Decorated sugar cookies make up the bulk of Dani's Kitchen Shop business, but Dani Annala also teaches classes ranging from pie dough science to party appetizers. Her newest design, spring flowers (like those at right), is one of the designs she offers. She also has custom DIY kits.
Decorated sugar cookies make up the bulk of Dani's Kitchen Shop business, but Dani Annala also teaches classes ranging from pie dough science to party appetizers. Her newest design, spring flowers (like those at right), is one of the designs she offers. She also has custom DIY kits.
HOOD RIVER — Decorated sugar cookies tend to be either the soft, melt-in-your-mouth kind or the too-hard, crunchy sort. Sometimes, they can be stunning at first glance, but the flavor and texture are lackluster.
The first time I tried a sugar cookie baked and hand-decorated by Dani Annala of Dani’s Kitchen Shop in Hood River was at a media event for Travel Oregon. Annala’s mother, who owns and operates Sandoz Farms in The Dalles, enthusiastically handed me a beautiful cookie. She wanted to proudly showcase her daughter’s product, and rightly so. It was easily the best decorated sugar cookie I’d ever had. Annala’s passion, expertise and creativity come through in every one of her custom cookies.
Annala grew up in the Columbia River Gorge and graduated from Hood River Valley High School. Her mother’s family has been in The Dalles growing cherries and raising cows and hogs since 1880. Her husband’s family has been in Hood River since 1909 growing pears and apples, and her husband still runs the family orchard today.
“I have a really strong connection and passion for food agriculture and knowing where your food comes from,” she said, noting that her professional training is based in agriculture.
Annala previously worked for the Oregon State University Extension Service as a 4-H Youth Development Coordinator. She taught of lot of life skills and home economics, but often didn’t have the teaching facility she would have liked. That’s when she started dreaming about having her own teaching kitchen.
“I started the planning of Dani’s Kitchen in 2015,” Annala said. “The intention behind it was to have a teaching kitchen to host workshops and classes for the community. I’ve always been a baker, and I love to experiment. I love the science behind baking.”
She looked around for commercial property with a kitchen, but wasn’t quite ready to dive in and ended up putting the project on the back burner. In 2019, Annala was working for Diamond Fruit as a Food Safety Manager and began decorating cookies as a means to decompress after work. “I’m a creative person,” she says. “I turned to decorating as a stress reliever. It was something that allowed me to quiet my mind and to focus.”
Friends started asking if they could buy cookies from Annala, and she began selling a few dozen here and there. “I thought it was a fun side project while working, so I relaunched with the foundation of selling custom sugar cookies,” she said. But it escalated quickly. She went from making and selling four dozen cookies a week to 30 dozen a week while still working full-time.
In 2020, Annala’s former position with OSU became available and she went back to her former job. But once the COVID-19 pandemic hit and the dynamics of teaching changed, it wasn’t quite as fulfilling; she missed the feeling of connection.
Annala went on maternity leave shortly after and realized it was time to make a decision. “I was pretty much working full time doing cookies while on leave, but I knew I couldn’t work two full-time jobs,” she said. Initially, she decided she would scale back on cookies and focus on her job, but a Christmas gift from her husband changed everything.
“My husband made me a custom metal logo sign for Christmas, and that was my turning point where I said, ‘I’m going to make this happen,’” Annala said. She returned to work for a few more months, but also began looking for commercial property. She eventually found a space that would allow her to combine both sides of her business — a teaching kitchen and a place to fulfill custom sugar cookie orders. She launched Dani’s Kitchen Shop in August 2022.
The kitchen serves as both classroom and a place to fill custom sugar cookie orders.Contributed photos
She hosts a variety of classes in the teaching kitchen ranging from cookie decorating to pie dough science, as well as classes that feature more savory items like party appetizers and pretzels. She also offers private classes for birthday parties and corporate events. Local food scientist Michelle McCafferty teaches classes alongside Annala, and other instructors are brought in on a regular basis.
But the bulk of Annala’s business is custom decorated sugar cookie sets. She creates designs for birthday parties, bridal showers, retirements, graduations, baby showers, employee appreciation gift boxes, holidays and more. She even offers custom DIY kits. “There’s always something to celebrate,” she says. Annala decorates 600 cookies every week, ramping up to 1,000 per week during the holiday season.
“One of my favorite things to decorate are western themed sets, or any time I can do an agricultural themed set, I get really excited for it,” she said. “But I’m also a big fan of Christmas cookies. I love the classic designs and fun colors.”
Most of Annala’s cookies are sold locally, but she ships orders, too. Her cookies can sometimes be found on day-of sales at retailers in the Gorge, but most of her sales come from custom orders through her website.
“A lot of my customers are very trusting of my creativity,” she says. “They might send a follow-up picture of something they like, but then they turn me loose. It’s an amazing place to be and I feel really fortunate to have that support.”
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