{"id":46058,"date":"2025-11-27T10:37:08","date_gmt":"2025-11-27T10:37:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/46058\/"},"modified":"2025-11-27T10:37:08","modified_gmt":"2025-11-27T10:37:08","slug":"michelin-starred-chef-amanda-shulman-puts-together-philadelphias-most-epic-holiday-cookie-box-heres-how","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-pa\/46058\/","title":{"rendered":"Michelin-starred chef Amanda Shulman puts together Philadelphia’s most epic holiday cookie box. Here’s how"},"content":{"rendered":"

Come Dec. 6, Amanda Shulman<\/a>, chef and creator of the now Michelin-starred Rittenhouse restaurant Her Place Supper Club, knows exactly what she\u2019ll be doing: boxing up hundreds of cookies. <\/p>\n

More than three dozen cookie varieties \u2014 snickerdoodles, chocolate chips, shortbread, thumbprints, meringues, macaroons, and many more, in 100-cookie batches \u2014 will be ferried to Center City<\/a> that morning. They\u2019ll be brought by bakers and pastry chefs from around the region, all of whom have enlisted to help Shulman pull off what has become an epic holiday fundraiser, Cookies 4 Coats<\/a>, now in its fourth year. <\/p>\n

Shulman and her crack team take over once the cookies have converged. They\u2019ll crank for two hours, putting together a cookie box so big, it will fill the front seat of your car. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s so many cookies,\u201d Shulman said in a recent interview. \u201cIt is an irresponsible amount of cookies, and it\u2019s awesome.\u201d <\/p>\n

If you\u2019ve scored a box in previous years \u2014 the reservations for them were snapped up in a matter of hours last December \u2014 you know the treasure trove of sweets that lies within.<\/p>\n

Last year\u2019s 41-cookie box<\/a> was full of recipes from pop-up bakers and pastry chefs, including several folks behind some of Philly\u2019s most vaunted restaurants, bars, and bakeries: brown butter chocolate chip cookies from Provenance pastry chef Abby Dahan, white chocolate and cranberry oatmeal cookies from Friday Saturday Sunday\u2019s Amanda Rafalski, hazelnut shortbread from Vetri\u2019s Michal Shelkowitz, Italian anise wedding cookies from Laurel chef Nick Elmi, Krispie cornflake marshmallow cookies from New June\u2019s Noelle Blizzard, and Irish shortbread from Meetinghouse chef Drew DiTomo, not to mention Shulman\u2019s own sourdough chocolate chips<\/a>. <\/p>\n

All the proceeds from these coveted cookie boxes go to Sunday Love Project<\/a>, a Kensington<\/a> nonprofit that runs a free community grocery store<\/a> in the Riverwards neighborhood. Last year\u2019s sell-out bake sale generated a $15,000 donation that funded the purchase of hundreds of coats for local kids, as well as programming (music, art, cooking classes, etc.) for children and families, according to Sunday Love founder Margaux Murphy<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Shulman and Murphy first met in 2021, while Murphy was still running Sunday Love out of the Church of the Holy Trinity at 19th and Walnut, serving 2,000 meals a week to anyone in need<\/a>. Shulman and the Her Place crew \u2014 then in their first year of business<\/a> \u2014 got involved, cooking lunches for kids going to summer camp and dropping off meals to the church. <\/p>\n

Her Place was the stage for various pop-up bake sales and charity events<\/a> in those pandemic-era years. In 2022, the idea came to Shulman for an extra-special one: \u201cEverybody loves a holiday cookie box.\u201d Why not assemble a citywide assortment and donate 100% of the proceeds to Sunday Love? <\/p>\n

She put out an open call to bakers to pitch in and got tremendous response. She shared an online spreadsheet for the participants to see who planned to bake what, so that there wouldn\u2019t be too many repeats. To add to the box\u2019s value, they included a recipe book so that buyers could recreate their favorites at home. <\/p>\n

Shulman estimates 32 bakers contributed to the first Cookies 4 Coats box<\/a>, raising thousands of dollars. Ever the one to see things through, Shulman didn\u2019t leave much work for Murphy to do after collecting the cash. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe first year, I [sold the boxes] a little earlier and I bought [the coats] all myself on Black Friday and had them all shipped to my house, so I had hundreds of coats in my apartment,\u201d Shulman laughs, recalling the charity-induced splurge. \u201cI needed to get different designs. I had to be sure there was something for everybody, so I went a little crazy. I had never racked up a credit card like that, and it was so exhilarating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Things are different these days, and Shulman says that\u2019s for the best. \u201cNow we just write checks, because they need other things besides coats \u2014 and [Murphy] gets to pick out what she needs as opposed to me just going on a shopping spree.\u201d <\/p>\n

Reservations for this year\u2019s cookie box went live earlier this month and sold out in a matter of days. Shulman lowered the total number of boxes sold from 120 to 100, but the fundraiser is set to generate even more this year, because the price \u2014 $135 per box \u2014 increased to cover the cost of improved packaging: Each cookie will be individually wrapped this year, so buyers know which cookie is which rather than guessing based on flavor profiles and recipe cards (a fun game in itself). <\/p>\n

Thirty-three bakers and chefs are signed up to contribute thus far, including Scampi\u2019s Liz Grothe (cappuccino Rice Krispies treat), New June\u2019s Blizzard (salted double chocolate chip shortbread), Amy\u2019s Pastelillos\u2019 Amaryllis Rivera-Nassar (besitos de coco), and Lost Bread\u2019s Dallas King (honey butter corn cookies). (For those who don\u2019t have a Cookies 4 Coats reservation, we offer eight of Shulman\u2019s favorite recipes<\/a> from last year\u2019s box as a consolation.)<\/p>\n

Murphy is perpetually floored by the size of the donation, and by Shulman\u2019s seemingly bottomless reservoir of generosity. Murphy\u2019s had strangers give thousands of dollars to Sunday Love, only to discover it was because Shulman recommended the nonprofit to a customer or acquaintance. Shulman recently collaborated with the Philly-area meal-delivery service Home Appetit<\/a>, sending a portion of the sales to Sunday Love; it resulted in an $8,000 donation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI always tell her, she waves a magic wand and she\u2019s just like, \u2018Here\u2019s $10,000, feed all the children,\u2019\u201d Murphy said. She remembers a very pregnant Shulman coming to last year\u2019s annual coat giveaway (which will take place this year on Dec. 13 at 3206 Kensington Ave.). \u201cShe was in my store because she wanted to see the kids getting coats \u2014 I was like, \u2018I swear to God, if you have this baby right here on my floor\u2019 \u2014 that\u2019s how hard she was working just to make sure that we had everything.\u201d<\/p>\n

Shulman remembers that day a little differently, singling out a moment where she watched a little girl pick out a coat \u2014 \u201cthis brand-new, shiny pink coat that she got to pick out,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s full circle when you get to do every single part of the process, from the physical picking of the cookies to packing them to printing the things. I\u2019m very grateful to everybody who helps out, and especially to my own team, because it\u2019s a lot of work to make it this seamless.\u201d<\/p>\n

That\u2019s what Shulman comes away with when reflecting on what goes into this crumb-flecked effort: gratitude. <\/p>\n

\u201cIf I can say thanks to my team … and to the community, that would be awesome. Thank you to all the bakers and restaurant people who give so much in the busiest time,\u201d she said. \u201cThese bakers take time to not only make [the cookies], but then get it to us. It sounds like an easy lift \u2014 it\u2019s not, especially if you\u2019re going to work that day. I don\u2019t take it for granted at all.\u201d<\/p>\n