The smell of coffee fills the Williamson family kitchen; however, the coffee machine isn’t turned on and hasn’t been since the morning. The scent instead comes from the family’s oven, in which a fresh batch of Java The Nut cookies has been set to bake.
After giving birth to her son, Trevor Williamson, new mom Shelby Williamson found herself in a position in which she had a lot of newfound time on her hands. This time developed into Williamson picking up the hobby of baking, which she would combine with her love for Star Wars and create the Milford online company, Chewie Cookies Co.
Before having her son, S. Williamson had never had the desire of being a stay-at-home mom. She states, “I worked really hard in school to get the career that I always wanted and didn’t think having a child would change that, but it did.”
The thought of staying at home wasn’t one she thought of before having children – she had ambition in creativity, she had to act upon through work. However, once her son was born, S. Williamson found herself wanting to spend every waking minute with him. It’s not how she originally imagined her life, but she’s more than content with how it’s turned out.
And yet, the question still remains as to why this stay-at-home mom created a Star Wars-themed cookie business.
S. Williamson states that her love for Star Wars had only started after she had given birth to her son, T. Williamson. She states, “I honestly just got into Star Wars this year. My son was born in January, so it was freezing out, and I was healing from a C-section. There wasn’t much for us to do. We started watching a lot of movies.”
It’s through this movie marathon that Williamson got herself to watch the movies from the Star Wars franchise, a series in which her husband, Glenn Williamson, had been a fan of since childhood. On one of these cold winter days, her husband had put on A New Hope, and since that day, S. Williamson has been hooked.
T. Williamson, at only a few months old, also seems to enjoy these movies, perking up whenever the Imperial March played and Darth Vader entered on screen.
“The Star Wars movies gave us great family memories and helped create a lot of moments,” S. Williamson states.
However, the baking aspect of things would not come into play until after S. Williamson had received a cookie recipe from a friend. Growing up, S. Williamson had always had a sweet tooth, but the action of baking was something she started to indulge in only recently, first through a sourdough phase and now through cookies.
Once she had the blueprint for baking cookies downpact, S. Williamson started taking creative liberties and toying around with the ingredients, creating unique flavors that she would soon name after Star Wars characters.
From the recent launch of her online business, G. Williamson has noticed her creative spark returning. He states, “Since launching this cookie venture, I’ve seen the fire in her eyes again. She loves being home with the baby, but she also needed her own outlet–something productive that she could call her own. This has given her exactly that.”
At the moment, Chewie Cookie Co consists of four different flavors, each named after a Star Wars character. Chewie Chocolate Chip, Dark Vader, the previously mentioned Java The Nut, and PB Skywalker.
When discussing the selection of cookies which the store offers, past customer Ali DeGirolamo states, “-there’s something for everyone. As a peanut butter lover, the PB Skywalker stole my heart.”
Williamson hopes to debut additional cookies to the lineup, such as R2-D2, Obi-Wan Kenobi, and Stormtroopers – yet she plans on keeping these characters’ flavor a surprise until their release. She hopes to have her latest cookie showcase at the Milford Lobster Roll festival on September 20th for people to try.
