Student baker creates scoops of gooey bliss with cookie business

Rebekah Sheff, a junior integrated education studies major, started her baking business "Sweet Sheff" last year and is stepping up the cookie game in Orange. Photos courtesy of Sheff. 

In season seven, episode three of "Friends," three of the characters try to uncover the recipe for the best chocolate chip cookies — a very important and necessary discovery. 

In the episode, titled "The One with Phoebe's Cookies," Monica (Courteney Cox) makes a comment on how long it's been since she had baked a large batch of ooey gooey cookies.

"Wow, I haven't made this many cookies since the eighth grade," Monica says in the episode.

"What was that? For a bake sale, or something?" Phoebe (Lisa Kudrow) replies.

“No, just a Friday night," Monica finishes.

While spending hours on Fridays covered in flour with remnants of chocolate chips scattered on the counter is not the reality for most, it’s very common for junior integrated educational studies major Rebekah Sheff. 

Sheff spends hours on Fridays in the kitchen, baking dozens of cookies for her weekly clientele.

Sheff, who could be described as Chapman University's very own Monica Geller due to her insane baking skills, spends her weekends dressed in a polka-dot apron scooping cookie dough for her cookie business: "Sweet Sheff." 

All those late nights of baking and early morning deliveries are paying off for Sheff, who has attained over 300 followers on Instagram and has a growing popularity on the Chapman Parents Facebook page.

"Some girl in my class had her mom order (cookies) for her, and she came up to me in class and was like, 'Oh my God, your cookies were amazing. We ate them all,'" Sheff said. "It just makes me feel really good, and it’s nice to feel supported by everyone at Chapman."

Sweet Sheff, which was created last August, is run by Sheff and advertises different cookie flavors every week — from chocolate chip to funfetti. Sheff told The Panther she embarked on this business opportunity due to the limited options for a classic cookie in Orange. 

 "There were never any good cookie places in Orange, and I always wanted cookies," Sheff said. "So I was like, 'Wouldn't it be cool if I started making cookies?' We have Insomnia Cookies 30 minutes away, but it's too far. We didn't have Crumbl Cookies here before but now we do, but those are different because they have frosting."

The idea of starting an online business did not overwhelm Sheff since a love for baking runs in her family. Her mom is an Instagram-cooking aficionado with over 11,000 followers on her "Sephardic Spice Girls" food account, where she teaches history and recipes about Middle Eastern Judaism. 

Growing up in Los Angeles, Sheff was inspired by her mother and grandmother's continuous love for being in the kitchen. Evenings learning how to make biscotti cookies with her grandma resulted in Sheff creating Sweet Sheff and her brother becoming a private chef professionally. 

"Every single year for all of us, (my mom) would make these crazy birthday cakes with Barbies and dolls all over them, and every weekend, she'd make cookies and different desserts for Friday night dinners," Sheff said. "I slowly would always be like, 'Can I crack the eggs for you?' or, 'Can I measure for you?' It was always so fun to me."

When it came time to create the perfect cookie recipe, Sheff attempted countless trials, but found one common error in all of them — the preservation of the cookies would never last long.

"Every cookie is gonna be good when it comes out of the oven," Sheff said. "Of course, it's always gonna taste good. But the real test is to see after a few hours. Is it dry? Is it hard? Or, is it still gooey in the middle? So I would test every single recipe and then see how it is the next day. How was it in two days? Most of them were hard after one day, or they were really good when they were baked and then not so good later on."

After molding a recipe that emulates the famous chocolate chip cookies from the Levain Bakery in New York City, Sheff found the kryptonite of chocolate chip cookies. 

"I don't really know what it is about these cookies, but they stay gooey after days," Sheff said. "I have eaten one of my cookies after a week and it's still good. What's best about them is that they stay gooey in the middle and don't get dry."

Sheff's perfect combination of a soft center and a golden-brown exterior for her cookies has led to praise from countless students. Sydney Kolker, a sophomore undeclared major, is such an intense admirer of Sheff that her mom ordered cookies for her every single week of last semester. 

"Her cookies are consistently delicious, and it's definitely something I look forward to," Kolker said. "I love that her cookies are a way for my mom as well as family and friends to show their love no matter how far away they may be."

With around 20 to 25 orders every week, Sheff is surprised that instead of students ordering cookies, most are from parents wanting to congratulate their kid on their first week of college, first finals season or just to send extra comfort their way. 

"I thought this was going to be a student thing where students really want cookies," Sheff said. "But it turns out that it's moms all wanting to send their kids cookies, which if I was (a) mom, I would totally do this. It's usually the parents surprising their kids with cookies that (first) week and they get really popular towards Halloween in October, and then towards Christmas and finals." 

As for the future, Sheff said she dreams of nothing more than being an "old lady who owns a bakery." But, instead of culinary school she plans on pursuing a graduate degree to help aid her passion in special education. Nevertheless, the Sweet Sheff is here to stay for another year and will spread the love that dessert can bring to others. 

"I hope that people feel special that someone got them cookies and that it makes them feel like someone cares about them," Sheff said. "When they're eating the cookies, (I hope) it reminds them of that and it makes them happy. I just hope they know that a lot of work goes into it and they notice the details like I do."