collaborate with other independent Liverpool businesses, like coffee shops, so it keeps it interesting and fun. 

“I can’t do every week right now because of my exams, but I definitely want to do another one in April, then in summer I can really give it my full attention.”

Find out more about The Big Boy Bakery here.

Find out about Liverpool Restaurant Week here.

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