Cookies from CC Sweet House, the quaint cookie shop located at 103 N. Ann Arbor St. in Saline, can now be found at Whole Foods Market at 3135 Washtenaw Ave. in Ann Arbor, as well as the West Bloomfield Whole Foods store at 7350 Orchard Lake Road.

Based on family recipes, these cookies have come a long way since CC Sweet House owner Edgar Burch Sr. first watched them baked by his grandmother Cora Curry, known as CC.

“I used to watch her make them all the time when I was a kid, and after school we would always run in to eat her cookies with a glass of cold milk,” says Burch.

As an adult, Burch would often bake for the holidays, and his wife always encouraged him to sell what he produced. When he was laid off 10 years ago from the city of Pontiac where he was assistant director for Community Human Services and Parks and Recreation, his wife convinced him that now was the time to pursue a baking business.

He took classes at Washtenaw Community College on baking and cake decorating, as well as on public health and business.

“I was the oldest student in there,” he says with a laugh. “But I wanted to learn technique. I had watched my grandma, but she never did use measuring cups. She could just look at it. I knew not to do that.”

Four years ago, his son Edgar saw the small storefront in Saline listed for lease on Craigslist. They came over to have a look and, as the saying goes, the rest is history.

CC Sweet House specializes in cookies, cupcakes, pies, cinnamon rolls, muffins, brownies and cakes, such as a popular lemon pound cake.

Cookie flavors include chocolate chip, butter cookies, oatmeal raisin, oatmeal cranberry, peanut butter, and a tropical cookie made with coconut and macadamia nuts.

Although Burch had always wanted to get his cookies into stores, the plan came together when he was approached by a member of Strong Tower Ministry in Ypsilanti, where he is a deacon.

“He told me he had a friend who worked at Whole Foods, who he had told about my product,” explains Burch. “He had tasted my cookies and asked after me.”

Pleased, Burch met with Whole Foods to go through his recipes and review the ingredients.

“All of my products are all natural ingredients, but we had to make a few changes for them. We had to change our baking soda to one that had no aluminum, for example,” he says.

The business continues to be a family affair, with Burch getting help from his daughters, son, nephew and brother to research everything from marketing to packaging. Burch bought machines to do the packaging in-house, and created a label using a logo of his grandmother’s old house.

Born and raised in Pontiac, Burch moved to Ann Arbor to attend the University of Michigan, eventually receiving his master’s degree in sports marketing and management. He has lived here ever since.

Burch envisions distributing his cookies to other supermarkets in Michigan and eventually expanding out of state.

“I’m taking my time because I want to make sure I can handle the stores' volume,” he says.

In the meantime, Burch stays busy with walk-in customers as well as catering and delivery of dessert trays at places like University of Michigan, the city of Detroit and Avis Ford in Southfield.

The dealership "calls me up all the time and says, ‘Bring some cookies out here — we miss you,'” he says with a laugh. “My cookies speak for themselves.”

CC Sweet House
103 N. Ann Arbor St., Saline
Phone: (734) 686-5522
Web: www.ccsweethouse.com
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Laura Blodgett is a freelance writer for AnnArbor.com.