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A mother and daughter in Montgomery County, Maryland, have turned their passion project into a small business, allowing them to work together as they bake unique cookies made from family recipes.
The Rockville business, Bell’s Reines, produces miniature gourmet cookies.
“It was a journey to get to where we are right now,” said Teneisha Thompson. “We hired a design team to help us with our packaging and our website.”
Thompson said the cookies give people “a taste of our family’s legacy.”
The idea for the business initially came from Thompson’s daughter, Angel Cephas, who founded a food blog called “Dulcet Scintilla.”
“It was actually successful,” Thompson said of the blog. “She was making food and we were doing videos.”
It wasn’t long before the pair started officially selling the food they were blogging about.
Now, their cookies can be purchased online and in dozens of stores around the D.C. region.
“We use real eggs, butter and real sugar,” Thompson said. “Whatever was in your kitchen as a child basically is what we’re using today.”
Working as a mother-daughter duo is “rewarding” and makes Thompson “overjoyed,” she said.
“Sure, we clash at times, but then other times we like to have fun,” Thompson explained. “We are able to talk to mentors and get ideas from other people, but at the end of the day, it’s still my thoughts and my daughter’s thoughts that get us to the next level.”
Cephas said her passion for baking stretches back several years.
“I started when I was in high school,” Cephas said. “I would bake cakes, cookies or brownies and give it to friends for their birthdays.”
Cephas and her mother currently bake their products in a commercial kitchen, though they hope to ultimately expand their business, get their very own kitchen and hire a staff.
“It just reminds me of my childhood because she would put me up on the counter and we would bake cakes together,” Cephas said. “It’s a way to bond more with her and spend quality time.”
