Baking used to be reserved for the grandmothers of the world. Their eyes could sense the nuance of change that occurs when a batter is just combined instead of over-mixed. Their tender hands could roll out dough without rips or tears. Their attention to detail made sure brownies are fudgy and rich, mix-ins were abundant and frosting was whipped. Their intuition allowed them to know the perfect cook time—no timer necessary. From years of birthdays, holidays or those days that crave an afternoon treat, they have always been queens in the kitchen. However, after taking over her late aunt’s storefront, Alexis McLean has proven she has all those talents and more at her sweet cookie shop on 16th Street Mall.
Santa Fe Cookie Company started as a one-woman show when McLean’s aunt, Debbie Kuehn, began slinging cookies to the people of Colorado. In the 80s, she catered to the skiers; burning so many calories shredding down the mountainside, the only thing to replenish the ski bums was a satisfying chocolate chip cookie. It even worked for people who didn’t have a sweet tooth. However, in the early 2000s, she migrated back to the city of Denver where professionals, children and snackers welcomed her with open arms.
Even being on the lower courtyard of the Republic Plaza couldn’t deter from the sweet smell of melting chocolate and sugar dissolving, causing caramel to wander into every nook of 16th street. People’s heads perk up even in the cold to see where this illustrious scent emerges from. Their eyes get wider when they realize that each little white bag they bought concealed three of Santa Fe Cookie’s gems.
The bright boisterous logo calls for all patrons to enter. Hints of yellows, pinks, purples and blues welcome in all the customers, but the smell of cookies constantly being removed from the oven will ensure they stay. Here, McLean works diligently to ensure that each cutely decorated bread pan is fully stocked with cookies waiting to be devoured.
McLean’s aunt was always providing the freshest batch of cookies to her customers and chatting about everything from school grades and work endeavors to aspiring goals and the next big adventure. However, this limited her ability to handle direct customer service, which led to the installation of the honor box. She and McLean see their customers as family, neighbors and friends whom they trust. So, the idea here is to scope the array of treats then drop some cash in the box and be on your merry way. McLean stays connected with the youngsters by providing her Venmo handle, Cookie Queen, to everyone that has forgotten the forest green hue of a crisp bill.
It is always the chocolate chip cookies that have to be put in the oven first; when in doubt, you can never go wrong with a classic. All chocolate chip cookies are not created equal. While the store brand sparsely incorporates a chocolate chip or two, McLean hand scoops each one to maintain the perfect ratio. She’ll continue to incorporate more chocolate chips as the batch lessens to ensure that every cookie delivers the same oozing chocolate we all crave. While ordinary at its face, her addition of wheat flour gives more depth to the chocolate and adds a hint of bitterness to suppress all the sweetness. One might not pinpoint it as whole wheat flour, but it’s that added something that turns her customers into regulars.
As the only baker at Santa Fe Cookie Company, it would be customary to only serve the so-called “name-brand” cookies like the king chocolate chip, the oldie-but-goodie oatmeal raisin, the sweet-induced coma of a sugar cookie and the indulgently rich peanut butter. To McLean, that would be too easy. Instead, she has every combination that a cookie book may display. Betty Crocker would be intimidated.
Her oatmeal-cranberry cookie gives a tart pucker when you bite into a piece of dried fruit, when at first it was assumed to be a raisin. The spice blend gives it a lingering resemblance of a warm fall drink, and cinnamon swirls with the oats to create a lovely rendition of a maple/cinnamon coffee cake.
The chocolate walnut cinnamon cookies come in packs of one, but since it’s bigger than the smile of a small child looking at an array of cookies, one is enough. The chocolate combined with the cinnamon lends itself to boosting up the warm cocoa notes as if you were getting the last drop of a thick hot chocolate. Walnuts also play perfectly into the unctuous, fudgy feel of this cookie, because chocolate fudge without a hint of texture is just criminal.
The peanut butter cookies have an exceedingly smooth feel to them. There are heaping mounds of peanut butter swirling into the creaming dough. Ribbons of the childhood nostalgic flavor are at the forefront of this simple cookie. Yet, the attention put in at every step makes them better than any dessert served in a school cafeteria. The added tartness of a jelly component is unnecessary. The sweet brown sugar gives a nice counterbalance to the nuttiness. It’s the ideal peanut butter pick-me-up when strolling around 16th street. She even puts a riff on the Reese’s candy—by treating the dough as if it were a chocolate chip cookie, she emblems each with chocolate.
Since McLean is always willing to go the extra mile, it’s no surprise that she features vegan and gluten-free cookies as well. The chocolate brownies still have the dense, beloved chew to them and the ginger snaps still have the sandy texture that they demand. Her almond crisps resemble the graceful lace that’s expected to be found on an elegant gown—they are either decorated with stripes of tempered chocolate or lemon icing dancing in swirls around each one. The cookie is light and almost disintegrates in your mouth.
When you become a regular, you’ll see her special occasion creations line the shelves. It’s not always solely for the holidays—she can be feeling ambitious on a Tuesday. She’ll make her brown sugar nut bars, which are basically the initial mix of her cookies, brown sugar and butter then studded with pecans. A pecan pie never received this type of love and attention. The top is unique with a thin layer of sugar that separates from the rest somehow. It shatters and has a deep honey flavor, almost like honeycomb candy. It’s what should be on display at Thanksgiving because everyone who takes a bite is thankful they did.
There are high hopes from customers that since the bakery has been reopened in Aunt Deb’s honor, it will stay that way. Every weekday can be enriched with a small, unsuspecting white bag of three flavorful cookies. After all these years, the people of Denver continue to seek them out. It seems like these treats will keep them up at night, almost like they have cookie insomnia.
