Meet Moose Cookies: Where Family, Creativity and Care Come Together

For Laura Erasmus, Moose Cookies is about much more than baking a great cookie. It’s a family business built around creativity, quality, and the simple joy of sharing something made with care.

Based in Trenton, Ontario, Moose Cookies creates handcrafted stuffed cookies with fillings inspired by favourite desserts, nostalgic flavours and memories from Laura’s life and travels. Each cookie is made with carefully selected ingredients, including real vanilla beans, premium European chocolate and nuts roasted in-house.

But behind every cookie is a story—and at the centre of that story is family.

Laura is the owner and baker behind Moose Cookies, but the business name itself belongs to someone very special.

“Moose” is the nickname of Laura’s son, making the name a personal reflection of the family behind the business. He is the inspiration behind the brand, and naming the business after him was Laura’s way of keeping family at the heart of everything she was building.

Even the Moose Cookies logo carries personal meaning. Developing the logo took months, with Laura wanting it to represent her son. The moose in the logo has blue eyes like his, along with several hidden details that hold special meaning for the family.

For Laura, those details matter because Moose Cookies was never intended to be just another cookie business.

“I wanted to create something that brought together creativity, family and the joy of sharing food,” she explains.

Laura’s path to entrepreneurship wasn’t necessarily a traditional one.

Before starting Moose Cookies, she earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Wilfrid Laurier University and worked as a pharmacy assistant. While she had always dreamed of starting a business, she wanted to find something that would allow her to combine her creativity with her passion for cooking—and, importantly, allow her to be present for her young family.

“I always dreamed of starting a business where I could use my passion for cooking to bring joy to others,” Laura says.

Her background in psychology also influenced the way she approaches entrepreneurship.

Having travelled extensively during her childhood, Laura developed an appreciation for different cultures and the things people value around the world. One lesson that stayed with her was the importance of how people are treated.

The experience a customer has, she believes, can be just as important as the product itself.

Her psychology background reinforced that belief. People want to feel seen, valued and appreciated—and Laura wanted to bring that philosophy into a business of her own.

That philosophy is reflected in the way she approaches Moose Cookies.

The cookies may be small, but the attention to detail behind them is anything but.

Moose Cookies began simply, with Laura making cookies for friends and family.

People began to see the value in what she was creating and encouraged her to turn her baking into a small home-based business.

From there, Laura began developing the flavours, fillings and combinations that would eventually become Moose Cookies.

But starting a food business meant learning far more than just how to make cookies.

There was packaging to figure out, pricing, a website to build and countless other details that come with turning an idea into an actual business.

The business officially held its soft launch on March 28, 2026, followed by the launch of the Moose Cookies website on April 5.

Like many entrepreneurs, Laura quickly discovered that having a great product is only one piece of the puzzle.

“Making a product is one part of it; figuring out how to consistently produce, package, promote and deliver it is another,” she says.

The first months of business have brought plenty of lessons.

One of the biggest has been learning to balance demand with the reality of being a small, hands-on operation.

Every Moose Cookie requires time and care, and Laura has had to learn how much she can realistically produce while still maintaining the quality she expects from herself.

That became especially clear at one of her biggest milestones so far: Brighton Applefest.

Laura individually handmade just under 700 cookies for the event.

They sold out within a few hours.

Even more memorable was seeing people lining up before the event had officially started.

For a new business, it was the kind of moment that makes all the long hours feel worthwhile.

Another unexpected milestone came when Moose Cookies was featured in a magazine—a moment made even more special because customers were the ones who brought the feature to Laura’s attention.

Those moments have given her an opportunity to stop and appreciate just how far the business has come since its launch.

“It’s been exciting, overwhelming and very meaningful,” Laura says.

Of course, building a business has also come with its challenges.

One of the biggest is simply keeping up with demand while maintaining the quality Laura wants Moose Cookies to be known for.

There are also the challenges that come with selling at outdoor markets. During the summer, heat can make it difficult to present the cookies at their best, leading Laura to temporarily pause outdoor markets until cooler weather arrives.

And then there is the challenge faced by many small business owners: finding the balance between producing the product, managing the business behind the scenes and spending time with family.

It is an ongoing learning process.

Ask Laura what she wants people to know about Moose Cookies, and the answer goes beyond ingredients or flavours.

She wants people to know that every cookie is something she genuinely cares about.

Her flavours are inspired by familiar desserts, childhood memories and foods she has discovered throughout her travels. The goal isn't simply to create something sweet, but to create an experience that might introduce someone to a flavour they’ve never tried—or remind them of something they already love.

That sense of connection is at the heart of Moose Cookies.

As the business continues to grow, Laura wants to maintain the personal touch that helped create it in the first place.

Quality ingredients, thoughtful service and making people feel welcome will continue to be central to the business.

For Laura, entrepreneurship has given her the opportunity to build something that brings together many of the things she values most: family, creativity, food, quality and connection.

And while Moose Cookies may have started in a home kitchen with cookies made for friends and family, the response from the community has shown Laura that there is something special in what she has created.

“It’s a privilege to get to do this,” she says, “and I’m grateful to our community for making it possible.”