GETTYSBURG, Pa. (WHTM) — A local entrepreneur recently unveiled her first-ever cookie bakery, 25 years after surviving stage IV cancer.
The Gettysburg Cookie Company is owned and operated by Judy Morley and her partner Kathleen Sibley. According to Morley, she is originally from Colorado and moved to Pennsylvania back in 2018. Shortly after in April 2023, Morley and her husband opened a new dining experience called SavorHood.
SavorHood is a large indoor food hall that has a collection of 10 different eateries and a local brewery as well. According to Morley, although she and her husband own and operate SavorHood, the Gettysburg Cookie Company is Morley’s “baby”, and her husband is not involved.
Morley’s passion for baking did not begin at a culinary school like many other passionate bakers – instead, her baking career started with the goal of making healthy foods that she and her then three-year-old daughter would be able to enjoy together.
According to Morley, 25 years ago she was diagnosed with stage IV cancer and was only given a 25% of survival. After the diagnosis, she had to eat healthy foods – foods that the everyday three-year-old in many cases would not be too thrilled about eating.
This was when Morley’s mission first began.
“When I was sick I had to eat healthy, but I still needed to make foods that my three-year-old would be able to eat,” Morley explained. “So, I started to experiment with baking healthy cookies that we could both enjoy.”
About a year and a half ago, Morley and her husband were on a vacation in Hawaii and came across a bakery called the Hawaii Cookie Company. According to Morley, her husband had mentioned how surprised he was that something like this did not exist back home in Gettysburg.
“When my husband said that to me, it was like a bolt of lightning hit me! By the end of our vacation I already had a list of nine different cookie recipes and names put together,” Morley stated. “When we got home, I got to work on perfecting those cookie recipes.”
According to Morley, the Gettysburg Cookie Company was never meant to open inside of SavorHood, but during the period of construction, the general contractor reached out to the Morley’s and told them that there was a previously overlooked booth in the complex – a size that the contractor believed would be perfect for a bakery.
“When the opportunity came to open in SavorHood, I was so grateful – it was wonderful how it all fell together the way it did,” Morley added.
Since its official soft opening back on April 26, the Gettysburg Cookie Company has been offering its homemade collection of nine different, homemade Gettysburg-themed cookies.
The list of their ‘core nine’ Gettysburg-themed cookies are:
According to Morley, unlike many cookie chains across the U.S., the Gettysburg Cookie Company will not rotate its nine cookie flavors in and out – the nine cookies listed above will always remain available.
Beginning in the fall, Morley and her team will also start adding new seasonal cookies to their menu. Morley plans on making seasonal cookies for:
- Fall
- Christmas
- Easter/ Spring
- Summer
Currently, the Gettysburg Cookie Company offers its cookie collection in-store and online. If you are interested in making an online order for delivery, you can click here.
The new Gettysburg Cookie Company is located in SavorHood at 985 Baltimore Pike, and the company shares the same hours of operation as the food hall, which are:
- Mondays – Sundays // 11 a.m. to 9 p.m.
“I am just blown away by the reception we received in our first month of being opened,” Morley said. “It just feels so fulfilling – I mean what better way to spread joy than through cookies? I have always said that if people have a bad day, a cookie helps.”
According to Morley, she plans to one day open a second Gettysburg Cookie Company location in the area. She also hopes to grow the brand regionally in future.
